Smart City News: Nagpur Audit, Canberra Streetlights
An audit of Nagpur’s civic accounts has found Rs 1,646 crore in grants with no utilisation certificates filed, and a Rs 52.44 crore hole in the city’s smart city company account. That’s the lead in this week’s smart city news, and it sets the tone for the rest: the money is mostly spent, and the hard part now is proving it worked and keeping it running.
We picked seven stories. Three are from India: Nagpur’s audit, a new smart road in Mangaluru and a look at what Jammu does after finishing its mission projects. Four are from abroad: Canberra is adding 16,000 connected streetlights, a global survey says cities that plan AI around residents earn twice the return, Kuala Lumpur is studying traffic around its stadium district, and Barcelona is showing working projects at Smart City Expo this week. For how these systems come together in a city’s command centre, see our complete guide to control rooms.
Smart city news from India
CAG audit finds Rs 1,646 crore in missing utilisation certificates in Nagpur
A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) inspection of Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s accounts found utilisation certificates worth Rs 1,646 crore still pending for government grants, Rs 4.20 crore in unadjusted advances to officials, and a negative balance of Rs 52.44 crore in the Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation (NSSCDCL) account, the Times of India reports. The audit also flags a Rs 94.41 crore loan liability that has been pending for more than 16 years. A former corporator has asked the municipal commissioner for a high-level inquiry.[1]
Read the original: CAG flags NMC’s Rs1,646cr pending utilisation certificates, negative balance in smart city account (Times of India)
Same company, second week running: NSSCDCL was also in our last news roundup, when a review committee looked at waiving delay penalties on its contractors. Missing utilisation certificates matter because they can hold up the next round of grants.
Mangaluru plans a 3 km smart road with more CCTV
The state government has given in-principle approval to the Mangaluru Urban Development Authority (Muda) to turn the concrete road from Lady Hill Circle to Kottara Chowki into a smart road, the Times of India reports. Muda chairman Santhosh Kumar Shetty says a detailed project report costing about Rs 5 crore will come before the board on 17 November. The plan covers continuous footpaths, lighting, bus bays, repaired storm drains and extra cameras linked to Mangaluru Smart City’s command and control centre.[2]
Read the original: Mangaluru: Concrete road from Lady Hill Circle to Kottara Chowki to become Smart Road (Times of India)
Ads to pay for upkeep: Muda wants digital advertising boards on the poles so the road earns money for its own maintenance. It’s a small detail, but many smart roads built under the mission still have no such budget line.
Jammu shifts from building projects to running them
An opinion piece in the Daily Excelsior says Jammu Smart City Limited has finished 126 of its 127 Smart Cities Mission projects, and argues the city now needs planned maintenance, clear operating roles and revenue or leasing models for those assets. It cites city data showing 100 electric buses carrying more than 75 lakh passenger trips in 2025-26, and a bike-share system with about 800 cycles logging over 9.1 lakh rides since May 2022. Another 100 buses are coming under PM-eBus Sewa.[3]
Read the original: Jammu’s Next Urban Chapter (Daily Excelsior)
Command centre as the backbone: The piece lists Jammu’s integrated command and control centre, traffic management system and WebGIS among the platforms that now have to be kept useful. That’s where most of the long-term operating cost of a mission city sits.
Smart city news from abroad
Canberra adds 16,000 connected streetlights
The ACT Government’s City and Environment Directorate will upgrade another 16,000 of its existing streetlights with networked lighting controllers from Itron, delivered and run by Omexom, according to an Itron announcement. Canberra already has about 31,000 of its more than 83,000 streetlights on the system, so coverage will rise past 47,000 lights, close to 60 percent of the network. The work extends a partnership that started in 2019.[4]
Read the original: ACT Government City and Environment Directorate Builds on Seven Years of Smart Lighting Success with Itron and Omexom (Itron via GlobeNewswire (Markets Insider))
Built to carry more than lights: Itron says the same network can later carry environmental sensors and traffic analytics. Delhi is planning one lakh smart streetlights of its own, and the lesson from Canberra is to plan the network for other devices from day one.
Cities that plan AI around residents report twice the return
A ThoughtLab study of 525 officials in 215 cities found that 37 “AI leader” cities, including Amsterdam, Barcelona and Seattle, report a 96 percent return on their AI spending against 42 percent for other cities, and get their money back in 39 months instead of 49, Cities Today reports. Even so, 78 percent of cities cited surveillance and privacy worries, and 84 percent worried about unexpected long-term costs.[5]
Read the original: People-first AI delivers twice the returns for leading cities, study finds (Cities Today)
Guard rails help: Seattle requires a person to review generative AI output before official use, and Amsterdam and Helsinki publish registers of the algorithms their councils use. Indian cities adding AI to camera networks will face the same trust questions.
Kuala Lumpur studies traffic around Bukit Jalil stadium
Federal Territories minister Hannah Yeoh told Malaysia’s parliament on 2 November that Kuala Lumpur’s mayor has hired consultants for a micro traffic study of Bukit Jalil, which jams for hours before every big concert, paultan.org reports, citing Bernama. The study is due in the first quarter of 2027, a traffic plan by February 2027, and Kuala Lumpur City Hall will audit whether it works on the ground. Talks are on with Prasarana about a bus hub linked to the planned MRT3 line.[6]
Read the original: Government to address traffic congestion in Bukit Jalil during major events (paultan.org)
Events need their own plan: Stadium districts carry ordinary traffic most days and huge crowds a few nights a month, which is why a general city traffic plan rarely fits them.
Barcelona brings working projects to Smart City Expo
Barcelona City Council’s stand at Smart City Expo World Congress shows a mobility dashboard that pulls data from several transport systems, factory-built public housing, and two council AI assistants, one of which, HABOT, logged more than 14,000 conversations in five months, the council says. Its digital twin, built with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, will be used in Les Corts to study crowds and access during big sporting events.[7]
Read the original: Barcelona showcases innovation projects to improve services and anticipate urban challenges at Smart City Expo (Barcelona City Council)
Twins for event days: Barcelona’s use case mirrors Bukit Jalil’s problem. For an Indian comparison, read our look at Ahmedabad’s Rs 283 crore digital twin and why upkeep decides its value.
Trisim’s view: the bill arrives after the ribbon is cut
Nagpur’s audit, Jammu’s push to run what it built and Mangaluru’s ad boards all point at the same gap. Mission money paid for the build, but certificates, operating teams and upkeep budgets were often left for later. Cities that are still adding command centres, streetlight networks or AI tools should settle who runs them and who pays before the contract is signed, not after the audit.
Planning or upgrading a command and control centre? Talk to Trisim Global Solutions.
Sources
- Times of India, CAG flags NMC’s Rs1,646cr pending utilisation certificates, negative balance in smart city account, accessed 3 November 2026
- Times of India, Mangaluru: Concrete road from Lady Hill Circle to Kottara Chowki to become Smart Road, accessed 3 November 2026
- Daily Excelsior, Jammu’s Next Urban Chapter, accessed 3 November 2026
- Itron via GlobeNewswire (Markets Insider), ACT Government City and Environment Directorate Builds on Seven Years of Smart Lighting Success with Itron and Omexom, accessed 3 November 2026
- Cities Today, People-first AI delivers twice the returns for leading cities, study finds, accessed 3 November 2026
- paultan.org, Government to address traffic congestion in Bukit Jalil during major events, accessed 3 November 2026
- Barcelona City Council, Barcelona showcases innovation projects to improve services and anticipate urban challenges at Smart City Expo, accessed 3 November 2026