We can learn from each other in providing best urban services: Smart Cities Mission India

Public-private partnership has been the focus of Indian smart city projects

By Sanath Nanayakkare

Without any doubt, we all can learn from each other in providing efficient urban services in our cities in order to make them more liveable and truly sustainable, Vikash Chandra, Team Leader, Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Govt. of India told The Island in New Delhi recently.

Responding to a question on what are the lessons the City of Colombo can learn from Smart Cities Mission in India, Vikash said, “Colombo City has a population of less than 1 million, and thus I feel that best practices of Indian Smart Cities Mission in the use of technology in providing urban services can surely enhance in the quality of life in Colombo. Every city needs to use technology for its preparedness for the challenges of tomorrow. However, every solution or idea needs to be customized as per the needs of that city. This is what we have learnt in Indian Smart cities,”

Elaborating on Smart Cities Mission (SCM) in India he said,” The Government of India has selected 100 cities under this mission. It has been a path-breaking intervention in the urban sector because, among other reasons, it introduced the concept of competitive selection of cities for the first time. A two-stage national challenge was organized to get selected for development as smart cities in the country. The first round at State/UT level, thereafter through 4 rounds of National competition from January 2016 to June 2018, the 100 cities were selected in Smart Cities Mission. Citizen engagement, processes followed for arriving at project prioritization, implementation frameworks including feasibility, results orientation formed a substantial component of the evaluation criteria delineated for selection of smart cities. The intent of these criteria was clearly to keep citizens and stakeholders at the core of the planning process which was to be focused on meeting needs and aspirations espoused by them.”

“As on 31 March 2023, work orders have been issued in 7,853 projects worth around ₹1,81,500 crore, of which 5,536 projects worth ₹ 1,03,772 crore have been completed. As per SCM guidelines, Government of India (GoI) is providing financial support to the extent of ₹ 48,000 crore to these 100 cities i.e., on an average ₹ 500 crore per city. An equal amount on a matching basis is being contributed by the State Government/ Urban Local Body (ULB), apart from North-eastern and Hilly States where the sharing ratio has been revised to 90:10. Apart from these grants, comprising around 47% of funding, close to 21% funding has been proposed through convergence with other Missions/ programs, 21% from Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), around 5% from loans, and remaining from other sources. The GoI share to each city will be a maximum of ₹ 500 crore. This entire mission is being developed by funds from Government of India alone.”

“The cities were given 5 years to complete their entire projects under the mission, till June 2023. As on 31 March 2023, out of the total 7,853 projects, 75% of the total projects i.e., 5,536 projects have been completed. Due to COVID pandemic and the situations therein, some cities might require some additional months to complete their remaining projects.”

“Urban infrastructure development has an intense process of negotiation between diverse stakeholders at the city level. By executing projects as per evolving needs and aspirations of their people, smart cities have created a unique template of bottom-up planning. This template is acting as a lighthouse for other cities in the country. For example, realizing the problems faced by people during the COVID pandemic, several cities undertook transformative initiatives in the fields of health, education, walkability, neighborhood planning, public transport improvement etc.”

“The intent of the Mission from the challenge stage has been to champion needs and aspirations of citizens. These needs and aspirations are not static, they evolve and by building in mechanisms to adapt their plans to emerging realities, smart cities have successfully adhered to the core value of the citizen-centricity.”

“The cities can only become smart if they innovatively plan their financing of projects. Public Private Partnership (PPP) has been the focus of our mission, since its inception. We can proudly say that it has been as remarkable success. Around 240 PPP projects which have been completed/grounded are across multiple urban sectors. Moreover, these projects are spread across 60 cities, which also include many smaller cities,” Vikash said.

Smart city projects in India include: Multi-modal Transit Hubs , Market Redevelopments, Multi-Level Car Parking, Common Mobility Cards, Smart poles & Street lights, Public Bike Sharing, Affordable Housing, Energy Efficient Lighting, Solid Waste Management, Rooftop solar, Waste to Energy plants and Public Utilities.

The above interview was made possible during a tour in New Delhi by a group of Sri Lankan journalists, which was sponsored by StratNewsGlobal.com and BharatShakti.in at the request of the Sri Lanka High Commission in India.