The Haryana government Friday invited bids from consulting firms for the setting up of a Rs.1 billion ($23 million) education city near the national capital, New Delhi.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had earlier announced that the education city - to be named after former Congress prime minister Rajiv Gandhi - would be modelled on the lines of Britain's famous Oxford and Cambridge universities.

A state government spokesman said the education city project was being planned to reverse the trend of bright young people going abroad in search of better education.

He said the faculty would be among the best in the country and the latest technology and high-class infrastructure would be provided.

Bids have been invited from consulting companies for conceptualisation, configuration, structuring and implementation of development work for the project.

The education city will come up between Haryana's industrial town of Sonipat and Kundli town bordering Delhi.