The formation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) was recommended for developing Dehradun into a smart city with the Urban Development department being made the nodal department for the smart city project.
A company named Dehradun Smart City limited has also been formed for the purpose of the project. This was stated in the meeting of a high powered committee on smart city chaired by the chief secretary S Ramaswamy at the secretariat on Wednesday.
It was stated in the meeting that the urban development secretary would be the ex officio mission director of the smart city project. Till the appointment of the chief executive officer of the SPV, the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) vice chairman would handle this responsibility. Officials further informed that a Dehradun Smart City limited company had also been formed for the purpose of the project. In this company, 49,997 equity shares would be of the MDDa vice chairman, 49,997 equity shares would be of the municipal commissioner of dehradun and one share each would be of the secretary and superintendent engineer of the MDDA. The commissioner of Garhwal would be the chairman of the board. The board of directors would comprise the MDDA vice chairman, Dehradun municipal commissioner and the director of the Urban Development department. Project management and development consultants would also be appointed in the near future for the successful execution of the project.
The Dehradun Mayor and Dharmpur MlA Vinod Chamoli, additional chief secretary Omprakash, housing secretary Amit Singh Negi, urban development secretary Radhika Jha, MDDA vice chairman Vinay Shankar Pandey, Garhwal commissioner Vinod Sharma, Uttarakhand Environment Protection and Pollution Control Board (UEPPCB) member secretary Vinod Singhal and other officials were also among those present in the meeting.
It will be recalled that earlier after being rejected thrice, the Dehradun smart city proposal was finally approved by the Union Government during June this year.
Based on merit of the proposal, the Dehradun smart city proposal was ranked sixteenth among 30 selected proposals with the proposal for Dehradun scoring 61.94 per cent.