Chennai: Though Chennai figured as the 12th entrant from Tamil Nadu in the list of Smart Cities released by the Ministry of Urban Development on Thursday, the Chennai corporation appears relaxed in its pursuit of the mission.
While the ministry announced that 20 cities would make the cut in the first round of selection and for whom '100 crore funds will be released before the end of the year, corporation officials told DC that they wouldn’t mind missing the cut in the first round.
“Getting selected in the first round is more about who can make the better presentation to the Central government. Though there will be no bearing from the Swachh Bharat ranking list, certain townships and cities may try and use it as a leverage to make the cut in the first round,” a senior official said.
“The Smart City project is for a period of five years. So, if we do not get selected in the first year, there will always be the second and third rounds. Anyway, the corporation is working on a parallel track to develop Chennai into a smart city, regardless of the Centre’s project,” the official added.
Officials commented that the funds on offer from the Centre were insignificant when compared to the civic body’s own budget spend.
“The corporation’s budget is around Rs 4,500 crore. We get around Rs 500 crore from the state government year-on-year under the Mega City Development Mission,” said an official.
The civic body is keen on the retrofitting option under Smart City guidelines, which proposes to retrofit civic infrastructure in at least a 500-acre of land space in the city. “If the state tells us that we can probably explore the Greenfield development option in the extended areas, we will examine that option. Consultants will be appointed in due time to study and find out which area to retrofit or develop greenfield projects in so that we can table the presentation to the Centre,” the official added.
Offering a little insight on how retrofitting an area will be like, an official said, “The Centre wants to retrofit a 500-acre area. In our city, that is like a ward or two wards at best. Basically, our Harrington road special project is a model of retrofitting an area. Obviously, with the Smart City, there are the aspects of ensuring 24/7 water, power supply among other key civic infrastructures identified by the Centre,” an official said.
