NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India, announced on Thursday, December 2, that the extension of the Smart Cities Mission (SCM) to June 2023. The ministry blamed the COVID-19 induced pandemic and other reasons to slow the progress under the mission.
Initially, the 100 smart cities were expected to complete their projects within five years of being selected under the mission. Under the new announcement, final deadline has now been extended to June 2023 for the completion of their projects.
The Smart Cities Mission was launched in 2015 by MoHUA. The Government of India has come under criticism from the opposition and experts over the implementation of the SCM.
The objective of SCM is to promote sustainable and inclusive cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to their citizens, a clean and sustainable environment, and the application of ‘smart’ solutions. In a recent announcement by the ministry, it was quoted that the smart cities have tendered out over 6,452 projects worth Rs 1,84,998 crore.