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Smart Cities: Here’s how Nagpur, Chandigarh, Puducherry could evolve

He adds that over 30 countries have evinced interest in partnering with India for the Smart Cities Mission. And since there is more than R3 lakh crore that is going to be spent on the mission, obviously, everybody would like to have a slice of this pie. One of the ways to garner a slice is to finance the master plan for the cities, like France has proposed for Chandigarh, Puducherry and Nagpur and the US for Visakhapatnam. Specifications are then evolved for creating a smart city with inputs from world-class experts and consultants, mostly from that country. These also enable companies from that country to bid for the bigger set of orders for execution and implementation, explains Padode. “It’s a win-win situation because for India, in a sense, we are getting our cities designed for 20-30 years into the future for free. And for France or for any other country, they are able to get business for their companies,” he adds.

To date, two memorandums have been signed, one of them with the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to develop Visakhapatnam, Allahabad and Ajmer, and the other with Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD). The MoU with AFD is independent of the Smart Cities mission but not unrelated to it and a line of credit would be used to develop Nagpur, Chandigarh and Oulgaret (Puducherry)—Chandigarh already has a French connection, having been planned by noted French architect Le Corbusier while Puducherry has been a former French enclave.

French companies like Alstom, Dassault, Egis, Lumiplan, RATP Transdev and Schneider have evinced interest in the Smart Cities Mission. Egis India, the Indian arm of the French engineering major Egis Group has already won a Smart City contract in Bhubaneswar and also bid in Chandigarh — separately it has earned an important contract for the Nagpur Metro. Tenders for Puducherry and Nagpur are yet to be issued.

Smart agenda for india’s cities

* More than Rs 3 lakh crore to be spent on India’s Smart Cities Mission
* More than 30 countries have shown interest in the Smart Cities Mission
* France has proposed developing Chandigarh, Puducherry & Nagpur as Smart Cities
* It proposes focusing on integrated development, urban planning, urban transport, water supply, sanitation, waste management, architecture and heritage, renewable energy, and energy efficiency
* A pool of French experts from the public sector (French municipalities, companies, urban agencies), to render assistance along with private sector experts