THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Thiruvananthapuram is the only city from Kerala chosen by the Union government for the CITIIS 2.0 (City Investments To Innovate, Integrate and Sustain) programme that aims to promote climate-oriented reform and integrated waste management with a major thrust on circular economy. The ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) had launched the CITIIS 2.0 challenge last November for 100 smart cities.
As many as 84 smart cities from across the country took part in the challenge and submitted proposals to be a part of the programme being implemented in collaboration with the French Development Agency, European Union, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), and German development bank KfW (KreditanstaltfürWiederaufbau).
The state capital is among the 18 cities selected by MoHUA for the initiative. Agartala, Agra, Bareilly, Belagavi, Bilaspur, Guwahati, Jabalpur, Jaipur, Madurai, Muzaffarpur, New Town Kolkata, Panaji, Rajkot, Srinagar, Thanjavur, Udaipur and Ujjain are the other cities chosen.
The cities will receive an allocation of Rs 135 crore for the four-year programme, of which 80% will be funded by the Centre.
Financial and technical support for projects promoting a circular economy, with a focus on integrated waste management, and support for climate action are the main components of the programme.
An official with the Thiruvananthapuram corporation said the city has been chosen for the programme proposed during the competition.
“There are gaps in the existing waste management projects and we aim to attain 100% coverage. We proposed a zero waste city project,” the official said.