Bengaluru, Feb 1: The Karnataka state government has finally put the much-delayed smart city projects on the fast track and lined up schemes worth Rs 7,000 crore.
According to urban development minister UT Khader, the government has so far implemented Rs 1, 499 crore-worth projects in the last six months and has now invited tenders for projects worth another Rs 1,407 crore. It will soon clear another Rs 2,728 crore for projects in Bengaluru. This includes development of 20 major roads and renovation of the historic KR and Russel markets.
“The government has been keeping a close watch on the progress of projects and we have asked officials to focus on public private partnership projects which provide high impact like the development of two major lakes in Shivamogga,” Khader said.
Launched on June 25, 2015, the Smart City project is a 50:50 central and state government project which enables development of basic infrastructure, introduction of efficient urban mobility and public transport and IT connectivity besides other features.
Bengaluru, Belagavi, Davangere, Hubballi-Dharwad, Mangaluru, Shivamogga and Tumakuru were cities in Karnataka selected by the Centre in 2016 and 2017 and a sum of Rs 1,772 crore was released.
However, the state government spent only about Rs 91.3 crore in the last two years. Khader said the project was delayed because new guidelines and rules were framed.
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