The 20 projects will together cost about Rs 50,802 crore, of which Rs 38,693 crore will be spent on area development and the balance Rs 12,109 crore on pan-city solutions.
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Speaking over the selection, the minister said, “The Smart City Plans were prepared by the urban local bodies and the states and there was practically no role for urban development ministry”.
“The idea of smart cities has aroused an unprecedented enthusiasm ever since it was first mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014”, said Naidu, adding “Nobody can stop an idea whose time has come”.
Making its cut through a rigorous competition, the NDMC area is among the top 20 cities which were announced winners of the Smart City Challenge today, which the Urban Development Minister dubbed “as competitive as the Civil Services Exam”.
The cities that didn’t win will get another chance to be selected for the second round of the competition cycle, which will take place over 2016-’17.
Not a single city from Uttar Pradesh has cleared the final hurdle to qualify for development under the Smart City mission. Interestingly, Udaipur is also one of the cities to be developed and found a mention at the 16th position.
Naidu said 23 states and union territories that could not make to the list in the first round would be given an opportunity to participate in a “fast-track competition” for inclusion in the mission. “We will also look closely and study the proposals of the cities which made it to the list”, Rodrigues said.
Cities eliminated at this stage of the competition will have a chance to compete in the next round by upgrading their proposals and submitting them by 15th April. You have said that there is no big surprise in this 20 list that the government has arrived at, what about Bhubaneswar actually coming in right on top of that list?
Of these 20 cities accounting for a total population of 35.4 crore, five have population below 0.5 million each, four are in the range of 0.5-1million, six in between 1-2.5 million, four between 2.5 and 5 million. Bhubaneswar, the capital of the eastern state of Orissa, unfurled a 10-kilometer-long canvas banner across the city and invited residents to scroll down their suggestions. Amaravati is, however, not among the first 20 cities.
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The Smart City initiative would be a game changer in raising the standard of infrastructure in the cities in the country, said Shubhranshu Pani, MD – Infrastructure Services, JLL India.
