Mangaluru city gears up for smart growth, Rs 2K-cr investment envisaged

Mangaluru, Sep 21: Retrofitting downtown area of the city, re-development of old-port and fisheries harbour and development of a solar farm on an island facing the old port are some of the highlights of the smart city project proposal of the Mangaluru City Corporation, which envisaged a total investment of Rs. 2,000 crore in the next five years.

Welcoming the move of the Union government to include Mangaluru in its third Smart City list, the City Corporation has pledged to take necessary steps to implement its proposed projects expecting a speedy growth in economic activities in the city.

K Harinath, Mayor of MCC, said that the civic body would give priority to health, cleanliness and implementing the ban on plastic effectively, he said adding that the MCC has already renovated two to three public toilets, laying emphasis on the cleanliness of the city.

"An effective plan prepared by the City Corporation is one of the main reasons for the selection of Mangaluru for the smart city project. Along with the participation of the general public to prepare a plan, support of District in-Charge Minister, MLAs, and councillors is appreciable. We will start implementing various projects from now to make Mangaluru a model city," he explained.

Mohammed Nazir, Commissioner of MCC, said that now the government would constitute a special purpose vehicle (SPV), which is an entity or a company floated for implementing a specific task or project, for implementing the smart city project. It would be headed by an Indian Administrative Service officer.

He said that the detailed project report on how to implement the projects mooted under the smart city project would be prepared by the special purpose vehicle.

Joint Commissioner Gokuldas Nayak said, "The smart city project submitted by the MCC under the first list was long-term proposals worth Rs 20,000 crore to be implemented in nine phases over a period of 20 years. As it was not immediately useful for the public, Mangaluru could not bag the smart city project in the first list."

Area-based plan

The area based proposal submitted by the MCC include development of central business area - 100 acre, Hampankatta Junction - 27 acre, fisheries harbour redevelopment - 22 acre, Old Port redevelopment - 10 acre, waterfront and marine development - 25 acre, mixed use zone for IT service, offices, small scale industries, hospitality and leisure, alongside limited capacity factory functioning by adaptive reuse of tile factories - 42 acres, public connector streets leading to waterfront development as commercial and retail zone - 47 acre and solar farm on island facing Bunder - 20 acre.