Bloomberg Philanthropies to help govt select 'Smart Cities'

NEW DELHI, May 15: US-based Bloomberg Philanthropies will serve as a knowledge partner for Centre's 'Smart Cities Mission' by assisting the Union Ministry of Urban Development in conducting the competition to pick the cities under the programme. The ministry has accepted the offer of Bloomberg Philanthropies (BP) for cooperating in conducting the 'Cities Challenge' competition. BP will also help in designing and delivery of a capacity development programme for applicant urban local bodies for participation in the competition-based selection of cities, with focus on innovation and citizen participation in formulating smart city proposals. The competition is crucial as cities will be selected for the 'Smart City' project through this, a senior official of the urban development ministry said. BP will act as knowledge partner for the 'Smart Cities Mission' and it will assist the ministry in the design and implementation of the process for selection of cities, the official said. The Mission for building 100 'Smart Cities' was approved by the Union Cabinet on April 29. Selection criteria include reforms in urban local bodies, as it will play a key role in the resource realisation for the project. Under the Mission, the central government will spend Rs 48,000 cr over the next five years for providing an assistance of Rs 100 cr per year for each of the selected city. BP will be involved in formulation and execution of effective communication and branding strategy for cities. In the first phase of the selection of smart city aspirants, each state will nominate a set of cities based on urban population and number of statutory cities for inclusion under the Mission. This nomination will be based on a set of identified criteria to be suggested by the Ministry of Urban Development. All such 100 nominated cities will be rigorously scrutinised against identified criteria for extending financial support by the Centre. Cities which are found to be deficient in some aspects would be given to address the same and participate in the next round of competition. States and urban local bodies will be required to match the Centre's contribution for the development of each city and mobilise additional resources required from various sources including through a public-private-partnership (PPP) model. Accordingly, the Centre and states or urban local bodies will spend about Rs one lakh cr on development of 'Smart Cities' over the next five years. Bloomberg Philanthropies, founded by former Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg has been involved in smart cities development programme in different parts of the world, enabling selection of right and capable cities for their transformation as smart cities. BP will soon begin work in this regard.