9 new cities for funding under the Government’s ambitious Smart Cities Mission was announced today by Union Housing & Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi Puri declared Silvassa from Dadar & Nagar Haveli as winner after the fourth round of National Smart Cities Challenge competition.

The other cities in the winning list are Erode (Tamil Nadu), Diu (Daman & Diu), Biharsharif (Bihar), Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh), Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Kavaratti (Lakshwadeep).

Announcing the cities, Puri said, “It is heartening to note that the winning cities have improved the quality of their Smart City Proposals by 19% (average) to become eligible for selection. Each city has developed a unique vision and has selected an Area Based Development (ABD) which will be developed as a lighthouse, to be replicated by the city.”

Puri informed that the 9 cities selected will have approximately 409 projects with a proposed investment of Rs 12,824 crores of which Rs 10,639 crores would be in Area Based Development (ABD) and Rs 2,185 crores in Pan City initiatives which would be impacting 35.3 lakh persons living in these areas, he added.

Smart roads, rejuvenation of water bodies, cycle tracks, walking paths, smart classrooms, skill development centres, upgradation of health facilities and Pan City Projects which include integrated command control centre and ICT based municipal services are the main projects the cities will focus on.

The total number of cities selected under the Government’s ambitious Smart Cities Mission is 99 now with the total proposed investment to the tune of 2,03,979 crores.

Informing on the progress made on the Smart Cities Mission, Puri informed, “So far 85 out of 90 cities already selected have incorporated their SPVs and 61 Cities have procured PMCs; another 8 cities are in various stages of hiring their PMCs. With more and more cities now equipped with a team of consultants and administrative teams, we can expect the progress in the start of work in projects to grow exponentially, over the next six months.”

He further added, “The Smart City Mission is setting a new benchmark in terms of project implementation. In duration of 2 years, which is a small period in terms of urban development life-cycle, the mission is picking up momentum. There has been more than 350% increase in the value of 'completed projects' and 230% increase in ‘work started projects’ over the last six months. Smart cities are implementing state of the art innovative ideas in their projects. These are bringing about unprecedented improvement in the quality of life of people”.