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Sanitation, tech, governance anchor urban upgrade plan with ₹26,514 crore budget in UP
Minister of urban development and energy AK Sharma said the urban development strategy combines governance expansion, sanitation reform and technology-driven city planning.
The state government’s push to transform urban infrastructure has gained momentum with a ₹26,514 crore allocation in the 2026-27 budget, marking one of the largest sectoral outlays as 17 cities get a smart city makeover.
Minister of urban development and energy AK Sharma said the urban development strategy combines governance expansion, sanitation reform and technology-driven city planning.
Since 2017, 113 new urban local bodies have been created, while the boundaries of 127 existing bodies have been expanded. The expansion aims to strengthen municipal governance, improve revenue generation and streamline infrastructure development.
Under Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) 1.0, public, community and pink toilets have been constructed in 1,100 blocks across 189 urban local bodies with a gender-sensitive approach. Officials say the initiative has improved access to safe sanitation facilities in densely populated areas.
Smart City expansion
Ten cities, Lucknow, Kanpur, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Agra, Aligarh, Bareilly, Jhansi, Saharanpur and Moradabad, have been selected under the Centre’s Smart City Mission and are being developed in phases.
The government has launched a State Smart City initiative covering seven additional municipal corporations: Ayodhya, Firozabad, Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad, Mathura-Vrindavan, Meerut and Shahjahanpur. The expansion reflects a shift from centrally-driven urban modernisation to a state-led model aimed at replicating smart infrastructure, digital governance, sustainable mobility and integrated urban planning.
UP bets on new cities to ease urban pressure
Uttar Pradesh has proposed ₹7,705 crore for housing and urban planning, with a strategy to ease pressure on crowded urban clusters by building new infrastructure-ready cities.
The centrepiece is ₹3,500 crore for the Mukhyamantri Shahri Vistarikaran/Naye Shahar Protsahan Yojana, designed to promote planned urban expansion and develop new cities as modern growth hubs.
Fresh allocations exceeding ₹1,452 crore have been proposed for urban mobility, economic clustering and large-scale infrastructure creation.
The budget proposes ₹400 crore as loan support for the Lucknow Metro Rail Project and ₹150 crore under capital expenditure for the same project. The Delhi-Meerut Namo Bharat Corridor has been allocated ₹100 crore in loan provisions.
The budget earmarks ₹750 crore for infrastructure development in the Meerut, Mathura-Vrindavan and Kanpur Development Authorities. Another ₹100 crore has been proposed under the “City Economic Region” scheme for transforming select urban clusters into integrated economic growth centres.
The proposal includes ₹100 crore for constructing transport hubs along major international and interstate routes. Meanwhile, ₹50 crore has been allocated toward a corpus fund for the Rashtriya Prerna Sthal in Lucknow.
The government has established the Kashi-Vindhya Region Regional Development Authority, while the Prayagraj-Chitrakoot Region Regional Development Authority is under formation.
The state has also proposed ₹800 crore for infrastructure works in the Lucknow Development Area and other development authorities, and ₹100 crore for the development of Ayodhya.
