948 smart city projects are under implementation, says Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri

Of the 99 smart cities announced so far, as many as 91 have incorporated special purpose vehicles and 948 projects are under implementation, minister of state for housing and urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said on Monday. Addressing a CII conference, the minister said the total investment proposed in these projects is Rs 2.03 lakh crore and around 994 lakh crore urban population will be impacted in the Smart Cities Mission. Under the Smart Cities Mission, integrated command and control centres in nine cities are operational, Puri said. These cities are: Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Pune, Nagpur, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, Bhopal and Kakinada. The Centre will control and monitor online water and power supply, sanitation, traffic movement, integrated building management, city connectivity and internet infrastructure (data centre) under one roof, the minister said. The Smart Cities Mission was launched on June 25, 2015 with the objective to strengthen urban infrastructure through application of smart solutions and give a decent quality of life to citizens.