Smart cities: Rajasthan to give proposal seeking loans

JAIPUR: As ministry of urban development would be pursuing loans from international agencies to finance its smart city mission, the state government has been directed to firm up projects for Jaipur and Udaipur for obtaining loan assistance. In this regard, 15 days time has been given to the state for submitting the proposal of the project, especially capital extensive to seek loan.

An official informed, Jaipur and Udaipur are among the 20 smart cities selected in the first round of competition. In a recent meeting held at the Centre, it was informed that ADB had agreed to extend a loan of $1 billion to eight smart cities, which includes Jaipur and Udaipur.

"The representatives of agencies will inspect these cities in the state. Initially, for 10 smart cities, Rs 9,000 crore road map has been prepared, which includes proposal of Rs 2,500 crore for Jaipur. To improve the infrastructure in the smart cities, the Centre has urged to launch projects on private-public partnership (PPP) model," said a senior Jaipur Municipal Corporation official.

It was informed, other than ADB, the World Bank is willing to extend a loan of $0.50 billion for the implementation of smart city mission. BRICS Development Bank is keen to support smart city projects.

An official further said that in the meeting at the Centre, a list of projects was also discussed that could be launched by June this year under the smart city mission.

These include, affordable housing projects, 24X7 water supply projects, sewage treatment plants, transport projects, smart street lighting, rooftop mounted solar paneling, solid waste management and waste water recycling projects and technology based pan-city projects like intelligent transport solutions, e-governance, provision of Wi-Fi services, common payment cards, RFID based tags for individual household dustbins etc. Meanwhile, the Jaipur Smart Mission Limited and Udaipur Smart City Ltd are all set to appoint project management consultancy (PMC) from across the globe.

The consultants will help the civic body plan design, develop and monitor smart city projects in Jaipur and Udaipur. A local self government (LSG) official said, "For the execution of smart city project in Jaipur and Udaipur, we have invited online tenders from project implementation consultants at international level. The appointment will be done this month."

The procedure to appoint the consultancy will be completed by May 26. These consultants would help JSML and USCL in making DPRs, monitoring the pace of the project and offering solutions when required. Also, they will assist in finding a suitable company once the financial bids are invited.