With the Puducherry government ordering the winding up of Puducherry Smart City Development Limited (PSCDL) – the Special Purpose Vehicle of the Smart City Mission – signaling the closure of the decade-long programme, there has been a renewed demand to repurpose the SPV to leverage its institutional capacity for long-term urban transformation.

Sources said the government had ordered the financial closure of PSCDL as of March 31, 2026. A total of 82 projects were sanctioned under the mission, of which 81 have been completed so far.

The construction of the Road Over Bridge at the level crossing near AFT mills on the Cuddalore Road is the lone pending project. The work started in July 2025 and is under way. Of the total project cost of ₹72 crore, PSCDL has transferred its entire share of ₹52 crore to the Southern Railway.

The winding up of PSCDL is under way and the Smart City assets will be transferred to the Local Administration Department. The existing staff have also been repatriated, with their responsibilities redistributed among their parent departments.

Role of the SPV

The SPV has cultivated a robust institutional capacity to manage high-value urban projects within short timelines while also contributing to the emergence of a skilled urban management workforce. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has issued an advisory to repurpose the SPV.

According to a senior official, “Recognising the strategic investments made in establishing and strengthening the SPV and their relevance in supporting urban local bodies to address complex and evolving urban challenges, the Puducherry government should ensure that the SPV continues to operate beyond the completion of the deadline.”

He added, “In line with the directions of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, several States are now converting Smart City SPVs into consultancy and implementation agencies for future urban missions. While the national policy direction encourages retention and repurposing of SPVs, Puducherry appears to be moving towards winding down the entire operational ecosystem of PSCDL. This would be a major institutional loss.”

According to a former official of PSCDL, “Puducherry is a small UT and has relatively few professionally structured urban project management bodies capable of handling complex, externally funded infrastructure projects. Over the last few years, PSCDL has created a trained manpower ecosystem with institutional memory and operational experience. Dissolving this structure immediately after the mission closure would result in loss of trained human resources and loss of urban planning continuity, thereby weakening future project execution capacity.”

Official sources pointed out that even after the closure of the Smart Cities Mission, Puducherry continues to face enormous urban challenges vis a vis coastal resilience and climate adaption, stormwater management, sewerage modernisation, heritage urban conservation, urban mobility, smart parking, tourism infrastructure, flood mitigation, urban housing, and disaster resilience.

Many projects in the pipeline require coordination with agencies such as World Bank, and a professional retained SPV could become Puducherry’s dedicated urban transformation agency capable of implementing such projects efficiently. The new government should take a long-term view instead of treating PSCDL merely as a mission-specific temporary entity.