Belagavi – ICR is less than 22%
While Nagpur and Indore have bagged the first and second place in the country, in the implementation of the Smart Cities project, Belagavi is lagging behind by a huge margin.
The urban development ministry analysed the investment conversion ratio (ICR) of each city.  ICR indicates the extent of conversion of approved Smart City plans into investments through ground-level implementation. ICR also shows the percentage of funds currently being used at the ground level for implementing the projects as against the funds approved by the Centre.
Belagavi, ICR is less than 22%, which means the amount spent on the execution of the projects or approved projects is less than Rs 1,000 crore till now, according to an analysis of the implementation of the projects done by the ministry.
Under the smart city programme, each city will be given Rs 500 crore by the Centre over five years. The states will have to make a matching contribution.
The ministry, however, claimed that all the 20 cities selected in the first batch had firmed up their investment plans, achieving an overall Investment Conversion Rate (ICR) of 49%. The ICR indicates the extent of conversion of approved smart city plans into investment through ground-level implementation.
According to the Smart cities network site Total projects work has commenced is 3, Feasibility in progress of 2 and one project is yet to be initiated.
Total 5 crores have been allocated for Solid Waste Management.
As a citizen of Belagavi, I am dissapointed completely to say the least. There is ruckus on the traffic control in the city. Its highly reproachful as a citizen to drive in the city, as heavy trucks along with city buses form a road train at peak hours in the mornings and evenings in the boastfully craggy roads of Belagavi, cramping it even further is the parking mess on all the main roads. How smart it is to allow such heavy vehicle movements inside the city, especially during time crunch! The speed breakers in the city is even more smarter! Every 10 meters there is a speed breaker. How scientific! Zero value in time management by authorities. Majority of citizens and authorities lack the smart city vision and are happy to stay as dumb laggards…list goes on..
This is REAL scenario on ground & let us see which MP, MLA, MLC, District-incharge minister or special purpose cell officer owns up the responsibility? We have seen all of them having photo-show ups with broad smile & posing to start the ground breaking work (dig the road, construct drainage etc etc)….. photo-show-up is one thing our netas & officials have always excelled!
I have not seen a serious and sincere effort to make Belgaum a smart city yet. There is hardly any plan for the north part of Belgaum city; ramdev, kle, shahunagar, vibhav nagar, basav colony, shivbasav nagar…… however, some digging work is going on, but a lot has to be done yet. It also very important for Belgaumites to become smart, think wisely, do not make the city dirty, do not spit, follow traffic rules, many more…… It is also important to attract good companies in the region, so that employment will be relaxed..