8 NEW CITIES TO BE DEVELOPED TO MEET DEMAND FOR URBANISATION

NEW DELHI: The central government plans to develop eight new cities to meet the demand for urban expansion, senior officials of the ministry of housing and urban affairs said on Tuesday. The 15th Finance Commission has recommended an outlay of ₹8,000 crore for developing the cities in eight states.

The ministry of housing and urban affairs will soon come out with a detailed framework to execute the greenfield project, the officials said.

According to the officials, ₹1,000 crore will be available for each city.

“We will create a system on how to develop new cities .... The government will work out the framework that may take six months or even one year...no new cities have come up for many years, the Finance Commission has granted ₹8,000 crore to incubate new cities,” Durga Shanker Mishra, housing and urban affairs secretary, said.

He said that a census town is an area with a population of more than 5,000 and a population density of over 400 per square kilometres, and wherein more than 75% of the male population is engaged in non-agriculture work.

“The country needs new cities...unless we get planned cities, there would then be outgrowth,” Mishra said.

While the framework for developing the cities will be worked out later, he pointed out that there are areas that exist just outside the jurisdiction of a city administration.

Census towns may be considered for the new project, people familiar with the matter said.