File photo of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
To make Smart City model a success, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has called for empowering Mayors to enable better performance.
"If we want the Mayor to perform, it is important to empower him with enough powers," Mr Fadnavis said, while speaking on Smart Cities (project) in London yesterday.
Smart City is not merely about technology, but about involving people and understanding their needs, he said, adding that Maharashtra is moving in that direction. Mr Fadnavis also laid stress on the importance of quality of life.
"We've to create jobs, provide newer services and give better quality of life. We are building a new city, 'NAINA', which will be bigger than Mumbai," the Chief Minister said.
While interacting with CEOs, Mr Fadnavis assured that while creating infrastructure, there won't be problems in land acquisition, and cited the Navi Mumbai model of development.
Optimum use of services will bring down the cost which is the main objective and his government will achieve this by creating Smart Cities, he said.
"We have to put water and power supply into smart grid to keep a count of every drop of water and every unit of power," he noted.
Mr Fadnavis also interacted with the gathering on Urban Infrastructure, Public-Private Partnership, powers of Mayor, and new technologies at 'Prabodhan Leaders Conclave 2015'.
He said people should get efficient services without escalating cost.
Earlier, Mr Fadnavis met Sterlite Industry Chairman Anil Agarwal and Vedanta CEO Tom Albanese. Sterlite plans to invest Rs 16,000 crore over next five years in LCD panel fab project in the state, he apprised.