Smart Cities Mission
As of 15.11.2024, under the Smart Cities Mission (SCM), government has issued fresh work orders. These orders will affect 8,066 projects amounting to INR1,64,669 crore. Out of this, authorities report that 91% of total projects are complete. In numbers, this comes to 7,352 projects, amounting to INR1,47,366 crore (data provided by 100 smart cities).
Some of the key achievements of SCM are in improving urban living standards, safety, and public services. inter-alia, these include the following:
- Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) at all 100 smart cities
- 84,000 CCTV surveillance cameras
- 1,884 emergency call boxes
- More than 3,000 public address systems
- More than 1,740 km of smart roads
- 713 km of cycle tracks
- 17,026 km of water supply system being monitored through Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system
- More than 66 cities are managing Solid Waste Management with increased usage of technology
- Around 9,194 vehicles have been Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) enabled for Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL)
- Authorities have developed more than 9,433 smart classrooms and 41 digital libraries
- 172 e-health centers and clinics developed and 152 health ATMs have been installed
Indian Urban Development
The government of India’s policy and strategy for Indian urban development follows the provisions as laid down in the constitution of India. It is pertinent to mention here that ‘Land’ and ‘Colonization’ are state subjects. Further, as per the 12th Schedule of the Indian Constitution (Article 243W), urban planning, including town planning is the responsibility of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)/ Urban Development Authorities. However, the government of India views high urbanization as an opportunity for aspirations of faster economic development. The government of India supplements the efforts of the States through schematic interventions/ advisories.
As the Smart Cities apprise, the challenges that authorities encounter in implementing smart city projects include, inter alia, the following:
- Legal issues
- Delays in obtaining clearances from different departments
- Land acquisition
- Construction in hilly areas
- Challenges in vendor and resource availability in amall and medium cities
- Centralization of decision making in few cities
- Utilization of the full capacity of ICCCs with the integration of all municipal departments and agencies
- Frequent changing and dropping of projects
Role of The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has a multi-level review structure. This review expedites the progress of projects under the SCM. At the state level, the Chief Secretary chairs High Powered Steering Committee (HPSC) to monitor the Mission Implementation. At the national level, the Secretary, MoHUA heads an Apex Committee to monitor the implementation.
Nominee Directors of MoHUA on the Boards of SPVs monitor progress in respective cities regularly. Also, MoHUA interacts regularly with the States /Smart Cities. This interaction can be through many ways:
- Video conferences
- Review meetings
- Field visits
- Regional workshops
- Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO’s) conference and others
Such interactions assess the performance of the 100 smart cities / ULBs at various levels. It helps in handholding them for improvement, wherever required.
SCM has created replicable models/projects in the 100 Smart Cities. As a result, these projects can act as `lighthouses’ for other aspiring cities of the country. Moreover, the ‘area-based development’ smart cities solution (pan city features) projects will also benefit from such projects.
Based on the learning of more than 7,000 completed projects under SCM, the mission has created multiple knowledge products. Consequently, these products will document the learnings from scalable and replicable projects. These publications are available on the SCM website: https://smartcities.gov.in/documents.
References & Related Articles:
- Press Information Bureau – Achievement of Smart Cities Mission
- The Hindu – An Overview of the Smart Cities Mission
- Science Direct – Past, present and future of the Smart City in India: An institutional perspective
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