More cities make the cut

The new induction in the list of Smart Cities will provide a boost to the realty sector.

- Ramesh Kumar Raja

The Ministry of Urban Development led by M Venkaiah Naidu recently announced the third set from the 98 listed regions which are to be developed as smart cities under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Smart Cities Mission. The competition at this platform is tough as all the regions are being picked on a strict numbering basis where they have to pass through a lot of parameters and being marked for the same. Basis these marks, the top ones are selected for list to be announced. Compared to the previous counts of 20 in the first list and 13 in the second list, the count was very high this time, making it to 27 inclusions in the current list. The current list notably features five regions from Maharashtra, four from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh along with one each from Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Sikkim and Nagaland. With the list now totalling to 60 regions, the proposed investment has risen to INR 1,44,742crore.