Central Idea

The Union government has approved the second phase of the City Investments to Innovate, Integrate, and Sustain (CITIIS) project.

What is CITIIS 2.0?

It is a part of the Smart Cities Mission and aims to promote integrated waste management and climate-oriented reform actions.
The project will be implemented in 18 cities selected through a competition process.
The project will span over a period of four years, from 2023 to 2027.

CITIIS 2.0 supports competitively selected projects focusing on circular economy and integrated waste management at the city level.
It also emphasizes climate-oriented reform actions at the State level and aims to strengthen institutions and disseminate knowledge at the national level.

The project is implemented in partnership with the French Development Agency (AFD), Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW), the European Union (EU), and the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA).

The project consists of three major components:

Financial and technical support for developing climate-resilient projects in up to 18 smart cities.
Interventions at the center, state, and city levels to enhance climate governance.
Promotion of climate adaptation and mitigation measures.

The Smart Cities Mission is an initiative of the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry that was launched in 2015.
Cities across the country were asked to submit proposals for projects to improve municipal services and to make their jurisdictions more liveable.
Between January 2016 and June 2018 (when the last city, Shillong, was chosen), the Ministry selected 100 cities for the Mission over five rounds.
The projects were supposed to be completed within five years of the selection of the city, but in 2021 the Ministry changed the deadline for all cities to June 2023, which was earlier the deadline for Shillong alone.
With an increase on urban population and rapid expansion of areas, government is looking at smarter ways to manage complexities, increase efficiencies and improve quality of life.
The mission will cover 100 cities that have been distributed among the States /Union Territories (UT) on the basis of an equitable criteria.
The formula gives equal weightage (50:50) to urban population of the State/UT and the number of statutory towns in the State/UT.