The Smart Cities Mission, launched by the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi on June 25, 2015, is a transformative initiative aimed at promoting cities that provide core infrastructure, a clean and sustainable environment, and a high quality of life through the application of 'smart solutions'. To drive economic growth and enhance the overall quality of life, the mission focuses on comprehensive development across social, economic, physical, and institutional aspects of urban areas. This mission operates as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, with the central government providing financial support of Rs. 48,000 crores (US$ 5.76 billion) over 5 years, supplemented by equal contributions from the State/Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and additional resources from various sources including private sector participation through Public Private Partnerships (PPP). The mission aims to create replicable models of sustainable and inclusive development, serving as lighthouses for other aspiring cities.
Cities accommodate ~31% of India's current population and contribute 63% to the GDP (Census 2011). By 2030, urban areas are expected to accommodate 40% of India's population and contribute 75% to the GDP. Population growth in cities leads to infrastructure management and service delivery challenges. The Smart Cities Mission in India is an initiative that aims to tackle these challenges efficiently and effectively.
With an increase in urban population and rapid expansion of areas, the government is looking at smarter ways to manage complexities, increase efficiencies and improve quality of life. This has created a need for cities to monitor and integrate infrastructure to better optimize resources and maximize services to citizens.
The objective of the smart city initiative is to promote sustainable and inclusive cities that provide core infrastructure to give a decent quality of life, a clean and sustainable environment through application of some smart solutions such as data-driven traffic management, intelligent lighting systems, etc.
The core infrastructure elements in a Smart City are as follows:
The focus is on sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model to serve as a beacon to other aspiring cities.
The mission will cover 100 cities that have been distributed among the States /Union Territories (UT) based on equitable criteria. The formula gives equal weightage (50:50) to the urban population of the State/UT and the number of statutory towns (a town with a municipality, corporation, cantonment board, or notified town area committee) in the State/UT. Based on this formula, each State/UT will, therefore, have a certain number of potential Smart Cities, with each State/UT having at least one.
Components of area-based development in the 100 Smart Cities Mission in India comprise city improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and city extension (greenfield development), along with a pan-city initiative.
Guidelines on Smart City provide monitoring at three levels – national, state and city.
The Smart Cities Mission in India is a centrally sponsored scheme. It also requires state governments and urban local bodies (ULBs) to contribute an equal amount for implementing projects under the Smart City Proposal (SCP). States are expected to seek funds for projects outlined in the Smart City Proposal from multiple sources including the following:
There is a strong similarity between the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart Cities Mission in achieving urban transformation. While AMRUT follows a project-based approach, the Smart Cities Mission follows an area-based strategy.
Similarly, significant benefits can be derived by seeking integration of other Central & State Government Programmes/Schemes with the Smart Cities Mission. At the planning stage, cities must seek convergence in the Smart City Proposal (SCP) with AMRUT, Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), Digital India, Skill Development, Housing for All, Construction of Museums funded by the Culture Department and other programmes pertaining to social infrastructure such as Health, Education and Culture.
Leading economies worldwide have shown interest in India’s smart city mission and are looking forward to participating in the development of smart cities. These include Spain, the US, Germany, Japan, France, Singapore, and Sweden.
As part of the Union Budget 2024-25, the Smart Cities Mission in India has been allocated Rs. 2,400 crore (US$ 19.67 billion).
As of July 12, 2024, work orders have been issued for 8,016 projects worth Rs. 1,64,223 crore (US$ 19.67 billion), with 7,218 projects valued at Rs. 1,45,083 crore (US$ 17.38 billion) already completed, according to data from 100 cities.
COVID-19 has affected almost the entire world, causing widespread disruptions in economies and healthcare services. But the mission to develop 100 smart cities in India has seen an upturn in the months following the lockdown as funds utilization has almost doubled.
One of the greatest challenges facing smart cities is how to finance them. Smart city infrastructure requires a large capital investment. The government is concentrating on encouraging Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) for successful implementation of the smart city project in India (at present, about 21% funding of the smart cities projects is via the PPP mode). For example, in June 2020, Sterlite Power entered a PPP agreement with the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) to build and maintain the fibre network in Gurugram Sub City 2 for 21 years.
India has over 4,000 urban local bodies and towns, and the opportunities are across core dimensions – housing, sanitation and cleanliness, livelihood, IT, health and education, transport, and environment, etc. The financial and IT services sectors are on the priority list of the government to garner investments as well as leading economies around the world have shown interest in the Smart City Mission.
The mission is indeed a smart and evolving move dependent on careful planning, proper implementation, and continuous monitoring.