Vadodara: Despite all the controversies that the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) has been marred in off late, the Smart City projects of the civic body seem to be well on track. Vadodara has been ranked second in the country for the progress on the projects it took up.While Vadodara could not make the cut in the first list of 20 cities, the second list only included cities from the state where no city was selected in the first lot. It was selected only in the third list after its first proposal was significantly changed even as most of the projects therein were retained.Sources said that amongst the cities picked up as Smart Cities, Vadodara was ranked second based on public-private partnership (PPP) projects, tendering of projects, issuing work orders and their completion. The projects were well on track and some were even completed.VMC officials said that 62 projects of the civic body worth Rs 2,817crore had been cleared under the Smart City mission. Of these the VMC had prepared detailed project reports for 50 projects worth Rs 2,027crore and the tendering process had been completed for 46 projects worth Rs 1,981crore.Work orders for 40 projects worth Rs 1,790 crore had been issued by the civic body even as 11 projects worth Rs 138crore had already been completed. According to officials, the projects proposed by VMC included projects amounting to Rs 1,071crore that will be taken up under the PPP mode.Officials pointed out that the rankings were part of an ongoing process and were subject to change very often. Vadodara was ranked twelfth around six months back, but had shown consistent improvement to reach the second spot.

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