The Hindu 21.09.2016
Corporation gets off the block for Smart City race
Ward panels to meet from October 1 to 10 to elicit recommendations
Former Planning Board Member G. Vijayaraghavan addressing a workshop
organised by the city Corporation in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday for
its councillors for the preparation of a proposal for Smart City.—
Photo: S. Mahinsha
Setting in motion its efforts to transform the State
capital into a Smart City, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has
initiated intensive discussions for the preparation of a proposal to be
submitted to the Ministry of Urban Development.
A
workshop which was held at the Corporation headquarters on Tuesday
decided on a framework of activities to be undertaken as part of the
ongoing Smart Cities Mission competition in which Thiruvananthapuram
currently competed against 74 cities in the country. A total of 33
cities have already been selected for funding under the scheme.
According
to Thiruvananthapuram Mayor V.K. Prasanth, ward committees will meet
from October 1 to 10 to elicit recommendations to be considered for
inclusion in the Smart City Proposal (SCP). It is likely that one of the
100 wards would be identified as a model for the implementation of the
guidelines, which will later be replicated in the other parts of the
corporation limits.
He added that a consulting firm
will soon be roped in for the project from among as many as six entities
which have expressed interest.
Unite, councillors told
Addressing
the participants of the workshop, former State Planning Board member G.
Vijayaraghavan appealed to the councillors to work for the larger
interests of the city as the Smart City project would not provide for
projects planned in each ward in the corporation. He held the view that
the ward committees must take into account civic issues that are likely
to crop up at least within the next five years and suggest solutions to
address them.
Former Chief Town Planner A. Kasturi
Rangan said that ‘smart’ solutions to various problems referred to
measures that were technology-oriented and also derived from among the
best practices in the world.
Later, a presentation
was conducted by Riby Rachel Mathew, Urban Planner, State Mission
Management Unit, on the guidelines of the Smart Cities Mission.
She
also explained the steps that were undertaken for the preparation of
the SCP in Kochi and the formation of a special purpose vehicle, the
Cochin Smart Mission Ltd, for implementing the project. Members of the
corporation technical committee including scientist Ajaya Kumar Varma of
the Centre for Earth Science Studies, former director of NATPAC T.
Elangovan and historian Malayinkeezhu Gopalakrishnan were among those
who participated in the discussion.
