RAPID PROGRESS ON SMART CITIES

Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida, Bhiwadi, Kundli-Sonipat, and Neemrana are some of the hot realty market vying to be declared as smart cities.

The Centre is at a sophisticated stage of finalizing the formidable `100 smart cities' project and has wanted comments and suggestions from the private sector including the academia and the industry.

“We have already put up a draft concept paper on our website and once we finalize the contours we will go to the Expenditure Finance Committee and to the Cabinet,“ Shankar Aggarwal, secretary to ministry of Urban Development, said at an ASSOCHAM event in New Delhi while inaugurating a national conference on “Opportunities and Challenges at 100 Smart Cities”. “It will take a little bit more time as it is a huge task and we got to have wider consultations with everyone all stakeholders have to be consulted and we are in the process of doing that “, he said.

Shankar Aggarwal also said, “We are in the process of identifying those 100 smart cities in consultation with the state governments. We have got to focus on satellite towns of mega cities as well as the mid-size towns, “.

The Government has already identified 44 contenders for its smart cities project. Out of the 44, six are Gurgaon, Noida, Greater Noida, Bhiwadi, Kundli-Sonipat, and Neemrana.

Government wants to achieve 100% reliable and robust connectivity while taking the advantage of Information and Communication Technology under smart cities.

The idea is to induce 24x7 electricity and water facility, cyber connectivity and urban mobility with a very good quality of public transport system. Information technology will be used to enhance the efficiency of residents of the smart cities.

Residents wouldn't need to sit up for a bus to hit its selected stop; instead, they might solely need to hunt in their smart phones to induce correct info concerning the arrival of the bus at that stop.

Talking about the role of the private sector in developing smart cities across India “Almost 98% work has to be done by the private sector, academia and the industry while only 2%, that is the glue, has to come from the government of India.“ Aggarwal Said.

Assuring of government support to the private sector he said, “I assure you that we will stand by you, we will strengthen your hand and ensure that this phase of transformation is successful--we are only too happy to be able to bring happiness and prosperity across India.“

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