India is witnessing rapid urbanization and to enhance the quality of urban living prime minister  Narendra Modi will launch on Thursday three major missions that will transform the urban landscape of the country.

The Smart Cities mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for urban areas will be unveiled to drive economic growth in urban areas.  The central government has committed itself to spending about Rs four lakh crore on these three missions over the next five to six years.

The launch of urban missions will be followed by a two-day extensive consultations with states/union territories, elected and administrative heads of municipal bodies on implementation of these new missions and Swachh Bharat mission as well.

The Amrut programme will focus on basic infrastructure like providing piped water and sewer connections to every household, solid waste management, roads and public transport.

This programme will cover 500 cities with a population of above one lakh each and it seeks to help urban local bodies meet service level benchmarks in respect of various services while promoting reforms in urban governance.

Under PMAY, it is proposed to build two crore houses for urban poor by the year 2022. This will be achieved by involving private sector, slum redevelopment, credit linked subsidy and affordable housing in partnership with private and public sector.

The third mission is about building Smart Cities. It comprises development of entire urban eco-system of cities covering physical, social, economic and institutional infrastructure.

The objective includes all sections of the society and aimed at better living and to drive economic growth. This will be implemented through retrofitting, which essentially means enhancing infrastructure  and adopting smart solutions. The plan also involves redevelopment with fresh layouts for intensive land use, e-governance and appropriate smart solutions.

Minister of urban development M Venkaiah Naidu said on Wednesday that this will be launch of a new urban era in the country.

“This marks the journey of Team India towards radical transformation of urban areas required to build a resurgent India. Effective implementation of identified reforms is the key to the success of new missions. Urban governance needs to be improved substantially ensuring citizen participation, transparency and accountability and efficient service delivery to citizens,” he said.

The minister said that the new missions have been formulated after about an year long extensive consultations with various stakeholders like states and urban local bodies so as to avoid the pitfalls of implementation of Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM).