Developing recreational zones from unutilised road spaces, Surat shows the way

Surat: From recreational facilities, biodiversity park and redeveloped creek to increased green cover, the Surat model of providing its residents facilities that are essential for leading a healthy and smart life should be replicated in other cities, a senior official said on Tuesday.

During a media interaction here, Rajeev Jain, Additional Director General and spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), said Surat has successfully accomplished targets under the government's Smart Cities Mission.

His views were echoed by Surat Municipal Commissioner Shalini Agarwal who stressed that the model of developing recreational zones from unutilised road spaces can be replicated in other cities.

Jain said, "These are replicable at other places too. Surat is the role model, especially for the project under which they have undertaken creek redevelopment. They are developing a biodiversity park and have reclaimed land, developed motorable roads and increased green cover. This is essential for a healthy and smart life." The Narendra Modi government launched its flagship Smart Cities Mission on June 25, 2015 and 100 cities were selected for redevelopment through four rounds of competition from January 2016 to June 2018.

According to Agarwal, Surat has undertaken 81 projects worth Rs 2,813 crore under the Smart Cities Mission and has completed 78 projects worth more than Rs 2,500 crore.

Agarwal said that despite the population of the city showing an increase, the slum population has shown a decline.

"In 2000, the slum population stood at 25 per cent. But in 2023, it has gone down to six per cent. This has been possible because people have moved into affordable houses constructed under the PM Awas Yojana and other city housing projects," she said.

She said that the Surat Municipal Corporation has developed recreational zones from unutilised road spaces.

"These have been developed on PPP (public-private partnership) model. The Surat model can be replicated in other places too," she said.

Another key project that is in the works is the biodiversity park that will be Asia's largest such park. The civic body has removed legacy waste at Khajoori landfill site and started the Dream City project, which will be the central hub for diamond traders.

The corporation has also set up an Integrated Command and Control Centre in southwest part of the city where feed from 2,500 CCTV cameras is monitored.

"Through this, we get to know about potholes, broken roads and we immediately ask the officials concerned to take action on repairing them," Agarwal said.