Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship project, the Smart Cities Mission, launched in 2015, is yet to take off.

Project cost

According to official data, the total cost of the project is ₹2,03,979 crore, out of which projects worth ₹30,675 crore are under implementation. So far, 99 cities have been selected to be part of the Smart Cities Mission. The name of the hundredth city is likely to be announced this month.

In January 2016, 20 cities were selected in the first round of the Smart Cities programme. Thirteen cities got added in May 2016 in the fast-track round. In September 2016, 27 more cities made it. In the fourth list, which came out in June 2017, 30 cities made the cut. In January this year, nine cities were added.

“One needs to understand that this project is different from earlier ones as it is more technology-driven. Once a city becomes a part of the mission, it takes 12-18 months to complete the foundation work such as setting up of companies and starting the recruitment process,” an official told BusinessLine , adding that the initial phase of most cities is over and the effort would soon be visible.

The projects are continuously reviewed to fast-track them.

Lack of talent

“One of the challenges is the lack of talent and experience. India has limited exposure to such massive development plans. Creating Smart Cities requires understanding of town-planning, town development, urban sustainability, infrastructure development, capacity augmentations, etc.

So far, India has not taken up any such project with the exception of building Chandigarh and few satellite towns. The lack of experience has been a challenge in creating and executing a foolproof plan,” said Ramesh Nair, CEO and Country Head, JLL India. “Cities have done prioritisation of projects based upon impact and quick-wins so that there is visible improvement in governance and service delivery. Therefore, the first set of projects that the cities have taken up are around traffic management, parking, parks, roads, city cleaning, greening and streetlights. These projects help cities improve the visual and governance aspect,” said NSN Murty, Partner and Leader (Smart Cities), PwC India.

Timeline

The projects will continue for five years and the timeline for completion depends on the round in which they were selected.

Murty added that the next set of schemes is focussed around large infrastructure and public-private partnership projects, both of which require detailed surveys, feasibility and market assessments. There might be some delay in the process owing to hiring of project management consultants and non-availability of right of way/land, but these are being addressed collectively by the SPV and the municipal authorities, he said.

“Interestingly, we are seeing faster progress on the Smart Cities programme in some of the smaller cities. This could be because they have more to gain, fewer challenges in terms of resistance to change, and low levels of urbanisation. But, most importantly, a stronger local political will,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Property Consultants.

According to industry experts, hiccups are usual for such complex programmes involving land acquisition and other implementational issues.

However, sounding optimistic, they said it will gather pace in the coming months.

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