Bid on to include Kochi in smart cities plan.

Efforts are on to get Kochi and six other urban centres in Kerala included in first list drawn up by the Union Ministry of Urban Development under the Smart Cities initiative.

The centre had announced that 100 smart cities would be established across the country. The government is pushing the project for developing 'one hundred Smart Cities' as satellite towns of larger cities and by modernising the existing mid-sized cities.'

The other urban centres under consideration are Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kozhikode and Thrissur Corporations and Kannur and Malappuram.

James Varghese, Principal Secretary of the Local Self Government, Kerala and 'young secretaries' of five local bodies attended a consultative meeting convened by the Ministry at New Delhi the other day.

The Ministry is in the process of drawing up and enriching the contents of the Smart City project by eliciting the views of the State governments. Kerala too gave its inputs, Mr. Varghese said.

Kerala government, on its part, will convene a meeting of the government officials of the Local Self Government departments and other stakeholders on February 11 to discuss the projects. Many of the Kerala cities in the first list have achieved some of the primary conditions laid down by the Ministry including the publication of citizen charter and making websites operational, he said.

According to the government officials, the Ministry will shortlist 30 cities from the list of 100 for the project. Of the 30 cities, 10 may get support for establishing the smart city in the first phase. Other cities may get the support subsequently, Mr. Varghese said.


THE HINDU