NEW DELHI, May 24: The Government today announced the names of 13 more cities that will be developed under the Centre’s ‘Smart City Mission’ with Lucknow in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh topping the list, followed by Warangal in Telangana and Dharmshala in Himachal Pradesh.
Twenty-three cities with the higher rankings from as many states and Union territories, which failed to get representation in the first round of a competition held in January, participated in the ‘Fast Track Competition’, the result of which was announced by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today.
Of these 23 cities, only 13 could qualify for the smart city projects through the fresh competition.
Other cities, which won this round, were Chandigarh, Raipur (Chhattisgarh), New Town Kolkata, Bhagalpur (Bihar), Panaji (Goa), Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), Imphal (Manipur), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Agartala (Tripura) and Faridabad (Haryana).
“The 13 cities selected in the Fast Track Competition have proposed a total investment of Rs 30,229 crore. With this, the investment proposed by 33 cities (20 cities announced in January and 13 cities today) under the smart city plans is now Rs 80, 789 crore,” Naidu told a press conference.
Seven capital cities — Patna (Bihar), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Naya Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh), Bengaluru (Karnataka) and Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) — which were not included in the 100 cities shortlisted for the competition will be able to participate in the next round with other cities, the minister said.
Also, one out of Meerut and Rai Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh and another out of Jammu and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir would also be selected for evaluation under the mission, he added.
Of 13 cities that today qualified for the smart city project, four are from BJP-ruled states of Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand and Haryana, while two are from Congress-governed states of Himachal Pradesh and Manipur.
Lucknow is in Samajwadi Party-ruled Uttar Pradesh, while Bhagalpur is in Bihar, where JD(U), RJD and Congress are ruling coalition partners, and Warangal is in Telangana ruled by Telangana Rashtra Samiti.
New Town Kolkata in West Bengal, where TMC came back to power in recently held assembly election, and Agartala in CPI(M)-ruled Tripura, were also selected for the smart city project.
Apart from these, Union territories of Chandigarh and Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar Islands were among the winners of this round.
Ten cities that failed to make the cut were Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh), Shillong (Meghalaya), Namchi (Sikkim), Diu (Daman & Diu), Oulgaret (Puducherry), Silvassa (Dadra and Nagar Haveli), Kohima (Nagaland), Aizawl (Mizoram), Kavaratti (Lakshadweep) and Dehradun (Uttarakhand).
These cities would be able to participate in the next round of the competition with other cities.
Assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation are some of the highlights of the smart city project.
Under the Smart City Mission, 100 cities across the country will be developed as smart cities by 2019-20 with the Union government providing financial support to the extent of Rs 48,000 crore over five years.
While 20 smart cities were selected during 2015-16 as per the Mission guidelines, another 40 (including 13 today) would be selected during 2016-17 and the remaining 40 during the next financial year.
Each city selected in different rounds of competition will be given central assistance of Rs 200 crore in the first year and Rs 100 crore each during the subsequent three financial years.
State Governments and respective urban local bodies will provide matching funds to the same amount. (PTI)
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