India's Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has extended the deadline for the Smart Cities Mission until June 2024 due to requests from some cities. The Mission was launched in 2015 to redevelop 100 cities, and on-ground project execution began at least 18 months post-city selection. Officials stated that the extension is being granted not only to complete projects but also to disseminate and institutionalize best practices, templates, and innovations created under the Mission for replication across the country.
The Smart Cities Mission, launched by the Narendra Modi government in 2015, aims to redevelop 100 cities in India. The deadline for completing the mission was originally set for June 2023, but the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has decided to extend it to June 2024 following requests from some cities for more time to complete their ongoing projects.
The extension is not just for completing projects but also for documentation, dissemination, and institutionalization of best practices, templates, and innovations created under the Mission, so that they can be replicated across the country.
An official from the Ministry said that it would be unfair to grant an extension only to a selected subset of cities. The extension will ensure that 100% of works under the Smart Cities Mission are completed in all 100 smart cities. The budget allocated for the Mission in 2023-24 is sufficient for this purpose.
The Smart Cities Mission involves public-private partnership projects worth Rs 15,006 crore across 53 smart cities. These projects are multi-sectoral and include infrastructure such as multi-modal transport hubs, common mobility cards, multi-level car parking, and public bike sharing. The Mission is creating templates to boost PPP investments in India's urban sector going forward.
According to the officials, around 50 out of 100 cities have completed close to 75% of their projects and are on track to complete the remaining works by June 2023. Over 66% of projects in small cities and over 80% of projects in metros have been completed.
The pace of implementation can be gauged from the fact that around 90% of the funds released by the government have been utilized. An amount of Rs 8,000 crore, budgeted in FY 2023-24, is sufficient to meet the needs of ongoing projects.
The Smart Cities Mission is having a tremendous impact on the ease of living for citizens and the ease of doing business for businesses. In most cities, the amount of infrastructure spending as part of the Mission is much higher than their regular budgetary spends.
The current urban population of India is around 46 crore and is projected to double in the next 25 years. The Ministry estimates that close to Rs 500 lakh crore of investments in India's cities and towns will be needed to support this rapid urbanization, a multiplier of 166 times over 25 years (taking current annual urban investments of Rs 3 lakh crore).
In conclusion, the extension of the Smart Cities Mission deadline till June 2024 will ensure that all 100 smart cities complete their projects and documentation, dissemination, and institutionalization of best practices, templates, and innovations created under the Mission. The Mission is having a significant impact on the ease of living and doing business in cities and is creating templates to boost PPP investments in India's urban sector going forward.
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