Seven cities in Karnataka had made it to the Smart City Mission. These cities— Belagavi, Davanagere, Hubballi-Dharwad, Shivamogga, Mangaluru, Tumakuru and Bengaluru—are in the list since January 2016.
Nonetheless, remodeling of the cities to make them citizen-friendly has remained a non-starter as the urban development department has spent only Rs 91.34 crore out of the total Rs 1,772 crore released by the Centre and the state government for the purpose since January 2016.
In his reply to a question by BJP MLA K.S. Eshwarappa during the ongoing legislature session at Belagavi on Wednesday, Urban Development Minister U.T. Khader said the Centre has released Rs 886 crore and the state government has given a matching grant of Rs 886 crore as well for the project. The Smart City Mission, being a unique project launched by the Centre in June 2015, needed framing of new guidelines and appointment of project consultants. Moreover, the cities were not selected simultaneously but over a period of two years, the minister said, adding, “Therefore, we could not spend the funds.”
The minister further said the special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up for the Smart City Mission were brought under the purview of the Companies Act 2013, as per the guidelines. “Across the seven cities, we have already completed 21 works worth Rs 21.48 crore, 74 works worth Rs 704.23 crore is under progress and tender process is on for 87 works worth Rs 1,776 crore. Besides, five works costing Rs 233 crore are under the public-private partnership, and nine tenders are in progress for projects worth rs 869 crore,” informed Khader.
Leader of the opposition B.S. Yeddyurappa suggested that a separate office be set up for speedy implementation and monitoring of the project while Eshwarappa mooted monthly meeting for reviewing the progress of one of the flagship projects of the NDA government.
