The 3-day “Smart Cities, Smart Urbanization” conference had a grand opening in Surat today. The event is being organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India with Surat Smart City Corporation Development Ltd., under the clarion call of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM), given by Hon’ble Prime Minister to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of Independence.

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs was the chief guest at the event. Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat addressed the gathering through a Video Message. Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Kaushal Kishore, Union Minister of State for Railways Ms Darshana Jardosh, Shri Vinod Moradiya, Minister of Urban development and urban housing, Government of Gujarat, Dr Audimulapu Suresh, Minister of Education, Andhra Pradesh, Shri C.R. Patil, MP, and Smt. Hemali Kalpeshkumar Boghawala, Mayor, Surat took part in the inaugural session. All key urban stakeholders from Central and State Governments joined the event, including inter alia, Secretary, MoHUA Shri Manoj Joshi, Principal Secretaries of States/UTs, Municipal Commissioners of Cities, MDs/CEOs of 100 Smart Cities, State Level Nodal Agencies/ Mission Directorates, professionals, industry representatives, media, and members of academia also attended the event, which highlighted some of the important initiatives being implemented in 100 Smart Cities.

An awards distribution ceremony was organised, during the inaugural wherein award winners of the India Smart Cities Awards Contest (ISAC) 2020 were felicitated. These awards were earlier announced through virtual conference in 2021. However, the award distribution ceremony was deferred due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation at that time.  Surat and Indore were given the Best city award, while Uttar Pradesh was awarded the Best State. The list of the awardees is enclosed at Annexure I, II & III.

The event also featured release of Urban Outcomes Framework 2022 including, 'Ease of Living', ‘Municipal Performance Index’, ‘Data Maturity and ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework. Ministry’s integrated data portal AMPLIFI, which will provide valuable data about Indian cities, was also launched. Further, Smart Cities Mission also launched a comprehensive dashboard with Outcome Output Management Framework (OOMF) dashboard in GMIS during the event.

The opening day of the ‘Smart Cities Smart Urbanization' mega conclave showcased various interactive activities, arranged interactions with eminent speakers and learnings across the 5 themes vis. Reimagining Public Spaces, Digital Governance, ClimateSmart Cities, Innovation and Smart Finance, for over 1000+ participants registered from across the country. The dignitaries took a tour of the five thematic pavilions being exhibited at the venue. These five themes demonstrated the variety of urban projects being developed in the Smart Cities. 

“Work has started in almost all Government funded projects in Smart City Mission, and projects under SCM will complete by next year. 80 of the Smart Cities have Integrated Command and Control Centres, and remaining 20 will be operational by 15^th August this year.  Smart Cities were selected by stakeholder consultations, and the projects being executed under the Mission are fastest among the Government schemes, despite Covid related disruptions. The success of the smart city projects is having a demonstrative effect. The sharing of learning experiences, and recognition of the better performers will go a long way in making smart cities mission into a people’s movement. Let us create a move to replicate the SCM achievements, so that it catches people’s imagination and becomes a mass movement.”

 Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister, Housing and Urban Affairs, GoI

“Today, the projects developed under Smart Cities Mission have empowered our cities. Smart cities should not only lay emphasis on Swacchta and technological aspects, but should also lead to holistic development of the people, by providing them basic amenities and employment opportunities. All Smart Cities should be Alcohol-free, Drug-free, and Smoke-free, and this should be the endeavour for the whole country.”

Shri Kaushal Kishore, Minister of State, Housing and Urban Affairs, GoI

“Urban development is a vast and complex subject and Smart Cities Mission has been addressing diverse set of these projects across 100 Smart cities.”

Shri Manoj Joshi, Secretary, MoHUA

Key launches/Announcements during the Conference

Inauguration of ‘Amaro Padosh’:

The Smart Cities Mission and Surat Municipal Corporation created a temporary, life-size neighbourhood of 30,000 square feet at SIECC venue with public amenities like park, anganwadi, public health center, municipal school, bus stop with cycle stand, food plaza, EV charging station, and handloom shop. The neighbourhood was inaugurated by Union Minister, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri. The objective is to provide a ‘learning by experiencing’ opportunity to attendees participating in the event. The neighbourhood was built in a week by a mix of professionals with expertise in urban planning and design, architecture, landscape design, traffic studies and civil engineering.

Launch of a ‘virtual hub for collaborations on urban transformation’ in partnership between the Smart Cities Mission and the World Economic Forum.

To solve complex urban challenges, cities require collaborative action across governments, industry, academia and civil society – both national and international. The Smart Cities Mission and World Economic Forum have joined hands to setup a ‘virtual hub for collaboration on urban transformations’. The hub will leverage emerging technologies and innovations to transform Indian cities into centres of sustainable, inclusive and resilient growth.

Digital Governance Pavilion- Empowering communities with data and digital technology

‘Digital Duniya’ pavilion was inaugurated at the Smart Cities Smart Urbanization Conference to highlight initiatives that empower communities through data and digital technology. Initiatives undertaken by the 100 smart cities were showcased in building a robust ecosystem powered by ICT interventions. This pavilion presented the data initiatives and some first-hand experience of the smart solutions deployed/ undertaken by 100 Smart cities. Interactive workshops and sessions were organized to showcase benefits accepted from digital governance, with real-time data, AI/ML cases, and use of platforms, such as India Urban Data Exchange and Integrated Command and Control Center (ICCC). A key highlight of the pavilion was the live feed of SMAC ICCC of Surat and the Virtual Reality tour of the various ICT initiatives of the Mission.

Launch of Urban Outcomes Framework 2022, AI Playbook for Cities, and AMPLIFI Portal

Smart Cities Mission launched the Urban Outcomes Framework 2022, Artificial Intelligence Playbook for Cities & AMPLIFI - Assessment and Monitoring Platform for Liveable, Inclusive and Future-ready urban India which is MoHUA’s integrated data portal. These initiatives enhanced the engagement of people from different backgrounds including government agencies, private sector enterprises, scientific and academic institutions, businesses, start-ups, civil society etc. The idea is to provide a platform that offers ample opportunities on how to continue creating and promoting the use of data that addresses complex urban issues.

The AI Playbook is a guidebook for implementation of Artificial Intelligence solutions that cities can deploy to solve complex urban issues. Further, a compendium of AI use cases that have successfully been implemented in urban domain was also released at the event. These resources shall be extremely useful, not only to the 100 Smart Cities, but can also be adopted by other cities across the country, making the Smart Cities Mission to Movement.

These efforts are in continuity to the earlier initiatives of Smart Cities Mission in the field of data and technology viz. Data Maturity Assessment Framework, ICCC Maturity Assessment Framework, India Urban Data Exchange, Data Smart Cities, National Urban Digital Mission, and India Urban Observatory.

Innovation Bazaar Pavilion – Defining and solving societal issues

Raising to the clarion call of Honourable Prime Minister to make Indian cities resilient, the Innovation Program at the Smart Cities Mission took quantum jumps to bridge the divide between smart cities and startups. Innovation Bazaar pavilion at the conference showcased cutting-edge solutions for urban challenges, and through myriad activities, expert dialogues and living lab deployments provided the visitors with a paradigm shifting experience in urban innovation. Several Startups showcased their products at the pavilion.

Climate Smart Cities Pavilion – To build climate actions in cities

The Cafe, a pavilion, is an experiential platform hosting 7 case clinics, 4 donor meets, interactive gaming, an interactive data wall, a photo-exhibit and much more. The pavilion promises 2-days of cutting-edge events with city leaders and local change-makers in a deliberative, iterative, and action-oriented format.

Smart Finance Pavilion- Cities as Drivers of the Nation’s Wealth

The Smart Finance pavilion named ‘finance ka adda’ focuses on innovation in urban finance helping cities identify untapped sources of revenue. The pavilion showcases an exhibition of more than 20 successful and innovative PPP projects of Smart Cities Mission, a section with MUNIFY (where ULBs can know their budgets and finance overviews), Invest India Grid section, National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), and an Output and Outcome Monitoring Framework (OOMF) Clinic.  29 Global/National experts will speak on diverse urban finance issues at the pavilion

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Annexure – I: List of winning Smart Cities under ISAC 2020

Annexure II: List of winners under the State/UT Award category

Annexure III: List of winners under the Smart Cities Leadership Award

Annexure IV: Brief about Smart Cities Mission – Physical and Financial progress

Smart Cities Mission was launched by Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India on 25^th June, 2015. It has been a part of a visionary agenda for urban rejuvenation and has been designed as part of a multi-layer strategy to meet the aspirations of 40% of India’s population living in cities.

SCM is a transformational Mission aimed to bring about a paradigm shift in the practice of urban development in the country.  Of the total proposed projects under SCM, 7,905 projects worth ₹1,93,143 crore (94% by value) have been tendered so far, work orders have been issued for 7,692 projects worth around ₹1,80,508 crore (88% by value). 3,830 projects worth ₹60,919 crore (33% by value) have also been fully completed and are operational (10 April 2022).

Of the total investment of ₹2,05,018 crore under the Smart Cities Mission, projects worth ₹93,552 crore were proposed to be developed by Center and State funds. Almost 100% of these government funded projects i.e., projects worth ₹92,300 crore have been work ordered. The Financial progress in the Smart Cities Mission has accelerated too. The total expenditure in mission was ₹1,000 crore in 2018, it has increased today to ₹45,000 crore. The utilization percentage of the total GOI funds released to cities is at 91%.

Projects developed under the Smart Cities Mission are multi-sectoral and mirror the aspirations of the local population. As on date, 80 Smart cities have developed and operationalised their Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCCs) in the country. These operational ICCCs functioned as war-rooms for COVID management, and along with other smart infrastructure developed under the mission, helped cities in fighting the pandemic through information dissemination, improving communication, predictive analysis and supporting effective management.

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YB