Alstom Metro coaches unveiled

The Centre will launch two major urban initiatives next month. Under the New Urban Rejuvenation Mission all basic amenities will be provided in 500 cities which have a population of one lakh and above. The other one is building Smart Cities which is more ambitious. Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu revealed this after inaugurating the ‘Centre for Smart Cities’ at the IIIT in Sri City on Sunday.

He also unveiled the shell of the metro coaches being produced by Alstom at Sri City for Kochi Metro Rail.

“I am delighted at IIIT Sri City coming up with the idea of a research centre for smart cities focusing on smart technologies needed for enhancing resource use efficiency. As far as I know this is the first such initiative by an academic institution. Such initiatives are the need of the hour to further the goal of improving the way our urban areas are governed. I am indeed happy to know that IIIT, Sri city will be taking up a pilot project. I am sure this will inspire more initiatives,” the minister said.

Referring to the 32 per cent population living in urban areas, he said it is going to become 50 per cent making the country ‘urban.’ An additional 500 million people are going to be added to urban areas in the next three decades. To make them live better is a challenge that we need to address, he asserted.

“The unplanned urbanisation in our country has made living in our cities a difficult experience. We intend to change this through the new initiatives,” he observed.

Praising Sri City, he said “Sri City is taking two strides today towards a new India. One being the study on Smart Cities and the other being the ‘Make in India’ initiative through the 100 manufacturing firms from 26 countries.”