Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March said the Smart City Projects would herald a sea change in urban amenities and boost the rapid development of the northeastern states. “The Smart City Projects would solve many long pending and crucial problems of the people and their cities. They would greatly help to make a sea change of the urban amenities and boost the rapid growth and development of the northeastern states,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister was speaking after laying the foundation stones of five Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) of Smart City Projects in five cities in three northeastern states—Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Tripura—from New Delhi through video conference. Modi said under the Smart City Projects, 500 projects at a cost of Rs 15,000 crore would be implemented in 10 cities of eight northeastern states. “Work orders have been issued for 59 projects.”

He said that each city has already identified their key problems and issues and these would be solved by 2019 end or in 2020. “Applying the digital technologies through centralised monitoring, smart solutions would be used in traffic management, transportation, waste management, energy conservation, drainage system, water supplies.