SMART CITIES MISSION – GOVERNMENT SCHEME
News: All Smart Cities Mission projects to be ready by next month
What's in the news?
● 22 cities, including Agra, Varanasi, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad, are expected to complete all projects under the Government's ambitious Smart Cities Mission by next month, giving their citizens a better quality of life.
● The central government has released ₹36,447 crore under the mission, of which 32,095 crore (88%) has been utilized.
Smart Cities Mission:
● Smart Cities Mission was launched in 2015 to promote cities that provide core infrastructure, clean and sustainable environment and give a decent quality of life to their citizens through the application of ‘smart solutions’.
● 100 cities have been selected to be developed as Smart Cities through a two-stage competition, now extended to 600 cities.
Key focus:
● The main focus of this mission is ‘area-based development’, which includes city improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and city extension (greenfield development), plus a pan-city initiative in which ‘smart solutions’ are applied covering larger parts of the city.
● The scheme focuses on construction of walkways, pedestrian crossings, cycling tracks, efficient waste-management systems, integrated traffic management and assessment.
● The mission also assesses various indices to track urban development such as the Ease of Living Index, Municipal Performance Index, City GDP framework, Climate Smart Cities assessment framework, etc.
What is a Smart City?
● There is no standard definition or template of a smart city.
● In the context of our country, the six fundamental principles on which the concept of Smart Cities is based are as follows.
○ Community at the core- of planning and implementation.
○ More from Less- Ability to generate greater outcomes with the use of lesser resources.
○ Cooperative and Competitive Federalism- Cities selected through competition, flexibility to implement projects.
○ Integration, innovation, Sustainability- Innovating methods; integrated and sustainable solution.
○ Technology as means, not the goal- careful selection of technology, relevant to the context of cities.
○ Convergence- Sectorial and Financial Convergence.
Features of Smart cities:
● Artificial Intelligence:
■ IT connectivity
■ Digitalization
● e-Governance:
■ e- Panchayat
● e- Chaupal
● Infrastructure development:
■ Quality water supply
■ Electricity for all
■ Proper Sanitation
■ Solid waste management system
■ Urban Mobility
■ Adequate public transportation
■ Affordable living conditions like Housing
■ Sustainable environment
Objectives of Smart Cities Mission:
● To improve quality of life.
● To provide people with better infrastructure.
● To introduce better healthcare facilities.
● To improve safety and security.
● Introducing Information and Communication Technology (ICT).
● To bring out sustainable and inclusive development.
● To bring out economic growth.
● To improve the workings of government through direct participation.
Implementation:
● To implement their ‘smart city’ proposals, cities had to constitute a special purpose vehicle (SPV), headed by a full-time chief executive officer, and have nominees of the central, state and local governments on its board.
● The SPV can acquire the assistance of consulting firms, and appoint project management consultants (PMCs).
Monitoring:
● At the national level, an apex committee (AC) approves proposals, reviews activities, recommends mid-course corrections, and releases funds. A national mission director is the overall in-charge.
● In the states, a high-powered steering committee (HPSC), headed by a state mission director, handles the Mission. It provides guidance and a platform for exchange of ideas.
● In the cities, in addition to the SPV, smart city advisory forums (SCAF) have been established to advise and enable collaboration among stakeholders. The forum is convened by the CEO of the SPV.
Financing:
● The central government and state/urban local governments share equal responsibility for mobilising funds.
● A total of INR 1,000 billion has been allocated for the 100 cities over the five-year period for which the Mission was initially planned.
● The government funds will meet less than one-half of the estimated project cost and the balance has to be mobilised from internal and external sources, including financial intermediaries, state/local government internal sources, other central government schemes, innovative mechanisms (such as municipal bonds, pooled finance), borrowings from bilateral and multilateral institutions, and the private sector.
Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC):
● The Smart Cities Mission includes setting up ICCCs for each such city to enable authorities to monitor the status of various amenities in real time.
● The ICCCs are now also linked to the CCTNS (Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems) network under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
● The ICCC acts as a “nerve centre” for operations management as it gives out complex and large pools of data sets at an aggregated level. For example, it is now the go-to source for integrated traffic management monitoring.
● The ICCC is the nodal point of availability of all online data and information relating to smart services included in a smart city, such as like LED street lighting, CCTV surveillance cameras, air quality sensors, smart parking system, WiFi, electricity and water supply and billing, GIS, e-hospitals, property tax management, estate management, engineering systems, asset management systems, and other services.
● They also served as war-rooms for Covid-19 management - It helped in gathering reasonable information across Smart Cities in fighting COVID-19. This information included fast and rapid communication, active management of containment zones, and requesting people to take useful steps to prevent spreading infections.
Progress of projects under smart cities mission:
● The total proposed investment in the selected cities under the scheme is over Rs 2.05 lakh crore.
● Government data shows only 33% of the total 5,151 Smart City Mission projects have been completed or are under implementation, utilizing 25% of the envisaged investment.
● Total approved budget between 2015 and 2019 is ₹48,000 crore is the, just half of that has been allocated till now.
● According to data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, 67% of the projects have either just been tendered or are yet to go through the process. In 28 cities, not a single project has been completed.
Challenges in implementation of the mission:
1. No framework for development:
● The mission fails to develop a framework for urban development. A sustainable blueprint for governance for smart cities is still not prepared.
● There is a lack of a city development model and adequate standards to guide project implementation, including for housing, water, sanitation, health, and environmental sustainability.
2. Multiple of policies for urban India:
● The Swachh Bharat Mission; Housing for All; the National Urban Livelihoods Mission; and the Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) have not converged with the smart city mission.
3. Multiplicity of projects:
● There are multiple infrastructure projects like expansion of city roads and highways, water reservoir and storage-related development which are mostly undertaken by development authorities or the State governments. The Smart Cities Mission’s convergence with all these projects is not done.
4. More rely on private funds:
● For the entire mission, the Centre has asked the States to generate half the funding (Rs. 48,000 crore) through public-private partnerships. And mayors are encouraged to use their political clout to attract private investors.
5. Decreased role of local governments:
● In the guidelines for the mission, the role of the local governments was significantly reduced, delegating the decision-making powers to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), a body to be set up and which would implement the mission. This led to poor governance of the projects and lack of coordination.
6. Exclusionary approach:
● Government is incentivizing development of small areas in patches and not the entire city.
● By focusing on only 100 cities and on select areas within those cities, the Mission demonstrates a restrictive approach to urban development.
7. Overlapping powers:
● The Mission Guidelines require each ‘smart city’ to create an entity called the special purpose vehicle (SPV). This resulted in overlapping powers, substantively diluting local government roles and thus poor governance.
8. Issue of funding:
● It is estimated that the implementation of India’s Smart Cities Mission would require investments worth 150 billion US dollars over the next few years, of which 120 billion dollars would be required from the private sector. This is not an easy task.
9. Absence of human rights-based standards and monitoring indicators:
● With the absence of any human rights-based indicators to monitor implementation, the mission's ability to deliver on its aims and ensure the fulfillment of rights and entitlements of all city residents is questionable.
Government initiatives to support Smart Cities Mission:
1. National Urban Digital Mission:
● Digital infrastructure and tools to ensure data availability and skill building are being created under a National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM)
● Examples:
○ India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX), which is an open-source platform that will provide data on numerous urban indicators.
○ Smart Cities Open Data Portal is created to develop products and build solutions.
○ Smart Code, which will serve the software development demand of cities, providing data and solutions for various urban problems.
2. National Urban Learning Platform:
● Capacity-building is being promoted through the National Urban Learning Platform (NULP).
● It conducts virtual training programmes to build leadership qualities and facilitate partnerships. It enrolls knowledge creators, consolidates skills, and makes these available to stakeholders.
3. Urban Performance Indexes:
● An Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020 has been computed for 111 cities to keep city governments informed of the well-being of citizens. It shows the gaps in urban policies, planning and implementation initiatives, and offers an opportunity to plug them.
● A Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2020 has also been calculated for the 111 cities. It assesses the quality of urban governance (the performance of municipalities).
● An India Smart Cities Awards Contest (ISAC) has been organized every year since 2018 to recognize the best performing cities.
WAY FORWARD:
● The Smart Cities Mission should be a long-term programme, not restricted to five or six years as currently envisioned.
● More projects should be identified to meet city requirements.
● Training programmes should be organized to build managerial and financial capacities of the staff employed by the SPVs and urban local bodies. Training needs must be properly identified.
● SPVs should be supported with adequate funds, trained personnel, and proper equipment.
● The Centre, and more so state governments and urban local bodies, should make a greater effort to mobilize funds. More revenue needs to be generated through efficient taxation, and alternate sources of financing found.
● The process of fund transfer from the Centre to state governments/urban bodies to SPVs should be made easier.
● Greater efforts should be made to maintain infrastructure assets created under the Mission.
● The role of the Integrated Command and Control Centres in cities should be expanded.
● Smart cities should be made cyber secure by ensuring data security and encryption.