Union Cabinet clears ‪Smart Cities‬ proposal

NEW DELHI, Apr 29: According to a news update shared by the Press Trust of India (PTI) earlier this morning, the Union Cabinet has reportedly cleared the Smart City project and also cleared old housing projects initiated by the previous government. The Smart City project was announced by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the first Union Budget last year in July and an allocation of Rs 7,060 crore in the financial year 2014-15 for developing 100 smart cities in the country was made. "The prime minister has a vision of developing 100 smart cities as satellite towns of larger cities and by modernising the existing mid-sized cities. With development reaching an increasingly large number of people, the pace of migration from the rural areas to the cities is increasing," finance minister Arun Jaitley had said while presenting the Budget for 2014-15. Earlier this month, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had said that smart cities mission will be rolled out from May onwards and then the ensuing competition and race would begin.  The Centre will be a facilitator with regard to smart cities and government will do hand holding, he had told representatives from industry, promising full support in the implementation of projects that are identified. Read the full story here Recently, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Urban Development had also asked the ministry to finalise the components and list of 100 smart cities within three months. Read the full story here Speaking at the annual general meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce (Amcham), and stating that the US government and companies are willing to help India realise its “ambitious plans” for setting up 100 smart cities, US Ambassador Richard Verma had said this week that lack of clarity on financing for many projects is acting like a barrier. Read the full story here With inputs from PTI