Centre accelerates the execution of projects under Smart City Mission.

By Abhay Shah, Realty Quarter

The Center has entered a mode of mission rethinking to accelerate the execution of Smart City Mission projects.

The Center has set a new goal –– Mission Rs 2 lakh crore in the fifth and final year of ‘Smart City Mission’.  With the current project tendering and completion trajectory, contracts would have awarded by the government by 2022.

However, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has chosen in the last mile to grant tenders over the next six months for all projects under the mission, i.e. by March 2020. The projects would be worth Rs 2 lakh crore.

As the mission would finish five years on June 25, 2020, the Center laid another goal for its fifth-anniversary celebrations – awarding all works and starting the work on Rs 2 lakh crore projects on the ground.

The goal of Rs 2 -lakh-crore would require turning around the mission entirely. According to sources, the ministry’s first goal is the first 20-city batch chosen in January 2016 through a competitive method.

A senior official said, “This batch has the mission’s highest time — about 3.6 years. We are now keeping a tight track of how these towns are moving forward.”

A live dashboard has been developed by the ministry, located in Nirman Bhawan’s National Urban Observatory. This would assist to maintain track of the progress of the smart cities’ with live updates. In order to engage startups and use their innovation, the ministry has decided to hold regional conferences.