The Hindu 11.02.2016
Planning for smart cities? Here’s the India readiness guide
(From left) Philip Bane, executive director of the Smart Cities Council
in Washington, Lee Zak, Director, US Trade And Development Agency, Bruce
Andrews, Deputy Secretary, US Department Of Commerce, Pratap Padode,
founder-director, Smart Cities Council India, and Sumit Banerjee,
Chairman, ASAPP Info Global, at the launch of the Indian readiness guide
in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Setting the platform for collaboration between local
government and technology providers, the Smart Cities Council India on
Wednesday launched the Indian readiness guide to help urban planners
understand the framework of a smart city and take steps to improve
infrastructure.
The India readiness guide was
launched at the third smart cities summit on Wednesday and saw
participation from over 70 expert speakers, officials from over 50
cities, and 300 delegates including technology experts, academics and
urban planners.
Describing it as a significant first
step by India to put its mark on the global smart cities stage, Pratap
Padode, founder of the Smart Cities Council India, said the country
could now become an ‘incubation lab’ for urban solutions.
“The
Smart Cities Council has launched this to help cities plan their
blueprint better. It is also offering workshops for municipalities
seeking training and capacity building,” he added.
As
much as it was an exercise in urban planning the summit was also a
pitch for business. Among the keynote speakers at the event was US
Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews, who was leading a delegation
of 18 American companies looking to launch or expand trade in India in
areas ranging from intelligent transportation, water management and
power.
Mr Andrews stressed that there was substantial
opportunities for these companies in India’s smart city projects and
said the US was looking to be valuable partner in transferring the
lessons it has learned in creating environmentally sustainable
technology. He noted that there were billion of dollars waiting to be
invested to deploy climate-friendly solutions but that “attracting this
money is a competition”.
It was up to the government,
he said, to make the Indian market the most attractive investment
destination it can be. The US is currently engaged in supporting
development Vizag, Allahabad and Ajmer as smart cities but Mr Andrews
indicated that it was looking to be involved with all the other projects
as well.
As part of the US delegation that met with
Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday, Philip Bane,
executive director of the Smart Cities Council in Washington, said the
Ministry wanted to let Indian cities grow without regulation. What it
meant though, he added, was that while the Central government would
allow cities freedom in developing plans for improvement it would not
necessarily fund them.
“The challenge is to create
Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) that will be adaptable and profitable
and that is why we have formed the Smart Cities Council to come up with a
blue print for that,” Mr Bane said.
The Indian
Readiness Guide, Mr Bane added, featured 80 case studies, of which 40
are success stories from India in terms of improving urban
infrastructure. The 400 page report cites studies from from Pune, Delhi,
Kolkata, Surat, Jabalpur, Hyderabad, Indore etc.
The
initial chapters focus on introductory, universal aspects, identifying
various key responsibilities – the day-to-day services that cities need
to provide. A dedicated chapter deals with citizen partnership and
engagement and there are then individual chapters about each
responsibility, such as water, transportation, public safety, etc. which
are illustrated by supporting case studies.
Chapters
on the Smart Cities Framework then elaborate on the relationship
between a city’s responsibilities and its enablers – technology
solutions that can make those tasks easier and citizen engagement that
can make those implementations more inclusive.
The guide features 80 case studies, of which 40 are success stories in improving urban infrastructure
