How PM Modi's Smart City Mission fared in 2018; here are important points

As the year 2018 is drawing to a close in a week, now it is time to assess how the Smart City Mission, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government's ambitious scheme to develop 100 Smart Cities launched on June 25, 2016, has progressed over the year.  

Since the launch of the mission, 5,151 projects identified by the cities worth more than Rs 2 lakh crore are in various stages of implementation in 100 cities and 534 projects worth Rs 10,116 crore have been completed, according to a Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation statement.

Besides that, implementation for the 1,177 projects at a cost of Rs 43,493 crore has commenced and tendering has started for 677 projects with a cost of Rs 38,207 crore, it said. The progress with respect to implementation of projects pertaining to Smart Solutions, Smart Roads, Smart Water, Solar Rooftops, and Visible and Impactful is given below:

•  For Smart Command and Control Centres projects worth Rs 1,558 crore in 11 cities have been completed; projects worth Rs 3,049 crore in 29 cities are under progress; further tenders have been issued for projects worth Rs 2,730 crore in 21 cities.
• Smart Roads projects worth Rs 228 crore in 4 cities have been completed; projects worth Rs 3,819 crore in 34 cities are under progress; further tenders have been issued for projects worth Rs. 2,069 crore in 10 cities.
• Smart Water projects worth Rs 902 crore in 18 cities have been completed; projects worth Rs 5,961 crore in 35 cities are under progress; further tenders have been issued for projects worth Rs. 921 crore in 17 cities, the statement said.
• Solar projects worth Rs 58 crore in 8 cities have been completed; projects worth Rs 828 crore in 42 cities are under progress; further tenders have been issued for projects worth Rs 300 crore in 9 cities.
• Visible and impactful projects, worth Rs 179 crore in 16 cities have been completed; projects worth Rs 3,701 crore in 32 cities are under progress; further tenders have been issued for projects worth Rs. 2,828 crore in 20 cities, it said.

Other significant initiatives under the Smart Cities Mission:
1. The “Ease of Living” Index is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to help cities assess their liveability vis-à-vis global and national benchmarks and encourage cities to move towards an ‘outcome-based’ approach to urban planning and management. 

It was decided in June 2017 to rank 116 cities based on the liveability parameters. The implementation of the assessment commenced formally on January 19, 2018. The Ministry has launched the outcome/rankings of 111 cities on the Ease of Living index on August 13, 2018. 

The framework covers all the critical pillars of urban development (Physical, Institutional, Social and Economic) and uses 78 indicators across 15 categories (governance, identity and culture, education, health, safety and security, economy, affordable housing, land use planning, public open spaces, transportation and mobility, assured water supply, waste-water management, solid waste management, power, and quality of environment).
 
2. The government also alunched Smart City Fellowship and Smart City Internship programes on July 9, 2018. More than 3,000 applications were received for Fellowship. The first batch of 30 young graduates/post graduates and PhDs in the fields of Urban Planning, Urban Design, Engineering, Information and Technology, Urban Mobility, Finance, Social Sector and Environmental issues has been selected by the Ministry in November 2018.

3. An all-India Challenge named CITIIS (Cities Investments to Innovate Integrate and Sustain) was launched on July 9, 2018 in partnership with Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and European Union. A Loan of EUR 100 million will be extended by Agence Française de Développement (AFD), which will be given as a grant to Smart Cities for implementation of 15 innovative projects selected through the All-India Challenge. 

The projects would be in four sectors- sustainable mobility, public open spaces, urban governance & ICT and social and organizational innovation in low-income settlements. Technical support with global expertise will be provided for preparation and implementation of selected projects. A preparatory Workshop on CITIIS was held with international experts in September 2018. Proposals submitted by cities are under evaluation.
 
4. Smart Cities Digital Payments Awards 2018 were launched on July 9, 2018. The objective of the awards is to guide, motivate, recognise and reward the Smart Cities for promoting digital payments and carrying out innovative payment initiatives. 65 cities have participated in Stage II of the questionnaire. The submissions are under evaluation. Results will be declared shortly.