Centre selects Shillong as 100th Smart City

NEW DELHI: After a long wait, Shillong has been selected as the 100th Smart City on Wednesday after evaluation of the proposal submitted by it.
Prior to the announcement, 99 smart cities were selected in four rounds of competition, and with this development, selection of 100 cities has been completed under the Smart Cities Mission.
The process of selecting smart cities started in 2016.
With the selection of Shillong, the total proposed investment in the finally selected 100 cities under the Smart Cities Mission would be Rs 2,05,018 crore.
There was disgruntlement after the Meghalaya capital did not appear on the final list of smart cities announced earlier this year.
“But the fact is that the state government did not submit any proposal for the central scheme “for elections” though the selection process started long ago,” said Union housing and urban affairs minister, Hardeep Puri who was in the city recently.
Puri had said the Centre had announced the final list of nine smart cities in January and had kept the slot for the tenth city, Shillong, vacant as the state government could not submit its proposal on time. “There was a certain deliberate decision taken that they submit a proposal that was delayed because they are busy with election,” he said.
Till date, 99 cities have been selected under the NDA government’s flagship programme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2015. Among the states, West Bengal has chosen not to participate in the competition.
The Meghalaya government had urged the Centre to change the funding ratio in the smart city scheme to 90:10 from 50:50.
“The cash-strapped state would not be able to bear the burden of 50 per cent cost,” Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had told the Centre in his meetings here.
Under the Smart City Mission, the Centre allocates Rs 500 crore to each of the cities for implementing projects proposed by it. This amount is matched with a grant of the same amount by the respective state.
According to the project, around Rs 1,500 crore is estimated to improve the sewerage system, drainage and waste management among others. Several towns and cities in the other states of the Northeast have been announced to be smart cities earlier.
State govt awaits details of funding pattern
Meanwhile, the state government is awaiting details of the funding pattern for the Smart City project after Shillong was finally selected for the Smart City project.
Urban Affairs Minister Hamlet Dohling informed that projects like solar lighting system, re-engineering of Wahumkhrah river and construction of parking lots and a new market at Laitumkhrah will be taken up under the Smart City project.
He also expressed his gratitude to the Union government for selecting Shillong as the 100th Smart City.