Smart City Mission to make 9 more cities most liveable, beautiful and well planned

New Delhi, January 20: The Housing and Urban Affairs has decided to add nine new cities in the government's ambitious mission of smart cities. Each city is to get Rs 500 crore for the implementation of different projects for development. Till now 90 cities have been identified for the mission.

“It is heartening to note that the winning cities have improved the quality of their Smart City Proposals by 19% (average) to become eligible for selection,” said the minister.

The 9 cities will have about 409 projects and a proposed an investment of Rs 12,824 crores. The money will be spent on area-based development and pan-city initiatives, which will impact the living of 35.3 lakh people.

The 10th city on the list was not announced because Shillong (Meghalaya) hadn’t yet submitted its proposal. So one slot was kept aside for it. The urban transformation programme is aimed at developing 100 cities all over the country making them citizen friendly and sustainable.

The newly announced smart cities will have smart roads, rejuvenation of water bodies, cycle tracks, walking paths, smart classrooms, skill development centres, upgradation of health facilities, among other things.

The Smart Cities Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 25, 2015. The Housing and Urban Affairs ministry has till now announced the names of 90 cities that the government aims to help under the scheme.

The mission involves funding by the Centre and State governments, involving other stakeholders through joint ventures, subsidiaries, public-private partnership (PPP) and other contracts.