Yesterday, central minister Venkaiah Naidu invited the local and international investors to come forward and invest in the smart city mission, assuring them that, they would return with profits.
    
Venkaiah Naidu released smart cities list, where 98 cities are included. In the list, Uttar Pradesh got the largest share of developing 13 smart cities, followed by Tamil Nadu, which got 12 cities in its list.

Speaking in the meeting, Venkaiah Naidu said, “Both national and international investors are looking for opportunities in the backdrop of the recent financial crisis, people are searching for safe investments. I offer smart cities as the safest investment because land is going to be there, structures are going to be there, so the returns are assured.”

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The Smart City Mission promotes integrated city planning, where the government’s policies such as Swachh Bharat Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation complement each other, with an aim to achieve “inclusive growth”.  

Answering about the delays in the project approvals at the state level, Venkaiah Naidu said, “The new parameters are set in such a way, that it can “perform or perish”. Due to this the ministry imposes fines on the states that delay the project for more than 60 days. So no municipal councils can miss the opportunity of recasting the country’s urban landscape.”  

 “I held three consultations with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Defence Ministry and the Ministry of Environment,” Venkaiah Naidu said.

The above mentioned 98 cities and towns will be developed into smart cities within five years, by Urban Development Ministry, providing 100 crores to each city. Among 98 cities, 24 are capital cities, another 24 are business and industrial centres, 18 are culture and tourism influenced areas, five are port cities and three are education and health care hubs.  
 
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Missed cities in smart cities list

Nine cities, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Shimla, Puducherry, Daman, Patna, Itanagar, Thiruvananthapuram and Gangtok did not qualify for being a smart city. “This non-inclusion goes to prove that the selection in the first stage of competition was not swayed by the status or importance of the cities and the selection was objective and as per the stipulated criteria,” Mr. Naidu said.

The finance generation at the state level and through the private investments will be a part in the success of the smart cities mission. Already Rs.48000 crores are set aside by the government and the state governments are required to generate another Rs.48000 crores, and thus develop the smart cities with a huge amount of Rs.96000 crores, Venkaiah Naidu said.

By Phanindra