On May 31, the Modi Government authorised the City Investments to Innovate, Integrate and Sustain (CITIIS) 2.0 programme, which aims to promote initiatives supporting a circular economy with an emphasis on integrated waste management at the city level, according to the Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur.
The Union cabinet gave its approval to the scheme during a meeting that was presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As per the official website, “the program conceived by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD), Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the European Union (EU), and National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)”. CITIIS 2.0 will be implemented in 18 cities over the course of four years from 2023-2027, beginning this fiscal.
According to Thakur, the programme will support projects that have been selected through a competitive process, “…promoting circular economy with a focus on integrated waste management at the city level, climate-oriented reform actions at the State level, and institutional strengthening and knowledge dissemination at the National level”.
Prime Minister Modi responded to the Cabinet’s decision by stating that the programme is in line with India’s commitments to a better and more sustainable world and tweeted, “The Union Cabinet’s approval for the innovative CITIIS 2.0 programme will foster a circular economy and enhance climate resilience across our cities. This step aligns with India’s commitments towards a better and more sustainable planet”.
Various international agencies will loan money to fund the ambitious CITIIS 2.0 programme, “The funding for CITIIS 2.0 would include a loan of Rs.1760 crore (EUR 200 million) from AFD and KfW (EUR 100 million each) and a technical assistance grant of Rs.106 cr. (EUR 12 million) from the EU”.
The objective of CITIIS 2.0 is to build on and scale up the successes and lessons learned from CITIIS 1.0, which was launched in 2018 with a total investment of Rs 933 crores by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, AFD, EU, and NIUA.
As per Union Minister Thakur, the Union Government would cover 80% of the expenditure, with the remaining 20% being covered by the state governments. He added hill states and north-eastern states would only contribute 10%, and the Union government will cover the remaining 90% of expenditure.
While interacting with the media, he was questioned on whether a state could have two or more smart cities. According to the scheme, the country will be divided into six regions, and he said at least one smart city will be chosen from each region.
As per the press release, the CITIIS 2.0 has three major components:
“Component 1: Financial and technical support for developing projects focused on building climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation in up to 18 smart cities through selection of competitively selected projects promoting circular economy with a focus on integrated waste management.
Component 2: All States and UTs will be eligible for support on-demand basis. The States will be provided support to (a) set up/strengthen their existing State climate centres/ Climate cells/ equivalents (b) create State and city-level Climate Data Observatories (c) facilitate climate-data-driven planning, develop climate action plans and (d) build capacities of municipal functionaries. To achieve these objectives, the PMU at NIUA will coordinate the provision of technical assistance and strategic support to State Governments.
Component 3: Interventions at all three levels, Centre, State and City, to further climate governance in urban India through institutional strengthening, knowledge dissemination, partnerships, building capacity, research and development to support scale-up across all States and Cities”.
The Government stated that CITIIS 2.0 would complement the Center’s efforts to combat climate change through its ongoing national initiatives, including the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat, AMRUT 2.0, Swachh Bharat Mission 2.0, and Smart Cities Mission. It will also positively impact India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions and COP 26 commitments.
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