Finally,
Analyzing the progress, with the recent series of deployments and Govt. push catalysing projects, it is expected that the 109 shortlisted cities will have a decent basic infrastructure in place. The first few transformations will be seen in traffic management, smart city lightings, energy management, citizen engagement etc. Dr. Chowdhury says, “Given the vision of the Smart Cities initiative, by 2020 many of the cities should have captured some early wins in areas like smart lighting, smart water and energy management, smart citizen engagement, as well as moved the dial in the provision of basic services in waste, sanitation, water, and sewage. During this time, the connectivity ecosystem would naturally grow, thus creating the platform for further and deeper implementation of smart cities projects.”
Brocade’s George Chacko has high overall hopes from the smart cities initiative but is wary of the hurdles that could arise if the plan and execution is not diligently aligned. He says, “The smart cities program has received considerable support and wide spread interest from countries and businesses to explore investment and collaborative opportunities within India. While urban India is moving fast with technological advancements, the vision of 100 smart cities will require rapid technological transformation across the length and breadth of the nation. These technological advancements would also give rise to an immense magnitude of data, the security and sovereignty of which, would pose a challenge in keeping the smart cities resilient. The transformation of old infrastructure into smart and well-connected systems with real time updating ability will be the big challenge with smart cities. The challenge is also limited budgets, which does not really permit the city to build, operate, maintain and support the entire smart city infrastructure. Lack of customization, limited IT personnel and lack of administrative and political support could also pose as challenges.”
Avaya’s Vishal adds, “For smart city project to be successful, the government has to step in with clear mandates. The Indian market is maturing and it is imperative with the number of smart deployments taking place in the country. We are seeing innovation is being implemented, deployed and leveraged. Government needs to break the silos and drive smart city deployment. In order to build smart cities the government, industry, and all other verticals need to pay more importance to the foundation of the infrastructure.”
The Smart City initiative has opened up huge opportunities for technological advancements of the country. This has further led to spur in employment and has enhanced the quality of living of the citizens as well. Empowering a city technologically is not a new concept, but to earn Smart City Stripes is bigger challenge than just upgrading a city’s ICT infrastructure.
Key Statistics:
a) Smart Cities in Numbers:
Total Winning Proposals: 60
Total Urban Population Impacted: 72,266,232
Total Cost of Projects (Cr.): 131,762
Total Area Based Development Cost (Cr.): 105,621
Total Pan City Solution Cost (Cr.): 26,141
Total Number of Projects: 731
Total Cost of Projects (Cr.): 46,366
b) Major Sectors for Tech Deployment:
• Water Supply
• Energy
• Sewerage &Septage
• Solid Waste Management
• Storm Water Drainage
• Urban Transport
• NMT
• Housing
• IT Connectivity
• Social Sectors
• Environment
• Economic Development
• Area Development
• Safety and Security
Shortlisted Cities:
Phase 1
1. Bhubaneswar
2. Pune
3. Jaipur
4. Surat
5. Kochi
6. Ahmedabad
7. Jabalpur
8. Visakhapatnam
9. Solapur
10. Davangere
11. Indore
12. New Delhi
13. Coimbatore
14. Kakinada
15. Belgaum
16. Udaipur
17. Guwahati
18. Chennai
19. Ludhiana
20. Bhopal
Phase 2
1. Lucknow
2. Warangal
3. Dharamasala
4. Chandigarh
5. Raipur
6. New Town, Kolkata
7. Bhagalpur
8. Panaji
9. Port Blair
10. Imphal
11. Ranchi
12. Agartala
13. Faridabad
