New Delhi: Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has suggested that there could be a scheme for renewal of 500 urban habitations in India and another for “smart cities”.
Naidu, who chaired a two-day brainstorming session here concerning urban renewal, has asked ministry officials to look into the experience of the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), and said the focus of the smart city project should be on enhancing the quality of urban life through an integrated approach to urban planning.
The brainstorming session concluded Tuesday.An official release said the broad view that emerged at the session was that new urban development initiatives should aim at improving the quality of life and go beyond merely improving infrastructure, based on the experience of implementing the JNNURM.
Various aspects of urban development, including smart cities, were taken up for critical examination. Power Minister Piyush Goyal and parliamentarians Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Baijayant Panda and Rajiv Chandrasekhar shared their perspectives.
Goyal suggested that issues of solid waste management and cleanliness should be addressed on priority. On development of smart cities, he said four-five such projects could be offered to states which have land available readily.
Rudy said six dimensions of smart cities should be “smart governance, smart mobility, smart environment, smart ecology, smart people and smart living”, while Panda said emerging towns should be included under the smart cities initiative.
Scindia suggested development of ‘counter magnet cities’ to spread urbanisation to new areas and noted that cities which do not face issues like congestion and paucity of land could be chosen first to be developed as smart cities.
IANS
