Under the smart cities mission, the center has devised a 20-20 model – pair the top 20 cities with the bottom lagging 20 cities – to help in smartening up the process by common technical and financial knowledge share. Reportedly, the pace of implementation of projects, though outstanding in some of the smart cities, progress has been below average in a few cities.
Lokeshwar Sahu, Additional Commissioner, Raipur Municipal Corporation speaking at a panel discussion on building smart cites shared on the developments happening in the Naya Raipur. Naya Raipur is a city in the state of Chhattisgarh that is reported to replace Raipur as the state capital. Sahu informed that in the Naya Raipur, one railway station is being built along with public carriers and city buses to solve the mobility issues in the city. He informed that there were issues of space as the bus-stand and railway were very close to each other; consequently, inter-state bus stand and four local bus stands were created. “Raipur needs to have a change in how people think,” he said, giving a macro-view on the developments happening in the city.
Informing about the ICT-based initiatives being undertaken in Dehradun, Ramesh Singh Chauhan, Nodal Officer, Project Cell, Dehradun Smart City stated that there is a need for highly systematic infrastructure with proper planning. He informed that there is a lot of automation of services happening in the city, besides, he emphasized the importance of citizen engagement.
Focussing on the essentials, Nitin Kadam, General Manager, B G Shirke stated that when developing smart cities, public needs and future aspects should be focused upon. He pointed out the importance of using precast technologies in the process of building smart cities. Precast technologies is designed to improve upon the construction by speed, quality, and cost-effectiveness.
Taking the conversation further, Sanjay Ghuge, City Engineer, Nashik Municipal Corporation stated that ultimately the safety of the users is very critical. Moreover, he gave a perspective on the development of smart cities from a quality point of view. Prakash Thavil, CEO, Nashik Municipal Smart moderating the panel shared key ideas helpful in the direction of building smart cities.
The above experts were presenting at the BW Businessworld organized 8th Smart Cities Conclave.