MoU ( Memorandum of Understanding ) with Singapore govt on satellite township scrapped :

The Urban Development Department has cancelled the MoU signed with Singapore Government for the setting up of a satellite township at Jathia Devi near Shimla. Now Himachal Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) will execute the project.

It was the previous Congress regime which had signed the MoU and the then minister along with a team of officials and gone to Singapore for the purpose.

Government announced that the MoU signed during the Congress regime for the satellite township had been cancelled. The implementation committee has cleared the project and the site plan has been prepared so that HIMUDA can develop it.

It was on February 27, 2017 that an MoU had been inked with the Singapore Government during Congress regime for setting up a modern township to decongest the state capita. Singapore was to fund the project and HIMUDA had acquired about 450 bighas of the land at Jathia Devi for the purpose. Though the minister did not specify the reasons disinterest by the Singapore Government following restrictions by the NGT on height of buildings and little headway were being cited as the main reasons for cancellation of the MoU.

About Uban Development Department :

Background :

The Directorate of Urban Development was established during the year 1985-86 to direct, control and monitor the activities of the Urban Local Bodies in the state of Himachal Pradesh. The Directorate has been assigned the responsibility to look after the legislative, Administrative and Development activities of 54 Municipalities(Local Urban Bodies) i.e. 2 Municipal Corporation, 31 Municipal Councils and 21 Nagar Panchayats which covers 5.59 Lac urban population(2001 census report) which is about 9.2% of the total population of the state.

From 1986 to May,1994, the Directorate was performing nominal regulatory functions which merely relates to the coordination of development works, release of grants and passing of municipal budgets. Consequent upon the 74th amendment of the constitution and the enactment of 3 new Municipal Acts viz. H.P. Municipal Corporation Act, 1994, Municipal Act, 1994 and H.P Municipal Services Act 1994, numerous Constitutional, Statutory and obligatory functions are entrusted to the Directorate. The 74th Constitutional Amendment envisages greater decentralization of administrative, legislative and financial functions to the Urban Local Government coupled with more and more functional autonomy to all the municipalities.