The Government’s 100 smart cities mission seeks to invest over $15 billion in the next few years to build efficient and effective city management solutions and infrastructure. MV Rajeev Gowda, Member of Parliament said, 'The Union Government’s 100 Smart Cities mission seeks to invest over $15 billion in the next years to build efficient and effective city management solutions and infrastructure and in moving towards this reality of smart cities, the right choice would be to create and build the urban cityscape and framework - with global best practices at the core and local realities and challenges addressed with a holistic approach.'
Gowda further said that the paradigm of smart cities calls for a convergence of strategies and technologies that will bring to the fore holistic solutions for accelerated growth and development. Mohan Raju, Chief Strategy Officer, Azuga Inc & Director-IET IoT Panel said, “Smart cities projects in India shall establish radically new standards to ensure the effective use of technology to deliver services and manage complex civic problems. He further said that these new needs shall invite participation of international stakeholders as well as various startup ecosystems in the country to unearth indigenous solutions to age-old problems
Recently, to promote competition among Smart Cities and measure the quality and impact of projects undertaken under the flagship programme, the housing and urban affairs ministry has launched Smart Cities Awards Contest, 2017, with a total prize money of over Rs 50 lakh. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the ambitious plan to develop 100 Smart Cities in June 2015. The Smart Cities programme is meant to upgrade urban infrastructure in cities, majority of which fare poorly on various socio-economic indicators.