The Central Government has accepted Dehradun’s proposal to be included in the list of towns to be developed into smart cities across India. Informing the media about this on Tuesday, the Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli expressed hope that Dehradun would be named in the first list of towns to be developed into smart cities. This list is slated to be released by the Central Government on February 28.
The Mayor said, “I had met the Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu on December 22 last year requesting him to include Dehradun in the list of towns to be developed into smart cities. Such towns are selected under four categories- contribution to GDP growth, State capital, heritage or tourism town and hills and coastal areas. There are 96 towns who contribute more to GDP growth than Dehradun but ours is a State capital and hence eligible for the smart city project. Towns are to be considered for this project based on the reforms implemented in the urban local body.
We have carried out most of the stated reforms at MCD including the implementation of double entry system of accounting, e-tendering, self assessment for property tax and biometric system of attendance. I hope Dehradun will be named in the first list of such towns to be released on February 28,” said Chamoli.
He further informed that most of the works in the smart city project will be undertaken in the Public Private Partnership mode. Though the complete guidelines for the project are awaited, there will be provision of Rs50 crore for retrofitting city, Rs250 crore for redevelopment of projects and Rs750 crore for green field development. This sum of about Rs1,000 crore will be released in phases in a period of 10 years. Chamoli also said that he would request the State Government to propose Haridwar and Nainital cities for consideration in the smart city project on grounds of being heritage and tourism towns.