Smart City Mission: All ICCCs to be operationalised by August

The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on Tuesday said that all 100 Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC), a major component of India's smart city mission will be operational by August this year. The Ministry further said that India's smart city mission will be completed by March next year.

New Delhi: The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) on Tuesday said that all 100 Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC), a major component of India's smart city mission will be operational by August this year. The Ministry further said that India's smart city mission will be completed by March next year.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, a senior official from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said that 75 of the 100 ICCC are operational and the work is in an advanced stage for the remaining 25 projects. "All the hundred projects will be operational by August this year," the official said. Being an integral component of smart city, ICCC aims to manage the safety and surveillance of the city and at the same time bring smart solutions for city's municipal corporation. The official said that by March next year all the smart city projects will be completed.

With an aim to make cities in India smart, the central government had implemented smart city mission in June 2015. Hundred cities across India have been selected for the project through a selection and election process in four rounds started in January 2016. Given the present status of India's smart city project, the official said that work tenders have been issued for 6,721 projects, and the project cost of the tenders issued is Rs 1,88,507 crore which is 92 per cent of the total tenders to be issued.

"Work orders have been issued for 6,124 projects, and the cost is Rs 1,62,988 crore which is 79 per cent and the work completed is 29 per cent. But as the projects have been tendered and work orders have been issued, we can say that they are at advanced stages of implementation," the official said.

Last year, a think-tank, Observer Research Foundation in a report had said that ever since the smart city mission was launched in 2015, only 47 per cent of the projects have been completed. States like Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat had recorded best progress in the mission. Delhi and Nagaland have completed over 70 per cent of their projects, while states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka, Goa, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh completed 50-60 per cent of their projects till last year.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Prof KK Pandey, coordinator, centre for urban studies, Indian Institute of Public Administration hoped that the government achieve the target by March next year. "As we know most of the works are in the final stage and a majority of tenders have also been issued, it is expected that the project will be completed in time," said Prof Pandey.

He admitted that due to the Covid19 pandemic, work for the smart city projects has been hampered for the last two years. "Now with normalcy returning and work process gaining momentum, it is expected that all the cities can achieve their target on time," said Prof Pandey.