Ajmer plays it ‘Smart’
The city of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti’s shrine is upbeat after the US announced to aid India in developing its three cities, including Ajmer, as smart cities. Just two days after the Indian government signed an MOU with the United States Trade and Development Agency, the US Indian Business Council has initiated the preparation of making a blue print to develop Ajmer as a smart city. Diane Farrell, president of the council, with her team reached Ajmer on Tuesday to take a firsthand account of the city, its topography and its infrastructure. The delegation is looking for an insight to make this historical place a smart city and will also prepare a time-bound infrastructure plan for development.
This latest development has brought cheer to the pilgrimage city which on occasions choked under pilgrim pressure due to with lack of civic amenities, water, sewage system and infrastructure
Growth Drivers
Ajmer is Rajasthan’s 5th largest city and most well-known pilgrimage centre. The city’s economy is primarily driven by tourism as it receives about six lakh devotees every year, including celebrities that attend the annual Urs here. Apart from that the annual cattle fair at Pushkar is also a big draw for foreign tourists.
Incidentally, the first world-class city project at a cost of Rs 100 crore first came around 1998 when World Bank sanctioned the project. But the project failed as the local administration was ill-prepared and the budget for the project lapsed. Again in 2010, former Union minister Sachin Pilot tried to make Ajmer a world-class city by bringing in a green field airport, a Central University and IT connectivity in remote villages of the district.
Ajmer will also be a beneficiary of the ambitious Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY). The Rs 500-crore project is aimed at preserving and rejuvenating the rich cultural heritage of 12 cities including Ajmer,Varanasi, Mathura, Gaya, Dwarka and Puri. HRIDAY seeks to promote an integrated, inclusive and sustainable development of heritage sites, focusing not just on maintenance of monuments but on advancement of the entire ecosystem including its citizens, tourists and local businesses.
HRIDAY will be dovetailed with the Tourism Ministry’s Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive (PRASAD) scheme which has an outlay of Rs 100 crore for augmentation of infrastructure at pilgrimage sites across the country.
Infrastructure overhaul needed
The future of Ajmer emerging as a smart city has created ripples in the city’s real estate market. It means smart energy, smart buildings, good transport systems, telecommunications, healthcare, traffic, sanitation, proper drinking water supply and better residential areas. The US aid will certainly speed up things in Ajmer.
However, in the current scenario, it would be quite a challenge to introduce the smart city concept as Ajmer is surrounded by lakes and hills apart from being densely populated with limited land. Another major hurdle would lie in restoration of the crumbling heritage, the preservation of which is included in the master plan.
But the most crucial part would be the disaster management as the old city is congested and requires dealing with it eventually, if any. As a smart city, Ajmer has to have energy storage of at least 88,000mw. Another important factor of smart city is smart governance in which the government working would need to be IT based. For waste and water management, proper dumping grounds, plans to adopt electric and high speed trains, a sum of $ 6 million is proposed. Besides, there will be electric vehicles and charging stations all over the urban limit.
New growth corridors
The city of Ajmer is broadly divided into two distinct parts- the old city and new upcoming areas. While the old city is home to Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti’s shrine and has little scope for new development, the new upcoming areas offer many new properties. The areas witnessing maximum growth are Ramganj, Bajrang Garh, Pushkar Road and Jaipur Road. The price points for land in these areas are pegged at Rs 20,000- Rs25, 000 per sq yard.
According to brokers, the news of Ajmer being developed as a smart city has spurred the real estate scenario and land prices are expected to double in the next three years. Moreover Kishangarh with its marble industry and new airport is expected to develop as Ajmer’s twin city thereby throwing fresh possibilities of real estate growth.
