Smart City project work in Coimbatore will be completed by September 2023: City Municipal Commissioner

Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) [India], August 4 (ANI): The Smart City project work in Coimbatore under the Central Government-funded Smart Cities Mission programme will be completed by September 2023, Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation Commissioner M Prathap said on Friday.
Talking to ANI, the Commissioner said that 93 per cent of Smart City works in Coimbatore have been completed and the remaining seven per cent of work will be completed by September 2023.
Out of 54 projects under the Smart City, 43 have been already completed and the rest are near completion. Coimbatore Corporation ranks first among the 11 urban local bodies in the State in implementing projects taken up under the Central Government-funded Smart Cities Mission programme.
Prathap said that out of Rs 1200 crore allotted for various smart city projects, around Rs 1000 crore has been utilised.
Speaking about the key Smart City projects, Prathap said that among the three important projects which we have taken, one is the development of the cascading system of lakes.
Lakes have been developed under the Smart City Mission. Lots of people who were living near the lake were rehabilitated to better housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U), a flagship Mission of the Government of India.
Then we were able to make public spaces like cycle tracks, walking tracks and food joints were made at lakes. We also made boatings and selfie points at lakes.
The Commissioner said that the second important Smart City project is pedestrian-friendly model roads which we have developed in Coimbatore. This model road is around nine kilometres of pedestrian-friendly roads that have been constructed in Coimbatore.
The Commissioner said that the third important Smart City project was green energy. Under this, green energy solar panels were installed which reduced electricity cost to around four to five crore per year.
CFL lights were changed into LED lights which reduced greenhouse gas emissions and carbon emissions as well as electricity charges, he added.
The Commissioner said that Coimbatore had been one of the fastest-growing city but had lacked public spaces inside the city. As per the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, each city should have six square kilometres per capita public space availability, but Coimbatore had less than one.
However, after the implementation of the Smart City projects, the per capita land availability of public space availability had risen to more than four square kilometres, he said.
Rajeev Jain, the Additional Director General and Spokesman of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development said that the Smart Cities Mission launched on June 25, 2015, is aimed at providing core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment and a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’. (ANI)