New Delhi: Development of 100 ‘Smart Cities’ will be the key component of a new urban mission to be launched by the BJP-led NDA government to augment infrastructure and transportation facilities in existing and to-be-built cities, replacing the ambitious JNNURM project of the UPA regime.
The Centre’s decision not to extend the tenure of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), launched in 2005 by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was officially announced last week, though there were clear indications ever since the new dispensation assumed office.
In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha last week, Union urban development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said the scheme for JNNURM was closed on March 31, 2014, in the clearest indication that the Centre was in no mood to continue with the programme by granting an extension.
Development of 100 ‘Smart Cities’ is one of the key programmes that the Centre has given thrust to in the Union Budget by allotting a around Rs 7,000 crore for the purpose and has identified a couple of towns for up gradation.
Officials said that the new scheme to be launched for development of existing cities and to-be-created cities will focus on modern concept like using geographic information system, providing the best transport facilities and making them cleaner by providing solid and liquid waste management system.
