Thiruvananthapuram tops list of 30 new smart cities

New Delhi, Jun 23 Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Naya Raipur in Chhattisgarh and Rajkot in Gujarat figured in the new list of 30 cities announced today for development under the Centre's Smart City Mission.

The most recent declaration takes to 90 the quantity of urban areas chosen for part financing of projects by the Centre under the plan.

Thiruvananthapuram took the first slot, took after Naya Raipur, Rajkot, Andhra Pradesh capital Amaravati, and Bihar capital Patna.

Reporting the new rundown at an occasion here, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that 45 cities challenged for the 40 accessible smart city slots however just 30 were chosen to guarantee their feasibility and workable plans.

Four urban areas in Tamil Nadu - Tiruppur, Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Tiruchirappalli, and three in Uttar Pradesh - Jhansi, Allahabad and Aligarh - additionally made it to the list.

A investment of Rs 57,393 crore has been proposed for developlment of these 30 urban areas. Of the arranged consumption, Rs 46,879 crore will be for core foundation and Rs 10,514 crore for innovation based arrangements.

With this, the total investment approved under the smart city plan of 90 urban areas has gone up to Rs 1,91,155 crore, Naidu said.

The minister said that 20 more urban cities will be challenging for the rest of the 10 slots under the Smart City Mission.

These included Biharsharif (Bihar); Navimumbai, Greater Mumbai and Amaravati (Maharashtra); Bidhannagar, Durgapur and Haldia (West Bengal); and Meerut, Rai Bareilly, Ghaziabad, Saharanpur and Rampur (Uttar Pradesh).

Of the 30 urban cities declared today, 26 have proposed affordable housing projects that advantage the urban poor, 26 urban cities will be taking up school and hospital project, 29 will be taking up redesign and redevelopment of roads.

All 30 urban cities will set up incorporated summon and control focuses that empower coordination among different offices for better service delivery and delivery management of scarce resources such as, water and power, Naidu said.

Referring to reports that maximum funds are being allocated to a little piece of a city areas under the plan, Naidu said the residents and city governments proposed the activities for fixing the infrastructure deficit in their respective cities.

"That is the means by which urban improvement has been drawn nearer in nations, for example, the US. No place on the planet a city has been made keen overnight in one go," he said.

Naidu additionally launched the City Liveability Index which will help a city to know where it remains in guaranteeing the personal satisfaction to its subjects.

This exercise will be taken up in 116 urban cities- covering all smart cities, capitals and cities with over one million population every, he stated, including the first positioning will be out next year.

The minister likewise distributed Rs 500 crore among different states for completing changes in the urban part. A year ago, Rs 400 crore were given to the states.

For the following three years, incentive funds of Rs 10,000 crore are approved for perceiving the efforts by states in urban transformation, Naidu said.

Different cities that figured in the latest smart city list included Karimnagar (Telangana), Muzaffarpur (Bihar), Puducherry, Gandhinagar and Dahod (Gujarat), Srinagar and (Jammu and Kashmir), Sagar and Satna (Madhya Pradesh) and Karnal (Haryana).

Bengaluru (Karnataka), Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Pimpri-Chinchwad (Maharashtra), Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh), Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh), Aizawl (Mizoram) and Gangtok (Sikkim) were likewise chosen.

Under the Smart City Mission, the Centre gives Rs 500 crore to every city over a time of five years for implementing different projects.

Propelled on June 15, 2015, the government proposes to develop 100 smart cities under the mission.