Five gateways, to be developed based on Mughal architecture, will come up at major road entrances of the city, including on NH-19 at the Etmadpur border and near Kheria airbase, under the smart city project. Officials of the Agra Municipal Corporation (AMC) have started preparing a detailed project in this regard.

To give a heritage look to the city, five grand gateways will be developed on its outskirts. The move is aimed to make the large number of tourists visiting to see the Taj Mahal, Agra fort and other monuments in the city, feel welcome.

The five spots identified for the project are National Highway 19 on border of the city with Etmadpur, entrance of city from Jaipur highway, the inner ring road at Fatehabad, the Agra-Gwalior highway and the area near Kheria airbase.

Background:-The Agra smart city project comprises of over 40 development plans related to infrastructure upgrade, beautification and technological advancement. The smart city development proposal for the city of Taj includes makeover plans worth over Rs 1000 crore. Area based development (ABD) plan envisions retrofitting of 2,250 acre of selected local area around the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Jama Masjid
and other parts of the old city. Other than this, the project envisages various pan-city initiatives. Some of these include door-to-door garbage collection, putting in place a solid waste management system, Intelligent Traffic Management System (ITMS) infrastructure, redesigning of 28 major road junctions, installing demand-responsive traffic signals, beautification of parks, etc.

About Smart City mission- Key facts:

• Implementation: The implementation of the Mission at the City level will be done by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created for the purpose. The SPV will plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement, manage, operate, monitor and evaluate the Smart City development projects. Each smart city will have a SPV which will be headed by a full time CEO and have nominees of Central Government, State Government and ULB on its Board.
• Under the scheme that was launched in 2014, ae from the Centre for implementing various projects. An equal amount, on matching basis, will have to be contributed by the state or urban local bodies. The mission will provide central funding of Rs 48,000 crore to the selected cities.round 100 cities in the country will be developed.
• Selection of cities: The selection is based on the scores cities get for carrying out urban reforms in areas including sanitation and governance. Cities that score the highest will be picked for the project, to be implemented over a 10-year period.
• Development: These cities will be developed to have basic infrastructure through assured water and power supply, sanitation and solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, IT connectivity, e-governance and citizen participation. Bottom-up approach has been the key planning principle under Smart City Mission.
• Funding: Under the scheme, each city will get Rs 500 crore