New Delhi, September 16: The Urban Development Ministry has sought an additional Rs 50,000 crore from the government and release of another Rs 25,000 crore from the World Bank for its Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
Speaking at the India Today conclave in New Delhi, Urban Development Minister S Jaipal Reddy today said his ministry is also planning to set up 13 ‘centres of excellence’ on urban studies in premier institutes of the country to help planners set up mega projects efficiently.
While highlighting that the JNNURM mission has helped in improving basic amenities in urban areas, Reddy said he has requested Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to allocate an additional Rs 50,000 crore for the mission.
Reddy also said his ministry has approached the World Bank to release another Rs 25,000 crore.
The Government has already released Rs 95,385 crore out of Rs one lakh crore under the JNNURM mission to upgrade and add basic amenities in urban centres.
On setting up of ‘centres of excellence’, Reddy said, “These centres will come up in various IITs and IIMs and will focus on capacity building of people involved in development of urban projects like metro and other mega projects.”
The biggest challenge at present, he said, was proper execution of urban projects but assured India will witness more urbanisation than any other country in the coming years.
On the occasion, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit stressed on adopting a holistic approach in implementation of urban projects and rued that 3,000 to 4,000 buses are yet to be delivered for the city’s public transport network.
—Agencies