SHAKEELA ANDRABI
SRINAGAR: Srinagar Smart City has recorded highest-ever completion of projects amongst all the smart cities across the country with the CEO Srinagar Smart City Limited (SSCL), Athar Aamir Khan saying that 55 projects have been completed so far while work on 70 projects are going on.
CEO, SSCL said that a total of 125 projects are to be executed under the smart city project. He said that 55 among them have been completed while the work on 70 others are going on, adding that 50 among them will be completed before December this year.
Khan further said that the rest of 20 projects will be completed by June 2024.”So far, Srinagar has witnessed the fastest execution of the smart city projects and the highest number of projects has been completed compared to other cities across the country,” he said.
The CEO smart city project said that the Raj Bagh Jhelum River front is now almost complete and has become a good and first choice for morning walk lovers as well as passers-by. Along with this , people are coming from different parts of the Kashmir to see the beauty of banks of Jhelum and the beauty of the road-side.
Regarding drainage and drainage projects of Srinagar, he said that under the Srinagar Smart City Project our main focus is on proper drainage system.
This time we have created separate channels for rainwater and sewage, so that rainwater will go directly to rivers while as sewage will go to treatment plants.
“After the conclusion of the G-20 event in Srinagar, the execution of works will gain even more pace,” he said.
Under the much-hyped smart city project, several projects like J&K’s first wire-free and exclusively pedestrian market-Polo View and Jhelum Riverfront have been completed recently.
Both the projects were inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha ahead of the G-20 event. The delegates of the G-20 event also visited the refurbished Polo View market where they spent over half an hour during their visit.
It is important to mention that Smart City Mission was launched by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) Gol in which 100 cities were to be selected for Urban renewal and retrofitting with the objective to promote cities that provide core infrastructure, give a decent quality of life to their citizens and apply smart solutions to improve services and infrastructure. Srinagar Smart City project was approved in Round 3 challenge held in April 2017.