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The Centre will handhold States by providing support in developing the proposed smart city projects in the country, while encouraging them to improve their own resources, Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, said here on Monday.
He said if local municipalities have a strong balance-sheet, they would be able to access funds from various sources, including international sources.
Speaking at a Regional Workshop on Smart Cities where representatives from several States and officials from 40 cities had gathered, he said participation of people and their support was vital for effective implementation of this ambitious smart city programme.
“It is a difficult task to transform cities into smart cities but not impossible,” he said.
Solar projects He said it is proposed to meet 10 per cent of smart city power requirement by setting up of solar energy projects. The setting up of solar power units would be made mandatory.
Once detailed project reports are prepared and special purpose vehicles formed to implement various projects, apart from local body funds, the Centre would also play a role in supporting various initiatives over the next five years.
The whole model of development is based on the greater role for local bodies as put forth in the 73{+r}{+d} and 74{+t}{+h} Constitutional amendments, he explained.
The Union Minister said the importance of the workshop can be appreciated from the fact that there is convergence of new initiatives like Smart City Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Swachh Bharat Mission, Urban Housing Mission and Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) is another important feature of the shift in our approach to urban development to make it more result oriented and inclusive.
Highlighting the support to States and urban local bodies, Naidu said the Centre has committed assistance of over ₹3 lakh crore over the next five to six years. This is in sharp contrast to the Central assistance of about ₹36,000 crore under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission 2005-2014.
Referring to the important aspect of developing public transport networks, he said there was a need to come up with innovative transport projects to strengthen the existing public transport systems.
He said LED lights consume only about 40 per cent energy compared to the conventional lighting systems and there was a need to gradually replace all lighting systems with LED lights.
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