The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has released ₹98 crore under the Smart City project in the Union Territory.
As per the scheme of things under the project, the Centre had a commitment of ₹200 crore in the first phase. Of this, the Centre had released ₹98 crore recently, a senior official told The Hindu .
Following the instructions of the Centre to focus on projects that had deep impact under the Smart City Mission, the administration had decided to use the funds for the construction of the Marie Building, extending the beach restoration programme, rejuvenation of Grand Canal and development of the Swadheshi Mill Complex. The project implementation agency had started construction of the Marie Building. The structure had collapsed a few years ago.
Artificial reef
The fund would be used to extend the beach restoration work by creating an artificial reef on the southern side. The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) had started work on providing artificial reef on the northern side of the beach.
The draft of the detailed project report for the reef on the southern side was ready, the official said and added that NIOT would be the consultant for the project.
Puducherry was selected in the third round of Smart City challenge announced by the Centre. The two proposals on the project submitted by Puducherry were rejected as it focussed on greenfield development alone. The revised proposal was a mix of area-based development and pan city solutions.
The French government had inked a pact with the Union Finance Ministry to provide financial assistance to the Puducherry government. An MoU was signed among the AFD, the French bilateral development agency, and the government in July this year. As per the agreement, the AFD would provide the first tranche of ₹535 crore out of a soft loan of ₹1,400 crore to the Union Territory for the Smart City project. The Puducherry government had formed a special purpose vehicle named “Puducherry Smart City Development Ltd.” to implement the project.
