NEW DELHI: Rajasthan has become the first state to submit Smart City plan to the Urban Development Ministry.
Manjit Singh, Principal Secretary (urban development) of Rajasthan submitted Smart City proposals of three cities - Udaipur, Kota and Ajmer to UD Additional Secretary Samir Sharma at Nirman Bhawan here today. UD Secretary Madhusudhan Prasad complimented Rajasthan government for being the first state to submit Smart City proposals.
Investment outlays proposed for developing these three cities as smart cities are Kota - Rs 1,493 cr, Ajmer - Rs 1,300 cr and Udaipur - Rs 1,221 cr. Smart City proposal for Jaipur will be submitted later in the evening. Investment proposed for Jaipur is Rs 2,403 cr.
In all, Rajasthan has proposed a total investment of Rs 6,457 cr for five years for developing four cities as Smart Cities. Barring Tamil Nadu, which has faced a worst flood situation in the recent years, all states and UTs are expected to submit their Smart Cities plan to UD Ministry by December 15. Tamil Nadu account for 12 Smart Cities.
According to a senior UD Ministry official, 98 cities were nominated for developing as Smart Cities after the first round of intra-state competition under 'City Challenge' and Smart City plans for 86 have been approved by respective states and UTs which will be received by the Ministry by tomorrow for evaluation in the second round of 'City Challenge' competition to pick up first batch of 20 cities by third week of January, for financing.