Bhubaneswar tops list of 20 eligible smart city projects
28 Jan 2016
Bhubaneswar topped the list in the Smart Cities Challenge conducted by the central government among cities eligible for government funding for development as smart cities, with Pune and Jaipur coming second and third in that order.
The government today announced 20 winners of the Smart City Challenge for financing during this financial year. The development of smart cities would involve an investment of Rs50,802 crore over five years. All cities are proposed to be developed through the public-private partnership model. The respective state governments have also identified 26,735 acres in 20 cities for making the cities smart.
Announcing the list, minister for urban development M Venkaiah Naidu said the winners were from 11 states and the union territory of Delhi and the selection was totally objective and transparent based on standardised processes.
The other cities that made it to the list are Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Vishakhapatnam, Solapur, Davangere, Indore, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belgaum, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal.
Naidu further said the Smart City Mission marks a paradigm shift towards urban development in the country since it is based on 'bottom up' approach with the involvement of citizens in formulation of city vision and smart city plans and the urban local bodies and state governments piloting the mission with little say for the central ministry of urban development.
He also observed that it was for the first time in the country and even in the world that investments in urban sector are being made based on competition based selection of cities.
Informing that 15.2 million citizens participated in shaping smart city plans of 97 cities and towns in the first round of competition, Naidu said that this enthusiastic participation of people is a major positive outcome.
Three cities from Madhya Pradesh, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and one each from the remaining five made it to the winning list.
The minister informed that 23 states and UTs who could not make to the list of winners will be given an opportunity to participate in a 'fast track competition'. Each top ranking city form these left out states can upgrade their smart city proposals and submit them by 15 April, this year for inclusion in the mission.
Naidu said the 20 winning cities and towns have proposed a total investment of Rs50,802 crore over five years with all the cities proposing public-private-partnership as a major vehicle of resource mobilization. Ten of the 20 cities have proposed to mobilise Rs8,521 crore under PPP model while others have also indicated this option.
A total area of 26,735 acres has been identified by these cities for making them smart through necessary interventions.
Elaborating on the advantages of Smart City Mission, Naidu said that this would lead to integrated urban planning by addressing the issue of infrastructure, land use planning, transport, urban design and architecture in a holistic manner unlike in the past. Stating that building a smart city is not a destination but a series of small steps in that direction, Naidu said that the country has taken one such step today.
The minister said that urban local bodies are taking a quantum jump to improve their capabilities and have resorted to SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis of each city for coming out with city vision.
The 20 smart cities announced today include:
- Bhubaneswar (Odisha)
- Pune (Maharashtra)
- Jaipur (Rajasthan)
- Surat (Gujarat)
- Kochi (Kerala)
- Ahmedabad (Gujarat)
- Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh)
- Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh)
- Solapur (Maharashtra)
- Davanagere (Karnataka)
- Indore (MP)
- New Delhi Municipal Council (Delhi)
- Combattore (Tamil Nadu)
- Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh)
- Belagavi (Karnataka)
- Udaipur (Rajasthan)
- Guwahati (Assam)
- Chennai (Tamil Nadu)
- Ludhiana (Punjab)
- Bhopal (MP)
Of these 20 cities accounting for a total population of 35.4 million, five have population below 0.5 million each, four in the range of 0.5-1 million, six in between 1-2.5 million, four between 2.5-5.0 million and only Ahmedabad has above 5 million population.
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