Centre to release report card of 'smart cities' in June

The central government will release a report card of 100 selected smart cities in three categories - ease of living, municipal performance index and climate in June as the Smart Cities Mission completes its five years. According to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, it will help cities in better planning and moving towards data-driven governance that will eventually improve their liveability.

Smart Cities Mission Director Kunal Kumar said that in June the ministry will come out with ranking of smart cities in Ease of living index, performance of municipalities and climate.

"We are using data to change lives. The government is ranking cities on economy, sustainability and other. We have converted citizens' aspirations into our outcome," Kumar told PTI.

He said in the category of climate, cities will be ranked based on their works in promoting matters related to the environment. The Smart Cities Mission, a flagship programme of the Narendra Modi government, was launched in June, 2015. The country's urban population was 37.7 crore (31 per cent) in 2011 census and it is projected to increase to 60 crore (40 percent) by 2030, an official said. According to the official, the ease of living assessment will be done on three parameters - quality of life, economic ability and sustainability. It will also include education, health, housing, mobility, safety, development, economic opportunities.

Thirty-five percent weightage will be given to 'quality of life', 30 per cent to citizen participation, 20 percent to sustainability and 20 percent to economic viability, the official said. Municipal performance assessment will help urban local bodies in reducing the complex realities of governance into a few understandable dimensions that can be measured and quantified.

The verticals that are covered in the index include services (30 per cent weightage), finance (20 per cent) technology (15 per cent), planning (15), governance (20 percent). The ministry said that the value of tendered smart city projects so far is over Rs 1,62,000 crore. The value of work orders issued so far is around Rs 1,20,000 crore and the value of all completed projects is more than Rs 25,000 crores.