In a relief for Meghalaya which is yet to complete most of the Smart City projects in Shillong, the Centre has extended the Smart Cities Mission till March 2025.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs yesterday sent letters to all states informing that it has extended the Smart Cities Mission till March 31, 2025.
According to the letter, the approved works will be continued and no new works will be sanctioned. The funds for ongoing works will be released on a first come first basis till September this year.
The Centre had earlier set the target of completing the Smart Cities Mission by June 30, 2024.
Shillong was one of 100 cities identified by the Centre to be developed as a smart city. However, Shillong was among the ten worst performers in terms of implementing smart city projects. The State has been ranked at the lowest 93.
For 13 Himalayan states and states in the North East, the Centre contributes 90 percent of the total fund for Smart City projects.
According to the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs tabled in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on February 8, most of the cities where 47 per cent or more of the projects were in the “work order stage” (in various stages of completion) are in the Himalayan and north-eastern states.
Among these were Shillong (Meghalaya), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Imphal (Manipur), Gangtok (Sikkim), Atal Nagar (Chhattisgarh), Kochi (Kerala), and Puducherry.
The report titled “Smart Cities Mission: An Evaluation” tabled in Parliament on February 8 said that out of the total number of 360 projects worth Rs 7737 crore, almost half i.e., 163 projects worth Rs 5305 crore are at work order stage.
“In Shillong and Gangtok, only four and six projects are complete while works on 17 and 38 projects are still going on respectively (as of December 2023)” the report said.
There are a number of Smart City projects in Shillong that are yet to be completed. Among them is the development and construction of Polo Market Junction near Majestic Hotel estimated at Rs 40.82 crore.
Others include construction of mechanised multi-level car parks near Additional Secretariat (Rs 6.5 crore) and at Polo Commercial Complex (Rs 36.5 crore), construction mechanised multi-level car park at Mawkhar (Rs 20.30 crore), construction of mechanised multi-level car park at Motphran (Rs 12.50 crore), construction of Smart Roads of Phase-II (10Kms)) and beautification of twelve junctions in Shillong (Rs 134. 50 crore), setting up of grid connected rooftop solar photo-voltaic system at various buildings in Shillong (Rs 26.75 crore), construction of rainwater harvesting system at various locations in Shillong (Rs 23.65 crore).
