Andhra Pradesh misses ‘big’ smart city mark

Hyderabad: None of cities in Andhra Pradesh qualify to be a ‘smart city’ in the 40-lakh population category. However, AP is seeking  to create 14 smart cities in the “less than 40 lakh population  cities” category.

Although there are only 13 districts in AP, there are two towns in some districts like Chittoor and Tirupati, Rajahmundry and Kakinada, and Eluru and Bhimavaram which can qualify to be selected under the “smart city” scheme in the “less than 10 lakh population cities” category.

The Central government is yet to finalise the number of town and cities in Andhra Pradesh that would be selected for the  smart cities scheme, but Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has started lobbying to get as many 14 smart cities in the state.

Municipal and urban development minister Dr P. Narayana confirmed that only Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada qualify in the smart city category having 10-40 lakh population.

The remaining towns and cities like Guntur, Nellore, Kurnool, Chittoor, Tirupati, Rajahmundry, Kadapa, Kakinada, Eluru, Bhimavaram, Anantapur, Vizianagaram, Ongole, Nandyal, Adoni, Tenali, Proddatur, Madanapalle, Srikakulam, Narsaraopet and Tadepalligudem are in the race for smart cities in the under  10 lakh population category.

The Central government convened a meeting of all state urban development ministers in Delhi to explain the concept and seek suggestions.

There will be a few more rounds of meetings before cities from various states are selected for implementation of the  smart city scheme.

“Andhra Pradesh is seeking 14 smart cities citing the injustice done to it during bifurcation of the state,” said Mr Narayana.

Explaining the concept of a smart city, the AP minister said the focus will be on physical, social and institutional infrastructure. Under physical infrastructure, the components covered are power and water supply, solid waste management, sewerage, multimodal transport, cyber connection, roads railways airports connectivity, housing and disaster management.  

Social infrastructure covers  components like  education, healthcare, entertainment (parks & greens, music, culture and heritage, sports, tourist spots), inclusive planning (SC/ST, Backward incentives) etc.