IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Indore Smart City Development Limited (ISCDL) would not only erect attractive buildings and launch smart services but it would also recharge underground water level in the areas falling under Smart City project. ISCDL is going to set up modular type of rain water harvesting system to increase underground water level at cost of Rs 6.75 crore.

“We have invited tenders for the purpose,” said ISCDL chief executive officer Rohan Saxena. ISCDL has invited for construction of modular type rain harvesting system/storm water management using copolymer based cross wave technology. Saxena said they have identified government buildings where this system would be installed.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday directed the Nashik Municipal Smart City Development Corporation Ltd (NMSCDCL) and Nashik Municipal Corporation to speed up the projects under smart city and municipal corporation.

The sources from NMC said that CM has directed the senior IAS officer and chairman of NMSCDCL Sitaram Kunte and the municipal commissioner Radhakrishna Game to speed up all the projects under smart city and some projects under municipal corporation.

The urban development department led by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has stepped in to find out why there is a massive cost difference between the city and Pune for the preparation of the smart city concept plan. The estimated cost for Pune is Rs 2 crore, while for the city it is Rs 47 lakh.

"August 31 is the last date for finalizing the smart city concept plan," urban development secretary Manisha Mhaiskar said. "Once the exercise is over, we will examine the row over the massive cost difference."

Smart cities in Maharashtra could very well end up looking as “smart” as Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel.

In a key stride in collaboration between the State and Israel, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai on Monday agreed to cooperate in building smart cities.

After the discussions held on Smart City partnership, the two parties – the Maharashtra government and the Municipality of Tel Aviv -- agreed to discuss common challenges faced by modern cities and possible solutions. They would also explore the possibility of using Indian IT capabilities to increase efficiency of smart urban solutions.

As Maharashtra prepares to shortlist 10 cities for the Centre's smart city mission, the state cabinet has mandated that all six regions in the state be represented. This means that the government will shortlist six cities within the Nagpur, Amravati, Marathwada, Konkan, Western Maharashtra and North Maharashtra revenue divisions, besides four other cities.

The state has to submit a shortlist to the Centre by July 31.

"We have received 30 applications from the urban local bodies in the state. These will be scrutinized by a committee under the chief secretary and a shortlist of 10 cities will be selected to be sent for the Centre's approval," said urban development secretary Manisha Mhaiskar.

The Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ASCDCL) and industry initiative, Aurangabad First, jointly organized a daylong workshop titled Manthan at the MGM campus on Saturday. The workshop saw discussions on various projects to be undertaken under the Smart City Mission and continued till late on Saturday evening.

ASCDCL is the special purpose vehicle established for the implementation of the smart city projects and Aurangabad First is an initiative of the Marathwada Environment Care Cluster (MECC), formed by industry associations. As part of the Smart City Mission, Aurangabad proposes to be a citizen friendly and socially inclusive tourism, heritage and industrial city with world-class infrastructure and a safe environment. Safe mobility, more open spaces, non-vehicular streets and the provision of basic infrastructure are the major goals to make the city citizen friendly, as per the proposal. The provision of affordable housing and employment opportunities also comprise key goals.

The civic administration introduced its Smart City application last month in order to make its functioning transparent and also to make things easy for citizens. With e-governance as one of the criteria for the Central government's Smart City project, civic officials say that they have already implemented the digitalisation of civic works.

Citizens also feel that the civic body has made certain facilities available but now the onus was on the residents to actively participate in it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday inaugurated the 10,000-acre Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC), the country's first greenfield industrial smart city and part of the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor, near here.

He also inaugurated the Auric Hall, a six-storey building which will be both monitoring and administrative nerve centre for smart city, and launched the Auric chatbot that will help anyone get their problems addressed by the city administration.

Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) North Maharashtra Zonal Council in partnership with Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) had organised a round table session on smart city recently when they emphasised on communication technologies for smart city.

The session also focused on key aspects of Smart Nashik like urban mobility, improving public utilities, waste management and e-governance. Representatives from various government departments were also present for the session.

The scheme will have an e-governance and citizen’s services such as CCTV security, public Wi-Fi, etc.

Shapoorji Pallonji, the developer appointed by the Slum Rehabilation Authority (SRA) for the project related to the redevelopment of the Cuffe Parade slums in south Mumbai, has said it will build a 30-storey tower --- India’s tallest residential SRA tower --- in the said scheme.

The scheme will incorporate ‘Smart City’ features. The SRA has issued a Letter of Intent (LOI) to the developer.

Nagpur Smart and Sustainable City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL) has once again retained its top position in ranking of Smart Cities. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has declared the ranking of Smart cities in the country on Friday. Nagpur Smart City obtained this position after strong and healthy competition over four months.

Nagpur with 364.47 points topped the chart while Ahmedabad was adjudged second with 362.34 points only. Nagpur has 2.13 points more then Ahmedabad.

Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari has hinted at another pilot project aimed at creating a centralized and integrated infrastructure facility linking bus stop, metro station and railway station in the city.

Gadkari said the centralized facility could either come up at Ajni or Khapri, while shifting the main railway station to Khapri, and will be part of Multi-Model Hub and Smart City project.

Nashik on Friday cleared the first hurdle in the race for the Union government's Smart City project with the Devendra Fadnavis government selecting it for a list of 10 cities from Maharashtra.

Altogether 20 municipal corporations had vied for a slot on the list of 10 cities prepared by the state government and submitted their respective presentations to chief secretary Swadhin Kshatriya on Wednesday and Thursday. Apart from Nashik, the other nine cities selected for the Smart City tag are Navi Mumbai, Pune-Pimpri Chinchvad, Thane, Mumbai, Amravati, Solapur, Nagpur, Kalyan-Dombivali and Aurangabad.

The civic administration has invited citizens and their representatives to present their views about how a smart city should be during a day-long seminar at Kalidas Kala Mandir on Friday.

A senior official from the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) said taking into consideration the involvement of citizens in the Smart Cities Mission, municipal commissioner Praveen Gedam had called upon all stake holders to present their views on the smart city concept.

The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) on Friday gave presentation on the Smart City project to the citizens while urging them to submit their views on how a smart city should be.

The suggestions from the citizens will be included in the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the project. "Citizens stand to win cash worth Rs 50,000, Rs 30,000 and Rs 20,000 for the first three best suggestions," the civic body said

NEC Technologies India (NECTI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, has announced that it has been selected by Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation (KDMC) as the master system integrator for the smart city project in the twin cities. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2020, and NECTI is also contracted to provide operation and maintenance of the systems for the following five years.

Under the project, NECTI will implement a broad range of smart city solutions, including a smart city operations center, environmental and flood sensors, as well as an intelligent traffic management system incorporating AI-based video analytics. The contract with KDMC also covers the integration of the smart city operations center with other existing systems, such as the intelligent transport management system, parking management system and geographic information system.

To ensure total public participation in the Smart City Project, the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) will reach out to a large number of citizens on facilities available in present condition and concepts for making the city smart. Almost 1,000 staffers from the civic body will cover over 6 lakh households between October 13 and 18.

Explaining the importance of public participation in Smart City Project, mayor Pravin Datke in a press conference held on Saturday said NMC taking all efforts to make into the top 20 cities in the nation. "Central government had included the city in list of 98 cities selected for the project. The next target is to be selected among top 20 cities. The city will get funds for developmental works if it makes it into list of 20 cities. The role of citizens is crucial. NMC already invited ideas and concepts by launching Smart City contest. Now NMC staffers will go to all households and get a one page form filled. NMC will incorporate good concepts in the detailed project report to be submitted to the centre under the project," he said.

More than 14,000 citizens have submitted their suggestions — on sustainable mobility, waste management, healthcare, education, water, green city, safety, security, sports, e-governance, emergency services, information technology, and economic development in Pimpri Chinchwad — to the city transformation office (CTO).

Stakeholders’ meetings, with six focused areas, were conducted to collect the suggestions. In the first phase, a draft city development report has been prepared with the help of citizens, civic officials and corporators. The CTO is being handled by private firm Palladium since January.

In an effort to promote e-governance, the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) will collect property and water tax via mobile applications, e-wallets, smart cards, and other such facilities. As many as 100 municipal offices, across all eight civic zones, will be equipped for the online services.

A city transformation office will be developed shortly to tackle projects under the Smart City and Swacch Bharat schemes as well as the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana. The budget document states that national and international consultants would be appointed for the city transformation office (CTO), which will be established at the PCMC office. A provision of Rs4.5 crore has been made for the office.

The city improvement committee has decided to visit another country to prepare for the City Transformation Office as part of the smart city initiative.

A total of 14,000 citizens have given suggestions to the City Transformation Office about sustainable mobility, waste management, health care, education, water, green city, safety, security, sports, e-governance, emergency services, information technology, and economic development.