SCM has completed 6,069 projects worth $13bn
India’s journey of urbanisation is a success story that has become a blueprint for other countries to learn from, particularly the Global South, says Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs.
In a significant step towards ease of life, he said that 6,069 projects worth over US$13 billion have been completed under Smart Cities Mission, embedding a culture of innovation and excellence.
The minister delved into various schemes of his Ministry that are leading the path towards development of Urban spaces in a sustainable and inclusive manner.
Puri spoke at the inaugural session of UrbanShift Forum (Asia) in Delhi on 25 Sept 2023, pointing out that under its widely lauded G20 Presidency, India anchored the discourse on sustainable urbanisation. “Our
Talking about the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana- Urban (PMAY-U), he said that almost 11.9 million houses have been sanctioned; more than 11.3 million houses have been grounded; nearly 7.7 million houses already delivered to beneficiaries under the scheme.
Elaborating on the successes of AMRUT Mission, Puri said that nearly 14 million water tap connections and 13.5 million sewer connections have been provided in 500 cities (60% of India’s population).
“A paradigm shift in India’s mobility agenda; we now have the fifth-largest metro network in the world with 871 kms of metro lines laid and another 906 kms of metro network undergoing construction,” the Minister said.
Highlighting the need of localisation of climate agendas, the Minister observed that for cities in the Global South, it is critical that “we localise our climate agendas”.
“No discussion on urban planning can be removed from fiscal health. Cities depend heavily on central grants to meet basic financial needs. This needs to change,” he said.
Dignitaries from the Government, the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Global Environment Facility (GEF), among other organisations and institutions were also present during the inaugural session of the UrbanShift Asia Forum which was co-organised by ICLEI South Asia and NIUA.
About 150 representatives of national governments and cities in India, Indonesia, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Jordan and Sri Lanka, as well as international organisations, financial institutions, businesses and NGOs are attending the event to exchange knowledge and experiences on regional urban challenges and replicable solutions.
The key objective of this forum is to provide training and capacity-building to regional cities on various facets of integrated and sustainable urban development. Fiinews.com
