During a meeting of municipal authorities with senior Uttar Pradesh officials, the former were asked to prepare a plan for a sum of at least Rs 10billion to sustain the Smart City project.

Construction of project would call for careful planning and execution in a time-bound manner. The detailed construction planning process will have to get the backing of all stakeholders.

Officials said that the reason is to ensure that the project does not get stopped in the middle for lack of funds. Though the Centre and the state government will give Rs 20 billion for the project, municipal authorities have been asked to create alternative sources of funding rather than spending the whole budget in the initial stage.

Involving leading construction companies is a challenge for most of them are confined to the conventional civic work being carried out by the public works department. Here, a new approach to construction management will be required.

During the review meeting in Lucknow, participants were asked to prepare a Smart City project which is financially sustainable. Under this project, the government would provide the latest facilities and have to generate an alternate budget of at least Rs 10 bn

The municipal corporation need additional budget to provide facilities, including housing and walkable localities by reducing congestion, air pollution and resource depletion.