President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday proposed the launch a new Urban Development Mission to support states by handholding them in building infrastructure and services in step with the rapid pace of urbanization, at the closing Ceremony of the 11th Metropolis World Congress 2014.
"The Government of India proposes to launch a new Urban Development Mission to support states by handholding them in building infrastructure and services in step with the rapid pace of urbanization. A new mission mode program is being designed to take up these activities for 500 cities of the Nation. Private sector participation by way of PPP (Public Private Partnerships) methodology will be encouraged," said Mukherjee.
"Another initiative of the Government is to develop 100 Smart cities. The smart city approach will merge urban Planning, governance, ecology, environment, infrastructure and information technology to ensure that benefits of technology reach every neighbourhood and improves the quality of lives of citizens," he said.
"The Government also proposes to launch HRIDAY or Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojna. Under this programme sustainable development of heritage centres will be taken up bringing together urban planning, economic growth and heritage conservation in an inclusive and integrated manner with focus on livelihoods, skills, cleanliness, security, accessibility and service delivery," he added.
The President further said that such conferences gave a platform for sharing ideas from different parts of the globe.
"Our ancient scripture, Rig Veda states 'Aano bhadra kratavo yantu vishwatah' which means 'let noble thoughts come from all directions'. I am sure that noble thoughts have flowed in from all directions during this conference. I hope these thoughts will result in speedy action and better cities in the near future," said Mukherjee.
"I congratulate Metropolis and the Government of Telengana, especially Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his officers once again for having made this Congress a grand success," he added.