Govt to announce first 20 smart cities by year end

Deepak Kumar | The Dollar Business

The government on Thursday announced that it will declare names of the first 20 smart cities by the end of this year. “Twenty smart cities are going to be selected by the end of this year. Next year 40 cities, and the remaining 40 cities will be picked next to next year (in 2017),” said Union Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu. Speaking at the “Smart Cities Summit 2015” in New Delhi, Naidu said, “Companies from 14 countries; the US, Canada, UK, France, the Netherlands and Spain, have been selected for the preparation of cities level plan for 42 mission city. This shows the global interest of the Smart Cities programme.” Indian as well as foreign consultants have already picked up mission cities to prepare for their smart city plans. So far, 37 consulting firms have prepared plans for 88 cities. The list includes KPMG for NDMC, NK Buildcon for Varanasi, Lea Associates for Tirupati, ICRA for Ajmer, Data World for Lucknow, Alia Consulting for Greater Mumbai, Jones Lang La Salle for Amritsar, and Ecorys Nederland BV for Bhagalpur. “Eighty-eight cities included in the Smart City Mission have identified consulting firms for preparation of city-wise Smart City Action Plans. The remaining 10 cities in North-Eastern states and Union Territories will do so by this week-end,” the Ministry of Urban Development had said in a statement on Tuesday. These consulting firms will undertake area development plans and financing plan for the smart city proposals under the supervision of urban local bodies and state governments. CRISIL Risk and Infrastructure Solutions Ltd. in association with Pri Move Infrastructure Development Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and Probity Soft Private Ltd., has won the contract for 6 smart cities. During Thursday’s summit, the urban development minister and the industry experts highlighted some of the major challenges in the ‘Smart Cities’ mission. “When you look at the Smart Cities programme, the core key elements, including water supply, sanitation and urban services would cost somewhere $15 billion for 100 smart cities. For the first 20 cities, the government will give 200 crores (about $3 billion) upfront. For the balanced $13 billion, it will have to take an innovative approach,” said Pradeep Puri, Chairman of FICCI Urban Infrastructure & Smart Cities Committee.  

 October 08, 2015 | 5:38pm IST.