All 23 cities submit smart city plans under fast-track competition

All the 23 cities and towns from as many states and union territories that participated in the 'Fast Track Competition' under Smart City Mission have submitted revised smart city plans to the ministry of urban development, as the deadline for submission of proposals ended on 21 April 2016.

The ministry will now evaluate the revised plans of these 23 cities, which include 15 state capitals, and the process is expected to be completed by 15 May.

The ministry will also announce the cities meeting the benchmark set by the winning cities in the first round of 'Smart City Challenge Competition' for extending central assistance.

Bhubaneswar was ranked number one and Bhopal at number 20 in the first list of mission cities announced on 28 January 2016.

Since only 12 states and UTs were represented in the first list of 20 mission cities announced earlier, the ministry offered an opportunity to the highest ranked city in the first round of competition in each of the unrepresented 23 states and UTs to participate in a Fast Track Competition in pursuance of the principle of urban transformation across the country.

After evaluation of Smart City plans of 97 cities in the first round of competition and announcement of the first list of 20 smart cities, the remaining were informed of the deficiencies in the plans. The inadequacies identified included lacunae in assessment of cities, disconnect between citizens' aspirations and vision documents, disconnect between vision document and SWOT analysis, overambitious nature of plans, mismatch between costs and resource mobilisation, lacunae in implementation plans and result orientation.

The 23 cities that submitted their revised Smart City plans under Fast Track Competition along with respective rank in the first round of competition are - Warangal, Telangana (23), Chandigarh (24), Lucknow (29), New Town Kolkata (30), Goa (32), Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh (39), Dharmashala (59), Faridabad, Haryana (60), Raipur, Chattisgarh (62), Bhagalpur, Bihar (65), Shillong, Meghalaya (70), Namchi, Sikkim (71), Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands (73), Diu, Daman & Diu (74), Oulgaret, Puducherry (75), Silvassa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli (78), Imphal, Manipal (83), Ranchi, Jharkhand (84), Agartala, Tripura (85), Kohima, Nagaland (90), Kavaratti, Lakshadweep (95) and Dehradun, Uttarakhand (97).

The regular second round of City Challenge Competition for the remaining 97 cities included in the Smart City Mission got underway on 1 April and these cities will have to submit revised smart city plans by end-June this year. Those among the 23 cities included in the Fast Track Competition that fail to be selected can also join the second round of competition.

While 20 smart cities were selected during 2015-16 as per the Mission Guidelines, another 40 would be selected during 2016-17 and the remaining 40 during the next financial year.

Each city selected in different rounds of competition will be given central assistance of Rs200 crore in the first year and Rs100 crore each during the subsequent three financial years. State governments and respective urban local bodies will provide matching funds to the same amount. Accordingly, each mission city would get a total assistance of Rs1,000 crore over a five year period.