The Government on Thursday announced 98 cities which will compete for the second stage of the smart cities challenge.
Out of these 98 cities, 24 are capital cities, another 24 are business and industrial centres, 18 are of cultural and tourism importance, five are port cities and three are education and healthcare hubs, the Union Minister for Urban Development, M Venkaih Naidu, said.
He was addressing a press conference here on Thursday.
“Capital cities Itanagar, Patna, Shimla, Bengaluru, Daman, Thiruvananthapuram, Puducherry, Gangtok and Kolkata could not be nominated, “ Naidu added.
Out of the 98 cities, 90 cities have also already been selected for Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).
J&K has sought more time to decide the nominee from the State, while UP has reported that Meerut and Raibareily have been tied in the evaluation. Hence, the remaining two nominees will be decided in some time.
The Government will now allocate Rs. 2 crore each to these 98 cities for preparation of smart city proposals for competing in the second stage.
The proposals will be judged on credibility of implementation, city vision and strategy, economic and environmental impacts, cost effectiveness, innovation and scalability and processes followed, including citizen implementation.
Top 20 scoring cities will be chosen in a few months and Rs. 100 crore per city per year will be provided by the Centre for the next five years.