The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India is organizing the India Smart Cities Conclave 2023 at the Brilliant Convention Centre, Indore, Madhya Pradesh on 26-27^th September 2023. The Conclave will witness participation of all 100 smart cities who are leading a paradigm shift in the practice of city development by being at the forefront of urban innovation. The event will provide a platform for the cities to showcase their exemplary work done under the Mission to help crystallize roadmap for future of urban transformation in the country. 

The President, Smt. DroupadiMurmu will be felicitating the winners of the fourth edition of the India Smart Cities Award Contest (ISAC) 2022 on 27^th September 2023. The ISAC is being organized under the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India since 2018. This is one of the important activities initiated under the Mission, where pioneering city strategies, projects and ideas are recognized to award exemplary performance, enable peer-peer learning and disseminate best practices.

The Conclave will also witness participation of various dignitaries, including Shri Mangubhai C. Patel, Governor, Madhya Pradesh, ShriHardeep Singh Puri, Minister, MoHUA, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh, Shri Bhupendra Yadav, Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Shri AshwiniVaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, Communications, Railways, Shri Kaushal Kishore, MoS, MoHUA, and Shri Bhupendra Singh, Urban Development Minister, Madhya Pradesh. 

In addition, senior officers from Government of Madhya Pradesh, Mayors and Commissioners of all 100 smart cities, Industry partners, academia and civil society organisations associated with the Smart Cities Mission will also be participating. 

The said event is proposed as a two-day event: 26 and 27 September 2023. The detailed agenda of the event is provided in Annexure A. The Day 1 of the conclave will feature the inauguration of an Exhibition demonstrating the award-winning projects under the ISAC 2022. and cities. The dialogues with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the smart cities and site-visits to iconic projects implemented under the Smart Cities Mission in Indore and Ujjain. 

The Day 2 will focus on distribution of the ISAC 2022 awards by the Chief Guest, where 5 States/UT and 31 unique cities and 7 partner organisations will be honoured with prizes. There are a total 66 winners of the ISAC awards, the detailed list of which is provided in Annexure B. In addition, Smart Cities Mission will release four reports, viz., ISAC 2022 award compendium, Report by UN Habitat: Smart Cities Mission – Localizing Sustainable Development Goals, Compendium of Newsletters of SCM and ISAC 2023 award pamphlet will also be launched during the conclave. Post the awards distribution and launches, the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the award-winning Smart Cities will share their experiences and learnings. The day will end with a cultural programme. 

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE SMART CITIES MISSION

Smart Cities Mission launched on 25 June 2015, is aimed at providing core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment and a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’. It is a transformational mission aimed to bring about a paradigm shift in the practice of urban development in the country. As on date, 6,000+ projects worth more than ₹ 1.1 lakh crore have been completed and the remaining projects will be completed by 30 June 2024. 

Most notable milestone achieved in the Mission has been, the Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCC) which is operational in all 100 Smart Cities. These ICCCs work as the brain and nervous system for city operations, using technology for urban management. The urban services have significantly improved in diverse fields like crime tracking, safety & security of citizens, transport management, solid waste management, water supply, disaster management etc.

100 Smart Cities have taken up projects across diverse sectors related to mobility, energy, water, sanitation, solid waste management, vibrant public spaces, social infrastructure, smart governance, etc. For instance, in smart mobility, 1,192 projects have been completed worth ₹ 24,265 crore and another 494 projects are ongoing worth ₹ 16,905 crore. In smart energy, 573 projects have been completed and 94 are ongoing. In Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), more than 1,162 projects have been completed worth ₹ 34,751 crore and another 333 projects worth ₹ 18,716 crore are ongoing. 100 Smart cities have already developed more than 1,063 public spaces worth ₹ 6,403 crore and another 260 projects worth ₹ 5,470 crore are ongoing. Further, 180 Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects worth ₹ 8,228 crore have been completed and another 27 are ongoing. 652 projects have been completed related to economic infrastructure such as market redevelopment and start-up incubation centers and another 267 projects are ongoing. In social infrastructure sector (health, education, housing etc.), 679 projects have been completed and 153 are ongoing. 

OVERVIEW OF THE ISAC AWARDS

In the past, the ISAC has witnessed three editions in 2018, 2019 and 2020. The ISAC recognizes and reward the cities, projects and innovative ideas that are promoting sustainable development across the 100 smart cities, as well as stimulating inclusive, equitable, safe, healthy and collaborative cities, thus enhancing quality of life for all. The fourth edition of the ISAC was launched in April 2022 during the ‘Smart Cities-Smart Urbanization’ event in Surat. The ISAC 2022 award had a two-stage submission process consisting of ‘Qualifying Stage’, which involved overall assessment of the city’s performance, and the ‘Proposal Stage’ which required the smart cities to submit their nominations for six award categories as follows:

• Project Awards: 10 different themes,
• Innovation Awards: 2 different themes,
• City Awards: 2 themes: National and Zonal
• State Awards,
• UT Award, and
• Partners Awards, 3 different themes

A total of 845 nominations were received for ISAC 2022 from 80 qualifying smart cities. These entries were evaluated in 5 stages. In the first stage, a pre-screening of the 845 proposals was carried out. 50% (423 proposals) moved to the next stage. In the second stage, for each award category top 12 proposals were identified by a jury of the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA). In the third stage, each proposal proponent made a presentation to a panel of subject experts, leading to selection of Top 6 proposals. Finally, in the fourth stage, top 6 proposals made an elaborate presentation to a jury headed by MoHUA directors and comprising subject matter experts. Post this fourth stage, top 3 proposals have been identified for each award category by the Apex Committee of Smart Cities Mission. Of the total 845 applications received under the five awards categories, 66 final winners have been identified – 35 in Project Award, 6 in Innovation Award, 13 in National/Zonal City Award, 5 in State/UT Award and 7 in Partner Award categories. The final list of 66 winners is available in the Annexure B. 

RKJ/M