Kaushal Kishore, the Minister of state for housing and urban affairs declared to the media that the Union government, which selected Puducherry for the Smart City project in round three held in June 2017, proposed the commencement of 105 projects at an estimated Rs 822.64 crore.
Kishore said that the three projects at Rs 13.6 crore have been achieved. The ministry has released work orders for 42 projects worth Rs 163.89 crore, while tenders have been floated for nine projects of Rs 40.47 crore. Detailed project reports have been made for 51 projects for Rs 604.68 crore. The Union government has so far issued Rs 111 crore for the Smart City project in the Union territory. The Puducherry government has used Rs 40.04 crore yet.
The Union government commissioned the City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS) programme in July 2018 with the technical and financial help of Rs 100 million from the French Development Agency (Agence Francaise de Developpement, AFD), European Union and National institute of urban affairs. The programme strives at starting urban infrastructure projects that are "integrated, innovation-driven and sustainable".
Puducherry is among the 12 smart cities which have been picked through a challenging process for funding and technical aid under the CITIIS programme. Under this programme, Puducherry is executing a project named 'Our neighbourhood is your neighbourhood too' for Rs 99.71 crore, said Kishore. The government launched the smart cities mission on June 25, 2015, for improving 100 cities in the nation into smart cities.
