Smart City Tag: With A Promise To Be Cleaner, Greener And Innovative, 97 Cities Vie In The 1st List

There's no doubt that for realizing the India growth story, the government needs to give a leg-up to the urban areas of the country in terms of infrastructure, governance to enhance business and economic activity and quality of life. The government of India will soon be announcing the first list of 20 smart cities out of 97 applicants for priority funding this month. Hence, the expectations are high among the participating states to make a place in the coveted list.

Meanwhile, under the Smart Cities Mission guidelines, each of the cities has formulated a City Vision statement based on citizen consultations to give a blueprint of how they plan to become 'Smart'.

A look into the statements submitted by the cities outline the theme of their plans. According to a PTI report, the action plans submitted by 50 of the proposed Smart Cities, 11 aim to become cleaner, greener and sustainable cities followed by nine cities seeking to leverage rich cultural heritage legacy for stimulating development. Eight cities termed economic growth and development as the core of their vision and the rest seek to emerge as tourism hubs, port cities, education and health hotspots, industrial and institutional centres taking advantage of their unique features and strengths.

For example, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) in its vision statement aimed at emerging as the global benchmark for a capital city. Lucknow is keen to be seen as a clean, green and efficient citizen-centric city with a modern economy and outlook anchored in its tradition, heritage and culture with better quality of life.

Union territory Chandigarh seeks to be an ideal city which is innovative, distinct and dynamic, economically vibrant, accessible and livable. Bhubaneswar aspires to promote responsible governance through participatory decision-making and open access to information and technology. Similarly, Gandhinagar sees itself as an institutional hub with diversified economic base that provides equitable setting for all to live and work with better quality of life and infrastructure. Interestingly, a large number of cities have stressed on redesigning the way they manage their urban mobility as traffic congestion is becoming a problem, according to an The Indian Express report. Most plans are either for greater pedestrianisation, setting up cycling tracks and promoting other forms of non-motorised transport such as GPS-enabled e-rickshaws, the report added. Cities like Surat or Tiruchirapalli have submitted plans for better public transportation via feeder buses.

Urban population, according to 2011 census, was about 37 crore accounting for 31 per cent of total population. Currently, 31 per cent of India's population lives in cities; which also generate 63 per cent of the nation's economic activity. These numbers are rapidly increasing and close to 600 million Indians are expected to live in urban settings by 2030. So, the roads of Indian cities will have to bear more pressure in the coming years.

Cities like Ludhiana, Moradabad, Vadodara Bhubaneswar and Bilaspur have also mooted the idea of promoting cycling, bike-sharing or e-rickshaws, The Indian Express report added.

The Smart City Mission envisages developing 100 Indian cities into smart cities over the next five years.

Foreign collaboration

Many developed nations have come forward to join the initiative. France has committed to invest over two-billion euros for Smart City projects in India with a special focus on Chandigarh, Nagpur and Puducherry. The Maharashtra state government has collaborated with Israel on Smart Cities. The government of Sweden has decided to be India's knowledge partner and also help Maharashtra develop smart cities with sustainable development.

Similarly, the British Government has selected two cities of Maharashtra and one from Madhya Pradesh for developing them as smart cities. The cities in Maharashtra include Pune and Amravati and Indore in Madhya Pradesh. British Prime Minister David Cameron said that he hoped to see the UK become India's "number one partner" in raising finance for the smart cities endeavour.

Also, Germany has decided to partner with India in developing three smart cities.