Private consultant to help Karnal bag smart city project

KARNAL: Having missed the chance to make it to the smart cities list, Karnal municipal corporation has hired a private consultant to help identify its shortcomings.

Giving information MC commissioner Aditya Dahiya said CRISIL (Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited) has been selected as a consultant for the smart city project and it will start working the project on January 1, 2017.

The name of Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited was finalised at a meeting of senior officials of the Haryana government in New Delhi on Saturday, he added.

He said the Karnal, which is chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s constituency, had missed the chance to make it to the second list of smart cities and was now all geared up to figure in the third list of 20 cities.

The agency will first conduct a complete survey of Karnal and find out the shortcomings which came in the way of making it to the second list of smart cities, he said.

The state government had invited tenders for the appointment of consultancy. Selected agencies, including CRISIL, ICRA (Information and Credit Rating Agency) and PWC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and Lybrand were called for the meeting.

They gave detailed presentations to the committee at the meeting.

He said that the people of Karnal would also submit their suggestions to the MC after the agency starts functioning on January 1, 2017.

Whenever the draft gets ready, it will be inspected at government level, and given final approval at the chief secretary level and the Smart City competition will be held in April, 2017, Dahiya added.

THE AGENCY WILL CONDUCT A SURVEY OF KARNAL AND FIND OUT THE SHORTCOMINGS WHICH CAME IN THE WAYOFMAKINGITTO THE SECOND LIST OF SMART CITIES