WHEN PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi launched the Smart Cities Mission, the big-
gest question was how the government was going to finance the project. There were many
models discussed in the Smart Cities Mission Guideline Papers, released by the Ministry of
Urban Development.
Our Cover Story on Smart Financing, put together by Assistant Editor Anuradha Shukla,
analyses both opportunities as well as the challenges of the various financing models like
PPP, Municipal Bonds, and studies the progress made so far.
Public-private partnership was envisaged as the most important financial means to raise
money for the project. Our cover story examines the effectiveness of the PPP model and how
efficiently cities are utilizing it.
Municipal Bonds are another important tool suggested by both SEBI and RBI for the cit-
ies to generate the fund. The model is very popular in western countries and the US. How-
ever, the concept is yet to take off in India. The Cover Packages looks at the ground situation
in the country.
Many experts feel that India requires its own customized model to finance its cities, but it
can take a cue or two from other global models. Our story on Global Perspectives talks about
some of the innovative and successful models that the cities across the world have used to
make their smart cities financially viable.
Another aspect of the Smart City is Smart energy solutions. The Narendra Modi govern-
ment is betting big on renewables, especially solar power. The Modi government has set a
target of achieving 100 gigawatt of its energy from solar power.
Our story in this section examines the feasibility of this target and the various challenges to
achieve this target in terms of land procurement, rooftop policies and a well-defined vision
for manufacturing in India.
While infrastructure creation is already a challenge in most of the cities, our ancient cities
with historical and cultural heritage have additional challenge of developing the infrastruc-
ture, without altering the cultural identity of the city. Our special stories on Heritage Cities
talks about various infrastructure plans in these cities.
Since the launch of the Smart Cities Mission, BW Smartcities has kept you updated with
every nugget related to this domain. We hear that the government may soon announce its
next batch of smart cities. While you are loyal readers of the magazine, do visit our website
http://www.bwsmartcities.com on daily updates.
But mere government announcements won’t do, as challenges abound. According to a re-
cent report, the government has not received any foreign investment towards the smart cities
mission, though many such plans and international forays have been made.
Apart from the Cover Package and special stories, the issue has columns by former Union
Urban Affairs Secretary Sudhir Krishna, and Institute for Competitiveness’s Amit Kapoor,
among others, which add to the variety of this issue.
Hope you will enjoy reading the issue. We would love to get your feedback and
suggestions.
SUMAN K JHA
Senior Associate Editor
[email protected]
skjsumankjhaFINANCIALLY VIABLE CITIES
EDITOR’S NOTE