Germany to develop Bhubaneswar, Kochi, Coimbatore as Smart Cities

Germany will partner with India’s flagship program Smart City Mission to develop Bhubaneswar, Kochi, and Coimbatore as smart Cities.

• The three Cities are among the twenty cities which have been announced by the Urban Development Ministry.
• Germany helped India in the selection process of the cities consists of three delegations from Germany , Two of them from Urban Development Ministry and One from Ministry of Housing and Poverty Alleviation.
• Germany has been key partner in Important Indian Initiatives such as Swachh Bharat National Mission for Clean Ganga and Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation.
• Germany is India’s second largest bilateral donor with a record commitment of 11, 0000 crores also India and US have agreed on formulating action plans for the development of smart cities in Allahabad.

Smart Cities Mission:

• It is one of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Pet projects, launched with $ 14 billion Funding.
• The Mission aims an Urban renewal and retrofitting Programme of the government to develop 100 cities across the country making them citizen friendly and sustainable.
• In the maiden phase of the mission 20 cities has been shortlisted out of 98 allotted in the list.
• Jammu and Kashmir yet make a decision on the potential city, so far 12 cities have been selected from Uttar Pradesh against 13 allocated to the state.