Extended deadline for smart city nears, works still pending

Nagpur: Even as the March 2025 deadline is just months away, the Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited project still faces significant hurdles. After seven years, only 10km of the planned 50km of roads in the east Nagpur area have been completed. Similarly, of the 28 planned bridges, just 10 have been finished, said NSSCDCL CEO Soumya Sharma Chandak.
Now, the NSSCDCL has raised a demand of ₹7 crore to recover damages caused by road construction activities to the fibre cables supporting CCTV cameras. The recovery claim has been sent to the NHAI and the state PWD. The Smart City chief has urged the NHAI to incorporate the costs of repairing CCTV camera cables into their road infrastructure projects to prevent future disruptions to the project.

Though only five months are left for completing the pending work under the Smart Cities Mission, Chandak remains optimistic about meeting the deadline. She warned contractors against seeking extensions, stating that those failing to deliver on time would be penalised.
The mission, launched in 2016, initially set a deadline of June 2021, but it was extended multiple times. The CCTV camera project has helped Nagpur city police in solving crime cases, managing traffic, and monitoring floods, the CEO said.
The completed project components include a new police station, fire station, and a two-storey multi-skill training centre in east Nagpur areas like Punapur, and Pardi. Besides this, a multi-level parking plaza at Sitabuldi market too is ready and is all set to open for citizens soon.
On the other hand, projects like the installation of smart kiosks and e-toilets have seen little success. The 65 smart kiosks, designed to integrate services from central, state, and municipal agencies, remain non-functional due to a lack of coordination.