Injecting a major booster to improve urban infrastructure in Maharashtra, the Centre government has recently cleared a staggering sum worth Rs 67,523 crore for housing and urban poverty alleviation Venkaiah Naidu said recently, claiming that this is the highest investment in urban infrastructure approved for any Indian state in three years of the current government. The investment approved for Maharashtra accounted for more than 15% of the total investment of Rs 4.35 trillion in the country during the same period. He said this shortly after a two-day review of urban infrastructure, affordable housing, and sanitation projects being implemented in the state with central assistance. The approved investments include Rs19,100 crore for seven smart cities in Maharashtra, the highest in any Indian state and that around 218 projects are under implementation and tendering in Pune, Solapur, Kalyan-Dombivli, Nagpur, Nashik, Thane and Aurangabad which are among the 60 smart cities selected under the smart city mission. All these seven cities are setting up integrated command and control centres to improve service delivery and Pune and Nagpur would become the first cities in the country to become operational this month marking the second anniversary of the Smart City‘ project, he added.
