Govt includes Vizag, Kakinada and Kochi in first list of 20 Smart Cities

Other cities on the list are Chennai, Belgaum, Coimbatore and Bhubaneswar.

New Delhi:

The government on Thursday announced the list of first 20 cities to be developed as Smart Cities.

The list includes: Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur. Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davangere, Indore, New Delhi Municipal Council, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belgaum, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal.

These cities will be developed to have basic infrastructure through assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation.

"Implementation of smart cities plan will showcase integrated planning. The investment of Rs 50,802 crores has been proposed in selected smart cities and towns during the five-year period," said Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu, while announcing the list.

List of smart cities

"There are five capital cities among the 20 smart cities chosen," Naidu said. "A consortium of only Indian companies was chosen for plans of nine cities from the 20 cities chosen," he added.

The urban development ministry received proposals for 97 cities from state governments.

In the subsequent years, the government will announce 40 cities each to be developed as Smart Cities as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to develop 100 Smart Cities in the country.