Marred by delay in allocation of funds and faulty prioritisation of projects, the Centres ambitiousSmart City Missionappears to have floundered in Goa. Five years afterPanajiwas put on the fast track to smartness on the basis of a Rs 608.4 crore planned outlay, theUnion 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 inRajya Sabha.
As per the MoHUA website, Goa has transferred Rs 113 crore to IPSCDL till date as its share towards the Smart City Mission.