Smart cities need cycle tracks, e-waste mgt system: Sushil

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today said a Smart City should have facilities of play grounds, foot paths for pedestrians, cycle tracks, electronic and bio medical waste management and Information Technology based traffic management system.

Modi said Rs 1,000 crore would be spent in the next five years on each of the four cities - Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bhagalpur and Bihar Sharif - selected under Smart City project for their development.

Addressing a 'Smart City Conclave', he said, the concept behind the smart city is to make the cities a better place to live in.

Additional funds would be spent for different departments apart from the funds available under Smart City project, the deputy CM said and added that Centre would spend Rs 3,000 crore on setting up sewerage line and treatment plants in Patna as part of Namami Gange project.

Urbanisation is also one of the criteria for development, he said adding that the more the urbanisation, the more the state will be considered as developed.

Tamil Nadu and Kerala have the urbanisation percentage of 48 and 42 respectively while the figure is 11 for Bihar, Modi said.

Percentage of urbanisation in the country was 31.06 per cent in 2011, he said.

It was 11 per cent in 1901 and and is expected to be 40.76 per cent by 2030 in the country, he said.