In her Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has proposed the setting up five new Smart Cities. The speech did not make any mention of the Budgetary allocation.
The government in 2019 had allocated Rs 6,450 crore for the Smart Cities Mission for 2019-2020 against Rs 6,169 crore in 2018-2019, which is about 4.5 percent more than the amount set aside last year.
The government in 2018 had proposed over 50 percent increase in the allocation for smart cities in Budget 2018 from Rs 4,000 crore for 2017-2018 to Rs 6,169 crore for 2018-2019.
Under the SCM, 100 Smart Cities have been selected in four rounds based on an all India competition. All 100 cities have incorporated Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs).
As per statistics made available by the ministry of housing and urban affairs, the value of tendered smart city projects is over Rs 1,62,000 crore, the value of work orders issued is around Rs 1,20,000 crore and the value of all completed projects is more than Rs 25,000 crore.
There has been a growth of 223% in the number of projects tendered, a growth of 285% in the projects grounded and 387% growth in the number of projects completed, the ministry said.
So as to boost implementation of Smart City Projects through peer-to-peer learning, the 1st Apex Conference of all Smart Cities was organized in Bhopal in May, 2018 followed by the 2nd Apex Conference at New Delhi in February, 2019. The 3rd Apex Conference of the Smart Cities has been organized during 24th-25th January, 2020 at Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
The Smart Cities Mission was launched on June 25, 2015. The first list of 20 cities announced on Jan 28 2016. The fast track list of 13 cities was announced on May 24 2016. The second list of 27 cities was announced on September 20 2016. The third list of 30 cities announced on June 23, 2017 and the final list was announced in January 2018.
