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.