A senior official said on Thursday that a plan to build eight new cities is being considered to lessen the population burden on the nation’s existing urban centres.
New cities should be developed, according to a recommendation made in one of the 15th Finance Commission’s reports, according to M. B. Singh, director of the G20 unit of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Department. In this location, Singh was speaking to sources outside of a “Urban 20 (U20)” meeting.
‘After the finance commission’s recommendation, the states sent proposals to the Central Government for 26 new cities, and after a scrutiny, eight new cities are being considered for development,’ he said.
The government will in due course announce locations for the new cities and their development timelines, he added. ‘We have to build new cities in the country as the existing cities are not able to cater to the needs of citizens. Haphazard expansion on the outskirts of existing cities is affecting the basic planning of these cities,’ Singh said. When a new city is developed, social and economic activities will increase within a radius of at least 200 km, he said.
Though the financial roadmap for setting up new cities has not been finalised, the Union government will play a major role in the project, he said.