Guidelines for smart city project to be finalised next week

The ministry of urban development will notify the guidelines for 100 smart cities project across the country next week, official sources here said.

The union cabinet last week approved the Smart Cities Mission under which 100 new smart cities, which would promote adoption of smart solutions for efficient use of available assets and enhance the quality of urban life, would be made. The project would have an outlay of Rs.48,000 crore.

An official told IANS that the detailed guidelines of the project will be notified next week.

Each selected city would get central assistance of Rs.100 crore per year for five years. Smart City aspirants will be selected through a "City Challenge Competition" intended to link financing with the ability of the cities to perform to achieve the mission objectives.

Twenty cities will be selected this year, followed by 40 each in the next two years, the source added.

The US has agreed to help develop Visakhapatnam, Ajmer and Allahabad as Smart Cities. Japan has come forward to help develop Varanasi as a smart city and Singapore has agreed to help develop the capital city of Andhra Pradesh. Barcelona has come forward to collaborate with DDA and the ministry of urban development in developing a smart city near Delhi.