Thirteen out of 100 smart cities have completed all their projects, while 48 cities have achieved over 90 per cent completion under the Smart Cities Mission, the Lok Sabha was informed on Thursday. In a written reply to a question, Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu said more than 84,000 CCTV surveillance cameras have been installed and 713 kilometres of cycle tracks developed in 100 smart cities so far.
The minister said 23 other smart cities have completed over 75 per cent of its projects, adding that 714 projects amounting to Rs 17,303 crore are currently in the implementation stage. He said that as of November 15 this year, work orders have been issued in 8,066 projects amounting to Rs 1,64,669 crore, of which 7,352 projects amounting to Rs 1,47,366 crore (91 per cent of total projects) have been completed.
Under the Smart Cities Mission (SCM), the central government has a total outlay of Rs 48,000 crore for the 100 cities. “As on 15.11.2024, the central government has released Rs 47,225 crore to states/Union territories under SCM, out of which Rs 44,626 crore (i.e. 94 per cent of the total central share released) have been utilised,” he said in the written reply.
According to the minister, the delay in completion of projects can be largely attributed to various reasons including legal issues, delay in obtaining clearances from different departments, land acquisition, construction in hilly areas, challenges in vendor and resource availability in small and medium cities.
About the works done under the SCM, Sahu said that over 1,740 km of smart roads have been constructed or improved. Also, over 9,433 smart classrooms have been developed across 2,398 government schools.
Forty-one digital libraries have been developed with a total seating capacity of 4,809, while 172 e-health centres and clinics (without dedicated beds) and 152 health ATMs have been set up, he added. Apart from this, more than 17,026 km of water supply system is being monitored through Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, reducing the non-revenue water in cities, Sahu said.
