40 cities to be selected in second round for smart city project

Forty cities will be selected for the second phase of the Smart City Mission, which is likely to be announced by June, told by Rajya Sabha. The first batch of 20 cities, including Bhubaneshwar, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bhopal and NDMC area of Delhi, were selected for Narendra Modi government's flagship smart city project in January. "It is expected that the results of the next phase will be announced by May/June," Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said in written reply. Assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management systems, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation are some of the highlights of the smart city project. Under the Smart City Mission, 100 cities across the country will be developed as smart cities by 2019-20 with the Union government providing financial support to the extent of Rs 48,000 crore over five years--on an average Rs 100 crore per city per year for five years. “An equal amount will be contributed by the state/urban local body and the balance funds would be mobilised through various sources such as public private partnership and municipal bonds,” reported by PTI. Around 54 cities, including Varanasi, Nagpur, Muzaffarpur, Ghaziabad, Agra, Kanpur, Kota and Gandhinagar will compete to find a place in the second list of 40 cities for the smart city projects.