03 August,2015 01:08 PM IST | | Ankoor Anvekar
Navi Mumbai has been short-listed as a smart city along with nine other cities in Maharashtra, out of 32 cities in the state which were in the race
Navi Mumbai could soon get the smart city tag amongst 100 other cities that are part of the Centre's vision of building such cities across the country.
The NMMC headquarters at Belapur, Navi Mumbai. The civic body is going all out to develop the satellite city's infrastructure, which is already several notches above what Mumbai has to offer. File pic
Recently, out of a total of 32 entries from across the state, Navi Mumbai has been short-listed as a smart city along with nine other cities in Maharashtra; the recommendations have been sent to the Central government.
Last week, the cash-rich Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) invited leading luminaries from the satellite city (including engineers, architects, developers and advisors) for suggestions on how to make improvements in areas including e-governance, multi purpose parking, solid waste management, water supply, protection of environment and many more.
Civic speak
The selection was done on the basis of facilities available across various sectors within the city. Municipal Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare told mid-day, "Navi Mumbai has all the required infrastructure and facilities to get qualified for a smart city project.
Discussions were also held with the city's prominent think-tanks and there upon a plan was submitted to the state government." Mayor Sudhakar Sonawane said, "Navi Mumbai is a modern and planned city and we are confident that it would also get shortlisted by the Central government for the smart city project."
Under the smart city project, each city would get funds from the state and central government worth Rs 1,000 crore for a period of 5 years. Quality education, dependable power supply, health consciousness, e-governance, affordable housing for poor, water supply and several other sectors would be the centre of focus under the project.
