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Saturday, January 30, 2016

10 Key Facts About Smart Cities You Should Know!

Union Urban Development Minister Honb’le Mr. Venkaiah Naidu announced the first list of 20 smart cities at a press conference on Thursday in Delhi.

The cities were chosen on the basis of feasibility, smartness of proposal, performance indicators among others and awarded marks out of 100. The Minister said, ‘Today marks a historic landmark in annals of urban development as we get to know the first batch of 'Smart Cities'.
Referring to the investment opportunities in the backdrop of the recent financial crisis, he said, “People are searching for safe investments. I offer smart cities as the safest investment because land is going to be there, structures are going to be there, so the returns are assured.”
The first 20 smart cities are: Bhubaneshwar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, NDMC (New Delhi), Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Vizag, Solapur, Devangere, Indore, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belgaum, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal.
Here are key facts about these Smart Cities that you should know:
Population (20 cities): 3.54 crore
Funding
Central Funding: Rs. 48,000 crore to the Smart City Mission over five years. This comes to on an average Rs. 100 crore per city per year.
State/ULBs Funding: An amount equal to the Central Funding, on a matching basis, will have to be contributed by the State/ULB
Total: Therefore approx Rs. One Lakh Crore of Government/ULB funds will be available for Smart Cities development.
Basic infrastructure/services to be provided:
  • Assured water and power supply
  • Sanitation
  • Solid Waste Management
  • Efficient Urban Mobility and Public Transport
  • IT connectivity
  • e-Governance and citizen participation

First Year and Subsequent Funding: In the first year, Government proposes to give Rs.200 crore to each selected Smart City to create a higher initial corpus. After deducting the Rs. two crore advance (for preparation of Smart City Proposal -SCP)and Admin and Other Expenses share of the MoUD, each selected Smart City will be given Rs. 194 crore out of Rs. 200 crore in the first year followed by Rs. 98 crore out of Rs. 100 crore every year for the next three years
Role of States and Urban local Bodies (ULBs): Key support role envisioned for States and Urban local Bodies (ULBs). It is mentioned that smart leadership and vision at this level and ability to act decisively will be important factors determining the success of the Mission.
Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV): The mission will be implemented at City Level by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) created for the purpose. SPV to plan, appraise, approve, release funds, implement, manage, operate, monitor and evaluate the project.
SPV Governance: SPV to be headed by a CEO, with representation in board from Central & State Govts and ULB.
Distribution of 100 Smart Cities: The total number of 100 Smart Cities has been distributed among the States and UTs on the basis of an equitable criteria. The formula gives equal weightage (50:50) to urban population of the State/UT and the number of statutory towns in the State/UT. Based on this formula, each State/UT will, therefore, have a certain number of potential Smart Cities, with each State/ UT having at least one.
Re-allocation of Smart Cities: The distribution of Smart Cities will be reviewed after two years of the implementation of the Mission. Based on an assessment of the performance of States/ULBs in the Challenge, some re-allocation of the remaining potential Smart Cities among States may be required to be done by MoUD.
Handholding Agencies: During the preparation of the Smart Cities Mission, a number of foreign Governments have offered to provide Technical Assistance (TA) support.
Additionally, other external organizations, including bilateral and multilateral institutions, as well as domestic organizations have suggested to the Ministry of Urban Development that they can give technical assistance support. These include World Bank, ADB, JICA, USTDA, AFD, KfW, DFID, UN Habitat, UNIDO, etc.
Such organizations, which have experience in the field of Smart City development, can also extend support to the States/UTs as hand-holding agencies in preparing the SCPs. The Ministry will assist in tying up the arrangements.

 (Source: Smart City Guidelines, Govt. of India)