US construction management major Turner International, whose Indian arm is spearheading projects such as the world’s tallest statue, the 182-metre Statue of Unity in Gujarat, is eyeing a big role in the India’s ambitious Smart Cities Mission.

“Though we are not into infrastructure, we are very excited (about smart cities), especially about the skyline in Mumbai that’s going to open up,” Abrar Sheriff, President & CEO of Turner International, told BusinessLine .

He was in New Delhi along with Peter J Davoren, President & CEO, Turner Corp, and Jairam Panch, Vice-President & MD, Turner Project Management India, and others to celebrate 50 years of the company’s global presence.

Upbeat on the proposed 100 ‘smart city’ projects in India, the project management company said it was looking at expansion in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam. With staff strength of 150 in India at present, it plans to continue to add about 50 people a year in the country, Sheriif said.

Change in the air However, the US major, while admitting that the ‘ease of doing business’ in India was “getting better”, said India needed to improve the timelines for regulatory and other approvals.

“There is need to have a sense of urgency. Also, there should not be any retro tax….All these things have not helped in generating a good image of the country”, said Panch.

Turner, which has six projects underway in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Gujarat, also hoped the “promised single-window clearance for various approvals becomes truly so.”

Reducing bottlenecks “They say, to form a company in India, it takes between 45-90 days. But, it can get longer to make it fully operational. So, if we are not watching the timeline, it could hit from six-nine months. We should fast-track this and make sure that companies can be established quickly,” said Panch, adding that “China has an edge, as it is very quick to establish a company there, but the pain starts after that.”

Asked what a model ‘smart’ city would be like, Panch cited the examples of Barcelona and Vienna as global benchmarks. “It is basically Brownfield development…kind of retrofitting an existing city that is relatively easy to manage”, he said, adding that out of the 100 smart cities, even if 10 move to the implementation stage, it will be a significant achievement for the country.”

Turner, which had a global construction volume of $10 billion in 2014, said its other signature project, DLF’s Mall of India in Noida, will have a soft opening in the first quarter next year.

Turner International set up its India office in 2008 and began its first project in Chennai by real estate major, the Hiranandani Group.

Its projects in other countries include VietinBank Tower in Vietnam, Pertamina Energy Tower in Indonesia, Federation Tower in Russia, among others.

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