Smart Cities Mission

National Smart Cities Mission is an urban renewal and retrofitting program by the Government of India with the mission to develop smart cities across the country, making them citizen friendly and sustainable. The Union Ministry of Urban Development is responsible for implementing the mission in collaboration with the state governments of the respective cities. The mission was planned to include 100 cities, with the deadline for completion of the projects set between 2019 and 2023. As of September 2023, 6188 out of total 7960 tendered projects have been completed, utilising ₹113,721 crores out of total tendered amount of ₹171,432 crore.

Description

Smart Cities Mission envisions developing areas within selected cities in the country as model areas based on an area development plan, which is expected to have a rub-off effect on other parts of the city and nearby cities and towns. Cities will be selected based on the Smart Cities challenge, where cities will compete in a countrywide competition to obtain the benefits from this mission. It is a five-year program in which financial aid will be given by the central government to the cities. The Ministry of Urban Development used a competition-based method as a means for selecting cities for funding.The state governments were asked to nominate potential cities with the overall count across India limited to 100. A hundred cities have been selected so far to be upgraded as part of the Smart Cities Mission. Each city will create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) headed by a CEO to implement the projects under mission.

History

The mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 June 2015. In the 2015 Union budget of India, ₹2,020 crore (US$250 million) was allocated for the smart cities mission. The mission was further allocated ₹3,215 crore (US$400 million) in the 2016, ₹4,000 crore (US$500 million) in 2017, ₹6,169 crore (US$770 million) in 2018, ₹6,450 crore (US$810 million) in 2019, ₹6,136 crore (US$770 million) in 2020 and ₹6,118 crore (US$770 million) in the 2021. The project was extended and was allocated ₹14,100 crore (US$1.8 billion) in the 2023 Union budget of India and a further ₹16,000 crore (US$2.0 billion) in the 2023 Union budget of India. As of September 2023, a total of 7960 projects worth ₹171,432 crore (US$21 billion) crore have been tendered.