Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod for signing of a Memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Urban Development and Bloomberg Philanthropies (BP), New York to support the development of Smart Cities in the country.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the proposal entailing Bloomberg Philanthropies, to work as Knowledge Partner and support development and execution of a Cities Challenge under the Smart Cities Mission.
The New Year 2016 is set to be a landmark in the annuls of urban development in the country with the announcement of first batch of 20 Smart Cities early next month besides the new initiatives of the Union Government under new urban missions launched this year taking effect.
Evaluation of Smart City Plans of 97 cities in the second stage of ‘City Challenge’ competition is already in progress and the results will be announced shortly marking a high point in promoting competition among cities for resource allocation, the first of its kind. As knowledge partner, Bloomberg Philanthropies would also support the Urban Development ministry in helping design and manage the cities challenge. Bloomberg Philanthropies Government Innovation Initiatives equip mayors and local leaders with practical tools and approaches to solve major challenges and enable public sector innovation to flourish.
There is no financial implication to the Government of India as the cost implications to the activities done in supporting the Mission will be incurred by Bloomberg Philanthropies.
The Government has also reset the parameters for urban planning in the year 2015 and has approved an investment of about Rs.42,000 cr in 2015 for developing basic urban infrastructure and for affordable housing alone. This includes Rs.19,170 cr for improving infrastructure relating to water supply, sewerage networks, storm water drains, urban transport and open spaces in 474 cities in 18 states under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), launched in June this year.