The Central Government will develop three cities in Andhra Pradesh and two cities in Telangana state as smart cities with the Union Ministry of Urban Development finalizing the maximum number of smart cities based on the urban population.

The cities nominated by state governments will be competing against each other by using a set of criteria developed by the Union Ministry. The top 20 cities among the 100 smart cities ranked by a panel of experts would be eligible for funding during the current financial year following with the remaining cities in the next couple of years. Meanwhile, the lower ranked cities have to find an escape as advised by the Union Ministry.

AP will also get to develop 31 towns apart from the smart cities under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) scheme - the revamped version of the UPA’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) even as Telangana state will get to develop 15 cities.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday will launch the AMRUT projects and the smart cities for which Rs 50,000 crore and Rs 48,000 crore have been allocated along with releasing the broad guidelines for the two projects.