Defining the rapid urbanisation is a challenging task and critical sustainibility. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the smart cities would make the cities more efficient, safe and better in networks.
Prime Minister of India further revealed that the country would have gain over 10% of the global urban population by 2025 and 50% of its people in urban habitats by 2050. The government of India plans to develop 100 new smart cities across the nation. It will start to develop satellite towns around the cities. Under this scheme, government is spending Rs. 3 lakh crores on the mission by 2020.
PM Modi said on an event of 103rd Indian Science Congress being held in the University of Mysore, "For the first time in human history, we are in an urban century. By 2050, two-thirds of the world's population will live in cities and three billion people will join 3.5 billion dwellers, with 90 percent of the increase from developing countries."
Narendra Modi has admitted that a global urban infrastructure has yet to be built. He told the galaxy of scientists, Nobel laureates and hundrerd of students that affordable and practical solutions had tgo be found for solid waste management, converting waste into building material and energy and recycling waste water.
The Prime Minister also said that, "As cities are major engines of economic growth, employment opportunities and prosperity, they have to be sustained to become locomotives of our economies and havens of healthy living. Though we need sound policies to achieve our goals, we will rely on science and technology to provide creative solutions. We have to also develop better scientific tools to improve city planning with sensitivity to local ecology and heritage and reduce demand for transportation, improve mobility and reduce congestion."
"We need your inputs to make our cities immune to consequences of natural disasters and homes resilient. This will also mean making retrofit of buildings affordable," Modi added.