Smart Cities Mission set to end on March 31, but 7% projects likely to go on

In 2021, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs decided to push the deadline for all 100 cities to June 2023.

The deadline was further pushed to June 30, 2024 and then to March 31, 2025.  Now, sources say that approval for only less than 1% of total `48,000 crore earmarked Central funding for the Mission is left, which too is expected to be approved before March 31, effectively bringing the mission to an end.

In a reply to the RS on March 10, the Ministry said that Rs 47,538 crore out of Rs 48,000 crore in Central assistance had been released to cities, which had spent Rs 45,772 crore.

A MoHUA spokesperson did not respond to requests for a comment. It is learnt that the Ministry could soon issue guidelines for cities on how to take the projects and infrastructure created under the Mission forward.

Responding to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs, according to  a 2024 report, the Ministry had proposed that state governments would have to complete the incomplete projects at their own expense. The committee, however, noted that the Ministry shouldn’t just transfer the projects to states, but see them through.

“The committee is of the strong opinion that the ministry’s role should not be confined to transfer of their share… but they have to remain watchful for the execution and successful completion of the projects,” the House panel had said.

As per the Smart Cities Mission dashboard, the cities have completed 7,491 projects worth Rs 1.50 lakh crore, with 567 projects (7%) worth Rs 14,357 crore still ongoing.

Of the categories of projects, water, sanitation and hygiene projects accounted for the biggest expenditure so far (`46,730 crore), followed by smart mobility (Rs 37,362 crore) and smart governance (Rs 16,262 crore).

While cities proposed and implemented a range of projects, one project that each of them has completed is the setting up of Integrated Command and Control Centres at a cost of Rs 11,775 crore.