The Union housing and urban affairs ministry has extended for the second time the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) by a year till June 2024 for the completion of the pending work, officials said.
In June 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched SCM under which 100 cities were selected in two stages. The first phase of work under it was to be completed initially by June 2021.
The mission was extended in 2021 till June 30, 2023, due to a delay in the timely completion of the project because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “The cities were selected in two stages and the development work or project implementation started at least 18 months after the selection process as cities had to first form Special Purpose Vehicles and meet other requirements,” said a second official.
A total of 7,804 projects worth ₹1,81,322 crore have been sanctioned under the mission in 100 cities, the ministry told Parliament in February. The ministry said 72% of the projects worth ₹1,07,000 crore were to be completed till April 30, 2023.
As part of the mission, all 100 cities now have Integrated Command and Control Centres for data-centric solutions and improving municipal services. Around 232 projects worth ₹15,006 crore related to infrastructure development such as multi-modal transport hub, multi-level car parking, bike sharing, etc have been taken up in 53 smart cities.
₹8000 crore has been allocated for the mission for 2023-24. Officials said the budgetary allocation is sufficient to complete the sanctioned projects.
As part of the mission, 1104 smart mobility projects worth ₹ 22,785 crore have been completed so far while 526 projects are at advanced stages of development. Similarly, 984 public spaces have been developed in cities at a cost of ₹5861 crore. Work is going on to develop 343 more such spaces.
Cities were selected in two stages and the selection process was completed in June 2018. It took cities time to form the Special Purpose Vehicles and plan projects. The development work in most cities is in the advanced stages.