US Team Coming to Work on DPR for Smart City Project.

In yet another step towards making Vizag a Smart City, a US delegation comprising three agencies - AECOM, IBM and KMPG - will visit the city to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) with the help of GVMC officials this month. The DPR, which would include the present condition and requirements of the city to upgrade into a Smart City, would be submitted to the State and the Central governments. Based on the DPR, the Centre would identify top 20 cities out of a total 100 in the country to be given priority under the Smart City Mission.

Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) commissioner J Pravin Kumar Wednesday told newsmen that officials from AECOM Technology Corporation, IBM and KMPG of the US would visit Visakhapatnam in the next two weeks to prepare DPR on the Smart City guidelines. He said that though the city had been selected as one of the Smart Cities out of the first three cities, it will have to face competition in the second stage with 100 cities for government funding.

“In the second stage, as many as 100 cities will take part in submitting their DPRs. The Central government will decide and select top 20 from the 100 and allot funds to develop them into Smart Cities. The rest 80 will be developed in the third stage during the remaining tenure of the government,” said Pravin. “Visakhapatnam and other two cities only have the privilege of having the expert US team visit and prepare the DPR, while it’s not possible for others,” he added. The commissioner said that it would take about three to six months for preparing the DPR and expressed confidence that the Port City will make it to the top 20. Compared to other developing cities, Vizag is far ahead of others and developed on all fronts, the commissioner said.

The US team will prepare a detailed report on the requirements of Visakhapatnam. The Commissioner said that water supply, street lighting, facilities in slums, footpath improvement, Metro project, road/rail/airways connectivity and network, cycling tracks, lands, canals, drainage, citizen engagements and tourism will be taken into consideration. The Centre will study the DPR and as per their criteria, will decide on the funding, Pravin Kumar informed.

Further, the commissioner said that the DPR for the Visakhapatnam Metro Project had been completed and would be submitted shortly.

Vital Aspects

  US delegation comprising three agencies - AECOM, IBM and KMPG will work on the DPR for Vizag.
  DPR includes studying the requirements of Vizag to upgrade it into a Smart City.
  Preparation of DPR expected to take three to six months.

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