Part of: GS Prelims and Mains I, II and III – Govt schemes and policies; Urbanisation and related issues; Infrastructure
In news:
Fifth anniversary of the Smart Cities Mission was held recently.
Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry announced initiatives like – plan to promote cycling in cities (‘Cycles4change Challenge’) and a finance portal for urban local bodies.
AboutSmart Cities Mission
It is an innovative initiative under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The Mission covers 100 cities for the duration of five years starting from the financial year (FY) 2015-16 to 2019-20.
It aims to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local development and harnessing technology as a means to create smart outcomes for citizens.
Objective: To promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of Smart Solutions.
Do you know?
Low-cost interventions such as pop-up cycle lanes and non-motorised zones and community-led cycle rental schemes would be explored.
The finance portal will get financial statements of all cities on a single platform. This will enable sharing and learning of best practices and helps urban local bodies in accessing market funds.
Important achievements in the five years of Smart Cities Mission
About 31% of projects identified under the Smart Cities Mission have been completed
About 33% of urban housing sanctioned through the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) have been completed
Under the Smart Cities Mission, 5,151 projects worth Rs. 2 lakh crore had been identified in 100 cities.
So far around 4,700 projects worth Rs. 1.66 lakh crore or 81% of the total projects had been tendered and 1,638 projects worth Rs. 27,000 crore had been completed.
Through the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), the government had provided 79 lakh household water tap connections and 45 lakh sewer connections.
