Centre mulls developing smart city at Ghitorni

A proposal for the development of a greenfield city with smart city features over 240 acres at Ghitorni in the national Capital is at an advanced stage of consideration of the Ministry of Urban Development.

Urban Development Secretary Rajiv Gauba has held detailed discussions with senior officials of Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and NBCC regarding this new project and appraised Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu regarding the proposed project.

Notably, the project would come up land belonging to CPWD, which has been lying vacant at Ghitorni since 1971.

According to sources, the project estimated to cost over Rs 15,000 crore, is proposed to be jointly developed by CPWD and NBCC on the self-financing basis with no cost to the government. It is proposed to build about 6,500 residential units of type-II to type-VIII under general pool residential accommodation (GPRA) in view of the substantial gap between demand and supply.

"The CPWD would undertake construction of GPRA houses besides office space for public sector agencies while NBCC would build about 500 houses to be sold to others besides developing substantial office and commercial space for sale for resource mobilisation for financing the project," the sources said.

"The proposed mini-city would be equipped with all required urban infrastructure, green sustainable technology and smart solutions as per smart city norms," the sources said, adding that after the necessary approvals, the project would be completed in five years time.