Union Minister of Urban Development, M Venkaiah Naidu has said that a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be created for each city to be included in the Smart Cities scheme; he added that efficient deployment of human and physical resources is one of the objectives of the scheme. The Minister said that ICT solutions would play an important role in improving urban governance and enhancing the efficiency of resource use, adding that Smart Cities and the New Urban Development Scheme for 500 cities would be launched next month.
Naidu elaborating the smart city concept said that building smart cities does not mean putting in place glossy skyscrapers. It is all about imparting a human face to urban development so that the aspirations of socio-economic advancement are fulfilled through adequate employment and livelihood opportunities. Stating that present conditions in urban areas are in a bad state, any improvements in infrastructure and other amenities would make a difference to the quality of living and the objective of smart cities building is to enable such changes in a sustainable manner for long term results.
The minister also stated that present deficit in physical, social, economic and institutional infrastructure will be bridged to make the cities more livable and drive the economic growth. In addition, pan-city schemes like efficient public transport systems including ring roads and e-governance initiatives will also be undertaken under brownfield development. He further added that Smart solutions will be applied to places and projects to enable efficient utilisation of limited resources like land, water and power.