PSCDCL starts handing over smart city projects to PMC, smart city mission deadline June 2023

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the mid-term review by the Niti Aayog, the deadline for the smart city mission was extended till June 2023

PUNE As the smart city mission inches closer to rollout, the central government has instructed the Pune Smart City Development Corporation Limited (PSCDCL) not to float any new tenders. In keeping with the central government’s directions, the PSCDCL has started handing over projects to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC).

Beautification of road connecting Bremon Square and Parihar Chowk, Aundh done by PMC as part of Smart City project. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Chief executive officer of PSCDCL, Sanjay Kolte confirmed the news and said, “It is true that the central government had issued guidelines and instructed not to float any tender after April 1 of this financial year. The tenure of the smart city mission is till 2023.”

“We can carry out the works on a BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis or PPP (public private partnership) basis in future. Already, we are in the process of handing over completed works to the PMC. The rest of the works are in progress and have been almost 80% completed. We are expecting to get Rs200 crore more from the central government,” Kolte said.

As the smart city project was launched from Pune by the Prime Minister himself, it was a much hyped project. Although the project is expected to be completed by June 2023, several works planned under the project have not even started yet. Earlier, the central government announced in the Lok Sabha that the period of implementation of the smart city mission has been extended till June 2023.

The smart city mission was launched in 2015 as a dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He would always talk about smart cities during his first few years as Prime Minister. The smart city mission was launched by the PM from Pune. A total 100 cities were selected under the smart city project and it was expected that these cities would complete the projects till 2021. However due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the mid-term review by the Niti Aayog, the deadline for the smart city mission was extended till June 2023.

Minister of state for housing and urban affairs Kaushal Kishore said in parliament, “The Covid-19 pandemic-related lockdowns and other unprecedented situations have interrupted execution of the project. The smart cities are trying their best to make up for the time lost due to such circumstances.”