Credit Rating of cities gains momentum; 44 get ratings

New Delhi:  Minister of Urban Development M.Venakaiah Naidu has asserted that smart city development is not elitist and on the other hand it has triggered inclusive and comprehensive urban planning and development addressing the inherited deficit in urban governance. Addressing a Business Conclave at Shri Ram College of Commerce here today, the Minister said that Smart City Mission has brought about a paradigm shift by enabling the mission cities approach the challenges differently rather than doing different things.

            Venkaiah Naidu explained that the Smart City Mission has been so designed to promote inclusive development benefitting all sections of people besides promoting sustainable urban development practices and actions in the context of urban citizens being starved of breathing and living spaces. He said that this mission is a ‘behavioral change’ initiative requiring all stakeholders including elected and executive leadership and citizens to change their attitudes and approaches towards urban planning and execution. Smart leaders and smart citizens are crucial for the success of the mission, he said.

            Asserting that the mission is progressing well, Shri Naidu said that since the announcement of first batch of 20 cities for smart city development  on January 28, 2015, these mission cities have moved quickly towards appointing Project Management Consultants, Special Purpose Vehicles and converting city-wise smart city  plans for awarding project works for implementation. He informed that 114 projects worth Rs.1,582 cr would be completed by June this year and another 186 projects costing Rs.11,749 cr have been awarded for execution and another 210 projects worth Rs.7,336 cr would be awarded soon. By June this year i.e with in two years of the launch of the mission, a total of 510 projects with a total investment of Rs.20,669 cr would take off the ground amounting to about 50% of the total investment proposed, he explained. Stating that awarding and execution of remaining projects would pick up further momentum from now on, Shri Naidu said that the mission is on course and visible impact will be felt soon.

            Referring to the growing spirit of competition among cities and towns to do better than others, Naidu said that moving away from archaic ways of urban governance, cities are now vying for credit ratings for mobilization of resources through municipal bonds, reflecting on their keenness to think and act differently. He informed that of the 97 smart cities, 89 have initiated this process of which 70 have completed it and 26 of them have already been given credit rating. Eight cities viz., Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Indore, Jaipur, Kakinada, Pune, Rajkot and Visakhapatnam have already appointed Transactional Advisors for issuing municipal bonds. Total of 44 cities including 25 AMRUT cities have so far got credit ratings, Shri Naidu informed.

Details of cities and credit ratings:

Smart cities
Credit rating
Amrut cities
Credit rating
Ahmedabad
AA minus
Bharatpur
BBB minus
Bhopal
A minus
Biakner
BBB minus
Bhubaneswar
BBB
Sriganganagar
BBB minus
Indore
A Plus
Hanumangarh (Raj)
BBB minus
Jaipur
A minus
Dholpur
BB plus
Kakinada
BBB
Gangapur city
BB plus
New Delhi Municipal
Council
AA minus
Swai Madhopur
BB plus
Pune
AA plus
Churu
BB
Udaipur
BBB plus
Sujangarh
BB
Visakhapatnam
A
Hindan
BB
Ajmer
BBB plus
Kishangarh
A plus
Kota
BBB plus
Jhunjhunu
A
Nagpur
AB plus
Bhiwadi
A minus
Nashik
AA minus
Alwar
BBB  plus
Navi Mumbai
AA plus
Tonk
BBB
Rourkela
BB plus
Pali
BB plus
Thane
AA minus
Jodhpur
BB
 
 
Bhilwara
BBB plus
 
 
Bundi
BB
 
 
Chittorgarh
BB
 
 
Jhalawar
BB minus
 
 
Baran
BB minus
 
 
Sikar
BB plus
 
 
Beawar
BBB plus

windowto news <windowtonews@gmail.com>
1:52 AM (4 hours ago)

to me, Jaya, Megha 
Nitin Gadkari Holds Meeting with Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium : Seeks Greater Belgian Participation in the Maritime Sector 

New Delhi: The Minister of Shipping and Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari met the Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium Mr. Alexander De Croo, in Mumbai yesterday to discuss bilateral issues concerning the maritime sector. Gadkari sought greater participation of Belgian companies in Sagarmala projects, inland waterways and development of industrial clusters. He talked about the immense opportunities that exist in India in the areas of coastal shipping, inland water transport, cruise, new port development, smart-port industrial city and development of green ports and urged the Belgian delegation to further strengthen the cooperation that already exists between the two countries in the maritime sector. 

The Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium recalled the expeditious steps taken by Government of India in setting up the JNPT Antwerp Port Training Centre, which is now functioning well. He assured that Belgium would extend full cooperation for the development of the maritime sector in India. He further said that these issues can be discussed in detail in the forthcoming Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union (BLEU) meeting, which is slated to be held in May 2017. Another high-level visit of Belgian delegation is also scheduled to visit India in November 2017. 

The meeting was attended by Ravindra Agrawal, Joint Secretary (Sagarmala), Ministry of Shipping, Neeraj Bansal, Chairman In-charge, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Mr Jan Luykx, Ambassador of Belgium to India, Mr Peter Huyghebaert, Consul General of Belgium to India, Mr. Marc Van Peel, President of Port of Antwerp, Mr Kristof Waterschoot, Managing Director APEC & PAI, , Mr Luc Arnouts, Commercial Director Port of Antwerp, Baron Mr Eddy Bruynickx, Honorary CEO of the Port of Antwerp and Mr Jürgen Marchand, Trade Commissioner, Flanders Investment and Trade. WTN