Navi Mumbai smart city plan: NCP wants greater control, but CM overrides objections

Days after Navi Mumbai NCP leader Ganesh Naik announced that they do not support the central governmentrsquos smart city plan Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday assured that Navi Mumbai will be a part of smart city and the plan will be implemented in the city under section 450 of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act which gives power to the state government to call for extracts from proceedingsThe decision came after BJP MLA from Belapur Manda Mhatre NMMC opposition leader Vijay Chaugule and state cabinet minister Eknath Shinde met the Chief Minister on FridayEarlier this week on Wednesday Navi Mumbai NCP strongman Ganesh Naik whose party is ruling the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation NMMC expressed discontent over the appointment of Special Purpose Vehicle SPV in the smart city plan According to him the SPV will have the decision making power in implementing smart city plans of any city while the local body will merely be kept as advisor The projects under smart city programme will never come before the general body or standing committee of NMMC and further SPV will also not have civic representatives on the panel Naik addedSpeaking to midday Netra Shirke NMMC standing committee chairman said ldquoAt the time when the proposal of smart city had come to us there was no mention of SPV It was only when the second proposal came the government mentioned about SPV In the SPV there will be only mayor MP or MLA from the local body that too on an advisory board which means they will not have any decision making power As per the smart city plan the local municipal body is supposed to delegate all decision making power to the CEO and board of directors of SPV Then what is the point of including NMMC We are not against the idea of smart city it is a good concept but if it is through an SPV then it is not expectablerdquoAccording to the central government the implementation of the Mission at the City level will be done by a Special Purpose Vehicle SPV created for the purpose The SPV will plan appraise approve release funds implement manage operate monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects Each Smart City will have a SPV which will be headed by a full time CEO and have nominees of Central Government State Government and Urban local bodies ULB on its BoardSpeaking to midday BJP MLA from Belapur Manda Mhatre said ldquoWe are happy that the Chief minister has promised to include Navi Mumbai in smart city plan despite objection from ruling party of NMMC By doing this the state government has done justice to the citizens of Navi Mumbai who had poured in their suggestions to make their city a smart onerdquo