Coimbatore city has been selected for support under the Smart City Mission, launched by Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD), Government of India (MOUD) this year. Under this Mission, the Government of India plans to support 100 cities with an outlay of Rs. 50,000 crore (or Rs. 500 crore) with a matching grant from respective State Governments. The support under this Mission program is envisaged through a Smart Cities Challenge comprising two rounds. Stage I challenge at the State level has completed, following which 12 cities from Tamil Nadu have been selected to participate in the next stage (Stage-II City Challenge) in which each of the selected cities will prepare submit a Smart City Proposal (SCP) to compete with each other at the national level. 20 cities that fare best in this competition would be selected for funding during 2015-16. The other cities will get a chance to improve their proposals and be eligible to participate in challenge round during the next financial year.

As per the Smart City guidelines, the Smart City Proposal is expected to cover three aspects: (1) A consultative articulation of the City’s Vision, Goals and Strategy following a baseline assessment and as appropriate to its local context, resources and level of ambition, (2) A Pan City proposal that articulates specific city wide initiatives in the areas of city governance, infrastructure and services through deployment of smart solutions that help create positive impact and improvements in a relatively short time frame and (3) an Area based proposal that incorporates identifies an area within the city as an appropriate site for one of the three typologies of development namely greenfield, re-development or retrofitting. The Smart City Proposal is also expected to flesh out an effective implementation framework and financing plan.