Chennai ranks 37 in Smart City listings

While Nagpur (259.96), Vadodara (195.31), Ahmedabad (190.96), Pune (190.59) and Surat (179.33) bagged the top five slots, none of the cities from Tamil Nadu made it to the top 10 list. Coimbatore (82.26) was ranked 14, Vellore (38.11) ranked 32 and Salem (35.1) was at number 35, while Chennai lagged at 37 (31.46). 

Sources in Greater Chennai Corporation cited the delay in the commencement of the Smart City initiative, which in turn, had stalled the implementation of projects – one of the main criteria for the ranking. In fact, there are several projects which are in various stages of implementation. 

A Smart City official said, “Several projects worth Rs 400-500 crore are in various stages of either being tendered or in implementation. Work has begun in projects such as linking storm water drains, redesign of roads, retrofitting parks and also major, complex projects such as Multi-Level Car Parking (MLCP) and Pedestrian Plaza in T Nagar and pan city projects such as parking management, bicycle sharing and restoration of 66 waterbodies under Smart City and CSR funding,” said the official, adding that several cities on the list had an early start. 

“The 2015 floods and Cyclone Vardah also added to the delay,” he added.