Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 18
As of July 8, 2022 the Government of India (GoI) has released Rs 30,751.41 crore for 100 Smart Cities across India, including Rs 245 crore for Kohima, the lone city from Nagaland selected for Smart Cities Mission (SCM).
According to the Union Minister of State for Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) data, since the financial year 2015-16, Nagaland has been receiving the funds intermittently.
The highest amount was released by the GoI in FY 2017-18 at Rs 109 crore followed by Rs 79 crore in 2019-20.
During the current FY 2022-23, Rs 49 crore has been released so far, as per the State-wise details of funds released by the GoI under SCM and their utilisation provided by the Union Minister of State MoHUA, Kaushal Kishore in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on July 18.
Out of this, a total of Rs 195.99 or around 79.99% has been utilised for Kohima smart city development, the data indicated.
In Nagaland, the SCM is being undertaken under the Kohima Smart City Development Limited (KSCDL), company registered in 2016 to implement the mission for Kohima in accordance with the guidelines.
The implementation jurisdiction, as per the KSCDL website, is within the area under Kohima Municipal Council (KMC).The state capital Kohima was selected for the SCM in September 2016.
Meanwhile, among the North-East states, the highest amount of fund was received by Sikkim at Rs 561.50 crore, followed by Arunachal Pradesh at Rs 390.00 crore and Rs 329.50 for Tripura.
The MoHUA’s reply further informed that out of Rs 30,751.41 crore released for 100 Smart Cities, a total of Rs 27,610.34 crore (90%) has been utilised.
It further said that the SCM guidelines provided that the Central Government will provide financial support to the extent of Rs 48,000 crore over five years i.e., on an average Rs 100 crore per city per year.
An equal amount on a matching basis will be contributed by the State Government/Urban Local Body (ULB), it added.
As on July 8, the Smart Cities have tendered out 7,822 projects worth Rs 1,90,660 crore and work orders have been issued in 7,649 projects worth Rs 1,80,996 crore.
A total of 4,085 projects worth Rs 66,912 crore have been completed so far.
The GoI launched the SCM on June 25, 2015 and 100 Smart Cities have been selected through 4 rounds of competition from January 2016 to June 2018, MoHUA said.
The period of implementation of SCM is up to June 2023 and all Smart Cities are expected to complete their projects within the stipulated time, it added.
