Citizens can share `smart city' ideas

Pune - The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has invited citizens to share their ideas on `how to make Pune a smart city'. The campaign aims at increasing public participation in the PMC's effort to garner support for the city's quest for a smart city tag.

Mayor Dattatraya Dhankawade said at a press conference on Monday that the competition will involve citizens in the process of making Pune a serious contender for the smart city race.

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A PMC official said the contest for citizens is available online and offline. People can submit their ideas in maximum 250 words on one or more topics. More information is available on websites: punesmartcity .in or smartcity.punecorporation.org. Those who want to write can address their suggestions to additional commissioner (special), PMC, Shivajingar, Pune 5. The last date for entries is July 20.

Commissioner Kunal Kumar appealed to citizens to identify the most important issues that Pune's smart city proposal should address and give innovative and smart ideas to address critical issues.

The PMC has identified 13 broad topics for the people to write about. However, anyone who wishes to write on something other than the one given in the list, is welcome to do so, said Kumar. People can write on one or more topics and also submit multiple entries.

The PMC has announced cash prizes for the best ideas.The first winner will get a prize of Rs 25,000, the second winner will get Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 will be given to the third winner. The project will be judged on the basis of practicality, usefulness, creativity and clarity of idea.

Source - TOI 

Central funding will not pay for smart city infrastructure: Experts

 Experts are questioning the central funding for the smart city project since the Union Cabinet earlier this week allotted Rs 100 crore per city per year for five years.

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A total of Rs 98,000 crore was approved by the Cabinet for 100 smart cities and rejuvenation of 500 others. The two schemes, Smart City Mission and Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, may merge at some point.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to announce the guidelines for smart cities at a function within a week, but experts and analysts are sighting chinks in the policy.

The 100 smart cities project was formally announced in the Budget in July 2014 with an allocation of Rs 7,016 crore, but the government's latest financial backing for the ambitious scheme has fallen short of expectation.

"The scope of improvement under the Smart City Mission includes water supply, sanitation, waste management, transportation, housing for poor, and power supply,'' said Gulam Zia, executive director, Knight Frank India.

For a mid-sized city like Varanasi or Vishakhapatnam these could be undertaken within the average budgetary allocation of Rs 500 crore, he pointed out. ''But for Mumbai, where the Trans Harbour Link or the Metro Phase 3 cost over Rs 10,000 crore each, the amount may not suffice for a fraction of the interest cost of these projects,'' Zia said.

Koichiro Koide, India managing director at the Japanese conglomerate NEC (earlier Nippon Electric Company), recently told Business Standard the biggest challenge in the smart city project was investment.

Consultants split the project into three components, basic infrastructure such as water pipelines, network level sensors to monitor water flow and prevent leakage, and infotech solutions for data mining. ''For the last two, the central outlay is reasonable, if not adequate,'' said Arindam Guha, senior director, Deloitte in India.

But basic infrastructure project project costs would be at least 10 times the sanctioned amount, Guha said. The gap would have to be met by states, urban bodies and companies. Companies were unlikely to come forward if their assessment of the business was not rewarding enough, he added.

A recent Deloitte study on smart cities found Meerut needed Rs 200-300 crore for the project, barring basic infrastructure. With basic infrastructure, the cost would increase to Rs 2,000-3,000 crore.

Other constraints included the lack of engineering, finance, and project management skills to execute giant projects like smart cities, consultants pointed out.

Zia also feared real estate development could take precedence over the broader economic growth agenda.

Source : Business Standard