The 100th proposed city, Shillong (Meghalaya), has been given more time to submit its proposal as it failed to make it in time.
Two-and-a-half years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of Smart Cities Mission, the Centre on Friday added nine more cities from seven states to the list, taking the number of cities in the mission to 99.
Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri announced on Friday that Silvassa (Dadra and Nagar Haveli) has topped the list of winning cities in the fourth round of Smart City competition. The others in the list include Erode (Tamil Nadu), Diu (Daman & Diu), Bihar Sharif (Bihar), Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh), Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Kavaratti (Lakshwadeep). The 100th proposed city, Shillong (Meghalaya), has been given more time to submit its proposal as it failed to make it in time. Also Read: Govt plans liveability index of 116 cities
The mission was announced with a target of transforming 100 cities into Smart Cities by 2022, with an initial government investment of Rs 500 crore per city. This was proposed to be done through the application of information and communications technology (ICT) for efficient management of basic urban services such as water supply, sanitation, housing, waste management and urban mobility. Its two components include pan-city development, whereby a particular ICT solution is applied to one or more aspects of city-wide infrastructure, and area-based development which looks at investment in infrastructure creation in a smaller area.
“The nine cities have proposed an investment of Rs 12,824 crore (on 409 projects) of which Rs 10,639 crore would be on Area Based Development and Rs 2,185 crore in pan-city initiatives which would impact 35 lakh persons living in these areas,” said Puri. He added that ABD will be developed as a lighthouse, to be replicated by the rest of the city.