Under-utilisation of smart city funds in NE states may lead to cost escalation: Parliamentary panel

"Five states may be advised to put in sustained efforts to meet the targets envisaged by them under this scheme in a time-bound manner," the Committee said in its report to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

New Delhi: A Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs has found that five northeastern states including Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram have not been able to satisfactorily utilise the central government funds for implementing ambitious smart city projects.

The committee headed by Rajya Sabha MP Anand Sharma is of the view that the delay in project completion resulting due to under-utilisation of funds may in turn lead to cost escalation. "Five states may be advised to put in sustained efforts to meet the targets envisaged by them under this scheme in a time-bound manner," the Committee said in its report to the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

The committee also appreciated the efforts of the ministry and state governments of Nagaland, Sikkim, and Tripura for optimum utilisation of funds released under the smart-city projects. As per the statistics provided by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, the central government has released Rs 304 crore for two smart city projects in Arunachal Pradesh (Itanagar and Pasighat) but only 162.92 crore has been utilised by the state government.

Of the total 71 projects in Arunachal, only 11 projects have been completed so far. Of the total Rs 196.00 crore released to Assam for Guwahati smart city project, only Rs 74.25 crore has been utilised. Meghalaya was able to utilize Rs 26.23 crore from a total amount of Rs 55 crore released by the central government. Similarly, of Rs 128 crore released to the Mizoram (Aizawl), only Rs 54.37 crore was utilised to date.

Of the 45 projects in Manipur, only four have been completed. Similarly, of the 37 projects in Meghalaya, only 1 has been completed. Mizoram has completed 15 projects of 106, Nagaland 20 of 59, Sikkim 8 of 66, and Tripura 46 of 79 smart city projects. In comparison, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, meanwhile, have utilised almost all the funds allotted to them under the smart city projects.

The main objective of the smart city mission launched in 2015 was to provide core infrastructure, a clean and sustainable environment, and a decent quality of life to the citizens through the application of 'smart solutions.' The mission aims to drive economic growth and improve the way of life through comprehensive work on the social, economic, physical, and institutional pillars of the city.

The project aims to turn 100 cities in India into smart cities. The selection of 100 smart cities was completed through four rounds of selection from January 2016 to June 2018. Under the smart city project, the central government shall give financial support to the mission to the extent of Rs 48,000 crore over five years, on an average of Rs 500 crore per city.

An equal amount will be contributed by the State and Urban Local Body. Under the smart city mission, 10 northeastern cities including Agartala, Aizawl, Gangtok, Guwahati, Imphal, Itanagar, Kohima, Namchi, Pasighat, and Shillong have been selected for development as smart cities. As of January this year, all these 10 smart cities in the Northeast have tendered out 287 projects worth Rs 7,302 crores. Work order has been issued in 235 projects worth Rs 5,684 crore and 111 projects worth Rs 1,523 crore have been completed.

The Parliamentary committee recommends that a robust mechanism must be put in place to evaluate and review the developmental process under this Mission and necessary steps must be taken to expedite the completion of the projects.