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Smart Cities Mission takes forward step

By Amit Bhatt, Feb 1, 2016,

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List of surprises

While Bengaluru, Gurgaon and Patna were surprise omissions from the Smart Cities race, as the respective state governmen-ts deemed other cities more competitive for the national challenge, the 20 shortlisted cities also have quite a few surprises.

The biggest surprise was the fact that Bhubaneswar topped the challenge with 78.83 per cent marks followed by Pune (77.42 per cent) and Jaipur (73.83 per cent). In fact, the top 20 cities list was dominated by tier II and III cities, with only Delhi and Chennai representing the metros of the country.

Lesser known names like Davanagere, Kakinada, Belagavi outweighed many big cities like Howrah and Hyderabad, who failed to make it to the top 20. Ludhiana is the only city from the northern and eastern belt of the country. Guwahati is the only city from the north-eastern states, suggesting it was much better prepared than its peers.

As part of the competition, the cities had to submit area and city-wide development projects aimed at improving the quality of life for citizens by engaging with them and addressing their needs, and building capacity amongst city officials by moving towards e-governance and the use of technology.

Cities were asked to develop holistic city development plans with a vision for zero emissions and zero waste, and funding would be provided to pursue strategic infrastructure projects. Priority sectors were identified, with Rs 100 crore of financial assistance from the Centre for five years and a matching contribution from state governments. Cities were asked to submit proposals that would not merely change, but transform them. The Rs 100 crore should be seen as initial capital that can be leveraged for this transformation.

India is currently one-third urbanised. Global trends have shown that urbanisation stabilises at 75-80 per cent mark. This means two-third of urban India is yet to be built, which gives us the opportunity to get it right.

Choosing the right implementation framework for smart cities is critical. Creating the framework from cities to compete is a great idea but the real success would d(The writer is Director Transport, WRI – EMBARQ India)epend of the implementation. Nevertheless, a good start has been made.

(The writer is Director Transport, WRI – EMBARQ India)

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