Nearly five months after the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs chose Tiruchi for implementing the Smart City programme, Tiruchi City Corporation (TCC) is on the verge of floating a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to execute the project.
The Corporation has applied for registering the SPV under the Registrar of Companies under the Companies Act 1956. All documents pertaining to the formation of SPV have been sent to the Registrar of Companies in Chennai. An auditor has been appointed to oversee the registration works.
N. Ravichandran, Special Officer-cum-Commissioner, Tiruchi Corporation, told The Hindu that all mandatory procedure for registering the SPV had been completed. The registration details were expected within a week and the SPV would become active from the date of registration.
He said the Chairman and Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Urban Finance Infrastructure Development Corporation (TIFIDCO) would be the Chairman of the Tiruchi Smart City Project. The Commissioner of Tiruchi Corporation would be the Managing Director and there would be a Chief Executive Officer.
The SPV would take full responsibility of implementing the Smart City proposals. It would plan, appraise, approve, operate and monitor the development projects.
Different concept
On delay over the launching the project, he said the concept was totally different from the functions of civic administrations. Officials had taken part in several meetings on smart city proposals. Moreover, Tiruchi City Corporation was included only in the third year since the scheme was launched. However, it had almost completed the formation of SPV formalities.
Mr. Ravichandran said an Expression of Interest was soon to be called to finalise a consultant for drawing a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for area-based development component. Areas in and around Rockfort, Thillai Nagar, Gandhi Market and Woraiyur had been identified for development.
Besides solving all existing issues, the proposal would have smart solutions to vehicle parking, underground drainage, roads, overhead electric cables and others.
The officials and members of SPV would take a final call on the DPR. Based on clearance, a tender would be floated for implementing the area-based development component.
He added that the project would be implemented in a phased manner within five years. Out of ₹1,000 crore, the share of the Centre and State governments would be ₹500 crore each.
