Govt to open discussion on ‘100 smart cities’ via portal

The Ministry of Urban Development will invite discussions from all stakeholders, including the general public, through a web portal for its ambitious ‘100 smart cities’ initiative.

“A web portal www.smartindia.gov.in will be up and running in 8-10 days and will be open for intense discussion from everybody,” a senior official in the Ministry of Urban Development told BusinessLine .

It is only after proper dialogue through public participation in policy-building that the Ministry will be able to formulate guidelines for smart cities, the official added.

Global counterparts

Internationally, Amsterdam has a portal

www.amsterdamsmartcity.com , which has information related to upcoming events, apart from a knowledge centre which contains information, publications, figures and useful links related to smart cities, sustainability, energy saving, CO{-2} reduction and connectivity, among others. Dublin too has a portal www.digitaldublin.ie .

Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head, JLL India, said: “The real estate of the future cannot be built with the building blocks of the past. Progressive formats such as smart cities are the result of vast knowledge and know-how. In a developing country like India, where the more advanced concepts of urbanisation are still work in progress, the inputs required for the success of futuristic concepts are, at best, spread thinly on the ground.”

Many countries such as Japan, Singapore, France, among others, have expressed interest in helping India build smart cities.

Puri added: “The Ministry of Urban Development must necessarily move forward on a highly consultative basis and allow these inputs to flow freely. Moreover, the blueprints that have worked on foreign shores must be feasibly interpreted in the Indian context — nothing in this respect can simply be imported and made to work here.”

Parameters

In the recent Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley allocated ₹7,060 crore for the smart cities project over the fiscal. The concept, which doesn’t have a fixed definition as yet, will be developed to address urban challenges by implementing modern infrastructure enabling ‘smart’ solutions and technologies in cities. Technology-based efficient governance, better mobility, solid waste management and energy conservation, among others, are likely to be the parameters for such cities.

Navin Raheja, CMD, Raheja Developers, and Chairman of NAREDCO, said: “The Government must ensure decentralisation of power to reach the local level, apart from focusing on accountability for results and timelines. It is important that each smart city has its own economic hub for job creation.”