Chief Minister of Goa, Dr. Pramod Sawant inaugurated the Smart Cities CEOs Conference on Data and Technology today in Panaji. Rohit Monserrate, Mayor, Corporation of City of Panaji, Kunal Kumar, Joint Secretary and Mission Director and senior officers of the Centre and State Government were present on this occasion. The two-day conference is being organized by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in coordination with Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Ltd (IPSCDL). Hosted by IPSCDL, the conference witnessed the participation of Chief Executive Officers/Municipal Commissioners of 100 Smart Cities along with officials from the Central, State government, Industry and knowledge partners.
The conference seeks to enable peer learning and exchange of ideas so that best practices may be adopted across all Smart Cities. On the opening day, Smart City CEOs/officials presented Business Plans and Standard Operation Procedures of their Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC).
Addressing the conference, Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant said that there is a need for all cities to identify long-term revenue models based on the infrastructure that is being created under the Smart Cities Mission. He added that Smart Cities are not mere dreams or theoretical concepts but the greatest opportunity to improve people’s lives.
Kunal Kumar, Mission Director, Smart Cities Mission said that the time had come for innovative, out of the box thinking. He stated that it was time for CEOs to take control and decide the destinations of their projects, rather than being driven to it.
Talking about projects in Panaji, Mamu Hage, CEO, IPSCDL in her address said that various projects like the Integrated Command and Control Centre, Electric Buses, Mandovi Promenade, taken up under the Smart City Mission have great scope for revenue generation. She stated that monetizing these projects can bring in additional revenue for the city
The conference also saw discussions on the ‘SmartProcure’ guidelines for procurement of innovation, wherein officials from Smart Cities of Shimla, Bhopal and Ahmedabad shared their success stories. MoHUA is expected to announce the ICCC Awards to reward the most innovative and outstanding efforts of cities in creating maximum impact through their ICCCs during the closing ceremony.
About Panaji Smart City projects
Since its inception, Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Ltd (IPSCDL) under the Smart Cities Mission has taken up 47 projects in Panaji city worth Rs.950.34 Crore, out of which 15 projects worth Rs.58.15 Crore have been completed. Currently, 32 projects worth Rs.892.19 Crore are ongoing, out of which 7 projects worth Rs.303.42 Crore have achieved 90% progress and additional 12 projects worth Rs.131.56 Crore have crossed 50% progress. A number of state parastatal agencies such as GSIDC, GSUDA, PWD, WRD, including IPSCDL are the executing agencies for specialised projects under the Smart Cities Mission. IPSCDL is the nodal agency under which all these projects are being monitored and funded. A total of Rs.245.00 Crore have been released by Government of India towards project funds of which Rs.236.00 Crore has been utilised. Further, Rs.239.80 Crore have been released by Government of Goa towards project funds of which Rs.181.56 Crore has been utilised.
About Smart Cities Mission
Smart Cities Mission was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25th June, 2015. It has been a part of a visionary agenda for urban rejuvenation and has been designed as part of a multi-layer strategy to meet the aspirations of 40% of India’s population living in cities.
SCM is a transformational Mission aimed to bring about a paradigm shift in the practice of urban development in the country. As on 19 January 2023, work orders were issued in 7,799 projects worth around ₹ 181,268 crore, of which 5,229 projects worth ₹ 98,291 crore have been completed.