Smart city spending: Where is Chennai putting its money?

by July 11, 2018 Civic
The Corporation of Chennai recently shared the budget break-up for the Chennai Smart City programme. With an allocation of more than Rs 36 crore, the multi-level parking in T Nagar is the most expensive among ongoing projects. Any guesses which are the others and where they stand?

The Union government launched the Smart Cities programme on June 25, 2015 with the objective to “promote sustainable and inclusive cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions”.

Chennai was one of the 20 cities selected in Round 1 of the smart cities mission in January 2016. Chennai’s smart city projects are funded by a Rs 500-crore allocation from the Centre and an additional Rs 500 crore from the state.

Chennai Smart City Projects

But for all the hype, the Corporation of Chennai has completed only three projects since the launch of the mission. The lax approach has seen Chennai ranked 37 out of 87 cities according to a release from the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

While the Minister for Municipal Administration, S.P. Velumani set a deadline for the launch of all projects in the city by March 31, many projects are yet to take off four months on.

So which are the completed, ongoing and proposed projects for Chennai under the Smart Cities Scheme? The graphic below throws some light on the progress of the mission.

However, the question is this. With 12 ongoing projects, six projects having tenders under consideration, seven projects in respect of which preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPR) is underway, and a further five projects for which DPR is yet to be prepared, will Chennai meet the 2020 deadline for the completion of works under the Smart City Mission?

Here’s a quick look at where things stand:

Source: Corporation of Chennai

Sections:

About Aruna Natarajan

Aruna is a freelance writer and former Associate Editor at Citizen Matters. She has a BA in Economics and a PG Diploma in Journalism. She has also worked in a think-tank on waste management policy and with a non-profit in sport for development. She writes on civic issues, governance, waste, commute and urban policy. She tweets at @aruna_n29.
Read more by Aruna Natarajan

Comments:

  1. Gobalakrishnan Kuppanna says:
    July 12, 2018 at 7:51 am

    good article. very detailed and presenting facts to trigger right questions.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Story

Absent and unusable pavements: Mumbai breaches its own Footpath Policy

by October 30, 2026 Civic
The city's unsafe footpaths put pedestrian's lives at risk. The suburbs, where the majority of Mumbaikars live, are worst affected.

“Who walks on footpaths anymore?” asks Abhay Shanbagh, a Vile Parle resident in his sixties. He says the footpath in front of his house is not even fully visible because of the cars parked along it and sometimes on it. Neha Dholam, a domestic worker who walks about two hours daily in Ghatkopar and Vile Parle, has a similar response. She wonders which footpaths I am talking about since they are barely visible behind parked vehicles en route to her workplace. This is the lived reality of so many Mumbaikars even though over half of all trips in Mumbai are…

Continue reading

Similar Story

Bengaluru’s open drains: Civic negligence creates a daily hazard for residents 

by October 22, 2026 Civic
From bad design to vigilance gaps and inadequate funding, Bengaluru’s stormwater drains severely compromise pedestrian safety.

Walk down almost any street in Bengaluru, and you will spot them: missing slabs, wide gaps, and wooden planks covering openings. Uncovered stormwater drains have become a safety hazard across the city, creating serious obstacles and putting residents at risk of injury or death. Experts flag bad engineering design, poor monitoring, inadequate funding, and lax enforcement of liability rules as the major reasons for this public safety crisis. In Sanchar Nagar, Thanisandra, contractors dug up a stretch of at least 150 metres for stormwater drain works. A few weeks ago, a resident slipped and fell into the trench, getting badly…

Continue reading