The city is likely to make it to the final list of the Smart City Mission, the Centre’s flagship urban development programme with the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said to be pushing the case of the historic city in north Kerala.
Official sources said that a proposal highlighting the unique attributes of Kozhikode has been submitted to the Ministry of Urban Development. “I have met all the senior officials at the Smart City Mission in New Delhi in this regard. Their response has been quite positive, ” Mrunmai Joshi, Corporation Secretary, told The Hindu on Thursday.
As of now, Kozhikode will have to compete in the challenge round for the remaining 10 slots. The Ministry has already selected 90 cities, including Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram, from the State. During the Smart City challenge in 2015, Kozhikode failed to make it to the initial list. At the same time, Thrissur came in the third position. The final list will be announced before the end of this fiscal, she said.
Presenting the case of Kozhikode, Ms. Joshi said the city had strong international, national and intra-State transport linkages and was well connected by road, rail, air, as well as water to different parts of the country and the rest of the world, thereby facilitating easy movement of people, goods and services.
“It has a flourishing tertiary sector, thereby acting as an important node and trade centre of north Kerala with around two lakh commercial establishments. It is one amongst the nine cities selected in Kerala under the Amrut Mission, ” she said.
Currently, Kozhikode is getting the benefits under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) of the Ministry of Urban Development.
She said that Kozhikode, with its literacy rate of 96%, which was much above the national average, was home to 93 government schools, over 200 private schools, 50 government and private colleges affiliated to the University of Calicut and prestigious institutes of higher learning such as the NIT and IIM.
Regarding health care facilities, Ms. Joshi said that the city had two well-equipped government hospitals and over 40 private hospitals.
It was the seat of the largest and oldest medical college in Kerala with a bed strength of 3,200 and the only mental health centre in Malabar. With seven super specialty hospitals, it acts as not only a medical centre for the Malabar region but also as the highest contributor in the field of medical tourism in India.
The city has two information technology parks which were still in their budding stage with ULCCS (Urarangal Labour Contract Cooperative Society) IT Park hosting about 70 companies and the Government IT Park having 10 companies, Ms. Joshi said.
