Nagpur: The city has maintained first position among 100 Smart Cities in the country in execution of central government’s Smart Cities Mission. Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and its Smart City special purpose vehicle — Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL) — are confident of maintaining the top most position in future too.The ministry of housing and urban affairs released the latest Smart City ranking of 100 cities on Friday. With a score of 360.21, the city has outclassed the state capitals and some other major cities of the country.Commendably, the city continued its dominance in the list of Smart Cities despite being selected only in the second year. The city was not among the 20 cities selected in the first year under the Smart Cities Mission. A year later, the city managed to make it to the scheme.When it comes to Smart City rankings, the city has been ranked first since the launch of rankings in May last year. Excluding one week, city has maintained first position over the last nine months. Bhopal from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh took the lead once, and is currently second, after the city. The remaining 98 cities are far behind Nagpur and Bhopal.Mayor Nanda Jichkar said the city was heading towards becoming a global city. “The need is to maintain the first position. Participation of all from the city is a must for excelling, and making the city a Smart City,” she said.Chief executive officer of NSSCDCL Ramnath Sonawane said, “We do not see any city overtaking us in the near future as all our projects are taking shape and gaining momentum. Actually, it became possible due to approval of Smart and Safe City Project by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. He had quickly sanctioned Rs400 crore for the project’s commencement. All this happened way before the city got selected in the Smart Cities Mission,” he said.Sonawane added political and citizens’ support in planning and execution of projects also helped in maintaining the privilege spot. “The ministry releases rankings every Friday. We could maintain the first position as we have completed Smart and Safe City project of Rs520 crore covering the entire city. We started execution of works under tenderSURE project of Rs650 crore in proposed Smart City area — Pardi, Punapur, Bharatwada and Bhandewadi in East Nagpur. We issued work order of Rs222 crore housing scheme of 1,024 flats to rehabilitate PAPs. We also started works of LED and Smart Street light, in which 7,000 street lights will be installed in proposed Smart City area,” he said.Sonawane also said the city’s score will increase once works of tenderSURE and housing scheme commence. “The city is among six Smart Cities that have started works at ground level. Other cities are Pune, Bhopal, Indore, Bhubaneswar and New Raipur,” he said.The SPV is confident of maintaining the top position as it has got approved draft of town planning scheme for proposed Smart City area covering 1,743 acre. Also, detailed project report has been approved by the government. Only hurdle is acquisition of land and demolition of around 2,000 houses to commence other works like gardens, community halls, police station, e-library, shopping mall, hospital etcACING THE TESTProject: Two components — Smart and Safe City of Rs524 crore in which 3,698 CCTVs installed at 660 junctions and 17 other types of Smart Solutions implemented. CM Devendra Fadnavis approved Rs400 crore from state exchequer and remaining Rs124 from Smart Cities Mission. Second component is Smart City area in which area of 1,743 acres — Pardi, Bharatwada, Bhandewadi and Punapur in East Nagpur — will be converted into Smart City at cost of Rs3,303 crore. Rs876 crore will come from Smart Cities Mission and remaining to be raised from land pooling, auction of plots, flats and recovery of development cost. In Smart Cities Mission of Rs1,000 crore, centre giving Rs500 crore while Rs250 crore to come from the state. Nagpur Improvement Trust is bearing NMC’s share of Rs250 croreWhy City First Since Launch of Rankings: City failed to make it to first 20 Smart cities in 2015. CM Devendra Fadnavis approved Rs520 crore Smart and Safe City in May 2016. Directorate of Information Technology (DIT) prepared the project and executed tendering process. Letter of intent was issued to L&T in August 2016. Later, city was selected in second round in September 2016. Works of Smart and Safe City started from October 2016. Therefore, city stood first when rankings were launched in May 2018Why City Maintained First Position: Considering NMC’s financial crisis, CM Devendra Fadnavis ensured NMC’s share of Rs250 crore came from NIT. Instead of planning individual works, SPV headed by additional chief secretary to CM Praveen Pardeshi planned tenderSURE of Rs650 crore under which all types of works — roads, storm water drain, street light, duct, footpath, cycling track etc will be executed at a time. Work order of tenderSURE issued and bhoomipuja held last week. Also, work order of housing scheme for 1,024 flats costing Rs222 crore issued. NMC had started execution of LED Street lights project across the city in which 7,000 will be installed in proposed Smart City area. As part of convergence scheme, SPV submitted this project too and has commenced it

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