Taking forward the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to set up 100 smart cities across the country, the Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday provided a much-needed encouragement for investors.
Naidu, speaking at a session on Smart Cities during the ongoing Seventh Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2015 at Mahatma Mandir here, mentioned that the Centre would be ready to provide viability gap funding for interested parties in developing smart cities.
This will encourage the public private partnership (PPP) model for development of smart cities.
“It will take lakhs of crore to invest in smart cities. You cannot expect the government to make all that investment. We invite private players to come ahead and build smart cities. The government will provide viability gap funding and will also facilitate wherever necessary. But it has to be built through PPP model only,” said Naidu.
A final decision on identification of smart cities will taken after the consultations with all State Governments. The Centre will come out with documents on smart cities by the end of this month.
He further mentioned that the smart cities would need to be liveable, and provide clean and healthy living conditions.