Rs. 3,700 cr incentive from center to states which complete Smart city projects fast

The Centre will give about Rs 3,700 crore as an incentive to states for speedy completion of smart city projects. The states will be chosen through the competition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday asked all the chief secretaries of states to monitor the progress of smart city projects for early completion. The Centre has already selected 90 cities under the ambitious smart city scheme and has approved projects worth Rs 1.91 lakh crore. The incentive amount will be about 2% of the cost of all projects. During PM’s monthly web-based interaction with secretaries and chief secretaries under PRAGATI initiative, housing and urban affairs ministry secretary Durga Shanker Mishra said the competition for getting incentive would start soon. “He appreciated the participation of cities in the challenge route. He said the challenge before everyone is now to ensure implementation and expeditious completion of the work in the 90 identified cities, with high quality,” an official release from PMO said. Till now, about 79 projects worth Rs 941 crore have been completed and another 204 projects worth Rs 7,963 crore are at advanced stage. Reviewing the progress of the Forest Rights Act, the PM emphasized the need of using space technology to determine the rights of tribal communities and settle claims expeditiously.