Smart cities

A housing ministry review shows state governments did not transfer the funds — either theirs or the Centre’s share — to the SPVS for most of the 60 cities selected last year. Cities such as Faridabad, Udaipur, Jabalpur are exceptions, though.

The Centre and the states are partners in the Rs 1 lakh crore urban upgrade programme launched by Prime Minister Modi. The plan envisages a contribution of ~48,000 crore over five years from the central government, to be matched by en equal contribution from states and municipalities.

As on October 4 this year, the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) for the smart cities mission shows that the SPVS have a closing balance of only ~1,797 crore, though the Centre released ~9,824 crore. That indicates that only some states have fully or partially transferred theirs and the Centre’s share to these entities.

Smart city SPVS have to mandatorily register with the PFMS, an electronic fund tracking mechanism started by the government last October to get realtime information on use of money across central schemes.

Till date, only 58 SPVS have registered with the PFMS.

Sameer Sharma, additional secretary (urban affairs) who is in-charge of the programme in the housing ministry, said his department has raised the matter with the states.

“We have told the states that unless they utilise the first instalment, we won’t release the next tranche,” he said.

According to Sharma, another major issue is the delay in releasing payments by the states.

For instance, the SPV for Kochi, which was selected last January, showed a closing balance of ~3.59 crore this October despite the Union government releasing Rs 196 crore.

APM Mohammed Hanish, the Kochi smart city CEO, said the SPV intends to spend Rs 175 crore by February 2018. “The delay is on account of delay in appoint-