Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sushri Uma Bharti and Union Urban Development Minister Shri M Venkaiah Naidu launched Smart Ganga City Scheme today in ten important cities through video conference. These cities are – Haridwar, Rishikesh, Mathura-Vrindavan, Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Lucknow, Patna, Sahibgunj and Barrackpore. National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has chosen these cities in the first phase for infrastructure development for sewage treatment. This will be on hybrid annuity mode based on PPP model. Addressing the function from Ujjain the Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sushri Uma Bharti said that cooperation of Union Urban Development Ministry is key to the success of Namami Gange programme. She said learning from the past experience of gaga action plan her Ministry this time has gone for hybrid annuity mode based on PPP model. The Minister said district level mentoring committees will be constituted to monitor the speedy implementation of Namami Gange programme.
The Minister said that though in the first phase only ten cities have been taken up but gradually more and more cities will be taken up. She said the involvement of district administration and municipal body is key to success of this program. In his address from Hyderabad Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said his Ministry is an integral part of this programme. He expressed the hope that Namami Gange programme having adopted hybrid annuity mode based on PPP model will be a great success. The District Magistrates/Mayors of the ten chosen cities participating in the video conference appreciated the Namami Gange programme and promised the full support of state administration and local bodies for its success Earlier, Shri Rajat Bhargav, Mission Director NMCG made a presentation on hybrid annuity mode based on PPP model to be adopted by NMCG for speedy implementation of Namami Gange programme.