Surat: Rotterdam will help Surat in advanced forecasting of floods, technical support for Tapi river restoration project, flood water management and monitoring water quality. In the short term, the city will also extend technical support for selection and implementation of proposed barrage at Rundh .A team of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) led by municipal commissioner M Thennarasan visited Rotterdam from July 2 to July 7. It was decided that a legal framework will be devised between the two cities for Tapi river reservoir authority to monitor the quality and quantity.Thennarasan told TOI that the After Paris Agreement, European Union (EU) started a worldwide campaign under International Urban Cooperation (IUC) . Rotterdam is paired with Surat and similarly 12 EU cities will be paired with other 12 Indian cities.Rockefeller Foundation was amongst the first to create synergies between the leading cities of the world to make them more resilient in the climate change under the programme 100RC. This programme facilitates paring of two cities situated in the different parts of the world. Selection for pairing the cities is done in such a manner that one city is either on the path of recovery or is already out of similar kind of infrastructure as well as climate related challenges, whereas, the other is struggling to overcome from the same.100RC Partnership of Surat with Rotterdam was acknowledged under IUC program too. Accordingly, both cities have signed an agreement in Vibrant Summit-2017 for mutual cooperation. A team from Rotterdam visited Surat in November 2017 to review and understand the water challenges of and they assured of cooperation to overcome the related issues. Subsequently, an agreement was signed in February 2018 between two cities regarding knowledge exchange and partnering regarding water security of Surat.

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