On 28 July, the Ministry of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Kaushal Kishore, informed the Rajya Sabha that out of the 100 Indian cities selected for the smart cities mission (SCM) and tendered 6,017 projects worth Rs 1.81 lakh crore. Since the selection of the cities under the SCM, it has seen considerable progress. On 9 July 2021, these cities tendered out 6,017 projects of Rs 1.81 lakh crore, out of which 5,375 projects of Rs 1.49 lakh crore had received the work order, Kishor said. He also said that about 2,781 projects of Rs 48,150 crore had been completed. The smart city projects tendered have seen over 260% growth and over 380% growth in the projects completed in the last three years. The centre has released Rs 23,926 crore as central share to the states and Union Territories, out of which Rs 20,410 crore or about 85% has been used by the smart cities. The smart cities should complete their work within five years from the date of selection, he said. The smart city projects of nearly Rs 1 lakh crore have been stopped due to the Covid-19 lockdowns, rendering thousands of jobless workers, causing severe damage to building materials, which has significantly raised the prices of the project. The SCM was launched in June 2015 to transform 44 tourism cities and 19 state capitals within five years between 2015 to 2020. The expected investment on the project was over Rs 2 lakh crore. The mission is being operated on a centrally-sponsored scheme, the centre contributing Rs 48,000 crore over five years, and the state with a similar outlay. Out of the remaining cost, Rs 42,000 crore was financed through convergence schemes of the centre and state governments such as Swatch Bharat, Rs 41,000 crore through Public-private partnerships (PPP), loans of Rs 10,000 crore, investments through local bodies of Rs 2,600 crore, and personal investment of Rs 16,000 crore through borrowing and multilateral institutions. Image Source Also read: Smart City Mission: Nine projects in Jaipur completed at Rs 142 cr Also read: Smart Cities Mission brings together government schemes on affordable housing