With 10% Projects Pending, Smart Cities Mission Gets Another Extension

The centre’s flagship programme to develop 100 cities under the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) has been extended till 31 March 2025.  After multiple requests from some state governments demanding extra time to complete the remaining 10 per cent of the projects, the Housing and Urban Affairs (HUA) Ministry announced the extension of the mission period on Wednesday.

As per the data available, more than 8000 multi-sectoral projects worth Rs. 1.6 lakh crore are being developed by the 100 cities under the mission to steer the country’s urban development. As on 3 July 2024, 7,188 projects which amount to 90% of the total projects have been completed by the 100 cities amounting to Rs 1,44,237 crore. The remaining 830 Projects are also nearing their completion.

On the financial front, the mission has been allocated a budget of Rs 48,000 crore by the government of India (GOI) for developing 100 cities which were selected after a competition between cities. As of now, GOI has released 97 per cent of the allocated budget (Rs 46,585 crore), of which 93 per cent has been utilised to date.

As per the official statement released by the GOI, “The Mission has been getting multiple requests from some States/City government representatives, to grant some more time to complete the balance 10% projects. These balance ongoing projects are in an advanced stage of implementation and got delayed due to various on-ground conditions. Taking cognizance of these requests, the Government of India has extended the Mission period up to 31 March 2025 to complete these balance 10% projects.”

However, the GOI has informed the states that the extension would be without any additional cost, beyond the already approved budget. This is not the first time the mission’s deadline has been extended. Earlier, the mission got an extension of one year in June 2023 and the new deadline was set to June 2024. Now with the deadline getting extended again, the government aims to ensure the 100 per cent completion of the programme by 31 March 2025.