Govt's R-day gift; 7 new cities in 6 states

Mumbai, Jan 26: What could be a better Republic Day gift to India than to have seven brand new cities across six states. The Union Government plans to spend around Rs 17,500-crore over the next five-years to set up seven brand new cities in six states, a senior Government official said.

It has planned to set up two new cities in Maharashtra, and one each in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, the official said.

"The Government is planning to spend around Rs 2,500-crore for each city over the next five-years, which will be developed on around 540-square kilometres of area in six states. The cities will be developed with cutting-edge technology to provide all the necessary infrastructure," Joint Secretary (Industrial Policy and Promotion) of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Talleen Kumar, told reporters on the sidelines of the CII Partnership Summit.

This is a part of the Government''s target to develop 24 cities over the next 30-years. All these cities will be along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial belt, he said.

"The Government has proposed to set up 24 such new cities and has estimated an investment of nearly USD 1.2-trillion that would be required to create the necessary infrastructure," Kumar said.
It is estimated that by 2030, around 590-million people would be residing in Indian cities. "Creating new green cities can be a solution to the problem of increasing population and migration," he said.

According to estimates, by 2030, there would be nearly 68 cities which would, altogether have more than a 1-billion population.

Seventy per cent of employment would be generated from these cities and the urban centres would contribute to nearly 70 per cent of the GDP, he said.

PTI