Three major approaches have been cleared for building 100 major cities. The respective approaches to be taken up by the government will be retrofitting, redevelopment and greenfield projects.
Retrofitting will aim at substantial improvement of existing cities while makeover of prevailing cities that have large heritage value will be planned by redevelopment and as a part of greenfield projects, new cities will be identified for development.
In the initial phase, at least 25 smart cities will be built in partnership with different state governments and union territories. Cities will be built based on different themes.
The finance ministry has set aside Rs 1,000 crore as initial seed fund for the mega smart cities plan in its first budget on 10 July, 2014.