Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad Awarded 4 Star Rating Under Climate Smart Cities Assessment Framework
New Delhi, 25th June 2021: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) organised an online event on here today to commemorate 6 years of the three transformative Urban Missions vis. Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U), which were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 25th June 2015.
The Anniversary event highlighted some of the important initiatives being implemented under the Smart Cities Mission. The event was presided by Hardeep S. Puri, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Housing and Urban Affairs and was attended by key urban stakeholders from Central and State Governments including Principal Secretaries of States/UTs, Municipal Commissioners of Cities, and MDs/CEOs of Smart Cities. The date also marked the 45 years of establishment of the National Institute of Urban Affairs, an autonomous body of MoHUA, tasked to bridge the gap between research and practice on issues related to urbanization.
Union Minister of State (I/C), MoHUA, Hardeep Singh Puri released a short movie that encapsulated the Mission’s journey of six glorious years in fulfilling the dream of a pucca house for millions of Indians. In line with the vision of Prime Minister- ‘Housing for All’ by 2022, PMAY-U has registered outstanding success. So far, about 1.12 crore houses have been sanctioned for its beneficiaries, out of which more than 83 lakh houses are grounded and more than 50 lakh completed.
At the event which was attended by Secretary, MoHUA, Durga Shanker Mishra, other senior officials of MoHUA, States/UTs/ULBs, a short movie contest ‘Khushiyon ka Ashiyana’ was declared open for students, youths, non-governmental organisations, institutions and individual/groups in the run up to India’s 75th Independence.
Accordingly, 75 such movies under diverse aspects of the Mission like Housing for All, Sapno ka Aashiyana, Laabharthiyon ki Zuban Se, Women Empowerment, Livelihood, Life Transformation will be selected by a jury of eminent persons. 25 awards each under the Gold, Silver and Bronze categories will be given away along with a cash prize and citation from MoHUA.
A video testimonial ‘Ghar Hua Apna, Pura Hua Sapna’ of PMAY-U beneficiaries who have experienced life transformation on moving into a pucca house were also released at the event.
In addition, MoHUA announced that 75 ‘Awas Par Samvaad’ workshops will be held across States/UTs in Schools/ Colleges/ Institutions to propel the ‘Housing for All’ as a universal theme.
PMAY (U) implementation has followed the ethos of Cooperative Federalism in which MoHUA delegated powers to States / UTs for project formulation, appraisal and approval. Further, the success of the Mission can be attributed to its robust financial model of which, Direct Benefit Transfer has been a key element. Besides, use of Information Technology for real time monitoring and technological innovation, additional funding through Extra Budgetary Resource over and above Budgetary allocations have been major contributors. The houses sanctioned so far under the Mission involve an investment of ₹7.35 lakh crore with Central Assistance of ₹1.81 lakh crore. As of now, over ₹ 100,000 crore of Central Assistance has already been released. Infusion of such a large amount of funding has propelled the economy. For sustained funding support to keep the pace of construction activities, over and above Budgetary support, a corpus of ₹60,000 crore through EBR was mobilized under National Urban Housing Fund (NUHF) wherein ₹43,000 Cr has already been drawn. Affordable Housing Fund ₹ 20,000 Cr are being utilized in the last 3 years.
Acknowledging the diversity in housing demand across various income groups of the country, for the first time interest subsidy on home loans have been given to Middle-Income Group having annual income of upto ₹18 Lakh under PMAY-U’s Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS). Nearly 16 lakh beneficiaries belonging to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), Lower Income Group (LIG) and MIG have so far been brought under the fold of CLSS.
Due to its forward and backward linkages to other sectors, the current investment made by the Government in the sector, has created almost an estimated 689 crore person days of employment translating into around 246 lakh jobs and led to consumption of 370 Lakh MT of cement and 84 Lakh MT of steel.
Over the years, the Government has taken up various measures for adopting construction technology reforms in the housing. MoHUA organised Global Housing Technology Challenge India (GHTC-India) in 2019 to identify and mainstream globally best available proven construction technologies that are sustainable, green and disaster-resilient to enable a paradigm shift in affordable housing. On 1st January 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ushered the Nation into a new era of construction technology. He laid the foundation of six Light House Projects (LHPs) in the country through video conference. The LHPs, that are being built under PMAY-U showcase the best of new-age alternate global technology in housing construction sector, selected through GHTC-India.
As a response to the reverse migration taking place due to the COVID-19, MoHUA launched Affordable Rental Housing Complexes (ARHCs), a sub-scheme under PMAY(U) for urban migrants/ poor. Under Model 1, a total of 2,588 houses have been made operational in Chandigarh and Surat (Gujarat)and RFPs are issued for 6,649 houses across other States. Under Model 2, so far, proposals for about 80,000 ARHC units have been received from Public/Private entities in 17 States/UTs. Second round of EoI has been issued on for shortlisting of additional entity with last date as 30th June 2021. Investment under ARHCs is expected to create 11.74 crore person days of employment with 3.89 crore direct and 7.84 crore indirect in nature. In terms of jobs, it works out to be a total of 4.19 1akh with 1.39 lakh direct and 2.80 lakh indirect jobs. ARHC has elicited remarkable response on ground. Under Model 2 of the scheme, proposals from public/private entities for about 80,000 units have been received from across 17 States/UTs.Encouraged by the traction, MoHUA has issued second EoI for inviting proposals under ARHCs.Nearly 22,000 PMAY-U houses were used as COVID facilities.
As the Mission moves ahead, there has been a need to address life transformation issues that arise out of moving into a new house and neighbourhood. To address this, ANGIKAAR, a campaign for social change management was initiated by ‘Housing for All’ (HFA) Mission on 29th August 2019. It has achieved the objective to build capacities of PMAY -U beneficiaries in adapting to change though door-to-door awareness on best practices in water & energy conservation, health, hygiene, sanitation and financial literacy.
Further, an enabled environment was created through convergence with various Urban Missions and schemes of other Central Ministries. It is an unique initiative in the urban housing sector that embraced and brought into its fold welfare oriented schemes of the State and Central Government.
A campaign of this magnitude in the urban housing sector is a result of the collective efforts and proactive participation of PMAY (U) beneficiaries, States/UTs/ULBs/ and elected representatives. Around 18,500 ANGIKAAR Resource Persons were trained by about 2,200 specialists of City Level Technical Cells (CLTCs) working in 4,427 cities of PMAY (U). They acted as foot soldiers and helped propagate the message of the campaign.
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation (AMRUT)
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation (AMRUT) is the first focused national water Mission and was launched on 25th June, 2015 in 500 cities covering 60% of the urban population. All cities having population above 1 lakh are covered under Mission. Providing piped water supply and sewerage & septage management in Mission cities is the major focus of the Mission. Storm water drainage, non-motorized urban transport and green spaces & parks are minor components of Mission. Overall Mission allocation is ₹1 lakh crore including central share of ₹50,000 crore.
State action plans amounting to ₹77,640 crore for basic infrastructure projects were approved, against which projects worth ₹79,772 crore have been grounded. So far, work worth ₹52,477 crores (66%) has been carried out.
So far, 105 lakh household water tap connections and 78 lakh sewer/ sepatage connections have been provided under Mission and in convergence with other schemes. Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) capacity worth 1,240 MLD have been created, of which 907 MLD is being recycled/ reused. Another, 4,800 MLD STP capacity is under development. Through projects in drainage sector, 1,840 water logging pointshave been eliminated. 1,850 parks & green spaces (3,770 acre) added. 800 parks (1,600 acre) are in progress. 180 projects in non-motorized urban transport sector have been completed.
AMRUT has a reform agenda with focus on e-Governance, energy audit, credit rating of ULBs, efficient town planning, online building permission system and raising funds by floating municipal bonds by ULBs. Under energy audit, 88 lakh streetlights have been replaced with energy efficient LED lights against target of 101 lakh leading to energy savings of 193 crore units and reduction in CO2 emission by 15.4 lakh tons per annum. Energy audit of water pumps have been completed in 396 cities in 27 States/UTs. 11,385 water pumps are identified for replacement, of which 667 pumps have been replaced. As per The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), 84.6 lakh tons carbon footprint reduced through various initiatives under AMRUT.
Credit rating work has been awarded for 485 cities and completed in 470 cities. 164 cities have received Investible Grade Rating (IGR), including 36 cities with rating of A- or above. Ten ULBs namely Ahmedabad, Amravati, Bhopal, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad, Indore, Lucknow Pune, Surat and Visakhapatnam have raised ₹3,840 crore through issuance of municipal bonds.
Online Building Permission System (OBPS) withseamless integration with internal/ external agencies has been made operational in 2,465 towns including 452 AMRUT cities. India’s rank in Ease of Doing Business (EODB) in construction permits has jumped to 27 in World Bank’s Report (DBR)-2020 from 181 in 2018.
Master Plans of AMRUT cities are being prepared based on Geographical Information System (GIS) through a sub-scheme costing ₹515 crore. National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad has been roped in to provide satellite photos and for digitization of city maps. So far,final GIS based Master Plans have been prepared for 66 cities and drafts plans have been prepared for another 61 cities. In order to ensure efficient land use, a sub-Scheme on Local Area Planning and Town Planning Scheme (LAP/TPS)in 25 cities costing ₹50 crore is in progress.
Smart Cities Mission
- Physical progress in SCM:
SCM is a transformational Mission aimed to bring about a paradigm shift in the practice of urban development in the country. Of the total proposed projects under SCM, 5,924 projects (115% by number) worth ₹1,78,500 crore (87% by value) have been tendered so far, work orders have been issued for 5,236 projects (101% by number) worth ₹1,46,125 crore (71% by value). 2,665 projects (52% by number) worth ₹45,080 crore (22% by value) have also been fully completed and are operational (as on 23 June 2021).
- Financial Progress in SCM:
- Smart Cities Mission has demonstrated notable success in all projects, notably PPP projects. This success is noteworthy for three reasons, as under.
- Total value of successful PPP projects: 212 PPP projects worth ₹ 24,964 crore have been grounded/ completed stage in the Smart Cities Mission.
- Geographical spread across 57 cities: These projects are located across 57 cities and include not only in big cities but also smaller cities.
- Diverse sectoral mix of successful PPP projects: These successful PPP projects span diverse (10+) and unique sectors.
- It is also noteworthy that average monthly expenditure in the Smart Cities Mission has almost doubled in the last year, despite the challenges faced due to COVID. The efforts put by the team to start and continue construction activities even during challenging times, was appreciated by the Minister and Secretary, MOHUA. Key Result areas:
- Projects developed under the Smart Cities Mission are multi-sectoral and mirror the aspirations of the local population. As on date, 70 Smart citieshave developed and operationalised their Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) in the country. These operational ICCCs functioned as war-rooms for COVID management, and along with other smart infrastructure developed under the mission, helped cities in fighting the pandemic through information dissemination, improving communication, predictive analysis and supporting effective management. These are being developed across all 100 Smart Cities of the country.
- Looking at other beach-head projects, 310 Smart Road projects have been completed and 459 Smart road projects are at tender/implementation stage.
- Similarly, the Smart solar, Smart Water and Vibrant Public Spaces projects are heading towards progressive paths in the Mission.
