'Expansion of smart cities list to evenly distribute benefits'

MUMBAI: Real estate industry experts today welcomed the addition of 13 cities to the list of smart cities, saying it will distribute the benefits of urban development more evenly across the country and drive growth.

The Union Government today announced the names of 13 new cities which will be developed under the Smart City Mission.

It includes Lucknow in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, Warangal in Telangana and Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh.

"This is a welcome development as the government has allowed more states and cities to participate in the Smart Cities initiative. It is encouraging to note the participation of more tier-II and III cities, which means that the benefits of urban development and infrastructure creation will be evenly spread across the country," CBRE South Asia Chairman and Managing Director Anshuman Magazine said.

"The release of the list of the next 13 smart cities today brings up the credibility of the government in pushing forth with the smart cities program in a time-bound manner.

"The initiative will significantly benefit the economy and the people and help build demand for the industry," KPMG (India) Partner-Infrastructure and Government Services Jaijit Bhattacharya said.

Deloitte India Senior Director Arindam Guha also said the additions are expected to make distribution of smart cities across the states more balanced.

"What is more important is what kind of models individual cities will adopt for procurement and implementation," he said.