A team from the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA), which on Saturday inspected the projects carried out under the Smart City Mission, lauded the choice of projects and their execution by the Coimbatore Smart City Limited.
A team led by MoHUA director (finance) S C Jana visited various projects carried out under the Smart City Mission, including Race Course, Valankulam and Multi-Level Car Parking (MLCP) and DB Road, which was developed into a model road.
After the inspection, S C Jana said Coimbatore Smart City projects were one of the best he had visited thus far in the country. “It is heartening to see so many people are making use of the facilities developed under the Smart City Mission,” he said.
“Basic idea behind the Smart City Mission is to make the city smarter and useful for the public. What I have realised in the city is that projects carried out here are better than what we expected. Local people are happy. We are also happy to see government funds are utilised in a true sense. Actually, this is what we expected from the smart city projects,” he said.
Corporation commissioner M Prathap said the civic body was checking the best practices around the country to deal with the water hyacinth which was spreading in the waterbodies developed under the Smart City projects. Fewer people are utilizing the MLCP project at present. People got used to free parking. Efforts were being taken to improve the occupancy, he said.
Talking to TOI, the commissioner said that the team was particularly happy with the way Race Course was developed. The number of people using the facility even at noon time impressed the team, he said.
Corporation officials said most of the projects were nearing completion, except for Kurichi Tank development works and Bio-mining to clear legacy waste at Vellalore waste dump yard.
State support coordinator for Tamil Nadu for Smart City projects S Sampath Kumar accompanied him. He said the 'water theme' used by Coimbatore Corporation is unique compared to other cities. “They were impressed by the way the space under the Valankulam flyover was developed for public activity at minimal cost. It can be easily replicated by other cities,” he said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Devanathan Veerappan
Quelle/Source: The Times of India, 25.02.2023