100 cities have been selected to be developed as smart cities, says Hardeep Puri

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that 100 cities have been selected to be developed as smart cities through a two-stage National competition.

A meeting of the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs was held today in the Parliament House Annexe, New Delhi. The Agenda item of the meeting was "Smart Cities Mission". Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri chaired the meeting.

Briefing about the Smart Cities Mission, Puri said that the main objective of the Mission, launched on June 25, 2021, is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment and give a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of 'Smart Solutions".

"The Mission aims to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life through comprehensive work on social, economic, physical and institutional pillars of the city. 100 cities have been selected to be developed as smart cities through a two-stage National competition," Union Minister said.

Smart Cities Mission is a centrally sponsored scheme under which the Central Government will provide financial support to the extent of Rs 48000 crores over five years i.e. on an average Rs 100 crores per city per year and an equal amount of matching basis is to be provided by the State/Urban Local Bodies (ULB).

Emphasis has been given on the participation of private sector through public private partnerships. Aggregating at national level, these proposals contained more than 5000 projects worth over Rs 2,00,000 crores. Mission has a two-pronged strategy consisting of Pan-city and Area-Based development project. Implementation at the city level is being done by Special Purpose Vehicle(SPV) created for the purpose. There is no template or universally accepted definition of the Smart City. Therefore conceptualization of Smart City depends on the level of development, willingness to change and reform resources and aspirations of the city residents.

The overall progress of the Mission as on November 12, 2021 shows great momentum in execution. Over 6452 projects worth Rs 1,84,998 crores have been tendered. Of this, work orders have been issued for close to 5809 projects worth Rs 1,56,571 crores of which 3,131 projects worth around Rs 53,175 crore have been completed.

Since the launch of the Mission, a total of Rs 27,234 crores have been released by the Government of India to 100 cities under the Mission. The progress of the Mission in these cities is done on a regular basis by state-level High Powered Steering Committee.

The Mission has launched several initiatives that will not only ensure integrated development across various aspects of urban development but also help lay long-term foundation for good quality urbanization in the country, the ministry said.

The Minister also informed that smart cities have played important role in managing the crises during COVID--19. With Integrated Command and Control Centres being used as COVID-19 War Room, they have helped in the area of information, communication, management and preparedness.

(ANI)