To be a smart city, hard decisions will need to be taken: Venkaiah Naidu

NEW DELHI: The government today said cities aspiring to be included in the list for its ambitious '100 Smart Cities' project need to be willing to take "hard decisions" for development.

" Smart city means making urban life comfortable and making living standards better. The concept means providing good governance, efficient health and education services, 24x7 power and water, efficient transport, high quality sanitation, employment to masses and robust cyber connectivity," Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said while speaking at the national conclave of states and UTs on Smart Cities.

The meeting, attended by Ministers and Principal Secretaries of various states and UTs, discussed the draft concept note on 'Smart Cities'.

In its maiden budget, the NDA government had proposed that it would develop 100 Smart Cities in the country.

Elaborating on the attributes of smart leadership and smart people, Naidu said "Smart leadership and smart people are essential pre-requisites for making cities smart. Smart city needs smart governance, smart leadership and smart people. Only then the concept will become successful."

"Effective urban governance requires smart leadership that is bold, initiative bearing, willing and able to take hard decisions like raising, if required, and recovering cost of services, implement reforms in governance, prevent unauthorised constructions besides removing encroachments and take on mafia," he added.