Govt announces first 20 Smart Cities

The central government today announced the names of the first 20 cities in the country which will be developed into “Smart Cities.” These cities were handpicked from a total of 97 cities which had entered the Smart Cities Challenge. The cities which were not chosen in this round will have to rework their proposal and participate in Round 2 of the challenge.
The Smart Cities will be developed to have basic infrastructure including assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient transport and IT connectivity. “The competition was as rigorous as the civil services competition,” said the Minister for Urban Development, Venkaiah Naidu while announcing the list of winners.
Bhubaneswar came out on top and secured the first place in the competition. Prominent southern cities such as Kochi, Chennai, and Coimbatore have also made the cut.
Here is the full list of winner.
1.Bhubaneswar 2. Pune 3. Jaipur 4. Surat 5. Kochi 6.Ahmedabad 7.Jabalpur 8.Visakhapatnam 9.Solapur 10 Davanagere 11. Indore 12. New Delhi 13. Coimbatore 14. Kakinada 15. Belgaum 16. Udaipur 17. Guwahati 18. Chennai 19. Ludhiana 20. Bhopal
The government is expected to wrap up this project by 2022. The central and state governments are expected to equally split the cost of this project. It is expected to cost INR 96,000 crores.
Kavitha Ravi for IndiaProperty.com
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By: indiaproperty.com