Bhubaneswar: The Centre will provide full support to develop Rourkela as a Smart City, said Union Minister of State, Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri.
In a letter to the BJP leader and Sundargarh MP Jual Oram, Singh said that 18 projects worth Rs 1422 crore have been tendered of which 14 projects worth Rs 631 crore have been completed since the selection of Rourkela as a Smart City in September 2016.
He was replying to the former’s concern over the tardy pace of progress of projects in Rourkela Smart City due to poor utilisation of the Central funds
Apart from this, the Ministry has already released Rs 196 crore as Central share of which the Smart City has utilised Rs 46.19 crore while the Odisha government has also released Rs 111 crore to the Rourkela Smart City as its share.
Stating that the Ministry is in constant touch with the states/Smart Cities to assess the performance of the cities and to handhold them for improving the same, Singh said he has directed the Mission Director, Smart Cities Mission to review the performance of Rourkela Smart City periodically.
He assured that his Ministry would continue to provide full support and guidance to help Rourkela Smart City perform better in the future.
