Shri Hardeep S. Puri , Minister of State (I/C) for Housing & Urban Affairs has announced the Round 4 winning cities of National Smart Cities Challenge. Addressing a Press Conference here today, the Minister informed that Silvassa from Dadar & Nagar Haveli has topped the list of winning cities in this round of competition. Other winning cities are –

 

• Erode, Tamil Nadu
• Diu, Daman & Diu
• Biharsharif, Bihar
• Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh
• Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh
• Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh
• Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh and
• Kavaratti, Lakshwadeep

 

Addressing the media persons here today, the Minister said that, “It is heartening to note that the winning cities have improved the quality of their Smart City Proposals by 19% (average) to become eligible for selection. Each city has developed a unique vision and has selected an area (ABD) which will be developed as a lighthouse, to be replicated by the city. The 9 cities selected have proposed an investment of Rs 12,824 crores of which Rs 10,639 crores would be in Area Based Development (ABD) and Rs 2,185 crores in Pan City initiatives which would be impacting 35.3 lakh persons living in these areas, he added. Smart roads, rejuvenation of water bodies, cycle tracks, walking paths, smart classrooms, skill development centres, upgradation of health facilities and Pan City Projects which include integrated command control centre and ICT based municipal services”.

These 9 Cities have approximately 409 projects. The funding sources for these projects is proposed to be with; SCM – with contribution from State and Centre 61.25%, Convergence 24.19%, PPP 12.90%, Own sources 1.57%, and Other sources 0.09%. With today’s announcement 99 cities Smart Cities have been selected. Previously, 20 cities were selected in January 2016, 13 cities in May 2016, 27 cities in September 2016 and 30 cities in June 2017. With the selection of these nine cities, the total proposed investment in the 99 Smart City Mission would Rs 2,03,979 crores.

Providing details of the progress made in Smart Cities, Shri Puri informed that “so far 85 out of 90 cities already selected have incorporated their SPVs and 61 Cities have procured PMCs; another 8 cities are in various stages of hiring their PMCs. With more and more cities now equipped with a team of consultants and administrative teams, we can expect the progress in the start of work in projects to grow exponentially, over the next six months. Smart City Mission is setting a new benchmark in terms of project implementation. In duration of 2 years, which is a small period in terms of urban development life-cycle, the mission is picking up momentum. There has been more than 350% increase in the value of 'completed projects' and 230% increase in ‘work started projects’ over the last six months. Smart cities are implementing state of the art innovative ideas in their projects. These are bringing about unprecedented improvement in the quality of life of people”. Some examples:-

Smart City Centers based on advanced technologies: Smart City Centers have become operational in four cities like Pune, Surat, Vadodara & Kakinada and work is in progress in another 18 cities. Tenders to develop such Smart City centers have been issued in 11 more cities. In Rajkot for instance, after deployment of surveillance system, a part the Smart City Centre, crime-incidents have reduced by 17%, from 3,068 in 2016 to 2,554 in 2017; the city administration was able to completed 906 rallies/public meetings/VVIP movements during election period last year without a single incident of violence or disruption. Integrated traffic management has increased the traffic speeds and reduced traffic congestions. Surely, it has helped in cleaner air for people to breathe.

Street redesign projects have visual impact with provisions for cycle tracks and footpaths, promoting non-motorized transport. While 32 cities have issued tenders, and work has begun in 17 of them. For example, in Pune Street redesign project, in an 8 km stretch a pilot section of 1.5 kms has being developed has improved accessibility for elders, dedicated spaces for pedestrians & bicycle users, and beautification of the space by creating sitting zones and installation of public art with CSR funds has been very well received by citizens.

Similarly, for smart reuse and wastewater projects 33 cities have issued tenders, and work has begun in 16 of them.

In order to promote renewable energy usage in our cities, projects of about 250 MW for providing Solar projects on rooftops of government buildings are already installed. Till date, 44 cities have issued tenders, and work has begun in 38 cities. Most of these cities have completed their projects.

 

As on 17 January 2018 there are 2,948 projects worth Rs. 1,38,730 crore are in various stages of implementation. 189 projects worth Rs. 2,237 crore have been completed, and implementation is underway for 495 projects with a cost of Rs. 18,616 crore; furthers tenders have been floated for 277 projects with a cost of Rs.15,885 crore; while 1,987 projects worth Rs.1,01,992 crore are at DPR stage.

 

The Round wise progress of the 90 Smart Cities is given below:

 

As far as the priority sector interventions are concerned, 36 of the 60 cities have already initiated the smart roads and 30 cities have initiated integrated command and control projects. Additionally, 37 cities have initiated smart water projects and 44 cities have initiated solar projects. Architectural, place making and city beautification projects have been initiated in 40 cities.

In the first sixty cities selected, there are 278 PPP projects worth Rs. 24,408 crore proposed to be developed with PPP. By the end of December 2017 out of these 278 projects, 20 PPP projects worth Rs. 367 crore have been completed and work has started in 51 more projects worth Rs. 4,767 crore. Moreover, tenders for 29 PPP projects worth Rs. 2,674 crore have issued tenders and are in the process of finalization. The PPP projects under implementations spread across sectors like housing, waste to energy plants, smart parking, public bike sharing, Smart Card app – based citizen service delivery, installation of roof-top solar etc.

Progress over the last six months: In August 2017, there were only Rs 626 crore worth of projects completed. This number has risen to Rs 2,236 crore by December 2017. Similarly, six months ago, in August 2017 work orders were issued for projects worth Rs 7385 crore. This increased by 230% by December end to about Rs 17,000 crore; which has further increased to 18,616 crore by January 18.

 

Commencement of the Liveabillty Index Programme

 

The Housing & Urban Affairs Minister also announced the commencement of the Liveability Index Programme in 116 cities. The MoHUA is implementing several flagship Urban Missions. An overarching goal of these missions is to make Indian cities more ‘Liveable’. To develop a common minimum framework for cities to assess their existing status and chart their pathway towards providing a better quality of life to their citizens, the MoHUA has developed a set of ‘Liveability Standards’ relevant to Indian cities to generate a Liveability Index and rate cities. These standards were launched in June, 2018. The framework has its genesis in the 24 Smart City features contained in the Smart City Proposals and includes 79 indicators (57 Core Indicators and 22 Supporting Indicators). These indicators are organised in 15 distinct ‘Categories’, designed for measuring various institutional, social, economic and physical aspects that affect the quality of life of citizens and determine the ‘Liveability’ of a city.

 

MoHUA through an international bidding process under World Bank funded CBUD programme has selected M/s IPSOS Research Private Limited in consortium with M/s ATHENA INFONOMICS India Private Limited and Economist Group Limited for assessment of liveability indices in 116 cities.

 

1. Some of the key outputs of the exercise will include:

 

1. 1. Roll out of over 30 capacity building workshops to understand ‘urban data’ and equip cities with the necessary tools and knowledge to create the database for the evaluation.
   2. Reconnaissance visits to all 116 cities to capture critical city-level information to inform the city assessment reports.
   3. Over 1 lakh citizen and user surveys across the country to measure satisfaction on urban services.
   4. A state of the art ‘Economist-Portal’ to spatially map the data and the ‘Liveability Index’ outputs that will serve as a knowledge base for decision making on policy and planning.
   5. A framework to systematically capture City GDP, which may be integrated and rolled out in subsequent rounds.
   6. Ranking of cities on the basis of Liveability Index to promote competitive environment amongst cities that result will in systematic improvements in quality of life.

RJ

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