Business Reporter
Highlighting the dire need of affordable housing in the country, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday said that he is working on an ambitious project of creating a smart village wherein the villagers would get life long free of cost water and power supply. “The project is in its final stage and I wish to provide households to the needy people at a very reasonable rate,” he said addressing the gathering during the inaugural session of the 25th Edition of Rachana 2025 exposition being held at Ladies Club Lawns in Civil Lines.
Gadkari further said that there are only 1 per cent people in the country who could afford to buy a household costing more than Rs 10 lakh. “This shows that we need affordable households, especially in the rural pockets of the country. We need smart villages, not just smart cities. I appeal to the builders and developers to design smart villages and provide shelter to the home seekers,” he said. Elaborating on the various proposed initiatives, Gadkari said the Government has plans to invest Rs 25,000 crore via tendering process to create infrastructure and other projects in coming days. About Rs 250 crore have already been utilised to buy railway land for the London Street project which was designed by renowned architect Hafeez Contractor. Already, 6 projects have been completed. From these projects, NMC has earned Rs 2,500 crore. It has also been planned to build food malls and sports complex at various places in the city. NMC and NIT will take possession of various markets including Santra Market, Cotton Market, Netaji Market, and Dahi Bazar, Itwari for development in the city.
At Pardi, a new railway station is proposed near which fish and vegetable markets will be developed for Rs 150 crore. Similarly, to boost tourism in and around Nagpur, three ‘Oxygen Parks’ and adventure sport projects have been proposed, Union Minister Gadkari added.
In his address, Vijay Phanshikar, Editor - The Hitavada, spoke about the current scenario of architecture and lifestyle of the people.