Hyderabad : The Government is set to announce by September 1, the names of urban centres that would figure in the list of 100 smart cities, a flagship scheme of the Narendra Modi administration. “By September 1, the list of 100 cities will be announced officially. It is almost ready,” Union Minister of Urban Development and Housing M Venkaiah Naidu said on Saturday.
“Initially, only 20 cities will be taken up on priority. These 20 cities will be selected on certain parameters, which have already been communicated to the 100 cities. Not only 100 cities, those guidelines had been sent to other aspirant cities also,” he said.
Naidu was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of ‘National Conclave on Smart Technologies’ organised by Smart Cities Council India. Explaining further, he said the competition among cities will be in terms of providing better amenities to citizens and administration, including accountability and transparency, based on which ranking would be provided. He said the implementation of the mission will be done by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). The SPV will plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement, manage, operate, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects. Each smart city will have a SPV which will be headed by a full time CEO and have nominees of Central and State Governments and Urban Local Body on its Board.
