One year on, many projects of PM Modi’s Smart City initiative still in pipeline
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 14 projects in Pune on June 25, 2016 under the Smart City plan, many of which have been completed but various other projects are still in the pipeline
It will be a year since the ambitious plan of making Pune a smart city was implemented. In the first round of the smart city mission, 20 cities were selected with Pune being part of this programme. The city administration has completed various projects listed under the scheme but has many projects in the pipeline.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 14 projects under the smart city plan of Pune from the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex. It was also for the first time that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) issued bonds for a development project. As per PMC estimates, the water supply project is expected to be put into action over the next five years at a cost of ₹2,800 crore and will ensure that every household in the city has uninterrupted water supply.
Under the smart city mission, the Smart City Development Corporation Limited (SCDCL) has already commissioned the transportation command and control centre and launched the mobility integration card, India’s first ‘Interoperable Smart Card’ which is designed to be a single payment card for various transport modes across the city. Around 1,750 busses have been fitted with a GPS tracking system. A pilot vehicle health monitoring system is operational on 30 buses, and another important project is the street and pedestrian walkway in Aundh.
The SCDCL has also tied up with various government, trade bodies and science and research organisations to bring the best available knowledge to Pune. Various memorandum of understanding (MOUs) have been signed with the government of Britain, the US Treasury, ISRO and UN Global Compact, and European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC).
They are also looking at several alternatives including public private partnerships which will account for about ₹10,500 crores of the total capex (capital expenditure) and over ₹8,000 crore from various central and state government schemes.
For this project to continue well, loans from multilateral and bilateral funding agencies is also required. According to officials, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is already funding our national river conservation project.
Besides there are several projects underway that were launched in Pune including solid waste management projects under the Swachh Bharat Mission, water supply projects, sewage treatment plants and development of open and green spaces under the Atal mission for rejuvenation and urban transformation (AMRUT), housing projects for the urban poor under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and area development and technology based pan-city solutions. All projects are set up with the objective of convergence in implementation of new urban missions.
Under ‘Make Your City SMART’ project, citizens were involved in designing roads, junctions, parks. Suggestions and designs by the citizens were incorporated in the projects. The current pilot model is being tried in Aundh.