Rs 2,906 crore Smart City Plan for Shimla

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 18

The MC today approved a Rs 2,906 crore Smart City Plan for the capital after incorporating the main suggestions given by 1.11 lakh people in the formulation of the document which will be sent to the Urban Development Ministry.

The state-level high-powered steering committee, chaired by Chief Secretary VC Pharka, also approved the plan at its meeting. The plan has two main components, area based development and pan city development, with the thrust on redevelopment and retrofitting.

Shimla is vying to be included on the list of smart cities and March 31 is the last date for sending the plan for competitive bidding with other cities.

“A sum of Rs 1,252 crore will be spent on redevelopment of the core area, including The Ridge, The Mall and Krishna Nagar (wards 10, 11 and 12),” said Tikender Panwar, Deputy Mayor. He added that since a major portion of the land in this core area was with the MC, lots of structures would be pulled down and rebuilt, ensuring that the rights of tenants as well as owners were protected.

The plan also had a Rs 5 crore tram project which would cover the core area. Panwar said technical assistance and guidance from the French Embassy had been taken to add the attraction of the tram project in Shimla.

“Since the mobility sector is the number one area where citizens demanded improvement, having a tram will ease out the problem,” he said. The thrust would also be on improving water availability as this was the second problem listed by the maximum number of citizens.