The Smart City Mission Project in Goa will be fully completed by Next Year

The Smart City Mission project in Goa will be positively completed by the next year. The construction work got delayed because of approaching monsoon and G20 meetings. According to Government officials 57 percent of the planned project has been done till now.

As per the report, the delayed progress in key Smart City projects indicates challenges in execution and highlights the need for a more accelerated approach to meet established goals. The projects encompass various aspects of urban development, technology integration, and infrastructure enhancement aimed at creating a more connected and sustainable urban environment.  

Seven years after Panaji was selected to be developed as ‘Smart City’, the Union Ministry for Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) said that only 28 projects have been completed till November end. When the city was picked up under the Mission, IPSCDL had outlined ambitious plans to pedestrianize the church square, WiFi hotspots and CCTV cameras revitalize Mala Lake, implement smart parking, and other projects.

According to the information provided by the Minister for State for MoHUA Kushal Kishore, of the total 49 projects sanctioned to the Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Ltd (IPSCDL) under the Smart Cities Mission, only 28 minor projects at a cost of Rs 390.72 crore are completed.

Panaji mayor Rohit Monserrate, who is a director on the IPSCDL board said that the special purpose vehicle set up to implement the special purpose vehicle set up to implement  the smart city mission “no choice, but to speed up” the completion of projects across the state capital.

He also mentioned, “A lot of these works are monitored by the central government so we get constant requests from them asking what the progress of the works. Now the smart city mission is getting over in 2023 and all of the works have to be done by then.”

The total cost of the projects is around Rs. 1,053 crore of which the centre has released around Rs.631.80 crore to IPSCDL, who has so far utilized Rs. 548.91 cr. In the Goa budget 2023-24, a provision of another Rs. 150crore has been made for the ongoing Smart City projects.