Smart City: Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha stresses on the need for resource mobilisation

Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha Friday interacted with the municipal commissioners of 97 cities included in the Smart Cities Mission and chief secretaries of all states and Union territories on the implementation of the programme and asked them to focus on resource mobilisation. Complimenting the 20 winners of the first round of Smart City Challenge Competition, he said it said was fiercely contested based on comprehensive evaluation criteria. Highlighting the importance and urgency being accorded by the government to Smart City Mission, Sinha, in a video conference in New Delhi, stressed that the urban sector has emerged as a major contributor of economic activity. He said that given the limitations of central and state governments in terms of resources, Mission Cities should focus more on other means of resource mobilization like convergence of various schemes, rationalization of user charges, an Urban Development Ministry spokesperson said. The Cabinet Secretary said those who could not make it to the first list announced yesterday need not be disappointed as they get two more opportunities to compete in the next few months. The Municipal Commissioner of Bhubaneshwar, which topped the list of 20 winners, informed the Cabinet Secretary that sustainable urban planning, developing sound economic ecosystem and credible financial planning through city-level infrastructure development fund were the strong points of their proposal. The Municipal Commissioner of Pune, which came in second, said focus on quality of life in the city, creation of qualitative economic infrastructure as a part of a 15 year master plan and sustainability features were the core strengths of the city’s proposal. Sinha informed the 23 states and Union territories, which were not represented in the first list, that they could participate in fast-track competition by submitting upgraded smart city proposals of one top ranked city in each state and UT by April 15, 2016. Most of the cities who could not make to the winners list informed the Cabinet Secretary that preparation of the proposals and participation in the competition was a huge learning experience and they were determined to improve upon their proposals by working on the deficiencies. Some of them admitted to possible inadequacies with respect to certain parameters like implementation frame work, credibility of financing plans and sustainable urban planning. The Cabinet Secretary spoke to the municipal commissioners of 15 cities, including 4 winners, and those who are to compete in fast-track and second round of competitions along with respective chief secretaries asking them to share their experience of preparation of the proposals and possible reasons for winning in the first round of competition and not making it to the first list. Jaipur, which stood third, said that financial viability based on monetization of substantial land parcels available in the city and focusing on benefits to the wider sections of the people instead of capital intensive projects were the core strengths of their proposal. On being asked by the Cabinet Secretary about the efforts made for selection of three cities from Madhya Pradesh, the state Chief Secretary said that the state government has given renewed focus and thrust to urban governance and planning in the context of the importance of urban areas for economic development. He said that the state government is going to set up special purpose vehicles for cities not included in the first list from the state. Some cities and states that could not make to the first list of 20 observed that inherent and legacy issues like economic backwardness and urban governance proved to be the limitations and some special consideration may be given to such cities and states. To this, the Cabinet Secretary said the Smart City Challenge Competition and selection of cities is based mostly on the proposals for future development of cities and such limitations do not really affect their chances. Officials of 15 cities including Bhubaneshwar, Pune, Jaipur, Guwahati, Warangal, Passighat, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Bhagalpur, Agartala, Port Blair, Kohima, Amritsar, Salem, Rajkot, Hubli-Dharward, Tirupati and Durgapur shared their experiences and views with the cabinet secretary. He complimented all the 97 Mission Cities for working diligently to prepare smart city plans almost on their own with some hand-holding from state and central governments, which he said is a departure from the ’top-down approach’ to urban development in the country followed so far. Urban Development Secretary Madhusudhan Prasad, Additional Secretary Samir Sharma and Mission Director and senior officials of Cabinet Secretariat and Urban Development Ministry officials participated in the video conferencing that lasted an hour. PTI