Yamuna bridges await Haryana reply on cost sharing

The NCR Planning Board has sought a reply from the Haryana government after the Noida Authority raised the issue of cost sharing of the two bridges planned on Yamuna between Noida and Faridabad. The Authority, which says it has sufficient funds to start the project, has also decided to increase purchase rates of land along the river.

Construction of the two bridges was approved last month in a meeting in Delhi attended by Haryana additional secretary P Raghvendra Rao, Noida and Greater Noida authorities' chairman Rama Raman, NCR Planning and Monitoring Cell (UP) commissioner Kush Verma and Faridabad town planner.

 

"After we raised the issue of cost sharing, the NCRPB has sought a reply from Haryana. Once cost sharing is settled, the projects will further move ahead," said Rajesh Prakash, additional CEO, Noida Authority. "We are going to increase purchase cost of land near the riverbed. We are planning to increase the purchase rate from the existing Rs 2,800 per square metre to Rs 3,500 per sqmts. A proposal will be presented in the Authority's next board meeting," Prakash said.

Chairman of the Noida and Greater Noida authorities Rama Raman, meanwhile, said MoU for the two bridges was being finalized and is expected to take a couple of months, following which tenders will be awarded. "A team is working on the MoU. Once both Haryana government and we finalize MoUs, a date for signing them will be announced," Raman said. The bridges will drastically cut travel time between Noida and Faridabad from two hours at present, to flat 15 minutes.

"The bridge on the FNG corridor, estimated to cost Rs 266 crore, will start between sectors 150 and 149A and end in Tilori village in Faridabad. The length of the bridge is 600 metres and Canal Bridge is 80 metres. The other bridge will start nears sectors 167A and 168 and end near Faridabad's Lalpur village. The 600m-long bridge will cost Rs 315 crore," Raman said. Both the bridges will end on the road leading to Badkal lake crossing. "We have already received environment clearance and hydraulic study will soon be completed," Raman added.

Source: Magicbricks

Metro extension to benefit two lakh commuters

The extension of the metro network from Badarpur to Escorts (Mujesar) will make life a lot easier for the Faridabad residents.

The 13.87-km elevated section will not only meet the long-pending demand of about two lakh commuters on a daily basis, but also make commuting hassle-free and help save a lot of time, energy, and money.

It is expected to provide people a safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable, environment-friendly, and sustainable transport facility. Non-availability of a reliable transport system has caused congestion on the roads and resulted in long hours of journey, high consumption of fossil fuel, and environment pollution. “The metro has given the much-needed fillip to the city and made it a sort of extension of Delhi. With the metro, it will hardly take half-an-hour to reach Connaught Place,” said Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Sector 15.

The real estate sector is also upbeat about the entry of metro to Faridabad. Despite a large number of residential colonies and commercial complexes having come up in a 2,500-acre area in Neharpar over the past few years, the occupation rate has been slow due to poor connectivity with neighbouring Delhi.

“Those working in south Delhi prefer to stay in Gurgaon because of better connectivity thus harming the real estate in Faridabad. Now with increased connectivity and possible extension of metro till Ballabargh, the real estate scenario is expected to improve,” said Sumit Jha, a realtor.

NCR Chamber of Commerce and Industry president H.P. Yadav welcomed the extension of metro as ‘very positive for the growth of the region’. But he demanded that the Gurgaon metro be extended till Manesar for the betterment of the industry.

Source: The Hindu

Smart transportation for Smart Cities

As per a World Bank study, by 2031, some 600 million people are expected to live in India's cities. However, only about 20 Indian cities with populations over 500,000 have any kind of organized public transport systems. In fact, the share of public transport in large Indian cities actually declined from some 70 per cent in 1994 to almost 40 per cent in 2007. Furthermore, India's accident and fatality rates are among the highest in the world, mainly affecting the poor and vulnerable who do not have their own means of transportation.

City transportation is an important pillar for quality of life of citizens in a city. Currently, in most of the cities, public and private road transportation are the key mode of commuting and logistics. Some large and mega cities have metro and local train network as the backbone transportation mode.

Lack of quality and safe public transportation, inadequate capacity of public transportation, road safety concerns, overcrowded road network, poor traffic management, parking issues, theft, poor road conditions, lack of modal options (including pedestrian walkways) remain the key issues in most of the cities. Most cities also lack the integrated transportation plans leading to huge demand-supply gap and poor transportation network. For transport operators, huge demand-supply gap, under recovery  and poor asset management remain the key issues.

The schematic below highlight some of the key issues in public transportation in India which are mapped as a part of Accenture- NASSCOM report:

Transforming Public Transportation leveraging Smart Technology Solutions

Technology plays an important role by predicting demand and supply data to feed into transportation planning. Technology can also help in improving reliability of public transportation network by providing visibility on arrivals/departures/route information for travellers for hassle-free journey. Multi modal fare integration can help citizens to use multiple modal options without hassle of purchasing different tickets. Intelligent traffic management can aid efficient traffic flow.

 

The schematic from Accenture NASSCOM report below shows the how Smart Technology Solutions can be leverage to improve public transportation and transportation security:

Some of the technologies relevant for Smart Cities includes:

Bicycle sharing system: A bicycle sharing system, public bicycle system, or bike share scheme, is a service in which bicycles are made available for shared use to individuals on a very short-term basis. For many systems, smartphone mapping apps show nearby stations. They show how many bikes and how many open docks are available at each station, increasing convenience for users.

Geospatial-enabled efficient transportation system: Geospatial-enabled services provide periodic traffic forecast, journey planning mobile applications based on real-time data, etc.

Dynamic carpooling/car sharing: Carpooling applications link drivers and passengers in real-time, thus enabling dynamic carpooling. Drivers wishing to profit from their journeys can find people situated on the same route via a smartphone app and vice versa. Passengers can also directly debit his or her fare to app, eliminating the need for any money exchange. The costs of travel would typically be capped.

GPS-based tracking and route information of public transport: Advanced vehicle tracking solutions enhances operations and optimises public transportation and ridership. These solutions offer real-time GPS tracking from mobile devices thus increasing the reliability of public transportation.

Integrated transit hubs: Integrated transport hubs seamlessly connect multiple modes of transportation like bus system, metro system, etc.

Public transport surveillance: As the public transit population grows, it becomes increasingly important to launch surveillance system on the public transport, for e.g. buses, mass transit railway, underground, and trains to secure public transportation. The administrators can monitor the public transport remotely and take action against any accidents/incidents. The video footage can also be used as legal evidence against damage or criminal action on the public transport.

Road user charging: Road user charges are direct charges levied for the use of roads, including road tolls, distance or time-based fees, congestion charges and charges designed to discourage use of certain classes of vehicle, fuel sources or more polluting vehicles. These charges help to reduce peak hour travel  and the associated traffic congestion or other social and environmental negative externalities associated with road travel such as air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and visual intrusion, noise and road accidents. It can be leveraged in certain busy areas or selected cities to discourage private transport usage.

Single fare card: Single fare card for fare payment on the various participating public transportation systems. The cards can be recharged by mobile applications/internet/retail outlets. Potential extension of the cards could also be for street parking.

Smart parking: A smart parking leverages parking sensors, cameras, smart parking solution, etc. to provide efficient management of on street and off street parking spaces.

Smart toll: Smart toll leverages technology like number plate detection, RFID, etc. to charge toll fees to user account so that vehicles do not have to wait at toll gates on local, national and state highway.

Smart traffic lights: Smart traffic lights leverages technology to sense traffic condition to tune traffic lights which enable smooth flow of traffic.

Freight ICT services: Freight ICT applications can help save time and energy by improving the efficiency of freight vehicle operations including processes at entry and exit and making better use of the freight network. ICT brings the potential for virtually unlimited data collection, greatly enhanced predictive capabilities, and real-time, dynamic decision-making and implementation which lead to a more efficient freight system based on completely visible and accessible physical and digital networks.

Electric vehicles: Support electricity and renewable energy operated cars with the required infrastructure. Make a few cities as pilot for "Plug-in" ready cities by facilitating the expansion of a Public Electric Vehicle (EV) infrastructure that ensures the safe, reliable, and efficient integration of EV charging loads with the power grid.

Transportation is a key pillar for quality of life in a city. India needs a balanced focus in terms of improving/extending transportation infrastructure and leveraging smart technology solutions. While, there is lots that needs to be done to improve/extend public transportation infrastructure in Indian cities and Government of India is investing in various national/ state/ local initiatives to improve public transportation, there is also need to leverage Smart Technology Solutions to quickly improve efficiency/capacity of public transportation and to create high quality public transportation system.

Source: The Economic Times

MPD needs tuning, operational guidelines to work

NEW DELHI: Three years and more than 100 amendments later, the revised Master Plan for Delhi 2021 (MPD-2021) is nearly ready. While the Centre will soon notify provisions for transit-oriented development (TOD) and the environment, some amendments have already been implemented.

But is MPD-2021 a feasible plan? How much of it has been implemented? Does it really address the pressing concerns of the city and provide a realistic vision for sustainable development? Is it in sync with the ground realities? These are some of the questions on Delhi's mind.

Experts say many features of MPD-2021 have remained on paper for reasons ranging from the multiplicity of authorities in the city to poor enforcement and planning by the agencies concerned and the presence of many unauthorized colonies, slums, resettlement colonies and villages. Urban planners and experts TOI spoke to said the city needs operational guidelines to implement the MPD and these should be a part of the document.

The failure of civic and government agencies to prepare a local area plan (LAP) even after eight years is an example of the complications in the way of MPD-2021. The erstwhile Municipal Corporation of Delhi had made an LAP for some municipal wards but it was never notified as MCD said it didn't have the powers to notify it while DDA insisted only MCD could notify it. "Due to this technical discrepancy, there is no approved LAP which is critical for any area's development. Operational guidelines will help in overcoming such discrepancies and help in faster implementation of the plan," said Sanjukta Bhaduri, head of the department of urban planning in School of Planning and Architecture who prepared some of the LAPs.

Experts say the MPD is good as a 'vision document' as it provides for sustainable development with provisions like TOD, land pooling and stress on conservation of heritage and the environment, but some of its provisions are not in sync with ground realities.

More than 60% of Delhi's population lives in unauthorized colonies, rural and urban villages and unauthorized regularized colonies. The document doesn't dwell much on the development needs of the people living in these areas. "Regularization of unauthorized colonies can't happen as per the terms and conditions of the present master plan. Building plans can't be sanctioned here as per the MPD. These colonies have come up illegally. There is a need to have different norms for them," said urban planner A G K Menon.

As a result, even "people-friendly" features like sub-division and amalgamation of plots haven't worked. Sub-division of plots was allowed in unauthorized regularized (UR) colonies, but it has not found any takers as the permitted floor-area ratio (FAR) is based on the plot's original size. "In most cases, the FAR has already been used up by people living on the sub-divided plots so fresh construction cannot be carried out on the vacant portion of the plot. This has led to rampant unauthorized construction in UR colonies," said a South Corporation official.

Experts say illegal construction is rampant in Delhi, so each master plan has focused on regularizing illegal activities. The 2007 MPD provided for legalizing commercial establishments in residential areas by allowing mixed land use. Now, the revised plan proposes low-density residential areas (LDRA), which is a way to regularize illegal farmhouses. Corporation officials say LDRA actually allows more dwelling units per plot.

"The vision is limited by the burden of the present. Each plan regularizes what has come up illegally. It is about time we seriously address the issues and provide practical solutions to decongest the city. There are villages which are 300 years old. There is a need for a special plan to restore them," said K T Ravindran, urban designer and former DUAC chairperson.

Experts say the provisions related to parking space need to be revised, as MPD-2021 stressed on providing parking while now the thrust is on public transport. "MPD-2021 allows for two equivalent car spaces per 100-sq metre of residential area and three in commercial areas. There is an urgent need to undo this clause for the success of TOD," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director, research and advocacy, Centre for Science and Environment.

There's also a need for a rolling process of planning for timely course-correction. "Twenty years is too long a period for planning, given the city's complexities and fast growth rate," said Bhaduri.

New Delhi: To a common man it seems strange that years are spent in drawing and reviewing the master plan but Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the city's planning agency, says making the 'vision document' is a mammoth task. Decisions are taken after a lot of discussion between experts and implemented only after seeking and incorporating the public's views.

DDA had formed 12 sub-groups of experts from various fields to discuss the city's development and growing requirements of shelter, traffic and transportation, trade and commerce, etc.

More than 200 experts took two years to prepare the draft of Master Plan for Delhi 2021 after the Union urban development ministry commissioned it in 2003. Each group had academicians, experts working on the ground and government representatives. "They submitted their recommendations after reviewing sectoral studies and current problems like the commercialization of residential areas," said a senior DDA official.

Experts say the main objective of MPD-2021 was to address the city's growing needs while conserving the environment and heritage.

After the draft plan was notified in March 2005, DDA received more than 7,000 suggestions and objections from the public. "Close to 90% of the suggestions were related to property. We incorporated the suggestions for the city's development and sent them to our advisory council for approval," a DDA official said.

Finalizing a master plan after incorporating the public's suggestions takes a long time. The draft plan is vetted by various committees for legal and technical issues before it is sent to the Union urban development ministry which notifies it after receiving the Cabinet's approval.

"The entire exercise for preparing a draft plan is repeated after the public's suggestions are incorporated. That is why it takes years," said the official.

The same process is followed to notify a revised master plan. The revision started in early-2012 and the government is notifying the changes in phases. DDA officials say more than 100 amendments have already been made to MPD-2021. The urban development ministry is in the process of finalizing the last chapter on environment, which will be posted for people's suggestions and objections soon. Sources say the review is likely to end by December.

Source: Times Of India

SECTOR TO GAIN FROM REDUCED BANKING RATES

In a move that will provide a huge help in driving the demand for real estate sector in our country, a handful of banks have slashed their lending rates and a few have made a cut in their deposit rates which is considered a sign for future reduction in lending rates. A drop in lending rates means that the Equated Monthly Instalments (EMIs) are decreased which provides an immediate relief to the pockets of the customers. Country’s second largest private sector bank in terms of assets, HDFC Bank yesterday announced a reduction of 35 basis points or 0.35 percent on its base rate bringing it down to 9.35 percent which will be effective from today, from a previous 9.7 percent; currently getting it to the lowest in the industry standing shoulder-to-shoulder with SBI and ICICI Bank. Also, the Bengaluru-headquartered state owned Canara Bank reduced its lending rate by 10 basis points or 0.10 percent bringing it down to 9.90 percent from 10 percent previously. Axis Bank will reduce its deposit rates by 0.2-0.5 percent across various maturities with effect from today signalling a future drop in lending rates.

“The reduction in lending rates by banks is coming at the right time as we are inching closer towards the final festive season of the year where most home sales takes place. It was also important on the banks behalf that these rates were reduced as frequent nods had already come from the RBI chief and by end of this month, another RBI review policy is awaited that might see a rate cut only when the banking industry cooperates with the RBI”, states Mr. Deepak Kapoor, President-CREDAI Western U.P. & Director, GulshanHomz. Also agrees Mr. Ashok Gupta, who is the CMD of Ajnara India Ltd. as he believes that “There exists a direct relation between reduction in lending rates by banks and an increase in demand for property. It is then just a matter of proper timing by the banks while adjusting the rates. Just a month away from now we will begin with the festive season of the Hindu calendar where massive demand is observed every year, and this is the time when potential customers plan and allocate their funds for the big purchase. Thus, a fall in lending rates today will promote the sentiments in the market and allow people to strategize their upcoming purchase”.

The Reserve Bank Of India had already provided the country with three rate cuts this year by 25 basis points or 0.25 percent on each occasion. In its monetary policy review on August 4^th, RBI governor Mr. RaghuramRajan had deplored that banks had lowered their rates by only 30 basis points since the first rate cut in January this year despite RBI having cut its benchmark rate by as much as 75 basis points since then. Mr. Rajan had also linked better monetary policy show or banks cutting their lending rates to any future rate reduction by the central bank. “The RBI has played its part seemingly well with already reducing the repo rate by 75 basis points within this year with two more policy reviews left for this calendar year. The ball is now in the banks court to pass on the benefits to the public otherwise RBI won’t be too lenient in the upcoming policy reviews. This rate cut by banks is a welcome move as it will further assist in boosting the demand for homes in the sectorwhich has become the need of hour considering rising inventory levels nationwide”, explains Mr. KushagrAnsal, Director, Ansal Housing. Adding to the view, Mr. Sudeep Agarwal, MD, Shri Group avers “These surprise rate cuts by a few banks will put pressure on other lenders to bring down their rates which will be largely favourable for the potential customers as they will have much reduced EMIs to pay for their homes and at the other side, the future demand for property market will see a correction as the overall cost of a unit on the customer will reduce drastically. This also holds a big significance as further the banks reduce their rates, more pressure will mount on RBI for its next review policy”.

Banks with high liquidity can easily afford to decrease their lending rates without touching the deposit rates but banks with lesser liquidity are first forced to decrease the deposit rate which on the other hand increases their liquidity then can they bear the drop in the lending rates. A drop in the deposit rate directly leads to lesser returns on investments such as fixed deposits, etc. Thus, major players of the banking industry are able to satisfy the complete demand whereas other banks can either provide higher returns on investments or charge less on the amount lent to the public. “Looking at the present economic scenario in the country, the banks will have to create a perfect blend between providing higher returns on investments or charging less on loans as on either side sentiments play a vital role in attracting customers. Another way around can be, when RBI allows the banks to lend below the base rate particularly for home loans, so that the demand for credit and property can be ignited the benefit of which will go in the accounts of real estate sector and the banking industry”, enlightens Mr. Rupesh Gupta, Director, JM Housing.

As more and more banks join the race of reducing the lending rates, it will be an all-win situation for the public, and real estate sector will be the biggest gainer of them all. The prices in this sector are witnessing its record fall for over a few years along with unprecedented inventory levels that will now gradually benefit from this reduction in lending rates made by banks. “Blaming on poor purchasing power, today’s population in India is making all the big purchases on credit, thus making the role of Banks even more quintessential in how the economic cycle circulates. As the lending rates are directly proportional to the EMIs, lower Interest rates are the need of the hour. With the slash in lending rates by one of the biggest banks in India –HDFC and Canara- the borrowers are at the happy spot. Especially with festive season just around the corner, it was a wise step to shake the dormant sales in the real estate sector”, concludes Mr. Rajesh Goyal, Vice President-CREDAI Western U.P. & MD, RG Group.

How smart city tag can transform Ghaziabad realty

The Urban Development Minister, Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday unveiled the names of 98 cities which will come under the scrutiny of a smart city tag. Uttar Pradesh has the largest share of developing 13 smart cities, Ghaziabad being one of them. 

Will this news kick start the real estate market of Ghaziabad which has been stagnant in the last couple of months? ‘Yes,’ say industry experts.  

“The population moving to Ghaziabad over the last decade are salaried professionals, who are mostly tech savvy. Some of them are also concerned about the environment. Smart City is a concept that makes life easier for residents and enhances their quality of life. It is not limited to technology," says Gaurav Gupta, general secretary, CREDAI Raj Nagar Extension.

It includes transportation, waste management, traffic management, etc.  Ghaziabad has been shortlisted for stage 2 of the smart city mission. Everyone including real estate developers will work towards providing such an environment,” he adds.

The development authority plans to put up informative LEDs running on solar energy, free Wi-Fi access to residents of Ghaziabad for a limited period, etc.

Developing Ghaziabad as a smart city, will definitely bring in positive results. Developers will increasingly focus on energy conservation, pollution control and come up with eco-friendly projects that will add value to the lives of the residents also quality of living for residents will improve significantly,” Gupta adds.

Currently, Ghaziabad is going through infrastructural development - from Metro connectivity to flyovers and roads. “We have already executed the first phase of metro line from Anand Vihar to Vaishali. In the second phase, we are taking the metro from Dilshad Garden to Ghaziabad new bus stand through Mohan Nagar. In the third phase, we are planning metro line from Sector 62, Noida to Indirapuram CISF Road," says VK Goel, chief engineer, Ghaziabad Development Authority.

Further, there is a proposal in pipeline from Indirapuram CISF Road to Link Road and Vaishali to Mohan Nagar. The related Detailed Project Reports (DPR) are under preparation,” he adds.

Expert says that if the above mentioned development successfully completes and the government starts its process of converting the city into a Smart City, then it will push the property values significantly. “The announcement of it will only help in pushing up the values in the next 6 months or so, by at least 10-15 per cent. Once the metro and other infrastructures gets completed, property prices can grow even further,” says Ankur Budhiraja, AB Corporations, a local real estate agent. 

Ghaziabad might be considered as the city to invest. Under the smart city tag, it will definitely progress and being close to Delhi will boost its prefer-ability amongst buyers in months to come. Make an investment when the property prices are still lower and make the most of the opportunity.

Source: Magicbricks 

305 cities identified under 'Housing for All' scheme

The government has identified 305 cities and towns across nine states for implementation of its ambitious 'Housing for All' scheme.

As many as 305 cities and towns have been identified in nine states for beginning of construction of houses for the urban poor under the scheme, said a senior Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Ministry official.

The HUPA Ministry would provide assistance of over Rs 2 lakh crore over the next six years for enabling two crore urban poor own their own houses.

The selected cities and towns are in Chhattisgarh (36 cities/towns), Gujarat (30), Jammu and Kashmir (19), Jharkhand (15), Kerala (15), Madhya Pradesh (74), Odisha (42), Rajasthan (40) and Telangana (34).

Under the 'Housing for All' initiative of the central government, named as Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 25 this year, two crore houses are targeted to be built for the poor in urban areas by year 2022, coinciding with 75 years of Independence.

Besides these nines states, the official said, six more states have signed Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with the Ministry committing themselves to implement six mandatory reforms essential for making the housing mission in urban areas a success.

The states that have so far agreed to implement the mandatory reform measures are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Rajasthan, Telangana an and Uttarakhand.

By signing the MoA, the states agreed to make necessary changes including doing away with the requirement of separate non-agricultural permission in case land falls in residential zone earmarked in Master Plan of city or town and preparing or amending Master Plans earmarking land for affordable housing, among others.

Other reforms include putting in place a single-window and time-bound clearance system for layout approvals and building permissions, doing away with approvals below certain built-up area size in respect of economically weaker sections and low income groups.

Legislating or amending existing rent laws on the lines of the Model Tenancy Act circulated by the Ministry and to provide additional Floor Area Ratio (FAR)/Floor Space Index/Transferable Development Rights (TDR) and relax density norms, for slum redevelopment and low cost housing are other reforms to be carried out by states as per the MoA.

Under the urban housing mission, the Centre will provide an assistance in the range of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2.30 lakh per unit under different components of the scheme including in-situ redevelopment of slums using land as resource, credit- linked subsidy scheme, affordable housing in partnership, and beneficiary led individual construction/improvement. 

Source: The Economic Times

LIST OF SMART INDIA DECLARED

Taking another giant leap forward, the BJP-led NDA government today declared the list of 98 out of 100 cities for the round 1 to be developed under the Smart India Mission that also accounts to 35 percent of India’s urban population. The list declared includes 12 cities for Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) shortlisted against the 13 nominated, 12 cities for Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra got 10, Madhya Pradesh 7, Gujarat and Karnataka gets 6 each, Rajasthan and West Bengal 4 each, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab 3 each, 2 each for Odisha, Telangana, Chhatisgarh and Haryana, 1 each for Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Delhi, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerela, Lakshadweep, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Puducherry, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttarakhand nominated. The remaining 2 cities will be declared later as Jammu & Kashmir wanted more to time to decide between Jammu and Srinagar for their nomination and U.P. has got one less. A total central funding of Rs. 48,000 crores for smart cities was declared on 25^th June when our Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Smart India Mission. As per the five year plan for smart cities, the government will allocate Rs. 200 crore this year and follow up with Rs. 100 crore every year for remaining four years. Of those chosen for the smart cities project, 24 are capital cities, 24 are business hubs and 18 are cultural centres. The top 20 cities will be financed this year and the rest of the cities will be asked to overcome their deficiencies and prepare for round 2 of the competition. In the next 5-6 years, Rs. 3 lakh crores will be spent in developing the towns to provide world-class infrastructure, sustainable environment and smart solutions.

Uttar Pradesh gets the biggest chunk:

The most populous and politically vital state of India, U.P. has got 12 cities against 13 nominated namely; Moradabad, Aligarh, Saharanpur, Bareilly, Jhansi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Agra and Rampur that accounts to a joint population of 1,53,30,266. Mr. Deepak Kapoor, President-CREDAI Western U.P. & Director, GulshanHomzavers “It was extremely important that Uttar Pradesh got the maximum of the smart cities being the most populous of the states of India. The cities shortlisted are most apt to become the smart cities for this state due to agricultural, industrial, manufacturing and service sectors being the prime contributors. At the same time, U.P. as a state has also got most major infrastructural links and future plans well laid to justify being the maximum getter from this list. Uttar Pradesh has not only being independent for its survival but plays a crucial role in shaping up neighbouring states and thus, transforming this state will yield better results in future”. Adding to the view, Mr. Rajesh Goyal, Vice President-CREDAI Western U.P. & MD, RG Group says “The most awaited list has finally come out with U.P. and Tamil Nadu leading the way. Speaking about U.P., out of the 13 initial cities shortlisted, the actual 12 best have made through. The list of cities shortlisted for Uttar Pradesh covers almost the entire state with maximum focus on the western and central U.P. as they meet the maximum parameters of being cities of the future. With the boat of Smart India Mission finally set to sail, we will have a different India altogether in the upcoming one decade”.

From the very first day when the plan of Smart IndiaMission was launched; Uttar Pradesh was destined to get the maximum smart cities. The state of U.P. was created on 1^st April, 1937 as the United Provinces, and was renamed Uttar Pradesh in 1950. Lucknow is the largest city and the capital of U.P. The other key cities such as Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Bareilly, Aligarh, Varanasi and others play a crucial role in shaping up the state into an industrial hub of the country. U.P. shares its boundary with 8 states and 1 country to its north and covers almost 2,50,000 sq. kms., equal to 7 percent of the total area of India; and is the fourth largest Indian state by area. The state also boasts of being among the top 3 states in the country contributing maximum to the Indian Gross Domestic Product (GDP). “History has been a witness to how important role U.P. has played in developing India since its very independence. It is great to see that U.P. tops the list for maximum number of smart cities in the country. At present also, there is a lot of infrastructural work carried throughout the state which will act as a perfect catalyst for the development of smart cities in U.P. Smart cities will assist in enhancing the lifestyle of people which will help in making them more efficient and effective, that directly contributes to growth of a region”, explains Mr. KushagrAnsal, Director, Ansal Housing.

“Developing Smart Cities will be like revamping the existing ones into better and much proficient cities that will not only promote growth of the region but provide a better living style to its residents. Development of smart cities will largely attract job employment, FDI, infrastructural growth and economic development of a region which will directly add to the GDP of the country and progress of Uttar Pradesh as a state”, states Mr. Amrit Pal Singh, Executive Director, Aprameya Group. Also agrees Mr. Ankit Aggarwal, CMD, Devika Group, as he says “There exist a ripple effect of growth in the neighbouring areas once a region observes independent growth. The refurbishing of the 12 cities of Uttar Pradesh will act as a push to their nearby regions. For instance, Ghaziabad as a smart city will promote development of Noida, Greater Noida, Yamuna Expressway and other such nearby regions. Thus, the 12 smart cities will have a multiplier effect on the other regions that will develop the entire state and consequently, the country”.

India on road to development:

With the list of 98 citiesout; now we are talking development of the nation. A decision that every citizenof this country has been dreaming for the last one year is now becoming real. It is to be understood that not only will the 98 cities witness development across the nation but to develop those smart cities, neighbouring and related cities will have to be bought to a bare minimum development graph to support the smart cities around. The division looks just and logical with almost every key contributing city being touched. “The day is not far now when we’ll see smart cities up and running in India asnow we are moving towards a healthy and much sustainable environment. Almost 35 percent of India’s urban population falls within these 98 cities that will now see a major mental and physical makeover of its population. The road to India’s development is now becoming fairly visible that will be most significant to bring this country on the global map”, claims Mr. Dujender Bhardwaj, Director, Marina Suites.

The development of smart cities will pave way for global giants to invest in India in a big way thereby enhancing the FDI inflow for the country in the form of liquidity, manpower, technology and knowledge. This will in turn help in boosting the economic and human development of the country. “Our country is now fully prepared to develop into a smart nation with smart people. In order to ensure smooth development of smart cities; it will be most imperative that the central and state governments work hand-in-hand with each other in implementation of plans and procedures. Clearing the land and GST bill has become the need of hour now and providing timely clearance to projects will be most crucial, only then can we see timely execution of smart cities in our country”, concludes Mr. Rajnikant Sharma, CMD, RJ Group.

List of 98 cities shortlisted for stage-2 of Smart Cities Mission:

S.No.	Name of State/UT	No. of Cities shortlisted	Names of Potential Cities shortlisted	Population of cities
1	Andaman & Nicobar Islands	1	1.      Port Blair	1,40,572
2	Andhra Pradesh	3	1.      Vishakapatnam 2.      Tirupati 3.      Kakinada	18,78,980 3,74,260 3,50,986
3	Arunachal Pradesh	1	1.      Pasighat	24,656
4	Assam	1	1.      Guwahati	9,62,334
5	Bihar	3	1.      Muzaffarpur 2.      Bhagalpur 3.      Biharsharif	3,93,724 4,10,210 2,96,889
6	Chandigarh	1	1.      Chandigarh	10,55,450
7	Chhattisgarh	2	1.      Raipur 2.      Bilaspur	10,47,389 3,65,579
8	Daman & Diu	1	1.      Diu	23,991
9	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	1	1.      Silvassa	98,032
10	Delhi	1	1.      New Delhi Municipal Council	2,49,998
11	Goa	1	1.      Panaji	1,00,000
12	Gujarat	6	1.      Gandhinagar 2.      Ahemdabad 3.      Surat 4.      Vadodara 5.      Rajkot 6.      Dahod	2,92,797 55,77,940 44,67,797 17,52,371 13,23,363 1,30,530
13	Haryana	2	1.      Karnal 2.      Faridabad	3,02,140 14,14,050
14	Himachal Pradesh	1	1.      Dharmashala	22,580
15	Jharkhand	1	1.      Ranchi	10,73,427
16	Karnataka	6	1.      Mangaluru 2.      Belagavi 3.      Shivamogga 4.      Hubballi-Dharwad 5.      Tumakuru 6.      Davanegere	4,84,785 4,88,292 3,22,428 9,43,857 3,05,821 4,35,128
17	Kerala	1	1.      Kochi	6,01,574
18	Lakshadweep	1	1.      Kavaratti	11,210
19	Madhya Pradesh	7	1.      Bhopal 2.      Indore 3.      Jabalpur 4.      Gwalior 5.      Sagar 6.      Satna 7.      Ujjain	19,22,130 21,95,274 12,16,445 11,59,032 2,73,296 2,80,222 5,15,215
20	Maharashtra	10	1.      Navi Mumbai 2.      Nashik 3.      Thane 4.      Greater Mumbai 5.      Amravati 6.      Solapur 7.      Nagpur 8.      Kalyan-Dombivall 9.      Aurangabad 10.  Pune	11,19,000 14,86,000 18,41,000 1,24,00,000 7,45,000 9,52,000 24,60,000 15,18,000 11,65,000 31,24,000
21	Manipur	1	1.      Imphal	2,68,243
22	Meghalaya	1	1.      Shillong	3,54,325
23	Mizoram	1	1.      Aizawl	2,91,000
24	Nagaland	1	1.      Kohima	1,07,000
25	Odisha	2	1.      Bhubaneshwar 2.      Raurkela	8,40,834 3,10,976
26	Puducherry	1	1.      Oulgaret	3,00,104
27	Punjab	3	1.      Ludhiana 2.      Jalandhar 3.      Amritsar	16,18,879 8,68,181 11,55,664
28	Rajasthan	4	1.      Jaipur 2.      Udaipur 3.      Kota 4.      Ajmer	30,73,350 4,75,150 10,01,365 5,51,360
29	Sikkim	1	1.      Namchi	12,190
30	Tamil Nadu	12	1.      Tiruchirapalli 2.      Tirunelveli 3.      Dindigul 4.      Thanjavur 5.      Tiruppur 6.      Salem 7.      Vellore 8.      Coimbatore 9.      Madurai 10.  Erode 11.  Thoothukudi 12.  Chennai	9,16,674 4,74,838 2,07,327 2,22,943 8,77,778 8,31,038 5,04,079 16,01,438 15,61,129 4,98,129 3,70,896 67,27,000
31	Telangana	2	1.      Greater Hyderabad 2.      Greater Warangal	67,31,790 8,19,406
32	Tripura	1	1.      Agartala	4,00,004
33	Uttar Pradesh*	12	1.      Moradabad 2.      Aligarh 3.      Saharanpur 4.      Bareilly 5.      Jhansi 6.      Kanpur 7.      Allahabad 8.      Lucknow 9.      Varanasi 10.  Ghaziabad 11.  Agra 12.  Rampur	8,87,871 8,74,408 7,05,478 9,03,668 5,05,693 27,65,348 11,12,544 28,17,105 11,98,491 16,48,643 15,85,704 3,25,313
34	Uttarakhand	1	1.      Dehradun	5,83,971
35	West Bengal	4	1.      New Town Kolkatta 2.      Bidhannagar 3.      Durgapur 4.      Haldia	36,541 6,33,704 5,71,000 2,72,000
36.	Total - 35	98	98	11,01,18,799

*12 cities have been shortlisted from Uttar Pradesh against the 13 cities allocated.

Note: Jammu & Kashmir has asked for more time to decide on their potential Smart City.