With the Centre selecting Kakinada to be developed into a Smart City, Municipal Corporation officials are on the job of setting up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to obtain funds from the Central and State governments for developing the city in the next five years in accordance with the plan.
The civic body has already sent a Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the Urban Development Ministry on the works to be undertaken under the ‘Smart City’ project.
“We have to set up an SPV first, for which the government will appoint a Chief Executive Officer. The District Collector will be the chairman of the SPV, to which experts in various fields will be nominated as directors by the government,” Kakinada Municipal Corporation Commissioner S. Aleem Basha told The Hindu . The Commissioner will also be one of the directors of the SPV that will monitor all works that are taken up under the project.
Immediately after the setting up of the Special Purpose Vehicle, the Central and State governments will release a sum of Rs. 100 crore each towards their annual contribution to the project, and the amount will be released for a period of five years.
1,370 acres to be developed
“Zone-1, where development works have been planned, is spread across 1,370 acres that amounts to 22 per cent of the total city area.
“The zone will be developed with all amenities in the next five years, and it will become a model for development for the rest of the city in future,” Mr. Basha said.
The Special Purpose Vehicle will have to undertake convergence programmes in the first phase, in which it has to work along with the New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh and some NGOs that work for the cause of improving the quality of education.
“Similarly, attention will be given to the long-pending underground drainage project and the solid waste management plan. All works will be taken up simultaneously based on the availability of funds,” the Commissioner added.
Centre and State to contribute Rs. 100 cr. each for the city’s development
