The Punjab Government today finalized three consultants to give final shape to the proposals for smart cities Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar.Disclosing this here today Mr. Anil Joshi Local Government Minister said that a High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC) under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary, Punjab has accorded approval of the Smart City Proposals of Amritsar, Ludhiana & Jalandhar prepared by Consultants. It may be that Punjab Government had appointed M/s Jones Lang LaSalle / Tata Consulting Engineer / Townland (Hong Kong) for Amritsar, M/s AECOM India/ IBM for Ludhiana c. M/s IIDC / UMTC / BDP (UK) for Jalandhar to finalize the proposals to be submitted to Central Government for Smart Cities.He said that these proposals shall now be forwarded to Govt. of India for inclusion in the Stage II competition at National level. Mr. Joshi said that at an initial stage, 20 Cities are expected to be selected for the financial year 2015-16 and thereafter 40 – 40 Cities shall be selected in the next two stages. The Minister said that the last date for the submission of these proposals was15.12.2015. The selected Smart City under Stage II, shall receive Rs.500 Crores in five years from the Govt. of India and equal amount of Share shall be contributed by the Punjab State for implementation of the Smart City Proposal.
Giving the details of Smart Cities Union Government had decided to develop ‘100 Smart Cities’ which is defined as one that makes urban life comfortable and improves living standards through good governance, efficient health care services and education, 24x7 power and water supply, efficient transport, high quality sanitation, employment to the needy and robust cyber connectivity and benefits to all irrespective of income, age and gender. ‘The ultimate objective is building Wealthier, Healthier and Happier cities.He said that Govt. of India under the Stage-I competition had selected three potential Smart Cities of Punjab namely Amritsar, Ludhiana & Jalandhar. Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC), the State Level Nodal Agency (SLNA) of Punjab engaged three Consultants, based on the guidelines issued by the Govt. of India, for preparation of Smart City Proposals for these above indicated three potential Smart Cities.