Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, July 19: A delegation comprising higher education minister Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi along with the Berhampur Mayor and MLA, as well as other officials Sunday submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik urging him to select Berhampur as one of the two cities to be proposed to the Centre by the state government for development under the smart city scheme.
Berhampur has enough potential to be developed under the smart city scheme proposed by Centre, Panigrahi said after his visit to Naveen Niwas. The state government has decided to select two cities from among the five municipal corporations for The Smart City scheme launched by the NDA government.
A committee headed by Chief Secretary GC Pati would shortlist the two cities July 21 and would urge the Centre for their inclusion in first 20 cities under the Smart City project. The selected cities have to participate in a city challenge competition along with 98 others to figure in the final list, sources said.
Under the Smart City scheme, the Centre aims to develop 100 cities in three different phases and will provide `100 crore annually for five years, sources said. The state government will contribute an equal amount.
The names of the final 20 cities will be announced August 3. The Union ministry of housing and urban development had posted guidelines for smart cities on its website for civic and urban local bodies to prepare self-assessment reports on how to set up smart cities.
Recently, BMC submitted a self-assessment report to the department of housing and urban development to back its claim for inclusion of Bhubaneswar among the two cities to be proposed to the Centre.
