The Times of India 13.12.2013
Bangalore needs Rs 80,000 crore over 5 years to sustain itself: State urban development secretary
BANGALORE: Bangalore city needs at least Rs 80,000 crore over the next five years to be sustainable. It needs this much for infrastructure, road development, drainage and several development activities to make the city more liveable, said state urban development secretary P N Srinivasachari.
Addressing a workshop on 'Cities of the future: Smart and Sustainable' here on Thursday, Srinivasachari said, "Every city will grow by 20 per cent and Bangalore is no exception. The city's population currently is 95 lakh. Assuming it goes up by 20 per cent, we will have 19 lakh more people in the city. If Bangalore has to sustain its rapid growth and introduce sustainable solutions to manage its waste, water, environment and transport, the government should invest at least Rs 80,000 crore over the next five years. But the state government can spend not more than Rs 20,000 crore. Our annual state budget is about Rs 1 lakh crore and it's hard for any government to earmark so much funds by ignoring other regions and aspirations.''
He said there has been huge private investment in Bangalore over the past 15 years but government has not been able to match it because of various constraints in policy making. "
Dr A Ravindra, chairman, Centre for Sustainable Development (CSD), under whose initiative the Smart Cities Council was launched in Bangalore, said: "We have joined hands with the council to learn the best practices in the world and designs solutions suited to the Indian context. Bangalore will benefit a lot as they will have ready solutions to most problems.''
Smart Cities Council is an industry coalition to advance smart city development and innovation. It has as members leading businesses in areas such as smart energy, water and transportation.
Ravindra said: "By 2031, close to 600 million people will populate urban areas and 68 cities in the country will have a population of over 1 million. The demands for urban services will increase manifold and the stress on environment will keep mounting.
Over a trillion dollars will be needed to meet the demand to improve the quality of urban life. That's why we have developed the Smart Cities Council concept in India.''
A host of speakers elaborated on the challenges Indian cities face with the population expected to reach 590 million by 2030, nearly twice that of the US. "We need to plan early by un understanding of India's issues and challenges will benefit every city in India," they said
Regional chapter
Smart Cities Council is an industry coalition to advance smart city development and innovation.
This is India's first regional chapter of the Global Smart Cities Council. It has as members leading businesses in areas such as smart energy, water and transportation.
The new chapter is a major milestone in developing cities to operate at their greatest potential with a balance of livability, workability and sustainability.
Since its inception in 2012, nearly 20 prominent companies have joined the Council, including IBM, Bechtel, Grid2020, MasterCard and Microsoft. Also, over 50 of the world's leading universities, national laboratories, standards bodies, climate advocacy groups, and development banks act as the advisory board. Brigade Group has already consented to be a partner in Smart City Council India.
The council is a response to rapidly growing cities and a lack of coordination to build or expand urban infrastructure that utilizes technology to work efficiently across an entire city. To address these barriers, the council recently released version 1.0 of the Smart Cities Council Readiness Guide , the first comprehensive, vendor-neutral smart city handbook for city leaders and planners. Designed with input from its partners and advisors, the guide enables city leaders around the globe to assess their current state of technology and readiness to become a smart city.