Vizag likely to be the first smart city in the country

Centre and State keen to start smart city works in Vizag soon Chandrababu Naidu has promised the people of the city that he will ask the Centre to start works for converting Vizag into a smart city from now onwards. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also has announced that Vizag city will be converted into a smart city with the help of American Companies.

So, the proposals to convert Vizag city into a smart city is under consideration and both governments have started working on it. State and central governments are keen to implement their plans from now itself as lot of reconstruction activities are to be carried out in the Hudhud affected Vizag city.

Two Central teams are visiting Hudhud affected areas in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts today to assess the damage. One of the teams has inspected the Vizag airport and then moves to Fishing harbor to assess the damage. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who visits the cyclone affected areas in these districts, has announced Rs.1000 crore as immediate relief fund. However, Centre has released only Rs.450 crores out of that amount. AP CM Chandrababu Naidu has been pressurizing the Centre to release the balance amount at the earliest.

Once the central teams submit their reports to the Centre, then it may release the funds for reconstruction works of Hudhud affected areas and finalize plans to convert Vizag into a smart city. Japan, Singapore and America have come forward to convert Vizag into a smart city. Modi prefers American service for this purpose.