The Hindu        01.09.2014

Coimbatore to be considered for smart city project:Venkaiah Naidu

The Central Government will consider Coimbatore when it prepares the list of cities to implement the smart city project, Union Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, M. Venkaiah Naidu has said.

Speaking at the ‘Meet and Greet’ programme organised at the PSG College of Technology here on Sunday, he said that the Union Government was preparing the contours of the smart cities project, which it will implement by taking into confidence the State Governments and the urban local bodies.

Smart cities meant smart leadership, smart administration, smart governance, transparent decision making process and accountability. The Government had received offers of partnership from Japan, Australia, Dubai and a few other places to develop smart cities. It would consider all suggestions, study different models from across the globe and do what was right.

It had planned to develop heritage cities for which it had chosen Velankanni and Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. It has also decided to rejuvenate 500 cities and towns by upgrading drinking water supply, improving sewerage system and providing other basic facilities.

In short, the Government was working on a new urban development mission as the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Development Mission had come to an end by March 2014.

As part of the mission, the Government also planned to provide housing to the people from the economically weaker sections. The target for completing the project had been fixed at 2019.

He called upon the industries to join the government in nation development and also in local governance.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Naidu inaugurated the administrative building at the PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research. Speaking at the inauguration, he wanted the private sector to join hands in providing education to the unlettered. The Managing Trustee, PSG & Sons Charities, L. Gopalakrishnan spoke on the occasion.