Infrastructure projects to turn Leh, Kargil into smart cities

NEW DELHI: The Centre has identified major infrastructure projects in key priority areas to develop Leh and Kargil as two new smart cities. Working on a proposal from home ministry to develop two cities in the union territory, the ministry of housing and urban affairs has identified major infrastructure projects in key priority areas like drinking water supply, tourism, sanitation and transport.

The broad areas have been worked out after extensive consultations spanning over several months with municipal committees, non-profit organisations, market associations, youth and the common people. The stakeholder consultations which started in July revealed several areas which the people want addressed. The main emphasis has been on preserving the natural balance of the eco sensitive areas while developing both Leh and Kargil into modern cities well-equipped to fight disasters and address common municipal problems.

The major projects identified would include a command and control centre which would coordinate all activities including street lighting, transportation, water supply, garbage disposal and segregation. A senior ministry official told ET, “The overarching concern expressed during stakeholder consultation was economic development and climate change. The region has witnessed natural calamities and the people expressed the need for a disaster management plan.”


The projects would also include piped drinking water supply throughout the season especially during winter months, garbage segregation at the doorstep, green garbage disposal projects, development of public spaces, waste water management to curb pollution, traffic management and parking issues, beautification of Leh and Kargil main market places, development of tourist places while maintaining the heritage and investing in clean energy projects.

The ministry has given the suggested list to the UT administration. “It is now up to the administration to take a final call on how would they want to move forward with Smart City Mission. The choice is whether to form a special purpose vehicle like all cities to manage the projects or just implement the projects like municipal projects,” said a ministry official involved in the planning.

Once the administration takes a call, the implementation process would start. “The command and control centre at Leh may not be at a very large scale as in cities like Bhopal or Bengaluru where they control all municipal operations from hospital inventory management to garbage disposal and segregation. The population pressure in the two cities is less and challenges are different,” said the same official.