The XV Finance Commission, in its report submitted to the Government of India, has recommended a performance-based challenge fund of ₹ 8,000 crore to States for incubation of new cities. The amount available for each proposed new city is ₹ 1,000 crore and a State can have only one new city under the proposed scheme.  Thus, a maximum of eight States can avail this grant for eight new cities over the award period of the Commission.  The detailed modalities for the scheme have not been worked out.

Moreover, Area Based development is a key strategic component of the Smart Cities Mission, launched on June 25, 2015.  Area Based development models include city improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and/or city extension (Greenfield development).  100 cities have been selected for development as Smart Cities over 4 rounds of competition conducted between January 2016 to June 2018.  The details of Smart Cities that have opted for greenfield development or a combination of models are as following:

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Kaushal Kishore, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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YB/SS