NDMC's smart city projects to be completed by 2020

The NDMC's smart city projects will be completed before the 2020 deadline with most of the work getting into implementation mode by this October, the civic body's chairman Naresh Kumar has said.
He gave this assurance during a meeting convened yesterday by Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Durga Shanker Mishra to review the implementation of the New Delhi Municipal Council's (NDMC) Smart City Plan.
Stressing that the NDMC has set up solar panels with 3.30 MW of power generation capacity on building roofs, Kumar suggested the ministry to consider allowing it to install solar panels on central government office buildings either for free or nominal charge.

During the meeting, timelines for various projects under the Centre's Smart City Mission for the NDMC were fixed.
Of the Rs 1,800 crore Smart City Plan of the civic body, work on a range of major projects will begin in phases by October this year for which tendering is in progress, an official release said.
These include setting up of a unified command and control centre, multi-level parking at Khan Market, public bike sharing, sewage treatment plants, redesign of 13 roads totaling 31 kms, including seven leading to Connaught Place.

Implementation of other projects will begin by March next year. These include India Investment Centre at Yashwant Place, Shivaji Terminal Transport Hub, World Class Skill Centre at Moti Bagh and Paryatan Bhawan.

"Kumar assured that with most of the projects getting into implementation mode by October this year and the remaining by March next year, all smart city projects will be completed before the scheduled deadline of 2020," the release said.
The NDMC was also asked to pursue pedestrianisation of Connaught Place and Khan Market with appropriate action plans.