In a statement, the Ministry of Urban Development also clarified that it does not intend to come out with a 'Model Smart City Plan' as such plans are city-specific and past experiences have shown that such model documents tend to be copied without any application of mind.

NEW DELHI: Accommodating the concerns of mayors and municipal commissioners that pan-city solutions should get more weightage rather than focusing more only on "area specific" and "project specific plan", the urban development ministry has said that 50% of the central assistance to each city is not project specific. This can be used for any component of the Smart City plan including interventions that can impact large sections of the city population.

Sources said that many of the mayors and municipal commissioners, who attended a two-day "Ideas Conference"1 organized by Bloomberg Philanthropies in the capital had raised the issue of giving appropriate weightage for pan-city smart solutions while evaluating the plans in the second stage of City Challenge Competition. "After discussing this suggestion with minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who is on an official visit to France, the ministry officials assured the participants that it will be given due consideration," an official statement from urban development ministry said.

As per guidelines, a Smart City plan shall have proposals either for retrofitting, redevelopment and greenfield projects or a combination of them besides at least one pan-city smart solution to benefit citizens across a city. These solutions relate to e-governance, water and energy management, intelligent transport systems (ITS), tele-medicine etc.

  • 1.  Participants at the event were given an account of strategic planning adopted for development of cities like Washington, Oakland (California), London, Barcelona, Beijing, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Mumbai etc, the statement said. 

    During the camp, issues were raised by representatives of states and urban local bodies regarding implementation of the Smart City Mission and they were clarified by senior Urban Development Ministry officials.

    One of the issues raised by the states and mayors, was to give appropriate weightage for 'Pan-City Smart' solutions while evaluating the Smart City Plans in the second stage of City Challenge Competition, given the benefits that flow from them to larger sections of people in urban areas. 

    After discussing this suggestion with Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu, who is at present on an official visit to France, the Ministry officials assured the participants that it will be given due consideration. 

    In his address Urban Development Secretary Madhusudan Prasad made it clear that selection of smart city aspirants in the second stage of City Challenge Competition will be based only on merit and the Ministry was not obliged to pick up 20 cities for financing during this current financial year.

    He said only those cities whose Smart City Plans come up to the expectations will be picked up and there will be no state-wise caps for selection of cities in the second round of competition.