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New Delhi: Union ministry of housing and urban affairs decided to extend the deadline smart city mission By June 2024, officials said on Monday, following requests from some cities that sought more time to complete their ongoing projects. The current deadline for the mission was June 2023.
An official said extending the extension to only “a selected subset of cities” would be inequitable.
The extension is being given not just to complete the projects, but to document, disseminate, institutionalize all the best practices, templates, innovations created under the mission so that they can be implemented in the country, the official said. Can be taken for replication throughout.
Narendra Modi Government launched its flagship smart city mission (SCM) on June 25, 2015 and through a two-stage competition from January 2016 to June 2018, 100 cities were selected for redevelopment.
The on-ground project execution began at least 18 months after the city was selected, the official said.
“The mission deadline was fixed at June 2023 so that all cities get five years to complete the mission activities. The current extension of one year from June 2023 to June 2024 is only the first time before the five-year period,” the official said. It’s an extension.” ,
According to the ministry, the one-year extension will ensure 100 per cent completion of work under SCM in all 100 smart cities. Officials said the budget allocated to the mission in 2023-24 is sufficient for the purpose.
“Considering the tremendous impact of SCM on ease of living for citizens and ease of doing business for businesses, the ministry has decided to extend the Smart Cities Mission by one year to June 2024 from the current deadline of June 2023,” the official said. Has decided.” Said.
According to officials, out of 100 cities, around 50 have completed around 75 per cent of their projects and are on track to complete the remaining works by June 2023.
More than 66 per cent projects have been completed in smaller cities and more than 80 per cent in metros.
“This pace is equivalent to completing an average of 100 projects worth about Rs 1,850 crore every month; three+ projects worth Rs 60+ crore every day, equivalent to completing about six kilometers of two-lane highways every day,” the official said. ” that in most cities, the amount spent on infrastructure as part of the mission is much higher than their regular budgeted expenditure.
up to 232 public Private Partnership Projects worth Rs 15,006 crore have been launched in 53 smart cities – both small and large.
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 Smart Cities Mission is thus creating a blueprint for promoting PPP investments in India’s urban sector,” the official said.
The ministry said the government has released around Rs 38,000 crore to 100 cities. Combining this with the release to the state and urban local bodies, the total amount released to the cities is Rs 71,000 crore.
“The pace of mission implementation can be gauged from the fact that almost 90 per cent of these funds have been utilised. An amount of Rs 8,000 crore has been budgeted in the financial year 2023-24 to meet the needs of the ongoing projects. enough for.” the officer said.
India’s current urban population of about 460 million is expected to double in the next 25 years.
According to the ministry, it is estimated that India’s cities and towns will require an investment of around Rs 500 lakh crore to support this rapid urbanisation, a multiplier of 166 times in 25 years (Rs 3 lakh crore). Taking the current annual urban investment of Rs. ,
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