By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Under its flagship Smart City Mission, the Centre on Friday announced the name of nine cities that had made it to the list after the fourth round of National Smart Cities Challenge competition. Meanwhile, the government announced commencement of the Liveability Index Programme in 116 cities.

Union Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the winning cities had improved the quality of their Smart City Proposals by 19 per cent (average) to become eligible for selection. “Each city has developed a unique vision and has selected a section for Area Based Development (ABD) which will be developed as a model, to be replicated by the city,” said the minister.

The nine cities in the winning list are Silvasa (Dadar and Nagar Haveli), Erode (Tamil Nadu), Diu (Daman and Diu), Bihar Sharif (Bihar), Bareilly (UP), Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh), Moradabad (UP), Saharanpur (UP) and Kavaratti (Lakshadweep).

Puri said that the nine cities selected have proposed an investment of Rs 12,824 crore, of which Rs 10,639 crore would be in ABD and Rs 2,185 crore in Pan City initiatives which would impact 35.3 lakh people living in these areas. Projects include smart roads, rejuvenation of water bodies, cycle tracks, walking paths, smart classrooms, skill development centres, upgradation of health facilities and Pan City Projects which include integrated command control centre and Information and Communications Technology-based municipal services.

These nine cities have approximately 409 projects. The funding sources for these projects are proposed to be with Smart City Mission — with contribution from the State and Centre 61.25 per cent, convergence 24.19 per cent, PPP 12.90 per cent, own sources 1.57 per cent, and other sources 0.09 per cent.

With Friday’s announcement, 99 Smart Cities have been selected. Previously, 20 cities were selected in January 2016, 13 cities in May 2016, 27 cities in September 2016 and 30 cities in June 2017. The total proposed investment in the 99 Smart City Mission would Rs 2,03,979 crore. Officials said the proposal from

Puri expressed satisfaction over the progress of the mission saying setting up of project consultants and Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) took a long time and the results will be visible soon.

He also announced the commencement of Liveability Index Programme in 116 cities. Officials said that to develop a common minimum framework for cities to assess their existing status and chart pathway towards providing a quality life to citizens, the ministry has developed a set of ‘Liveability Standards’ relevant to Indian cities to generate a Liveability Index and rate cities. The framework has its genesis in the 24 Smart

City features contained in the Smart City Proposals and includes 79 indicators organised in 15 distinct ‘Categories’ for measuring various institutional, social, economic and physical aspects that affect quality of life and determine ‘Liveability’ of a city.