Kerala wants centre to develop 7 cities in the state under the Smart city project

New Delhi: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Saturday asked the Centre to develop seven cities in the state under the Smart City project, after being alloted only one from the lot of 100 cities to be developed across the country.

Chandy, who met Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu in New Delhi, sought seven cities in Kerala under the project.

"It was a review meeting with the Kerala Chief Minister today," said Naidu, after the meeting with Chandy.

Asked about Chandy's demand, Naidu said he has sought seven smart cities for Kerala.

As per the project, 100 Smart Cities would be developed across the country. While Uttar Pradesh has been assigned 13 Smart Cities, Kerala has got just one.

The Kerala Chief Minister also gave a memorandum to the Urban Development Minister, in which he sought the Centre's intervention in the Kerala Water Supply Project, implemented with a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The Kerala Water Supply Project is implemented with a loan from the JICA and the Kerala Water Authority as the

executing agency to augment/rehabilitate water supply systems of Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode cities and adjoining villages and to construct the new water supply systems for Pattuvam, Cherthala and Meenad.

The project, which also includes institutional strengthening for the Kerala Water Authority will benefit 41 lakh people by 2036, the memorandum said.

The total sanctioned cost of the project is Rs 2,987 crore.

The memorandum further stated that the government, on a review of the project, finds that the remaining work can be completed within one year for which an extension of disbursement upto December 2016 is required.

A comprehensive proposal in this regard has been sent to the ministry of Urban Development.

The proposal is to be cleared by the Department of Economic Affairs, after clearance by the Ministry of Urban

Development and sent to the JICA for loan disbursement extension.

The Chief Minister urged the urban development minister to expedite action for a positive recommendation to JICA.