when the Government of India launched the Smart Cities Mission in June 2015, there were several objectives including ‘promoting sustainable and inclusive cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions.’
The Smart Cities Mission was launched to further the vision of developing an area within cities in India as model areas based on an area development plan, which is expected to have a rub-off effect on other parts of the city and nearby cities and towns. The cities for the mission are selected through the Smart City Challenge. As part of this challenge, participating cities compete in a nationwide competition to obtain the benefits from this mission.
All Indian states and Union Territories participate in the Smart City Challenge by nominating one city for the competition. The five-year programme will result in financial aid being given to these cities from the central and state governments between 2017 and 2022. The idea being that the results of these initia- tives will start showing from 2022 onwards.
The first challenge
This was the first time ever, not just in India, but in the entire world that investments in the urban sector were being made based on competition that had selected the cities. Being the premier event of the mission since its launch, it was a special
occasion.
Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that Smart City Mission marks a ‘paradigm shift towards urban development in the country since it is based on ‘bottom up’ approach with the involvement of citizens in formulation of city vision and smart city plans and the Urban Local Bodies and State Governments piloting the mission with little say for the Ministry of Urban Development.’
In the first round of the competition, there was a remarkable participation from citizens across cities. More than 1.5 crore people had participated in shaping what would be called the smart city plans. This was applicable to 97 cities and towns that had participated in the first competition of the mission.The biggest achievement of the entire exercise was a forthcoming and productive participation from the aware and active citizens of the country.
The winning cities and towns
In the first competition of the Smart City Mission launched by the Government of India, three cities from Madhya Pradesh, two each from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and one each from the remaining five participants made it to the winning list. Thelatter five included Odisha, Kerala, Delhi, Assam and Punjab.
The announcement by the government further stated that the 23 States and UTs that could not make to the list of winners in this competition will be given an opportunity to participate in a ‘fast track competition’ to be held later. There were 20 smart cities that were announced in the first round of competition. These included, in ascending order of rank:
Bhubaneswar in Odisha; Pune in Maharashtra; Jaipur in Rajasthan; Surat in Gujarat; Kochi in Kerala; Ahmedabad in Gujarat; Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh; Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh; Solapur in Maharashtra; Davanagere in Karnataka; Indore in Madhya Pradesh; New Delhi Municipal Council in Delhi; Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu; Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh; Belagavi in Karnataka; Udaipur in Rajasthan; Guwahati in Assam; Chennai in Tamil Nadu; Ludhiana in Punjab and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
As part of the competition, the 20 winners i.e., the 20 winning cities and towns had proposed a total investment of ₹50,802 crore over a period of five years. Additionally, sending a strong message of collaboration, all the participating cities and towns had proposed a model of a Public-Private Partnership(PPP). This model is a major vehicle of resource mobilisation and of the 20 cities selected in the first round, ten had proposed to mobilise ₹ 8,521 crore under the PPP model. Not only that, the cities and towns had earmarked a total area of 26,735 acres for the Smart City Mission i.e., to make them smart through the needed interventions and initiatives.
Advantages of the challenge
When the announcement of the winners of the first round of Smart City Challenge was being made, Venkaiah Naidu elaborated on the advantages of the unique mission. The greatest advantage of the Smart City Mission is that it leads to‘integrated urban planning by addressing the issue of infrastructure, land use planning, transport, urban design and architecture in a holistic manner’. The approach is new, unique and promising unlike the initiatives undertaken earlier.
Interestingly, the idea of making a Smart City is much more than what meets the eye. According to the minister, building a smart city is not a destination but a series of small steps in that direction and with the first smart city challenge, the country has taken one such step. The Urban Local Bodies(ULBs) are upgrading their approach towards development. They are becoming more scientific and resorting to modern tools such as SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis.
One of the biggest advantages of such an initiative was the involvement of the stakeholders. So, the 20 cities participating in the challenge accounted for a total population of 3.54 crore. Of this, five of the participating units have a population below five lakhs each, four are in the range of a population of five to ten lakhs, six have between ten and 25 lakhs , four have between 25 to 50 lakhs. Of these, Ahmedabad was the only participant with a population of more than 50 lakhs.
About the winners
Of the 20 winners of the Smart City Challenge comptition for financing in the first year, Bhubaneswar topped the challenge among 98 competing cities in India, followed byPune, Jaipur, Surat and Kochi. The winners were marked based on the quality of their proposals for financing. The parameters included ‘cost effectiveness, citizen participation, feasibility and smartness of the proposal.’
Bhubaneswar adopted a citizen-centric approach for its development as a smart city. The Government of Odisha through a government notification in February 2016 constituted a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) company named ‘Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited’ for implementation of Smart City Proposal of Bhubaneswar selected under the Smart Cities Mission programme.
As part of this initiative, Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) is the nodal agency to plan, implement, manageand operate the Smart City Development Projects in the area falling under jurisdiction of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation.
In Pune, after winning the first challenge, the Pune Municipal Corporation launched several projects under the Smart Cities Mission and laid emphasis on water, road, solar systems, transport, etc. with a major focus on slum rehabilitation and improvement in public transportation.