Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Minister of State (I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep S Puri on January 19, 2018, announced the Round 4 winning cities of National Smart Cities Challenge. Addressing a Press Conference here, the Minister informed that Silvassa from Dadar & Nagar Haveli has topped the list of winning cities in this round of competition. Other winning cities are : Erode, Tamil Nadu, Diu, Daman & Diu, Biharsharif, Bihar, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh, Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh and Kavaratti, Lakshwadeep.
Addressing the mediapersons here today, the Minister said, “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. Each city has developed a unique vision and has selected an area which will be developed as a lighthouse, to be replicated by the city. The 9 cities selected have proposed an investment of Rs 12,824 crore of which Rs 10,639 crore would be in Area Based Development (ABD) and Rs 2,185 crores in Pan City initiatives which would be impacting 35.3 lakh persons living in these areas.” These 9 Cities have approximately 409 projects.
With today’s announcement 99 cities Smart Cities have been selected. Previously, 20 cities were selected in January 2016, 13 cities in May 2016, 27 cities in September 2016 and 30 cities in June 2017. With the selection of these nine cities, the total proposed investment in the 99 Smart City Mission would Rs 2,03,979 crore, according to a PIB release.
Smart City Centers have become operational in four cities like Pune, Surat, Vadodara & Kakinada and work is in progress in another 18 cities.