Jaipur:
Rajasthan has become the first state to submit Smart City plan to the Union Urban Development Ministry.
Manjit Singh, Principal Secretary (Urban Development) of Rajasthan submitted Smart City proposals of three cities - Udaipur, Kota and Ajmer to UD Additional Secretary Samir Sharma at Nirman Bhawan in Delhi today.
Urban Development Secretary Madhusudhan Prasad complimented Rajasthan government for being the first state to submit Smart City proposals.
Investment outlays proposed for developing three cities as smart cities are Kota - Rs 1,493 crore, Ajmer - Rs 1,300 crore and Udaipur - Rs 1,221 crore.
Smart City proposal for Jaipur will be submitted later in the evening. Investment proposed for Jaipur is Rs 2,403 crore. In all, Rajasthan has proposed a total investment of Rs 6,457 crore for five years for developing four cities as Smart Cities.
Barring Tamil Nadu, which has faced a worst flood situation in the recent years, all states and UTs are expected to submit their Smart Cities plan to Urban Development Ministry by December 15. Tamil Nadu accounts for 12 Smart Cities.
According to a senior Urban Development Ministry official, 98 cities were nominated for being developed as Smart Cities. After the first round of intra-state competition under 'City Challenge', Smart City plans for 86 have been approved by respective states and Union Territories which will be received by the Ministry by tomorrow for evaluation in the second round of 'City Challenge' competition to pick up first batch of 20 cities by third week of January, for financing.