Recognising that the creation of infrastructure in emerging 'rural-urban' clusters remains a “major challenge”, the Rural Development Ministry is hoping that its revamped project for developing amenities in such areas will yield results soon, similar to the flagship scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Currently, there are around 3,900 such clusters in the country which do not fall either in rural or urban category. Union Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday said his Ministry will undertake projects such as water supply, sanitation, street lighting, tourism and improvement of roads through public-private partnership mode in such areas.

The Project is re-christened as new PURA (Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas).

Mr. Ramesh was speaking after signing of the Concession Agreement and State Support Agreement for the PURA project in Ibrahimpatnam and Kondapalli Gram Panchayat clusters of Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh.