Only Rs 16 crore of Rs 608.4 crore plan spent by Panaji Smart City

PANAJI: Marred by delay in allocation of funds and faulty prioritisation of projects, the Centre’s ambitious Smart City Mission appears to have floundered in Goa. Five years after Panaji was put on the fast track to smartness on the basis of a Rs 608.4 crore planned outlay, the Union ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) said that just Rs 16.2 crore has been spent till date on 10 projects, most of them being beautification works.
The Centre also said that seven big ticket projects worth Rs 330 crore are about to be awarded to contractors while two projects worth Rs 40 crore are likely to be tendered in the coming weeks. The information was given by the minister of state Kaushal Kishore in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
When MoHUA picked Panaji in the fast track round in May 2016, Goa had outlined ambitious plans to pedestrianize the church square, set up WiFi hotspots and CCTV cameras, revitalize Mala lake, create smart parking and dynamic signalling for traffic, smart metering for water supply, public cycle sharing systems and dedicated utility trenches.

However, Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited has only succeeded in executing beautification projects such as repairs of steps in Altinho, Mala and other parts of the state capital.
The Rs 63 crore underground power cabling project in Ribandar began at a good pace, but has been stagnant since former chief executive officer Swayandipta Pal Chaudhuri was dropped from the post.
One of the prominent reasons for the delay in executing projects was the lethargy by the state government in transferring funds to IPSCDL, which is the special purpose vehicle that is executing the Smart City Mission in Goa.
In August 2019 and June 2020, MoHUA wrote to the state government and expressed “serious concern” that of the Rs 196 crores released by the Centre in 2019, the state government had transferred just Rs 118.2 crores to IPSCDL. Even worse, until the Centre pulled up the Goa, the state had not released any matching grant to the Smart City Mission. The Smart City Mission scheme requires the Centre and the Goa government to contribute 50% each towards the implementation of the Smart City project and operations.
As per the MoHUA website, Goa has transferred Rs 113 crore to IPSCDL till date as its share towards the Smart City Mission.