ADF lends Euro100M loan
Tenders have been issued for 2,998 projects of worth Rs.115,027 crore for India’s 100 Smart Cities, all of which now have Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) in place, said the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
Work orders have been issued for 2,226 projects of worth Rs.71,417 crore and 682 projects have been completed worth Rs.12,227 crore.
Meanwhile, a Euro100 million loan will be extended by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) as a grant to Smart Cities for implementation of 15 innovative projects selected through the All-India Challenge.
The projects would be in four sectors – sustainable mobility, public open spaces, urban governance & ICT and social and organizational innovation in low-income settlements.
Technical support with global expertise will be provided for preparation and implementation of selected demonstrative projects.
The All-India Challenge, “CITIIS (Cities Investments to Innovate Integrate and Sustain)” was launched on 9 July 2018 in partnership with European Union and AFD, a French Government’s financial institution promoting sustainable development and fight poverty.
The Ministry gave details on the Smart Cities ahead of the Apex Conference on Smart Cities Project to be held in New Delhi 26-27 Feb 2019.
Over 130 experts from several countries will participate in conference which is expected to chart out a roadmap for implementing Smart Cities mission.
The first Apex conference of the Smart City CEOs was organized in Bhopal on 7-8 May 2018. The conference was attended by 77 Smart City CEOs across India. Around 300 participants from smart cities, industries, funding organizations and multilateral agencies participated in the conference.
At the time of Bhopal conference, the progress of the mission was as follows: Tenders had been issued for 1,330 projects valued at Rs.49,497 crore and work orders issued for 936 projects worth Rs.30,428 while 310 projects worth Rs.4,908 crore were completed.
At that time 99 cities were selected in the mission out of which SPVs were formed in 91 cities. fiinews.com
