'100 smart cities' policy to seek Cabinet nod by month end

The proposal to set up 100 smart cities in India will come up for the Union Cabinet's approval this month. The smart city project was formally announced in July 2014 in the current government's first Union Budget.

All consultations have been completed and the policy is likely to be cleared by end of the month, Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said at a conclave organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Monday.

The urban centres which will be developed as smart cities will be selected through a 'City Challenge' competition later this year. States will propose the names of cities, and those will be graded on many parameters like creditworthiness, power supply, water, revenue generation, municipal planning and partnerships they can form. The final selection will be done through a process of elimination.

Cities will be selected only by merit, not on political considerations, according to Naidu. Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, is expected to help in the selection process. Bloomberg and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier discussed the idea of smart cities.

The Centre would be a facilitator in the project, Naidu said. States will get into public-private partnership arrangement with industries. As for foreign partnerships, 14 countries, including the US, France, Spain, Singapore, Germany and the Netherlands have already expressed interest, and many more are expected to follow. During Modi's upcoming visit to France and Germany, smart cities will be among the prominent issues of dialogue. Essel group said on Monday that it would showcase the smart city model at Germany's trade fair - Hannover Messe - which the PM would inaugurate along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Government officials have indicated there are some target smart cities (such as Ajmer, Allahabad, Vishakapatnam and Varanasi) that are expected to make it to the final list.

Along with the funding mechanism, the project cost, initially estimated at ~35,000 crore annually, is also being re-worked. While most of the 100 smart cities will be brownfield or retrofit projects, there will be some greenfield ventures, too.