All the 23 cities and towns told by the Urban Development Ministry to participate in the ‘Fast Track Competition, submitted their revised Smart City plans on April 21- the deadline set for submission of proposals.
These plans will be evaluated by May 15 this year and those meeting the benchmark set by the winning cities in the first round of Smart City Challenge Competition will be selected for extending the central assistance.
Earlier, in the first list of 20 mission cities announced by the Ministry of Urban Development in January, Bhubaneswar was ranked number one and Bhopal stood last.
After evaluating the proposals of all the 97 cities in the first round of competition, first 20 cities were selected and the rest were notified about the deficiencies in their plans. The central government again gave a chance to the unrepresented 23 states and UTs to revise their proposals and participate in Fast Track Competition in pursuance of the principle of urban transformation across the country.
The inadequacies identified included, lacunae in assessment of cities, disconnect between citizens’ aspirations and vision documents, disconnect between vision document and SWOT analysis, too ambitious nature of plans, mismatch between costs and resource mobilization, lacunae in implementation plans and result orientation.
The Urban Development Ministry had also held a Consultation Workshop for the participating cities in Fast Track Competition besides holding several Studio Workshops wherein respective Smart City Plans were ‘read out to rectify’.
The 23 cities that submitted their revised Smart City Plans under Fast Track Competition along with respective rank in the first round of competition are: Warangal, Telangana (23), Chandigarh (24), Lucknow (29), New Town in Kolkata (30), Goa (32), Pasighat in Arunachal Pradesh (39); Dharmashala (59), Faridabad (60); Raipur, Chattisgarh (62); Bhagalpur, Bihar (65), Shillong (70); Namchi, Sikkim (71), Port Blair (73), Diu, Daman & Diu (74), Oulgaret, Puducherry (75), Silvassa, Dadra & Nagar Haveli (78), Imphal, Manipal (83), Ranchi (84), Agartala (85), Kohima 90), Kavaratti, Lakshadweep (95) and Dehradun (97).
The regular second round of City Challenge Competition for the remaining 97 cities included in the Smart City Mission got underway on April 1st and these cities will have to submit revised smart city plans by the June end this year.
The 23 cities which were included in the Fast Track Competition and failed to be selected can also join this second round of competition.
While 20 smart cities were selected during 2015-16 as per the Mission Guidelines, another 40 would be selected during 2016-17 and the remaining 40 during the next financial year.
Each city selected in different rounds of competition will be given central assistance of Rs 200 cr in the first year and Rs 100 cr each during the subsequent three financial years.
State governments and respective urban local bodies will provide matching funds to the same amount. Accordingly, each mission city would get a total assistance of Rs 1,000 cr over a five-year period.
