Smart city norms almost finalised: Naidu

Smart city guidelines are in an advanced stage of finalization after which cities where the project are to be implemented would be selected, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Thursday. Replying to supplementaries, he told the Rajya Sabha that there was "no agreement with regard to any financial committment between India and USA" regarding the Smart Cities Mission as the US role was limited to extending technical support and for capacity building. Regarding India-US Cooperation in making Visakhapatnam, Allahabad and Ajmer as Smart Cities, he said that the US will extend technical support for preparing Master Plans for these three cities besides assisting in capacity building and undertaking feasibility studies. The United States Trade Development Agency (USTDA) has signed MoUs with the states of Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan in this regard. "The Smart Cities Guidelines are under formulation stage; which will contain the criteria... Guidelines are under advanced stage of finalization. Any time it can be finalized.