THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ever since the BJP Government at the centre announced Thiruvananthapuram as one of the seven State capitals in competition to be developed as a smart city, more than 1.5 lakh people from all walks of life have been coming up with novel proposals. With Mayor V. K. Prasanth informing that the handholding agency would be finalized by November 5, the race is hotting up.
If the capital city is selected, the central government will provide Rs 500 crores towards the project. The state government and the Corporation will have to mobilise an additional '500 crores. In the first phase of the smart cities competition, the only one selected from Kerala was Kochi. This time, Thiruvananthapuram got a second chance to be in the competition as several capital cities got to be part of the smart cities project.
The Thiruvananthapuram Mayor’s office has been inundated with proposals from the public with most of them coming on social media. Several campaigns and competitions are ongoing to garner maximum participation so that the best proposals reach officials. A senior Corporation official told DC that a High Power Committee meeting was slated for Wednesday at noon.
“A final decision is likely to be taken on Wednesday. The meeting will take stock of the situation so far. We have been asked to do a presentation before the HPC chaired by Chief Secretary S. M. Vijayanand on the status so far”, Corporation officials said. Additional Chief Secretary (Finance), ACS (Water Resources), ACS (Planning), KWA MD, Kudumbashree Executive Director, Suchitwa Mission Executive Director, Mayor and Municipal Secretary are part of the HPC.
The consulting agency will help Thiruvananthapuram prepare its proposal for the smart cities competition. The consultancy will be one of the 53 agencies empanelled by the Government of India. Proposals from various agencies are now being studied. Even before the consultancy is finalised, ideas regarding smart cities have been generated from the public.
