Panaji Smart City Proposal – Fast Track Mode – Press Conference
A press conference was held in the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) town hall on 17th March 2016 at 4 pm to share a progress report on the up-gradation of the Panaji Smart City proposal. The press conference was addressed by the Mayor of the City Surendra Furtado and the Commissioner, Sanjit Rodrigues.
At the press conference, the spokespersons shared details of the observations made by the MoUD on the Panaji Smart City proposal including shortfalls and recommendations. The process and week-on-week schedule being followed by the city in putting together the upgraded plan, including timelines were also shared. City authorities also announced the schedule of dates of subsequent meetings with council members, state bodies and public consultations. The existing Panaji Smart City proposal and the observations made by the MoUD have been made public on various platforms. These were shared with the media and a request was made to all citizens to come forward with their suggestions, comments and feedback on city related matters so that the same can be incorporated into the revised and upgraded proposal.
The press release shared with the media at the press conference is as below:
Panaji gears up for Fast Track Mode of the Smart City Submission
The comments of MoUD and the Smart City Proposal have been made public. Citizens are welcome to share their views, suggestions and comments via Email (smartcitypanaji@gmail.com), Telephone and Whatsapp (+91 9822157390), Facebook (www.facebook.com/imaginepanaji), Website (www.imaginepanaji.com , MyGov website (www.mygov.in), and also through drop boxes which are being placed at EDC House Panaji and the Corporation of the City of Panaji
Panaji, March 2015: Panaji, the capital of Goa had been selected in the list of 100 Smart cities under the Smart City Mission of Union Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Government of India launched in June 2015.
The central government recently released a list of 23 cities, which included Panaji, which have been invited to revise and fast track their Smart City proposals for submission before 15th April 2016.
The City of Panaji had scored 52.99% with a ranking of 32 in the overall listing and rank no.5 in the list of cities to be upgraded in the fast track mode as was published by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD). The cut off mark for of the 20th ranked Bhopal who made it to the list of 20 cities was 55.47%. Panaji missed to be in the first list of winning Cities by a meager 2.48%.
The Ministry of Urban Development has shared its observations and suggestions on Panaji’s Smart City proposal in an effort to encourage the city to upgrade its existing proposal.
GSIDC as the Programme Management Unit for Smart City along with the Corporation of City of Panaji (CCP) is now actively working towards to ensure compliance to achieve the benchmark set by the winning cities based on the observations made by the Panel of Experts on how improvements can be made in each proposal.
The revised proposals of the 23 chosen cities will be evaluated again by the Panel of Experts set up by the Ministry of Urban Development and those which achieve such benchmark will become eligible for inclusion in the Smart Cities list and for funding on accelerated basis in the financial year 2016-2017.
It is the endeavor of the city of Panaji to improve and revise the proposal keeping in view the comments of the expert panel which have been shared by the Ministry of Urban Development.
The comments of MoUD and the Smart City Proposal have been made public on the www.mygov.in website, the Imagine Panaji website (www. imaginepanaji.com) and on Facebook (www.facebook.com/Imagine Panaji) and city welcomes suggestions from the citizens of Goa. After compilation of all the suggestions from the citizens and stakeholders, city authorities will hold a public consultation session at the CCP hall on the 22nd of March 2016.
The city is working towards completing the draft of the upgraded proposal by the last week of March post which it will be presented to the city council.
The Smart Cities Mission is an innovative initiative by the Government of India to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to create smart outcomes for citizens. The Mission will cover 100 cities over a period of five years (FY2015-16 to FY2019-20).
