Indian Govt’s ambitious urban development plan gets Rs 25,000 crore push

Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), the Indian government’s ambitious plan to push urban development, recently got more steam and an increased support. Under the transformation plan, the government plans for 500 cities for the next three months worth Rs 25,000 crore.

AMRUT was launched in June 2015, and focuses on revamping 500 cities where it targets on basic human needs like on water supply, sewerage network and community parks. Yearly, State Annual Action Plans are sent to the apex committee which is headed by the secretary. The committee then clears the projects as states send them to be sanctioned.

The Urban Development Ministry, however, is looking forward to change the approach and sanction projects totally. According to the sources, this will be helping states in gauging the funds and move to area based approach rather than project based approach. The states have been advised to send their plans for the next three fiscals 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 within this month. The apex committee will then meet and consider plans that are wise and sanction them. "This way the states save time as they don't have to come for each project. Also they know the funds they would have for the next three fiscals and can plan area development and also how much they need to raise through public-private partnerships,” a ministry official told ET.
(image: indiatimes)