Central Government to Soon Start Work on Creating Smart Cities

One of the key agendas in the present government’s manifesto was to create 100 smart cities in India. Within one month of forming the government, the Central government is already mulling ways to create these smart cities. There are two ways of doing this: one option is to convert the existing towns and cities to smart cities and second is creating new smart cities.

Smart cities

A city is considered ‘smart’ based on six main criteria. They are theories of regional competitiveness, transport and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) economics, natural resources, quality of life, human and social capital, and citizen participation in city governance. This may be considered as the next step of urbanisation. A city is considered smart if it is defined by innovation and has an ability to solve problems while using ICTs to improve the capacity.

To create these smart cities, the government’s plan is to focus on education, employment, entertainment and environment management so that new cities feed into the old. The focus will also be on providing integrated transport such as metro rail, modern bus systems, trams and bicycle tracks, while equal focus will be given for waste management and garbage disposal.

Making existing cities smart

There are already several cities, old and new, that have witnessed a decent infrastructure in the last few years. One of the plans of the Central government is to develop satellite towns around these cities as part of the plan. Some of these cities include Varanasi, Amritsar, Kolkata and even New Delhi. For example, there are already several cities coming up in the Delhi-NCR region such as Ghaziabad, Faridabad, Greater Noida and Bhiwadi.

The budget for constructing these smart cities is expected to come from the Union Budget, from institutions and from the private sector. Project clearances will be put online on the Housing and Urban Development Ministry’s website. The ministry is also preparing a new program that will replace the JNNURM program.

Building new cities

While many existing cities can be made smart, the government is also looking at creating new cities wherever possible. Dholera in Gujarat and Shendra in Maharashtra are two such examples. Both the proposed cities have the advantage of lying on the DMIC corridor.

The DMIC Development Corporation (DMIC) is already seeking Rs 7,500 crore for building three new cities along the corridor including Dholera and Shendra. The total project cost is estimated to be approximately Rs 6,00,000 crore. While the Centre is expected to provide Rs 7,500 crore, the remaining funds are expected to come from the State governments in the forms of land and equity. The Japanese government agencies are also expected to provide cost effective financial support.

Mega infrastructure projects such as DMIC will help in creating more smart cities in the country, while obtaining a push from the present Modi government.

‘Infrastructure’ status for housing

The Central Housing and Urban Development Minister has also hinted about a proposal giving the status of infrastructure for the housing sector. This, according to him, will give the sector more credit, while bringing in more regulations. The ministry also said that this would enable builders to raise bank loans for longer tenure at lower interest rates. Simultaneously, this will help improve the housing stock and bring down housing prices.