Smart Cities Mission

The Smart Cities Mission was launched in 2015 with the aim of making 100 smart cities in 5 years. More than 31% of the total population resides in urban areas that present a complex set of problems. In this mission, it was envisaged to provide smart solutions to such problems related to urbanisation. This is a centrally sponsored scheme in which funding is shared between the central and state governments and ULB in a 50:50 ratio. The implementation of the scheme is overseen by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. The mission was slated to be completed by the year 2020. But there are some challenges in its implementation that have pushed the deadline to 2024.

Concept of ‘Smart Cities’: Although there is no universally accepted definition of smart cities, they can be defined as the cities or urban areas that have state-of-the-art infrastructure and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) that increase operational efficiency with the overall goal of improving the quality of government services and citizens welfare.
Need for Smart Cities:

• According to the 2011 Census, 31% of the total population of India resides in urban areas, which contributes to around 63% of India’s GDP. These are projected to grow to 40% of the total population and 75% of the GDP by 2030, respectively.
• Hence, it is important to make available physical, social, institutional, and economic infrastructure in the cities.
• Making smart cities will be important for improving the quality of life of citizens, attracting people and investment in cities, and setting in motion a virtuous cycle of growth and development.

Smart Cities Mission (SCM):

• It is an innovative mission by the government of India to improve the quality of life and drive economic growth by providing smart solutions driven by advanced technologies to obtain smart outcomes.
• This will transform the whole urban landscape into a more liveable and sustainable urban area.
• It was launched in 2015, and it is a centrally sponsored scheme.
• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is the nodal ministry responsible for the implementation of the mission.

Following are the models of Area Based Development strategy in the Smart Cities Mission

• Retrofitting (city renewal): improvement of existing infrastructure
• Redevelopment (city improvement): modernising or revamping infrastructure in the existing areas
• Greenfield (city extension): providing smart solutions and infrastructure in previously vacant areas
• Pan city development: applying smart solutions to infrastructure on a pan city basis

• For the implementation of SCM, the government will create a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under the Companies Act 2013.
• Every Smart City will have a SPV in which members will be nominees of central government, state government, and urban local bodies in the board.
• This SPV will be responsible for planning, appraising, approving, financing, implementing, managing, monitoring, and evaluating various Smart Cities Development projects.

Funding: SCM is a centrally sponsored scheme, so the central government provides funding for the projects, and the remaining amount has to be raised by the ULBs and the state government. The partnership will be 50:50 (central and state share). It was expected that around INR 2 lakh crore would be set aside for this mission. Additionally, funding is also envisaged through Public Private Participation in various developmental projects.

Target: SCM was targeted to be completed by the year 2020. But owing to several delays the deadline was extended to June 2024.

• Insufficient funding: To make Indian cities liveable, India needs capital investment of around $ 1.2 trillion by 2030. However, under SCM, total projects sanctioned are to the tune of INR 1.67 lakh crore (around $20 billion in 9 years), which is meagre as compared to the required sum. Also, the state governments and the ULB’s ability to raise funds are restrained.
• Displacement of the poor: For redevelopment projects, many poor people living in the slums were displaced. There were similar disruptions to the street vendors and other underprivileged localities.
• Exclusionary development: the selection of development projects is uneven, and a large part of the city is ignored with no new projects. For example, Chandigarh spent its first tranche of funding of INR 196 crore for a project in one pocket of sector 43.
• Unplanned development: experts have claimed that the projects have caused urban flooding due to blockages of natural flow, contours, and channels of water.
• Problems with governance structure: the formation and responsibilities of the SPV largely diverge from the ULB governance structure.

• Sound selection of Projects: projects under SCM must be carefully selected so that they are on a pan-city basis and beneficial for a large section of the population.
• Increasing private participation: government data show that just 5% of the funding came through the PPP route. There is room for more private participation in the SCM.
• Timely completion of projects: focus should be on completion of the project within the given deadline. Also, a special inquiry must be done in cases where there are inordinate delays.
• Role of Ministry: the role of ministry must not be confined to the disbursement of funds, rather, there should be active stocktaking and monitoring of SCM projects to ensure timely completion.
• Integrated approach: SCM projects must be integrated to include many sectors transportation, housing, energy, etc. for a holistic development.
• Increase people’s participation: Since the focus of this mission is to increase the quality of life of citizens, the views and comments of citizens on the proposed project must be welcomed. This will ensure that the SCM development reflects the needs of people and is aligned with the ground realities of the urban area.

SCM was given two deadline extensions, and it will also miss the current deadline of June 2024. Given the challenges the SCM faces in implementation, there is a need to take some corrective steps. Also, at the planning stage, there should be convergence of SCM with other central or state government schemes to derive maximum benefit. For example, at the planning stage itself, cities must seek convergence with AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation), SBM (Swachh Bharat Mission), HRIDAY (National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana), etc. for holistic development and maximising benefits for urban transformation.