Our Correspondent
Kohima | June 21
Having missed to figure in the 23 fast track smart cities, Kohima is now gearing up to compete for another second round of the competition.
Kohima scored 51 points (3 points short to get qualify in the last fast- track competition).
The state government will submit the revised/upgraded proposals to the Ministry by June 30 this year.
To carry forward the process of the 2nd round competition, views and opinions were taken at state level consultative meeting held here today in the presence of ministers, parliamentary secretaries, MLAs, Administrative Heads of Departments (AHODs) and Heads of Departments (HODs).
Addressing the meeting, Minister for Social Welfare & Parliamentary Affairs, Kiyanilie Peseyie said it was the duty of the entire citizen to give effort and contribute their best to translate the dream for Kohima Smart City project into a reality.
He said that the remaining ten fast track cities including Kohima, which could not qualify, would now be participating in the main round 2 of the competition and have to submit their revised/upgraded proposals by June 30.
Further, Peseyie appealed for the participation of every citizen and all the departments to extend their cooperation and support to the government so that the aims and objectives of the Smart City project can be fully achieved.
Parliamentary Secretary for Municipal Affairs, Economics & Stastics, R. Tohanba said the consultative meeting was called to gather views before submission of the upgraded proposal to the Ministry.
He said the Municipal Affairs Department with Kohima Municipal Council, consultants from Voyants Solutions Pvt. Ltd and stakeholders are doing its best to get Kohima qualified in the smart city list.
Municipal Affairs Secretary Dr. Maongwati Aier said three international agencies namely World Bank, Asian Development Bank and London School of Economics have actively been involved and supervising the ongoing Mission on regular basis.
Stating that the Project would be implemented on Public-Private Partnership (PPP), he said some firms have already shown interest in this. The State Government departments will also play its role on convergence programme.
State consultant on Kohima Smart City Mission made a power point presentation on upgraded Kohima Smart City proposal, which is to be submitted to the ministry for round two of the competition. Kohima, the capital of Nagaland has a unique topographic setting.
The city is characterized by rugged hilly terrain, improved quality of life, surrounded by lush green forest, enjoys a moderate and pleasant climate, and possesses rich historic and cultural heritage which serves as an excellent base for developing the city as one of the tourism destinations of India.
However, the vulnerability of Kohima to Natural Disasters is very high. It lies in the seismic zone 5, which makes the city prone to earthquakes and frequent landslides due to heavy rainfall.
