The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) has received a total of 28 proposals from 23 states for the incubation of new cities, which are currently under examination by the relevant authorities, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday. This initiative follows the February 2021 announcement by the Ministry that the central government would develop eight new cities to address the growing demand for urban expansion across the country.
As part of this effort, the 15th Finance Commission recommended an allocation of Rs 8,000 crore for the development of these new cities, with the provision that each state can only propose one new city for funding. Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Tokhan Sahu, detailed in a written response that each proposed city is allocated a budget of Rs 1,000 crore.
To guide the process, the ministry constituted an expert committee to finalize the eligibility criteria and bid parameters for the proposed new cities. This committee issued a Request for Proposal (RfP) to all states, resulting in 26 proposals from 21 states. However, due to a lack of qualifying proposals from the Northeastern states, revised proposals were requested from these regions, bringing the total number of submissions to 28 from 23 states. These proposals, including one from Uttar Pradesh, are now under scrutiny by the competent authorities, said the Minister.
