Funding test: First list of smart cities likely today

These cities will get funding from the Centre during the current financial year. People tracking the project said Vizag, Navi Mumbai, Surat, Pimpri Chinchwad (part of Pune Metropolitan City), Jaipur, Chandigarh, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, and Coimbatore were some names that could be on the list.

Karuna Gopal, an advisor on smart cities, told Business Standard that Pune stands a good chance because of high citizen interest and a proactive commissioner; Vizag because of readiness; and cities like Ahmedabad are historically better performers. She added from down south, Coimbatore could be a good choice for the first list.

According to the original timeline, the first 20 of 100 cities would get the first tranche of central funding this year. But officials had said if the proposals did not match quality yardsticks, the first lot might have less than 20 cities. Urban Development Minister Vankaiah Naidu said on Wednesday the first batch of winners of the Smart City Challenge Competition would be made public on Thursday. He did not mention the number of cities.

Earlier, January 26 was the target date for announcing the first list of smart cities, a project that could mean a long-term opportunity of an estimated $50 billion in India.

Of the 100 cities (98 have been shortlisted till now), 20 were scheduled to get funding in 2015-16. The Centre would spend Rs 500 crore on each city in phases, while the remaining amount was to come from the states, urban bodies and private partners.

A few months ago, the Cabinet had cleared Rs 50,000 crore for the project and another Rs 48,000 crore for the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) — both schemes were part of the election plank of the National Democratic Alliance last year.

Estimates suggested building a new smart city with one million population would cost Rs 20,000 crore a year for the next 10-15 years. Developing cities would be cheaper, depending on the nature of retrofitting work required.

The 98 probable cities were picked up through a 'City Challenge'. But, the names will change as the competition moves from one round to another.