Three years after launch, New Delhi smart city work still in progress

On January 28, 2016, 20 cities were chosen through a competitive contest for the government’s urban renewal flagship initiative –– the Smart City Mission. The concept was new –– cities competed with each other and were chosen through a scientific weightage system to “smarten up”. Cities had to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with a dedicated CEO and staff, generate a revenue stream to fund big-ticket projects (which included a command and control centre to keep an eye on the city’s traffic, water and electricity supply, street lighting, hospitals, schools and even pollution) and rope in the private sector to get the requisite investments. New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) or the VIP area of the capital of India had finished 12th in the Smart City Challenge. Three years down the line, the ground reality shows that smart city is “work in progress”.