Govt appoints CEOs of three smart cities in Madhya Pradesh

BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh government appointed Chandramauli Shukla, Rohan Saxena and Gajendra Singh Nagesh as chief executive officers (CEO) of smart city projects in Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur respectively. These three state service officers played a key role in developing the smart city proposals of their municipal corporations.

"Three names have been finalised and sent to Union government for approval as CEO of special purpose vehicle (SPV) for Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur," said MP urban administration and environment department commissioner, Vivek Aggarwal. As per smart city guidelines, CEO of a smart city would be appointed in consultation with Union government and cannot be removed without Centre's nod. CEO and the commissioner of the municipal corporation, both will have executive powers.

Madhya Pradesh has the most number of cities selected in first phase of Centre's smart city project. Bhopal Smart City Development Corporation Limited (BSCDCL) would will hold its first meeting on Monday. As per Union ministry of urban development guidelines, special purpose vehicle (SPV) CEO would be at forefront of delivering the smart city vision.

After a meeting of seven SPV members of each city, they decided to complete one smart city proposal by June 25. This would coincide with the day a year ago when Union government announced the ambitious smart city mission. Smart city companies in Indore and Jabalpur are expected to do the same.

Chandramauli Shukla is currently additional commissioner in Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) while Rohan Saxena is with Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) as additional commissioner. Gajendra Singh Nagesh was posted as additional commissioner with Jabalpur Municipal Corporation (JMC) in August 2015.

From April 1, each of the three CEOs will be under pressure to deliver on their cities smart city proposal. Each smart city company will begin with a corpus of Rs 384 crore. Three SPVs have been registered under Companies Act, 2013, with a 50:50 contribution from Union government and Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Corporation Limited. Government spending on each of the projects for next five years is pegged at around Rs 3,000 crore.

District collectors of selected smart cities will be chairman of SPV and municipal commissioner as executive director. Other members include CEO, mayor, chairman of development authority (like BDA, IDA), joint director TNCP and two high ranking officials from Urban development department.