Bloomberg Philanthropies to be knowledge partner for smart cities mission

Bloomberg Philanthropies (BP), founded by former mayor of New York Michael Bloomberg, has been selected by the ministry of urban development as the knowledge partner for smart cities mission. A letter of acceptance in this regard was issued by the ministry to BP. As per the letter, Bloomberg Philanthropies (BP) will help the ministry in conducting the ‘Cities Challenge’ competition for selecting the cities for financing under the smart cities mission of the government.
 
Bloomberg Philanthropies will assisting the ministry in the design and implementation of the process for selection of cities; designing & delivery of a capacity development programme for applicant urban local bodies; and formulating & execution of effective communication and branding strategy for cities.
 
Bloomberg Philanthropies has been involved in smart cities development programme in different parts of the world enabling selection of right and capable cities for their transformation as smart cities.
 
Under this smart cities mission, central government will spend Rs 48,000 cr over the next five years for providing an assistance of Rs 100 cr per year for each selected city.
 
In the first phase of the selection of smart city aspirants, each state will nominate a set of cities based on urban population and number of statutory cities for inclusion under the smart cities mission. This nomination will be based on a set of identified criteria to be suggested by the ministry of urban development. All such 100 nominated cities will be rigorously scrutinised against identified criteria for extending financial support by the centre. Cities which are found to be deficient in some aspects would be given to address the same and participate in the next round of competition.
 
States and urban local bodies will be required to match centre’s contribution for the development of each city and mobilise additional resources required from various sources including through PPP model. Accordingly, centre and states/urban local bodies will spend about one lakh crores on development of smart cities over the next five years.