DMICDC seeks Rs 7,500-crore budgetary push for smart cities

 

Dholera

The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) has sought Rs 7,500crore allocation in the forthcoming Union Budget to push for the construction three smart cities.

The demand comes amid concerns sounded by the finance ministry over the sluggish execution of the most ambitious infrastructure project of the country as also over some of the agreements by the Corporation executing the mammoth project.

The DMICDC has the mandate to set up seven greenfield smart cities along the proposed Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. The investment in the project is estimated at over $100 billion, with the Japanese government agencies providing cheap financial support, while the Centre and the states will chip in with equity and land.

Following ascension of the NDA to power, it announced to set up 100 smart cities and revamp the existing infrastructure projects in the country to ease out the mounting urban problems. In this backdrop, the DMIC project is expected to get a boost from the Narendra Modi government.

Sources said the equity will be used for the special purpose vehicle in Dholera in Gujarat, where a new city is planned, and a similar project in Shendra, 17 km from Aurangabad, in Maharashtra.

The DMICDC had demanded the same amount when the interim Budget was presented, saying the Centre needs to chip in with equity since the states had already provided their share by way of land.

The Corporation officials, however, said the ministry had been raising unnecessary concerns over projects that had been cleared by it earlier.

Dholera-Smart city