Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu Friday asked the states to be ready to make their cities and towns "smart" under the central government's initiative of building 100 smart cities.Addressing a meet 'Consultation workshop with states and stakeholders' organised by his ministry to take states on board before launching the smart cities initiative, Naidu sought to motivate the states and urban local bodies."Building smart cities is challenging but doable," he said, adding it is all about 4s and 4p - smart leadership, smart governance, smart technologies and smart people make a city smart. "The resource challenge can be met if we make a success of Public-Private-People Partnership," he said.
Naidu said states and urban local bodies have to play the key role in building smart cities while the central government could do the hand-holding as an enabler besides providing some financial assistance."The states and urban local bodies have to come out with required policy and procedural innovations for attracting investments," he said.The minister said with a view to select the most willing and able cities and towns for making them smart, a 'City Challenge' competition would be held to assess the proven ability of cities in terms of reforms and innovation and the potential.