The Central Government’s ambitious Smart City Mission (SCM) has missed its second extended deadline of June 2024, prompting authorities to set a new deadline of March 31, 2025. Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu recently announced in Parliament that the SCM implementation period has been extended for all Smart Cities until the new deadline.
Earlier, Hardeep Singh Puri, the former MoHUA Minister, had assured that all projects under India’s 100 Smart Cities would be completed by June 2024. However, in the third term of the Modi government, Mr. Puri has been shifted to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
In the Rajya Sabha, Sahu revealed that as of July 12, 2024, tenders for 8,016 Smart City projects worth ₹1,64,223 crore had been issued. Of these, 7,218 projects have been completed, amounting to ₹1,45,083 crore. The SCM, launched by the Narendra Modi-led government on June 25, 2015, aimed to develop 100 cities with core infrastructure and a sustainable environment. However, the mission’s timeline has seen multiple extensions, with the latest stretching to March 2025.
The government has committed to completing the remaining 798 Smart City projects worth ₹19,139.65 crore by the new deadline. According to statistics, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh have the highest number of Smart City projects, with 908, 888, and 788 projects, respectively. In Karnataka, 881 projects worth ₹13,330.04 crore have been completed, while in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, 825 and 739 projects worth ₹19,975.01 crore and ₹14,101.3 crore, respectively, have been finalised.
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