Shillong, Sept 24: Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma admitted that it would not be easy to make Shillong a smart city due to financial crunch.
The State government is now hoping that the Centre would change the funding pattern from 50:50 ratio to either 80:20 or 90:10 ratio.
During question hour in Assembly on Monday, chief minister Conrad K. Sangma informed that despite the challenges, it does not mean that the government would not make Shillong a smart city.
“We have to do whatever it takes to ensure that Shillong become one of the smart cities in the country,†he said in the House.
According to Conrad, the funding pattern of 50:50 ratio has been made uniform as per guidelines of the Centre, adding that the Centre could not say directly that it would give special consideration for the Northeast.
He also informed that funding pattern is an issue where many smart cities in the country today could not fulfill the 50:50 ratio.
Urban affairs minister, Hamletson Dohling in his reply to a query from Congress MLA, P.T. Sawkmie, told the House that a special purpose vehicle would be constituted mostly probably by the second week of October, and then starts the implementation of smart city.
Dohling said that during a meeting recently with Union urban development minister, Hardeep Singh Puri in New Delhi, the state has urged the Centre to give special consideration, especially when the finance ministry has also mentioned in its circular that states in the Northeast are under “special consideration.â€
Dohling said that the state was waiting for a final communication from the Centre on the funding pattern.
The total project cost for smart city was Rs 1,039 crore.
