THE Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM) ? the urban flagship scheme of the previous UPA government ? will be renamed and relaunched by the Narendra Modi government, according to Urban Development minister Venkaiah Naidu. The new project, likely to have an outlay of Rs 1.5 lakh crore, will be named after a ?national icon?.
Cleanliness of religious cities and reduced home loans for all would also be the top priority areas for the government, Naidu said on Wednesday. The government would also push for creation of 100 smart cities.
?We will launch a new mission in place of JNNURM. The new mission will focus on modern concept for cities based on GIS-based planning and will have solid and liquid waste management to develop clean cities. It will be named after a national icon and not after any current political leader,? said Naidu. The outgoing government planned to launch JNNURM-II during its last days and also moved Cabinet but was put on hold as the model code came into effect.
JNNURM-I was a seven-year project launched during UPA-I that focussed on plan-ned development in urban areas in the field of transport, infrastructure, road projects, water supply and sewage among others and had an allocation of Rs 50,000 crore.
The Urban Development Ministry will give priority to linking of twin cities and infrastructure of satellite towns. ?My priority will be to ensure housing for all by 2020 and to reduce interest rate on home loans. People should be in a position to have ?pucca? houses,? Naidu, who also holds the portfolio of Urban Housing and Poverty Alleviation, said.
