Projects worth over Rs 10,000 crore are expected to be operational within the 10 smart cities of UP within a few months.
Racing to meet the June 2023 deadline to meet the objectives stipulated under the Smart City Mission goals, the state government on Saturday reviewed the progress being made by the urban development department.
Out of the 542 infrastructure projects sponsored by Central and the state governments that are altogether worth Rs 10,124 crore, as many as 343 have been commissioned and funds amounting to Rs 4,757 crore have been exhausted. Senior government officials deputed in the chief minister’s office gave instructions to the department to fast-track the remaining 199 projects.
Spread across Lucknow, Agra, Bareli, Varanasi, Moradabad, Prayagraj, Saharanpur, Aligarh, Kanpur and Jhansi, integrated command and control centre and intelligent traffic management system (ITMS) will also get operational within a few months.
It was found during the review that Agra and Varanasi have been able to complete the maximum number of projects. “The two cities are also the cleanest ones,” said a senior government officer.
The smart city objectives are aimed at improving the supply of water, power, strengthening sewerage system, solid waste management, public transportation system, parking facilities, streetlights, digitisation, security among other aspects.
The Yogi Adityanath government has also initiated cloud-based smart city digital monitoring system with a budget of Rs 28 crore through which the progress made by the 10 cities will be monitored.
Apart from the 10 cities covered under the smart city mission, the state government has also decided to install ITMS in seven more cities, including Ayodhya, Firozabad, Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad, Mathura-Vrindavan, Meerut and Shahjahanpur.
