Prime Minister Narendra Modi will formally launch the Rs 98,000-crore Smart City and AMRUT projects on June 25, in an attempt at transforming the urban infrastructure burdened with ever-growing population.

Modi will announce the implementation guidelines for the two big-ticket urban renewal projects — Smart City and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) — at Vigyan Bhawan in the presence of senior officials from the state governments and Union Territories dealing with urban affairs, including municipal commissioners and mayors.

“It (June 25) will be an important day for the urban development sector and, thereafter, the main challenge for state governments and urban local bodies will be to get things going for making effective use of huge investments by the Centre and other sources in the sector,” Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told PTI.

Naidu said the main objective of the twin projects is to change the landscape by addressing the issue of the infrastructure gap in urban areas so that cities become more liveable, besides enhancing the business and investment climate for the benefit of the poor.

The Cabinet had some time ago cleared the projects — 100 Smart Cities and a new urban renewal mission for 500 cities named after former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, replacing the one christened after Jawaharlal Nehru, with a total outlay of Rs 98,000 crore for the next five years.

While Rs 48,000 cr has been earmarked for the Smart City project, Rs 50,000 crore will be spent on AMRUT.

A senior Urban Development Ministry official said Modi will unveil the roadmap for developing 100 Smart Cities and 500 AMRUT cities at the launch. He will also announce the number of Smart Cities to be allotted to states and the quantum of Central grants.

The projects envisage recasting the urban landscape to make them more liveable. Countries such as Singapore, Japan, France and the US have shown interest in partnering with India on Smart City project.

Migration from rural areas have put a great burden on the existing civic infrastructure in cities, posing a major challenge for the town planners. There was an urgent need for development of urban infrastructure as population has increased many times in cities.

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