On June 25, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the flagship ‘Smart City Mission’ into implementation mode for 20 selected cities in the first list from Pune by releasing the Mission Guidelines.

Guwahati was one of the cities selected to be the first 20 smart cities in the country. After more than six years of the implementation of the ‘Smart City Mission’, Guwahati is still far away from being ‘Smart’.

It may be shocking news for everyone that Guwahati Smart City Ltd (GSCL) will not receive central funds from April this year.

A highly placed source in the GSCL talking to G Plus on condition of anonymity said, “Actual works started in smart city projects from 2021. Prior to that, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) was not able to utilise the funds provided by the Centre.”

The GSCL received ₹396 crores from the Ministry of Urban Development, and till 2022 the fund remained unutilised.

The source said that the GSCL could ask for more funds only after providing the utilization certificate of the previous funds received, which was not happening till 2021.

In five years, the total budget of the five-year Guwahati Smart City plan was ₹2,256 crore.

The Centre was expected to provide ₹500 crore and the state was also expected to spend the same amount on the smart city projects.

The remaining amount was expected to be generated from urban local bodies (ULBs) own resources from the collection of user fees, beneficiary charges and impact fees, land monetization, debt, and loans.

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