Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday sent a proposal to Centre for selection of Pithampur Sector 7 and Jabalpur textile and logistic cluster under Greenfield Smart City project and to get Rs 1000 crore incentive grant.
“While Rs 1000 crore would not be sufficient to build a new city, states would see this as seed funding for an innovative venture,” Madhya Pradesh urban administration commissioner Bharat Yadav said, adding they have sent a proposal to Centre to include Jabalpur textile and logistic cluster and Pithampur Sector 7 to develop as Greenfield Smart City.
“As one of the required parameters, around 50 hectare of land (mostly government) are available at both the places along with other ideal conditions to be developed as a Greenfield Smart City,” Yadav said.
He said that the state government had high hopes of selection of at least one of the two proposed places.
“Centre can invite us for presentation of Jabalpur textile and logistic sector and Pithampur Sector 7 learn about potential of the areas, investment, work already done and what additional work would be required on employment generation, economy, environment, industrial township and all other aspects of the living index,” the commissioner said.
Rejuvenation of old cities and setting up of new cities are the need of hour. Challenge of setting up infrastructure in Greenfield cities can be less daunting than the problem of setting up such facilities in old established cities. On the other hand, the development of Greenfield cities runs into problem of land acquisition and rehabilitation, senior urban administration officials said.
Given these complexities, it is better to start on a pilot basis. So, a performance-based challenge fund of Rs 8000 crore to states for incubation of new cities has been recommended. The amount available for each proposed new city is Rs 1000 crore, officials said.
