CITIIS 2.0 Challenge

About CITIIS 2.0 Challenge

• It is a 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).
• Objective: The program envisages supporting competitively selected projects promoting a 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.
• Funding: The funding for this program would include a loan from AFD and KfW and a technical assistance grant of Rs.106 cr from the EU.
• The program will run for four years, i.e., from 2023 to 2027.
• It aims to:
  • Drive investments into urban climate action through competitively selected projects promoting a circular economy with focus on integrated waste management.
  • Foster climate-sensitive planning and action in states and cities through evidence-driven approaches.
  • Build institutional mechanisms, leverage partnerships and anchor capacity building for all urban local bodies in India.
• 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 a selection of competitively selected projects promoting a circular economy with a focus on integrated waste management.
  • Component 2: All States and UTs will be eligible for support on-demand basis.
  • 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.

Q1) What is the National Institute of Urban Affairs ?

It was appointed as an apex body to support and guide the Government of India in its urban development plans. Since then, it has worked closely with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, alongside other government and civil sectors, to identify key areas of research, and address the lacunae in urban policy and planning.

Source: Expenditure on Urban Schemes has increased significantly since 2014: Housing Minister Hardeep S Puri