Tangible results in smart cities by 2019: minister

The tangible results in developing smart cities will be seen only by the end of 2019 and few smart cities will be fully ready by 2022, Union Urban Affairs and Housing Minister Hardeep S Puri said on Monday.

Since the first batch of 20 cities identified for development under the smart cities project was announced in January 2016, the tangible results of those cities will be visible by 2019.

Since to complete the development of a smart city requires minimum five to six years, by 2022 some smart cities are expected to be ready, he said.

So far, Rs 8,000-crore worth of projects have been invested in under the smart cities project by different cities and another Rs 30,000 crore worth of projects are under implementation.

By the end of 2018, around Rs 80,000 crore worth of projects would be sanctioned, he said.

In 90 of the 100 cities identified under the scheme, the existing cities will be re-modeled, while the remaining 10 cities will be greenfield projects. To expedite the projects, we have been in touch with the states, the minister said.

The minister also launched a Smart Cities fellowship and internship programmes, for which 30 young graduates, postgraduates and PhD holders in the field of urban planning, urban design, urban mobility and other related are will be selected.

For both programmes, interested candidates can visit the (https://smartnet.niua.org) website.

The minister also launched the local area plan and town plan schemes for 25 cities in the country, under which the ministry will give Rs 2 crore as central assistance to every city for planned urban expansion.