Mumbai: Ten cities of Maharashtra appear to have great confidence in their ability to raise large amounts of funds, going by their smart city proposals they have sent to the central government.

These cities have mentioned user charges, land monetization, public-private partnerships and municipal bonds, among others, as the avenues through which they would raise a total of Rs.29,647 crore in their smart city proposals sent to the centre.

The Union government will hand out a maximum of Rs.500 crore across five years to those selected under the smart city mission.

The mission encourages cities to find innovative ways to finance their projects, but a senior urban development official feels some cities may have overestimated their fund-raising capacity in their efforts to ‘submit eye-catching proposals’.

Last week, a committee led by the state chief secretary submitted to the centre proposals from the 10 municipal corporations for smart city mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

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The aforementioned official, who did not want to be named because he has been tasked with mentoring one of the 10 Maharashtra cities, said some municipal corporations did not seem to have taken their finances and revenue-generating capacity into account when making the plans.

“Though the Union government wants cities to think of novel means to raise funds, unrealistic estimates could adversely affect the implementation because the inflow of funds may not follow the schedule that municipal bodies have projected. This would also put pressure on the civic bodies’ finances because the smart city guidelines specifically mention that local bodies and state governments have to provide funds to match the centre’s funding,” the official said.

Of the 10 cities, Mumbai has sent in the most conservative proposal worth Rs.1,118 crore, though it has India’s richest municipal body with an annual budget (2015-16) of Rs.33,514 crore.