Warangal that missed the Smart City bus by a whisker is ready and raring to go to make use of the opportunity given by the Centre, The Hans India reported.

When it announced the first batch of cities selected for the Smart City challenge on Jan 28, the Centre gave another opportunity to 23 cities, including Warangal, to participate in the fast track competition.

The Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) had hired the services of the LEA Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd a renowned consultancy, to prepare the Smart City proposal. But it was short by just 0.07 points in making it to the first list.

Working on the opportunity to be back in the race, the Warangal administration and the consultancy reworked on the shortcomings pointed out by the Central committee to come up with a revised proposal.

The scoring (total 100 points) of Smart City Proposal (SCP) is based on three sections City Profile (30 points), Area Based Development (55 points) and Pan-City Solution (15 points).

The proposal focused on transforming Warangal into a vibrant regional economic hub in Telangana and to make it a clean, green, inclusive, modern, safe and citizen-friendly and well governed city. It envisaged development of the city as the cultural capital of Telangana.

In the Area Based Development segment, the proposal focused on the development of the Bhadrakali Lake Front, Extended Business, Smart Mobility, Green Urbanism and Safety and Security.

Mayor Nannapuneni Narender told The Hans India: “The revised proposal has got the approval of the state-level High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC).”