The Karnataka government on Tuesday forwarded the proposals for the six cities – Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad, Davangere, Mangaluru, Shivamogga and Tumkuru – to the Ministry of Urban Development under the Centrally sponsored Smart City scheme.
These proposals were prepared by various consultancy firms after studying aspects in these six cities including their population, financial strength of local bodies and their basic infrastructure.
The next round will be city-level competition where cities have to compete with each other to grab the project. The Urban Development Ministry will select 20 cities in the country through evaluation in the second round of 'City Challenge' competition to pick up first batch of cities by third week of January for financing under the Smart City project, said a senior official of the Urban Development Ministry.
According to the ministry, 85 cities out of the 98 included in the Smart City Mission have submitted proposals, within the stipulated time. While 17 proposals were submitted on Monday, 68 were received on Tuesday, the last day for submission, said the official.