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)

Get Ready for ‘Smart’ Villages Now!

After launching the smart city projects, the Union Govt. aims to launch 300 village clusters under the ‘Rurban Mission’. Union minister for rural development Birender Singh announced the Govt.’s intention while inaugurating a two-day national workshop of 'Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana' (SAGY) in Bhopal recently.

He said that the population of these clusters would vary between 25,000 and 50,000. However cluster strength will be less in hilly areas. To be developed on the pattern of towns with planned layouts, these rural-urban hubs will give a new dimension to Urbanization as well as real estate market in India.

As per the minister, state governments will have to issue notifications for these clusters. An investment of Rs. 50-55 crore is envisaged in each cluster which will be funded jointly by the Union and State Govts. Governments will take up funding of these clusters under various schemes within the Rurban mission. He further added that a critical gap funding of 30 per cent will be additionally provided.

Mr. Singh added that the objective is to create an ecosystem of trade growth and infrastructure facilities in these clusters. Image: India News

Bloomberg Philanthropies, UD min sign pact on smart city

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg Monday announced a partnership between Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Urban Development Ministry to advance the government's ambitious smart cities initiative.

Under the partnership, Bloomberg Philanthropies will provide funds and other assistance to Urban Development Ministry to implement the Smart Cities project in select cities.

The announcement was made after Bloomberg's meeting with Modi.

"The Prime Minister described the Smart Cities Initiative as a challenging task, which nevertheless has to be undertaken to improve the quality of life for India's urban citizens with stakeholder's participation," a government release said.

The Smart Cities Initiative is aimed to promote economic growth, improve governance, and deliver more effective and efficient public services to India's urban residents.

"Bloomberg Philanthropies will provide assistance to the Ministry of Urban Development to select cities for Smart Cities Mission funding on a continuous basis," the release said.

It said "This approach is different from the conventional approach, which involved preparation of Detailed Project Reports, and their appraisal and approval by the central government.

"It will ensure that real citizen engagement happens, as people get involved both in design and execution of city development plans. This will actualise the idea of cooperative and competitive federalism."

Earlier, Bloomberg met Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and discussed various urban development issues including the Smart City project. Source: igovernment.in

Smart city for business analytics proposed in West Bengal

The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BCC & I) took the initiative to launch a smart city for business analytics in West Bengal, a first of its kind in the country. The West Bengal government will support this project.

BCC & I has already identified a 250-acre land on the Kalyani Expressway for the project.

While speaking to reporters during a summit on business analytics in the Kolkata, the state minister for Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Firhad Hakim said, "It's a new concept and first of its kind in the country. Lots of land are there in Kalyani. I've heard many townships have been planned there... Knowledge City and other townships. These are not agricultural, but marshy land,"

He further said that "The Analytics Hub will be a private initiative with government support. The government will give the permission and if successful it will open up a new horizon... If we can do it here then West Bengal will be the first state to host such a city in the country,".

The state's Finance and Industry minister Amit Mitra also welcomed the initiative said "availability of land will not be a problem for the project."

Debashis Sen, Chairman, State Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) also welcomed the move of the Chamber.

The president-elect of BCC & I, Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta, who is also the head of the management consulting at KPMG Advisory Services, said "We have been talking to the state government for the land. It has suggested that 250-acres could be made available for the project in that area."

According to the outgoing president of BCC & I, Mr. Kallol Datta, the the project is expected to attract investments in between Rs 3,000 - Rs 5,000 crore besides, generating thousands of employment.

France keen to invest in creation of smart cities in Himachal

By PTI |

 
State aims to develop major towns like Shimla, Manali and Dharmashala as Smart Cities

Shimla, October 17: France is keen to invest in developing 'smart cities' and other urban development projects in Himachal Pradesh and looking forward to invest in the state, French Ambassador to India Francois Richier said.

The Ambassador, who led a delegation to meet the state's Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and other concerned ministers and officers, impressed that France is keen on developing Smart Cities having adequate infrastructure and facilities like proper water treatment, waste management, urban transport and street lighting in the state.

The delegation deliberated upon various issues pertaining to advanced technologies for developing energy and power projects for Smart Cities in the state.

The delegation interacted on issues related to transport solution and mobility, technical solutions for waste collection, urban transportation and re-cycling, appropriate technology for introducing decentralised seepage management system, etc.

The Chief Minister said the state intended to develop major towns like Shimla, Manali and Dharmashala as Smart Cities and the French government had shown its keenness to adopt the towns and the State government would take up this matter with Ministry of Urban Development Government of India.

The Chief Minister assured the French delegates to study the proposals and seek their valuable and technical expertise as and when required.

Francois Richier said: "We can provide solution to Himachal Pradesh in urban infrastructure, especially urban transport, water and waste management and urban lighting and the state could also collaborate with France in developing smart cities.

According to Richier, several French companies are already working in India for development of better urban infrastructure and metro is one of them.

"In Himachal, the construction of metro is not feasible and our focus here is on developing ropeway and metro cable.

We fully agree with the importance of providing environment- friendly transport system, which helps cutting consumption of fossil fuel and lowers impact on climate change and melting of glaciers," he said.

He said there was vast potential to develop renewable energies and tourism in the state.

The other members of the delegation were Jean-Rene, Minister Counsellor and Head of Regional Economic Services for South Asia, Ilika Mann, Counsellor for Regional and Legal Relations, Embassy of France, Ms Fanny Herve, Counsellor Sustainable Development, Embassy of France, Ms Camille Severac, Project officer, French Development Agency in India (AFD) and other delegates specialised in the field of Urban Development and Solar Energy. Source: www.igovernment.in