“By 2018, we want to take fiber to each and every village. Once connectivity is established, we can use it for lot of applications ranging from education to healthcare to government services,” said Devendra Fadnavis. (PTI)

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said Maharashtra will be investing over Rs 5,000 crore for taking high-speed Internet connectivity to each of the 29,000 villages in the state by 2018.

“By 2018, we want to take fiber to each and every village. Once connectivity is established, we can use it for lot of applications ranging from education to healthcare to government services,” Fadnavis said at an event here.

A project of this size will cost “not less than Rs 5,000 crore”, the Chief Minister added.

He said the project, called ‘Mahanet’, is on the lines of the Centre’s ambitious Bharatnet, which aims to take connectivity in a phased manner with the first milestone of having 1 lakh villages by March 2017.

Fadnavis said a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be formed with private companies as partners, who shall ensure that the project gets completed in time.

“We are creating not just smart cities, but also smart villages,” he said, referring to the pet project of the Union Government.

Fadnavis said at present, the broad architecture of the project is being readied and he promised to present it before everybody soon.