India Smart Cities Awards Contest 2020 winners felicitated; BSCL awarded for Socially Smart Bhubaneswar

Surat:18/4/22:The 3-day “Smart Cities, Smart Urbanization” conference had a grand opening in Surat today. The event is being organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India with Surat Smart City Corporation Development Ltd., under the clarion call of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM), given by Hon’ble Prime Minister to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of Independence.

Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs was the chief guest at the event. Shri Bhupendrabhai Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat addressed the gathering through a Video Message. Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Shri Kaushal Kishore, Union Minister of State for Railways Ms. Darshana Jardosh, Shri Vinod Moradiya, Minister of Urban development and urban housing, Government of Gujarat, Dr. Audimulapu Suresh, Minister of Education, Andhra Pradesh, Shri C.R. Patil, MP, and Smt. Hemali Kalpeshkumar Boghawala, Mayor, Surat took part in the inaugural session. All key urban stakeholders from Central and State Governments joined the event, including inter alia, Secretary, MoHUA Shri Manoj Joshi, Principal Secretaries of States/UTs, Municipal Commissioners of Cities, MDs/CEOs of 100 Smart Cities, State Level Nodal Agencies/ Mission Directorates, professionals, industry representatives, media, and members of academia also attended the event, which highlighted some of the important initiatives being implemented in 100 Smart Cities.

An awards distribution ceremony was organised, during the inaugural wherein award winners of the India Smart Cities Awards Contest (ISAC) 2020 were felicitated. These awards were earlier announced through virtual conference in 2021. However, the award distribution ceremony was deferred due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation at that time.  Surat and Indore were given the Best city award, while Uttar Pradesh was awarded the Best State. The list of the awardees is enclosed at Annexures I, II & III.

The event also featured the release of Urban Outcomes Framework 2022 including, ‘Ease of Living’, ‘Municipal Performance Index’, ‘Data Maturity and ClimateSmart Cities Assessment Framework. Ministry’s integrated data portal AMPLIFI, which will provide valuable data about Indian cities, was also launched. Further, Smart Cities Mission also launched a comprehensive dashboard with Outcome Output Management Framework (OOMF) dashboard in GMIS during the event.

The opening day of the ‘Smart Cities Smart Urbanization’ mega conclave showcased various interactive activities, arranged interactions with eminent speakers, and learnings across the 5 themes vis. Reimagining Public Spaces, Digital Governance, ClimateSmart Cities, Innovation, and Smart Finance, for over 1000+ participants, registered from across the country. The dignitaries took a tour of the five thematic pavilions being exhibited at the venue. These five themes demonstrated the variety of urban projects being developed in the Smart Cities.

Annexure – I: List of winning Smart Cities under ISAC 2020

Annexure-II: List of winners under the State/UT Award category

Annexure III: List of winners under the Smart Cities Leadership Award

Annexure-IV: Brief about Smart Cities Mission – Physical and Financial progress

Smart Cities Mission was launched by Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India on 25^th June 2015. It has been a part of a visionary agenda for urban rejuvenation and has been designed as part of a multi-layer strategy to meet the aspirations of 40% of India’s population living in cities.

SCM is a transformational Mission aimed to bring about a paradigm shift in the practice of urban development in the country.  Of the total proposed projects under SCM, 7,905 projects worth ₹1,93,143 crore (94% by value) have been tendered so far, work orders have been issued for 7,692 projects worth around ₹1,80,508 crore (88% by value). 3,830 projects worth ₹60,919 crore (33% by value) have also been fully completed and are operational (10 April 2022).

Of the total investment of ₹2,05,018 crore under the Smart Cities Mission, projects worth ₹93,552 crore were proposed to be developed by Center and State funds. Almost 100% of these government-funded projects i.e., projects worth ₹92,300 crore have been working ordered. The Financial progress in the Smart Cities Mission has accelerated too. The total expenditure on the mission was ₹1,000 crore in 2018, it has increased today to ₹45,000 crore. The utilization percentage of the total GOI funds released to cities is 91%.

Projects developed under the Smart Cities Mission are multi-sectoral and mirror the aspirations of the local population. As on date, 80 Smart cities have developed and operationalised their Integrated Command and Control Centers (ICCCs) in the country. These operational ICCCs functioned as war-rooms for COVID management, and along with other smart infrastructure developed under the mission, helped cities in fighting the pandemic through information dissemination, improving communication, predictive analysis and supporting effective management.