Despite the recent devastating floods that hit Chennai, officials went ahead with the preparation of Smart City proposals for City and 11 other city corporations.

These proposals are now with the   New Delhi-based Director of Smart City Mission of the Union Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).

Reports have said that the consultants appointed by these local bodies personally handed over the proposals along with the approval of the High Power Steering Committee and the Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Development Corporation (TUFIDCO), the nodal agency for implementing the State’s Smart City programmes.

Although Dec 15 was the deadline for the submission of the proposal to the Ministry of Urban Development, Tamil Nadu was given an extension of   two more weeks   due to the recent floods   in four districts, including Chennai.

The Urban Ministry would select top 20 projects for implementing the Smart City programme during the current year and extend funding from 2016-17 onwards for five years.

It is reported that the ranking list might be out in the second or third week of January. The top 20 cities might be announced on Republic Day on Jan 26.

Newspaper reports said Tiruchi, Chennai, Coimbatore and Madurai are among the front runners. Tiruchi Corporation has chosen Rockfort, Thillai Nagar, Gandhi Market, Thennur, Puthur, N.S.B. Road, Woraiyur, and Ammamandapam Road for retrofitting under the area based development component.

Providing various solutions such as tourism corridor, heritage protection, water supply, sanitation, and civic aspects are part of the retrofitting component.