Local Goa News

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

PANJIM TO FINALLY GO ‘SMART’

Panjim ranks 8 among 13 cities selected under the Fast Track competition list; Lucknow tops this selection of cities to be included in the list of ‘smart’ cities

PANJIM: The Capital city Panjim on Tuesday got selected along with 13 more cities for development under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ‘Smart City Development Mission’ project. Ranked at eighth position under the Fast-track competition, the City Rs 1775.12 crore project got clearance from the Union Ministry for Urban Development.
Included in the list of 100 cities under the Mission, Panjim had failed to find a place in the first 20 cities selected for Smart City Mission in January. Panjim then got a second chance under the Fast Track Competition list and was allowed to replace its bid.
Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu Tuesday morning announced the names of 13 selected cities with Lucknow topping the list. The other cities include Warangal, Dharamsala, Chandigarh, Raipur, New Town Kolkata, Bhagalpur, Imphal, Ranchi, Agartala and Faridabad.
“Panjim is ranked 8th among the 13 cities selected under the fast track mode. Compared to last proposal, the Union Ministry noted nine per cent improvement in our new proposal,” GSIDC Vice Chairman Siddharth Kunkolienkar told media persons on Tuesday afternoon.
“The proposals were judged and selected on credibility of implementation, city vision and strategy, economic and environmental impact, cost effectiveness, innovation and scalability and processes followed including citizen implementation,” Kunkolienkar added.
The Smart city proposal (SCP) drafted by the consultant ICLEI South Asia, has pegged the project at Rs 1775.12 crore, which includes Rs 778.55 crore convergence, Rs 534.12 crore SCP component, Rs 396.83 crore through PPP and Rs 65.62 crores as maintenance and operational cost. The State and Centre share would be Rs 534.12 crore over next five years.
“The first installment of Rs 100 crore is expected in next one month, soon after constitution of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV),” Panjim MLA said. He said that State government has assured to provide necessary funding for the project, wherein in the first year it has already made a budgetary provision of Rs 80 crore.
The entire project is divided under two concepts -- Pan City and Area Based Development. Under Pan City, the focus would be on introduction of hop-on hop-off bus transport, pedestrian roads and smart component to the solid waste management.
Under Area Based Development, an area of 2 sq metres has been identified, which would be development for improved quality service.

Herald Goa News

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