V'patnam leads pack in smart city mission

Vishakhapatnam along with four other cities — Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Surat, and Ahmedabad — is leading the progress made under the first round of the government's flagship smart city scheme, Mission Director (Smart Cities) Sameer Sharma said, adding that he has reviewed the progress of Visakhapatnam under the smart cities mission with the consultants and CEO of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed. Under the project, development of footpaths will go for bidding by October 31, water supply for the city by September 30, sewerage also by September 30, etc. Visakhapatnam had ranked eighth in the first round of the smart cities challenge. On the overall progress made, he added that all 20 cities in the first round have already formed SPVs and most have readied Production Management Contracts (PMCs) also. Projects across cities are expected to kick-start by December this year. In January this year, 20 winning cities, which were announced under the first round, covered only 12 States and Union Territories. The government had then decided to conduct a 'fast-track competition' to offer an opportunity to the highest ranked city in each of the unrepresented 23 States and UTs.