The Himachal Pradesh government has approved Rs 100 crore for the infrastructural development of Dharamshala Smart City as the city is being readied to host the Mega Global Investors Meet in November.
Furthermore, funds amounting to Rs 1000 crores are planned to be released by the state and central governments (in equal shares) in the next five years.
A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and Project Management Consultant (PMC) agency have also been selected for Dharamshala. The PMC agency has been tasked to prepare Detailed Project Report (DPR) on several schemes. According to reports, the SPV had a budget of Rs 220 crores, out of which Rs 194 crores were given by the central government and Rs 25 crores were given by the state government. Out of the total Rs 220 crores, only Rs 35 crores have been spent so far, while work on projects worth Rs 58 crores is underway.
Home to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Dharamshala was the first city in Himachal to be selected under the Smart City Mission when it edged out state capital Shimla to find a place on the first list of 98 cities in 2015.
Initially, the state High Court had quashed Dharamshala’s selection in the centrally-sponsored scheme on Shimla Municipal Corporation’s plea alleging fudging of data by the government, but the city regained the tag in 2016, winning a fast-track smart city competition.
