Smart city mission

1. Smart City Mission Real or Dream?
On 25th June 2016, PM Narendra Modi launched 14 projects for the city of Pune. Along
with this he also launched 69 projects for other cities which were selected in the first
phase. On the launch, PM Modi strongly stated that urbanization should be treated as
an opportunity and not a problem or a challenge and smart cities is a step towards
mitigating poverty. A year back, in June 2015, Prime Minster Narendra Modi launched
his flagship project ‘Smart Cities Mission’ and today the implementation of the project
has also started. In one year the Modi government laid down the mission guidelines for
creating 100 smart cities in the country over a duration of 5 years (FY2015-16 –
FY2019-20) with a budget of Rs.48000 crores. As part of the process, in the first phase,
20 cities were selected for being converted to smart cities. Pune being the second city
among the 20 selected.
Pune is the second largest city in the state of Maharashtra. In the last few years, Pune
has grown rapidly owing to the growth of various industries in the city, the most
prominent being the automotive industry. IT and education sectors are also developing
a base in Pune thereby contributing to city’s growth. This has been one of the major
reasons to attract a lot of young professionals to the city. Pune being converted to a
smart city will provide further impetus to the industrial growth of the city.
These 14 projects launched in Pune are in the area of rehabilitation of slums, street and
pedestrian walkway, using alternative fuels for buses, traffic demand modelling project
and city common mobility card. All these projects are definitely a move towards making
Pune smarter. This will lead to ease in everyday traffic, and mobility of vehicles and
people, giving the people of Pune a better experience

2. Smart Cities Mission Strategy
Pan-city initiative in which at least one Smart Solution is applied city-wide
Develop areas step-by-step – three models of area-based developments
Retrofitting,
Redevelopment
Greenfield
Coverage and Duration
The Mission will cover 100 cities and its duration will be five years (FY2015-16 to
FY2019-20). The Mission may be continued thereafter in the light of an evaluation to be
done by the Ministry of Urban Development and incorporating the learnings into the
Mission.
Financing of Smart Cities
The Smart City Mission will be operated as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) and
the Central Government proposes to give financial support to the Mission to the extent
of Rs. 48,000 crores over five years i.e. on an average Rs. 100 crores per city per year.
An equal amount, on a matching basis, will have to be contributed by the State/ULB;
therefore, nearly Rupees one lakh crore of Government/ULB funds will be available for
Smart Cities development
Challenges?
This is the first time, a Ministry of Urban Development program is using the
'Challenge' or competition method to select cities for funding and using a strategy of
area-based development. This captures the spirit of 'competitive and cooperative
federalism'.
States and ULBs will play a key supportive role in the development of Smart Cities.
Smart leadership and vision at this level and ability to act decisively will be important
factors determining the success of the Mission.
Understanding the concepts of retrofitting, redevelopment and greenfield
development by the policy makers, implementers and other stakeholders at different
levels will require capacity assistance. Major investments in time and resources will
have to be made during the planning phase prior to participation in the Challenge. This
is different from the conventional DPR-driven approach.
The Smart Cities Mission requires smart people who actively participate in
governance and reforms. Citizen involvement is much more than a ceremonial
participation in governance. The participation of smart people will be enabled by the
Special Purpose Vehicle through increasing use of ICT, especially mobile-based tools.
Real the government is focus on their smart city mission by keeping us updates on
SmartNet.The Ministry of Urban Development will launch a new portal on 9 June

3. ,
SmartNet, to aid the development of smart cities under the government’s flagship
mission