Smart Cities Mission: Maintenance Crisis

Context

India’s Smart Cities Mission (SCM), launched in 2015 with an ambitious vision to transform 100 cities into technologically advanced, sustainable urban hubs, is now facing critical challenges as it concludes in March 2025. Despite a massive investment of ₹1.64 lakh crore, recent events such as monsoon flooding in Bengaluru and Pune have exposed glaring gaps in maintenance and sustainability, raising concerns about the mission’s long-term impact.

Background and Achievements of the Smart Cities Mission

• Objective: The SCM aimed to improve urban living through infrastructure upgrades, smart technology, and sustainable solutions, focusing on area-based development to create model urban spaces.
• Scale: Over 8,000 projects were sanctioned across 100 cities, with an estimated investment of ₹1.67 lakh crore.
• Technological Integration: Establishment of Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCCs) for real-time monitoring and management of urban services.
• Progress: As of early 2025, approximately 93% of projects have been completed, with only 18 cities having fully completed their smart city projects.

Critical Gaps: Maintenance and Sustainability

Despite infrastructure upgrades, the mission has largely overlooked the crucial aspect of maintenance:

• Flooding in Smart Cities: The monsoon flooding in Bengaluru and Pune highlighted the failure to maintain drainage and other infrastructure effectively, undermining the benefits of smart upgrades.
• Lack of Maintenance Plans: The mission focused on building assets but did not institutionalize clear guidelines or frameworks for their upkeep post-completion.
• Uncertain Future of ICCCs: Many ICCCs, critical for managing city operations, face an uncertain future as their operation and maintenance contracts with private concessionaires are ending or have ended, with no clear plan for transition or sustainability.

Governance and Implementation Challenges

• Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs): The mission’s governance model relied heavily on SPVs, which operated like private companies, often bypassing local governments. This has led to accountability issues and operational uncertainties as the mission ends.
• Delays and Incomplete Projects: Although the mission officially concluded on March 31, 2025, about 7% of projects remain incomplete, spread across 82 cities, reflecting implementation delays and administrative inefficiencies.
• Financial Irregularities: Allegations of corruption, inflated contracts, and mismanagement of funds have marred the mission, with audits revealing discrepancies in expenditure and unaccounted funds.

Conceptual and Strategic Shortcomings

• Shift from Original Vision: The initial vision of creating futuristic, greenfield smart cities was diluted into retrofitting and redeveloping existing urban areas, focusing on incremental upgrades rather than transformational change.
• Lack of a Unified Definition: Unlike developed countries, India lacks a compact definition of what constitutes a smart city, leading to a mix of old schemes and new technologies without clear prioritization.
• Overemphasis on Infrastructure: The mission prioritized physical infrastructure and technology but neglected essential urban services and citizen engagement, which are vital for sustainable urban development.

The Way Forward: Strategies for Sustainable Smart Cities

To prevent the “dumbing down” of smart cities and ensure long-term success, several strategic measures are necessary:

• Institutionalizing Maintenance Culture: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) must frame clear guidelines for the ongoing operation and maintenance of smart city assets, especially ICCCs, beyond the mission’s end.
• Strengthening Urban Governance: Integrating elected city councils and local governments into decision-making will enhance transparency, accountability, and responsiveness to citizen needs.
• Financial Sustainability: Cities should explore diverse funding sources such as municipal bonds, public-private partnerships, and user fees to maintain and upgrade infrastructure sustainably.
• Expanding Digital Infrastructure: Continued investment in AI-based traffic management, IoT-enabled services, and real-time monitoring systems will improve urban efficiency and resilience.
• Citizen-Centric Planning: Encouraging public participation in urban planning and performance tracking can ensure that smart city initiatives align with residents’ priorities and foster a sense of ownership.

Conclusion

India’s Smart Cities Mission has made notable strides in urban infrastructure and technology adoption, but its failure to embed maintenance and sustainability mechanisms threatens to erode these gains. The recent flooding incidents in Bengaluru and Pune are symptomatic of a broader issue: without a culture of upkeep, performance monitoring, and accountable governance, smart cities risk becoming cyclical projects of construction and decay. To realize the transformative potential of smart urbanization, India must move beyond infrastructure creation and focus on sustainable management, inclusive governance, and citizen engagement.

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