List of Smart Cities under Smart Cities Mission

List of Smart Cities under Smart Cities Mission

Government of India announces the list of 20 cities selected to be taken up for development as smart cities in Round 1 of the Smart City Programme.  97 cities competed in the Smart City Challenge, the full list with their respective ranks and scores, is available on the website : www.smartcities.gov.in.

The ranking of 97 cities was arrived at through a rigorous process of evaluation by a panel of experts, which included World Bank, ADB, London School of Economics, National Institute of Urban Affairs etc.  The selection of 20 cities has been done on merit based on the top 20 individual scores awarded in the competition.  The overall cap of 20 cities for the first year (2015-2016) was envisaged as per Guidelines of the Mission.

On the basis of the scoring done by the panel of experts, the top 20 cities have been selected for funding in the current financial year (2015-16).  Two stipulations are proposed.  First, based on their evaluation, the pane of experts will suggest improvements in the proposals of the selected cities.  This advice will be conveyed to the cities for necessary compliance. Handholding support by Mentor Institutions/ External Agencies will be available for this purpose.  Second, all the smart cities proposals have a committed timeline of actions.  The cities will have to adhere to these timelines strictly and the progress of the work will be monitored.  If there is a lag in implementation, the cities will be required to exit from the Mission.

The geographical spread of the top 20 cities shows that they are not covering all States/UTs in the country.  Spreading the message of urban transformation in all parts of the country is the essential spirit of the Smart City Mission.  In keeping with this spirit, and to provide opportunity to all the States/UTs, a special fast-track will be provided to those 23 States/UTs to upgrade their proposals whose city is not covered in the list of 20.  The highest scoring city in each of these 23 States/UTs may submit their upgraded proposals before 15th April 2016 on this fast-track.  Those proposals which achieve the benchmark set by the winning cities after evaluation by panel of experts will become eligible for funding on accelerated basis in 2016-17.  Handholding support by Mentor institutions and external agencies will be provided to them also to upgrade their proposals.

Round 2 of the Challenge (2016-17) will open on 1st April 2016 and the remaining 54 cities will compete with their revised proposals which may be submitted by 30 June 2016.  The 23 cities which are required to upgrade their proposals and which do not meet the benchmark set by the winning cities, will also join in the Challenge of main Round 2. It is expected that upto 40 cities in Round 2 will be announced in August 2016.

Source: www.smartcities.gov.in