Out of the 100 “smart cities” to be built across India, Delhi is going to be the first city to attain this tag. While announcing this on Saturday, Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu also added that the National Capital will be developed into a “global city” decongesting it and facilitating all modern amenities within it.
“We want to make Delhi a truly global city, having all latest and modern amenities and facilities that any other global city like london or San Francisco has. We want to have world-class entertainment venues like Disneyland or Universal Studios in the National Capital,” Naidu said. The Narendra Modi-led NDA Government has planned to set up 100 ‘smart cities’ and Naidu said that the first such city will come up in the National Capital. The Minister was speaking at a function organised by DDA at its headquarters to officially kick-start the allotment process of its ‘Housing Scheme 2014’.
“Delhi is the heart of India and the first smart city would come up here. The city of Barcelona in Spain has also promised technological support to us in our effort in this direction,” he said.
“I saw the city of Barcelona, and apart from modern buildings, they have also preserved their old architecture. We also want to preserve our traditional architecture, that India is so richly endowed with, even as we embrace modernity,” he added. Naidu handed over allotment letters to the first few successful applicants.
Talking about the ‘smart city’ initiative further, he said the focus would be to build global educational and health institutes and entertainment facilities. “We also want to liberalise the industrial estate policy. An industrial space may not necessarily contain factories, but showrooms also. A committee will be formed to look into this issue as well,” the Minister said.
To be developed by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the ‘smart city’ will be a complete sub-city, which would be located in an area of 20-24 hectares, zoned out of Dwarka, Rohini and Narela, and will be equipped with latest technologies and waste-management techniques. “The smart city will have a world-class infrastructure, 24-hour power supply, complete wi-fi connectivity, and will employ green technology and latest water conservation techniques like rain-harvesting and waste management techniques, among other facilities,” said DDA Vice-Chairman Balvinder Kumar.
Outlining the achievements of the Government in the financial sector, Naidu said, “As per the PM’s vision of ending financial untouchability, we have opened 10 crore new bank accounts in the last nine weeks under the Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana.” Naidu said the land for ‘smart city’ in Delhi would be acquired through land-pooling, on which the Ministry and the DDA are currently working.
He said besides increasing population, Delhi also has a problem of large number of vehicles and so there was a need to promote public transport. “Currently, there are 85 lakh vehicles in the city and to decongest it, we want to bring in circular railway, mass rapid transit system, revive the BRT corridor and expand the reach of Metro network,” he said.