By Desaraju Surya
AMARAVATI: The ambitious Smart Cities Mission (SCM), launched on June 25, 2015 by the Government of India to transform the urban areas and enhance quality of life of citizens, formally came to an end on March 31, 2025.
The objective of SCM was to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions.
In all, 100 cities across the country have been chosen in three rounds through a two-stage competition and the SCM was implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with a total financial support of Rs 48,000 crore.
In Andhra Pradesh, Visakhapatnam and Kakinada were chosen in the first round in June 2015, Tirupati in the second round in September 2016 and Amaravati in the third round in June 2017.
The Smart Cities Mission has certainly given a new face to Visakhapatnam, Kakinada and Tirupati while Amaravati is a different story.
According to the data prepared by the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department, a total of 247 works of various nature were taken up in the four ‘smart’ cities in AP at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore. By the end of the Mission period, a sum of Rs 3,264.62 crore has been spent on a variety of works.
Of these, 203 works were completed and another 40 were in progress when the Mission finally ended on March 31. Four works originally planned in Amaravati were dropped.
While the Government of India released Rs 1,857.90 crore as its share, the state government contributed another Rs 1,041.15 crore. The state is yet to release another Rs 928.83 crore of its share, hampering the progress of the works.
Of the 61 works sanctioned for the city, Visakhapatnam completed 58 works at a cost of Rs 775.09 crore.
Some of the important works completed in the port city included development of an indoor sports arena, Smart Park, multi-level semi-automatic car parking system, Smart Traffic Signalling, solar street lighting and a Disaster Management System.
Kakinada accomplished 56 of the 70 sanctioned works, spending Rs 884.79 crore.
Development of a Science Centre, Smart Service Delivery Interface, slum development, several main connecting roads, development of schools and digital classrooms were done in Kakinada.
Amaravati as a city is yet to take a shape but nevertheless it secured a ‘smart’ status and 11 works like City Smart Duct Project (for power, fiber and gas lines), Smart City Access Road, riverfront development and a Central Park in the government complex were taken up.
The Amaravati Integrated Command Control Centre is yet to take full shape.
In Amaravati, the under-development capital city of the state, smart works to the tune of Rs 872.72 crore were completed.
Tirupati that was selected under the second round of SCM incurred an expenditure of Rs 732.02 crore on 78 main works while another 19 works were ongoing.
A City Operations Centre, multi-level car parking facility, water supply distribution network, rejuvenation of lake, construction of a sewerage treatment plant and a 6 MW solar power plant were among the major works undertaken in the temple town.
All in all, the SCM has given a significant boost to vital urban infrastructure development in the four chosen cities in AP.
What could not be accomplished in the SCM, the MAUD Department hopes to fulfil through the Urban Challenge Fund programme the Centre has brought in as a continuation of the smart initiatives.