As the Smart City Mission draws to a close, Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited (IPSCDL) turns towards the execution of CITIIS 2.0. While uncertainty threatens the future of Smart City Mission special purpose vehicles (SPVs) in other cities, IPSCDL faces no such problem. When the Smart City Mission funding ends on March 31, IPSCDL will rely on CITIIS 2.0 for salaries and administrative costs for the 19 staff employed by the SPV.
While IPSCDL may downsize the mid-management staff, some employees have also resigned as smart city projects conclude. “As far as IPSCDL is concerned, we have no choice but to go ahead and execute the CITIIS 2.0 programme for which we have signed an MoU with the central govt and the European Union. It will run till 2028 and perhaps a little more,” said IPSCDL managing director Sanjit Rodrigues.
The CITIIS (City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain) 2.0 programme has been conceived by the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) with the funding partners French Development Agency (AFD), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), and the European Union (EU). This programme offers significant financial and technical assistance to the winning cities.
The programme envisages to support competitively selected projects promoting circular economy with focus on integrated waste management at the city level.
IPSCDL currently has 23 staff members, including housekeeping staff, and with MoHUA categorically stating that no financial support will be provided beyond March 31, the SPV would have faced a challenge in paying salaries for all the staff.
Rodrigues said that the end stage of any mission-based SPV is the most difficult. Across the country, state govts are either shutting down the SPVs, letting staff go, or assimilating them into other departments. A sizable majority of the 100 smart cities in the country have not qualified for the CITIIS 2.0 programme, said Rodrigues.
According to officials with the directorate of municipal administration, the Centre has not formulated a clear policy about the future of Smart City Mission projects, and Goa govt has not notified any policy either, leaving it upon IPSCDL to coordinate the maintenance of the varied infrastructure created in the capital.
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Quelle/Source: The Times of India, 17.03.2025
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