Master plan work to begin in two weeks
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Visakhapatnam: In a significant development, a consortium of US based, companies has been selected to prepare a detailed master plan to develop Vizag into a Smart City. State government after carefully evaluating various bids it received, as per a set laid criteria to prepare a detailed master plan, to a Request for Proposal (RfP), a consortium of US based companies, AECOM, IBM and KPMG, has been selected.
It is worth mentioning here that the Andhra Pradesh government and US Trade Development Agency (USTDA) in January signed a MoU for the development of Vizag as smart city. The MoU was signed in New Delhi on the first day of US President Barack Obama’s three day visit to India in January this year.
USTDA would be funding the consortium to prepare the Smart City master plan. The representatives of the consortium- AECOM, IBM and KPMG, would be visiting Vizag in two weeks to begin the planning work which includes GIS mapping of the entire city. The consortium representatives will prepare sector wise specific Detailed Project Reports (DPR) and submit the overall master plan to the union urban development ministry.
“The consortium will have sector specific experts in their teams. They will prepare, DPRs for water supply management, sanitation, sewage treatment, environment, tourism, non-motorised transport system, disaster management and other important aspects as per city’s requirements.
Though there is no specific time frame for the master plan preparation we are expecting the detailed plan will be ready within six months. A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be formed with the concerned agencies after the plan is ready to implement it.
“Vizag’s Smart City Plan will also be evaluated by the Union urban development ministry under the 100 smart cities initiative,” said Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) commissioner Pravin Kumar.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
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