M'luru gears up for Smart Cities challenge

MANGALURU: The Smart Cities Mission announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to test the acumen of Mangaluru City Corporation authorities.
The competition is designed to inspire and support municipal officials as they develop smart proposals to improve lives of residents in their cities. A hundred cities will compete in the first round, with the best proposals receiving funding from the ministry of urban development.
A city included in the Smart City mission will get an assistance of Rs 100 crore from the Centre. Within a span of five years, each selected city will get Rs 500 crore. The projects intends to improve the quality of urban life, and provide clean and sustainable environment to the residents. This includes adequate and clean water supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transportation, housing for poor, power supply and strong IT connectivity.
MCC deputy commissioner (administration) Gokuldas Nayak, who attended a two-day workshop organized by the ministry in New Delhi last week, on Wednesday, said the MCC's task is cut out. It will first have to put Mangaluru in the list of cities that the state government selects; once this is accomplished, it will have to come up with smart solutions.
The focus will be on core infrastructure such as drinking water, electricity, sanitation and public transportation, as well as ensuring health and education for all. "We have to meet 13 criteria, including having a newsletter for the benefit of the stakeholders. We'll ensure effective service delivery, while penalizing officials who fail to do so," Nayak noted.
Mayor Jacintha Vijay Alfred said a preliminary round of meeting has been held with officials to discuss modalities of how to approach the challenge round. "We will hold a detailed meeting with corporators, officials and other stakeholders on Friday to fine-tune the strategies," she told TOI.
The Smart Cities Challenge is being conducted in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies, the knowledge partner of the urban development ministry. Modi last week also launched a new cities challenge website, which will allow the public to track progress of the competition.