Rs 1 lakh crore to be spent on urban development over five years

 The Dollar Business Bureau The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, gave its approval for the Smart Cities Mission and the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation of 500 cities (AMRUT). Individual outlays of Rs 48,000 crore and Rs 50,000 crore have been approved for spending under the two missions for the development of ‘smart cities’. Besides this, the Union Cabinet also gave its approval for the Central Government to spend over Rs 1 lakh crore on urban development over the next five years, under two new urban missions. According to the release, each city selected for development under the ‘Smart Cities’ initiative, would be getting a central assistance of Rs 100 crore annually for a period of five years. Special emphasis will be given to the participation of the citizens in planning and prioritizing the urban interventions, which will be implemented through an area-based approach consisting of re-development, pan-city initiatives and development of new cities. Under the move, the Smart City aspirants would also be selected through a ‘City Challenge Competition’, which is intended to link financing with the ability of the cities to perform to achieve the mission targets. Further, a certain number of smart city aspirants would be shortlisted by the States as per the norms and they will prepare smart city plans for further evaluation and creating a space for the Central government’s support. The mission is intended to promote adoption of smart solutions for efficient use of available assets, resources and infrastructure, aimed at enhancement of the quality of urban life and providing a clean and sustainable environment. The prime focus will be on key infrastructure services which include Efficient Urban Mobility and Public Transportation, robust IT connectivity, affordable housing and e-governance, among others. The two missions will work inter-linked, where the AMRUT mission will ensure basic infrastructure services, devolution of funds to the urban local bodies, promotion of urban reforms, improvement in building by-laws, improvement in assessment and collection of municipal taxes, among others. Besides, this, the Union Cabinet also approved Central funds under AMRUT for the projects sanctioned under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and not completed.    

This article was published on April 29, 2015 – 8:02 pm IST.