Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis gives nod to MSRDC projects

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has given an in-principle approval to several big-ticket projects of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC).

Some of these projects are :

Worli-Haji Ali Sea Link

Augmentation of Mumbai-Pune Expressway

Bridges over Thane and Vashi creeks

Freeway on Ghodbunder Road

Smart Cities along Mumbai-Pune Expressway

Inland passenger water transport, etc. Apart from this, an approval has also been given for setting up of MSRDC India International, an international arm of the agency to take up projects for implementation in foreign countries.

MSRDC officials made a presentation to the chief minister detailing about the projects that were pending for clearance and further implementation for the last several years due to various reasons, including lack of funds with the corporation.

"Assurance has been given by the CM on speedy formation of cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure and thereafter quick clearances to the projects of the MSRDC," said Eknath Shinde, chairman of MSRDC

Maharashtra to clear way for new industrial cities run by public firms

The new industrial cities and regions proposed under the ambitious Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor in Maharashtra will be set up as exclusive enclaves, out of the ambit of local authorities such as the existing municipal corporations, zilla parishads, gram panchayats as well as elections. A special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be created to develop each city.

The state government will amend the Maharashtra Regional Town Planning Act, 1966 to grant special planning authority status to these SPVs set up by the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor trust (DMIC) and the state’s nodal agency Maharashtra industrial development corporation (MIDC). This will ensure the industrial cities are set up with no hindrance from local authorities or existing laws.

To free up the areas from the control of the existing gram panchayat, municipality or corporation limits, the state will issue a notification under Article 243 Q of the Indian Constitution.

In phase I, two new industrial areas have been proposed – Dighi maritime city in Raigad and Shendre-Bidkin manufacturing hub in Aurangabad. The project spans 10 districts in the state, including Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Aurangabad, Nasik, and covers 18% of the state, with 26% of the state’s population falling under its area of influence.

“This is to facilitate the creation of trunk infrastructure in the proposed industrial cities. The land will be acquired by MIDC and handed over to the SPV and the state government will provide adequate police cadre to maintain law and order. But otherwise, these areas will be controlled in perpetuity by the SPVs, headed by a government official,’’ said a senior industries department official.

The industries department government resolution issued this week has tasked various departments such as the rural development and urban development revenue department to start amending laws to grant special status to the SPVs. It also stated all development in these regions will be exempt from stamp duty, property tax etc. “The SPVs will be created to develop each industrial city or area and will have all the powers to decide land use, electricity distribution, right of way etc,” stated the government order, dated January 19.

The state cabinet had given its go-ahead to the state support agreement and the shareholding agreement between the DMIC Trust and the MIDC last year. Both the agreements lay down this procedure to plan new industrial cities. A joint committee between the SPV and the state government will be formed to iron out coordination issues. DMIC, through the SPV, will opt for transparent competitive bidding to develop the second-stage infrastructure of these cities.

The trunk infrastructure will be funded by the Centre, while the state government’s equity will be in the form of land acquired for the project.

It is learnt chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is keen to ensure both the cities are set up by the 2019 deadline set by the Centre

Gujarat government ready with new smart city development policy

Ahmedabad, DeshGujarat

To gain maximum out of Prime Minister Narendra Modi led union Government’s major thrust on the development of smart cities across the country, Gujarat Government has readied a ‘Smart City Development Policy’ which is under the final approval of the Chief Minister Anandiben Patel and expected to get through before the state budget in next few days.

The new policy draft prepared by the state Urban Development & Urban Housing development department with the help of a leading management consultancy firm is focused on development of new green field smart cities as well as development of existing cities(brown field) as the smart cities.

The new policy has adopted lot of concept from the Government of India’s proposed smart cities guidelines and also adopted several concepts prevalent in other parts of the world and India.

Under the new policy major thrust will be given on planned development of eco-friendly cities. Huge financial and other incentives like additional FSI(Floor Space Index) will be offered to the projects coming up in the area. For infrastructure projects under the PPP(Public Private Partnership) mode special incentives will be given.

Gujarat government is also planning to develop five new cities in anticipation of a major new scheme for the development new smart cities.

Under the DMIC(Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor), Japan and Government of Gujarat are jointly planning eco-smart cities at GIFT city(Gandhinagar), Dholera, Sanand, Changodar and Dahej also.

MMRDA has decided to transform all upcoming commercial hubs into smart cities

To woo more investors and get premium pricing for land, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has decided to transform all upcoming commercial hubs into smart cities.

A smart city will have public Wi-Fi, integrated CCTV camera network, smart parking system, solar lighting apps to find utilities, among other things. 

For this, the MMRDA has identified 

Panvel, 

Kalyan, 

Alibaug-Pen, 

Bhiwandi and 

Vasai-Virar, 

which will be connected to Navi Mumbai International airport through the proposed Virar-Alibaug multimodal corridor (VAMC).

“To strengthen the brand value of commercial hubs, we need to add as many components as possible. We want the hubs to be equipped with advanced facilities before they are made operational,” said UPS Madan, MMRDA commissioner.

Last month, a think tank from South Korea came up with a proposal to create these centres along the VAMC.

The MMRDA has already undertaken the Smart BKC project, where the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) is set to be developed as a smart city by next year.

The smart city project is being implemented on build-operate- transfer (BOT) mode. The MMRDA issued tenders for the BKC project in October, but the authority will have to start afresh as the state government has suggested a few changes.

“The information technology department wants the number of people working on the project to be reduced. So we are going to invite fresh tenders,” Madan said.

While the Wadala Truck Terminus (WTT) area is also set to be developed as a smart city, the MMRDA is not keen about going ahead with the project in the Oshiwara district centre, as it involves acquisition of a large chunk of private land.

There could, however, be one more commercial hub in Kanjurmarg.

Kalyan could be next big business hub by 2028

B y 2028, or 13 years hence, the rapidly developing suburb of Kalyan could be transformed into a business and cultural hub and a self-sufficient township, according to a plan submitted to the city’s development authority by the South Korean government.

A South Korean government think-tank under its Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which has suggested the creation of five growth centres in the outer Mumbai region, has recommended developing Kalyan as the first priority keeping in mind its accessibility and growth potential. 

The other four centres recommended are 

Vasai-Virar, 

Bhiwandi, 

Greater Panvel and 

Pen-Alibaug.

Based on its experience in development of new districts around its capital Seoul, it has outlined a concept plan for a Kalyan growth centre, which could be completed by 2028 with an investment of Rs 56,676. 2 crore.

U P S Madan, metropolitan commissioner at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, said, “The concept of creating such cities in these countries is very different from ours. There a lot of infrastructure that is first put in place by the government and then the private sector follows. However, here it looks too huge an amount to spend upfront and expect returns over a longer period of time. In that sense, it doesn’t seem to be workable. A step-by-step approach is one option. We have asked them to give a more detailed implementation plan. The team will be visiting again on December 3.”

According to the report, the growth centre in Kalyan is proposed to be created across 27 villages – 19 in Kalyan and 8 in Ambernath – for which the MMRDA is already the special planning authority. The total area would be 1,077 hectares for a planned residential population of 2,91,000 people.

The area is expected to be well connected with the existing Mumbai-Kalyan radial, the Central railway line, the proposed Virar-Alibaug Multi Modal Corridor, and two state highways. The MMRDA has also been studying the possibility of setting up a mass transit corridor connecting Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan.

The growth centre will be a smart city with all urban infrastructure services like private and public offices, museums, theatres, colleges, shopping malls, business hotels, convention centres, health centres, markets, libraries and so on.

Sanjay Dutt, a member of the state’s Legislative Council and a Congress leader from Kalyan West, said, “Kalyan has fallen prey to haphazard unauthorised development due to delays in implementation of infrastructure development and the notification of a development plan for these 27 villages. If the government wants to seriously act on this report and develop Kalyan as a growth centre, the basic infrastructure has to be put in place first. 

Currently, Thane has a system of basic infrastructure developed with residences, commercial areas, good roads and connectivity, but Kalyan doesn’t even have that. Secondly, the government will have to fast-track plans for a mass transit corridor connecting Kalyan and actually take it beyond to areas like Ambernath and Titwala. Also, a development plan needs to be put in place at the earliest to stop illegal constructions.”

According to the report, the region is proposed to have 67,686 houses to accommodate a population of 291,077 people. The think-tank has recommended phasing out the implementation between 2015 and 2028, with the first phase to be developed in areas around major road corridors such as the proposed Virar-Alibaug Multi Modal Corridor and state highways. The second phase will include areas along a monorail line and the third phase to develop the remaining area. The think-tank suggests either public acquisition or land pooling as the means to make the project feasible. “It is still too early to talk about financial models. 

We will need to discuss with the state government and get its views on this proposal for the growth centres,” Madan said. Under public acquisition, the government will have to spend Rs 35,062 crore on land acquisition according to the new regulation and Rs 10,518.6 crore as compensation to the project-affected. Considering all other costs, the project is estimated to cost Rs 56,676.20 crore, excluding the regional transport infrastructure such as the main highway, monorail or the Multi Modal Corridor. Under the land pooling option, assuming a 10 per cent public ownership before pooling, the plan envisages returning 53.2 per cent of land to the owners and using 41.4 per cent for public facilities such as parks, recreational spaces, roads and other facilities. About 5.4 per cent could be reserved for sale, which would help the government break even. This model is likely to require a total investment of Rs 2980.50 crore.

Smart City In charge appreciates Cidco’s smart city scheme NAINA

Belapur: With hearings for objections and suggestions for the pilot project of Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA) set to be held from November 27, the concept has evoked interest and even earned appreciation from none other than the chief of the smart city project in the Narendra Modi government. According to sources, “The in charge of smart city has appreciated the concept of NAINA and wants the model to be replicated in other parts of the country.” 

Cidco has passed a board resolution for development of NAINA area and has submitted interim development plan for the region comprising of 23 villages. The hearing on suggestions and objections will be held on November 27, 28 and 29 at the NAINA office in Belapur. 

Developers from the region had submitted their observation for the draft interim development plan and during the hearing want to make a detailed presentation of the issues faced by them. Elaborating on the plan, sources said, “NAINA is nothing but a smart city scheme. We plan to develop the area into region of the 21st century. If people come together and have minimum 10 hectare of land, then we have an incentive scheme wherein if they surrender 40% of their land to Cidco, they will get FSI of 1.7 for development against the presently available 0.1 FSI.” In addition, the sources said, “Cidco will be getting all the environmental clearances for them and develop infrastructure in the area.” 

The state government had appointed Cidco as special planning authority (SPA) for NAINA, which is in the 25 km radius area of Navi Mumbai airport. Cidco was also entrusted with the responsibility of draft interim development plan with corresponding control regulations. Accordingly, Cidco has prepared a pilot project of 23 villages. Any developer who has to start construction work in the NAINA region have to take permission from Cidco to start the project unlike the practise earlier, wherein it sought permission from local bodies. 

Meanwhile, developers want early decisions on NAINA. Harish Chheda, Navi Mumbai-based developer, however, feels the government should fast track NAINA development. “There is a need for Cidco and the state government to fast track NAINA development. Cidco was, till now, focused on airport development, but they should also cater to other sectors which demand attention.”

Centre to roll out plans for 2 smart cities along Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor this fiscal year

MUMBAI: The Centre is likely to roll out the final plans for at least two of its proposed 100 'smart cities' along the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) by the end of the current financial year, a senior government official said.

The Narendra Modi-led NDA government has decided to create industrial agglomeration along the proposed five industrial corridors including the DMIC, Bangalore-Mumbai Economic Corridor, Chennai-Vizag Corridor, Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Development Corridor, Chennai-Bangalore and East-Coast Economic Corridor.

"The new government has put emphasis on developing physical infrastructure and growth in manufacturing sector. We have planned industrial agglomeration along the five proposed corridors to boost manufacturing along with catering to the demand of workers there for better living," Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) additional secretary Shatrughna Singh told the media on the sidelines of FICCI Real Estate Summit in Mumbai on Thursday. Singh said the DMIC will have around 22 locations, which will be developed as smart cities.

"Out of the 22, seven places will be taken up in the first phase. To begin with, we have identified two places including Dholera in Gujarat and Shendra-Bidkin near Aurangabad in Maharashtra where we will see the actual ground work. In this fiscal, we can see some tendering happening by the respective governments for the development in these regions," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier announced the government's plans to develop 100 smart cities across the country that will provide modern amenities, education and employment opportunities.

The government has also decided to create a National Industrial Corridor Authority (NICA), which will cover all the corridors except the DMIC, to channelise institutional funding for smart cities. "We expect the authority to be formed in this fiscal itself," Singh said.

The government is looking to create special purpose vehicle for every node in which central and state government themselves will also be equity partners. The equity stake could be offered to private firms and funding institutions, Singh said, adding that DIPP will look at development of smart cities while urban development department will handle redeveloping of exiting cities.

MMRDA's plan to convert BKC into smart township

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s plan to convert Bandra-Kurla Complex into a smart township has seen a lot of companies expressing interest. MMRDA says it has received several Expression of Interest (EoI) bids after it invited the applications last month.

MMRDA plans to make BKC a smart township, but is yet to decide the model through which it will develop the facilities. File pic

MMRDA plans to have high-speed wi-fi connectivity throughout the township and install solar streetlights. The agency also wants to develop better parking facilities in BKC and cover the entire area with a comprehensive video surveillance system.

Officials say many companies are approaching them, wishing to develop these facilities. An official told mid-day, “Recently we met representatives of a few companies who wanted to know about the ‘Smart BKC’ concept in detail. We were surprised to see the number of people coming forward.”

Quizzed about the cost of the project, the official added, “At present I cannot comment on the cost because we have not decided whether we will implement the project on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis or some other model.” MMRDA is the Special Planning Authority for the township.

October 28 is the last day for submission of EoI bids online. The MMRDA developed BKC with sole purpose of providing a financial and business hub and also to decongest south Mumbai. BKC already has a number of financial and business houses like National Stock Exchange, SEBI, Diamond Bourse and various national and international private banks.

It also has schools, a hospital, five-star hotels, and consulates of USA, UK, Australia and France, apart from being home to residential quarters for government employees. As per an MMRDA official, BKC provides 2 lakh jobs.

“The Authority has developed 19 hectares of land (E Block) with the presence of prominent institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, Income Tax, Sales Tax, Provident Fund and many other corporate and commercial establishments.

“Together, these buildings offer 160 hectares of office space with potential to accommodate thousands of workers. Developing the Bandra-Kurla Complex as a smart township will only add on to the features,” the official stated.

- See more at: http://www.mid-day.com/articles/mumbai-mmrdas-plan-to-convert-bkc-into-smart-township-finds-many-takers/15702187#sthash.YavOVCG2.dpuf

Final shape to 'Smart Cities' project by next month: M Venkaiah Naidu

HYDERABAD: The government will give a final shape to its proposed flagship scheme on developing '100 smart cities' next month, Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said here today.

"100 smart cities will come up..some by converting present cities and some by having satellite towns around those cities and some by combining two cities into one by building a new city in between. This is the plan. Final shape will be given during the month of November and then it will go to the Cabinet," Naidu said

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the '5th Telangana Real Estate Developers Association (TREDA) Property Show 2014' that got underway here, he said converting present cities into smart cities is a difficult job. So one idea is to develop satellite towns around the bigger cities. "That's one plan we are having in mind and I am working on that."

Aiming to provide better facilities and amenities in urban areas, the government announced a plan to develop 100 smart cities in the general budget this year.

Asked if policy framework on government's another ambitious scheme 'Housing for All by 2022' had been prepared, the Minister said, "We are at an advanced stage. We are trying to go for (providing) interest subvention for affordable housing. Because at the present interest rates, people cannot construct houses. So for the affordable ie economically weaker sections and low income groups of housing, we are planning to have interest subvention, wherein interest will be subsidised by government for those people.

"I am also working with Finance Ministry to have preferential loan for the housing sector. They said we are positive and working on that," he said.

Asked on Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, Naidu said, "I am planning to take it in forthcoming session of Parliament or in budget session. That will be taken on a priority."

On Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), he said, "It has lapsed already in March 2014. Now we are planning to bring a new mission. It is almost in final stage and once it goes to Cabinet then it will be announced."

Earlier, speaking at the event, he said the Centre has a plan to develop periphery of Hyderabad city by creating satellite township. "That is the thinking of the Government of India. I had informal discussions with Telangana CM Chandrasekhar Rao (on the matter). That has to take concrete shape."

Naidu further said the Central government is trying to revive the economy.

"If we want the real estate sector to grow, we need to bring down interest rates. There is no (other way). Interest rates can be brought (down) only if the economy becomes strong."

"It is a challenge of constructing 3 crore houses in urban areas and 6 crore houses in rural areas. It is a massive task," he said, adding that the government has decided to allow FDI in real estate sector. The government also plans to develop 500 cities across the country and proposes to launch National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), a scheme to conserve and preserve heritage character of cities, he said.

"My government has taken up implementation of Street Vendors Bill. The Centre has already passed this Bill. But it is the duty of the state governments' to frame the rules," Naidu added.

Navi Mumbai to house largest solar panel installation on dam

NEW DELHI: The Morbe dam on Dhavari River in Navi Mumbai is going to house something unique: a solar panel installation big enough to generate 20 megawatt of power. 

A three-year-old company that is carrying out the Rs 162 crore project claims the installation to be the largest in the world on a dam barrier, and the first in India. India already has several solar power installations on top of canals, the biggest being an under construction 10 MW project on a Narmada canal in Gujarat, but none on a sloping wall. To make matters complicated, the Morbe gravity dam has an earthen slope, said Rahul Gupta, an IIT-Roorkee alumnus and founder of Rays Power Experts, which got the contract from the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation. 

"The other side of the wall will have a huge amount of water, so the construction has to be done in a way that it doesn't puncture the wall," said the 27-year-old. "It also needs to be made sure that future maintenance is easy and the solar panels are not spoilt by salty water." The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of March next year. 

"The safety of the three-kilometer-long dam is our topmost priority, but as a skilled team of 125 young engineers from IITs and NITs, we are looking for newer technical challenges," Gupta said. Solar panels will cover the entire stretch of the dam barrier. Gupta's first assignment was in 2010, the year he graduated. He helped an investor set up a 1 MW facility in his home state of Rajasthan, in his pursuit to make money to set up his own plant one day. 

The following years saw Rajasthan becoming the centre of the proliferation of the solar power industry, with increasing focus of the government and private sector on clean energy. Rajasthan now has the second most installed solar capacity in the country — according to Bridge to India, a market intelligence and consultancy firm, the state had 679 MW of solar power capacity at the end of May this year, compared with leader Gujarat's 859 MW. 

Gupta was one of those who benefited, and he founded Rays Power Experts in 2011. At the end of this September, the company had an order book of Rs 500 crore, and Gupta expects it to double to Rs 1,000 crore by March. 

The company has orders to install 65 megawatt and is also planning to expand its own power generation capacity — it has a 3 MW facility at Gajner in Rajasthan. According to Gupta, bagging big projects in one go is not what he is looking for. "My aim is to make every individual capable to set up his own solar power project and have his own energy to use." 

Centre Lists Conditions for Getting Smart City Label

CHENNAI: Cities along the coast, hills as well as those having a population between one to four million could be among the 100 to be developed as Smart Cities.

Official sources said that the Union Ministry of Urban Development has circulated a draft concept note to State governments on a set of proposed conditions for eligibility for the smart city tag.

Sources said the Centre has sought proposals for approval of satellite cities, cities of tourist and religious importance as well as cities in the 0.2-1 million population range. These proposals are likely to be reviewed by a committee before approval by the Central government.

Sources said that the approval process would have two stages. In the first stage, cities and states would have to submit an Integrated Smart City Development Plan, based on the Smart City Reference Framework.

Thereafter, cities would be sanctioned an initial amount for preparation of professional and comprehensive project reports. Under the second stage, the Project Reports would be evaluated by designated Project Management Units and finally approved by an Empowered Committee.

Cities that desire to participate in the smart city programme should develop a financing plan along with their smart city development plan and detailed project reports. Sources said the financing plan developed for a city or urban agglomeration could factor in resources from multiple government agencies and departments — not restricted to the ambit of urban development schemes alone. It is also learnt that the Union government has suggested a set of 13 benchmarks for smart cities — transport, spatial planning, water supply, sewerage, sanitation, solid waste management, storm water drainage, electricity, telephone connections, wi-fi connectivity, healthcare facilities, education, firefighting and others like renewable energy as well as adopting green building norms.

Both the states and Centre are banking on the private sector for developing smart cities. Sources said that using an average figure of one million people in each of the 100 smart cities, the total estimate of investment requirements for the services covered by high power expert committee comes to `7 lakh crore over 20 years.

This translates into an annual requirement of `35,000 crore. However, these estimates need to be analysed for the purpose of funding.

Five new smart cities to be developed under DMIC project

As a part of the plan to develop 100 smart cities, the government has identified five places in as many states on the alignment of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) to be developed as smart cities. The cities that have been identified are 

1. Dholera in Gujarat

2. Shendra-Bidkin in Maharashtra

3. Greater Noida in UP

4. Ujjain (MP)

5. Gurgaon in Haryana.

A total of 24 manufacturing cities are envisaged under the DMIC project. The initial phase of the new cities will be completed by 2019.

A senior commerce ministry official said these five places have been identified in the course of ongoing industrial as well as other business activities in these areas. “All these places are on the DMIC corridor. The idea is to have global regional cities,” said the official. While Gurgaon has already established as a cyber city of North India, a special investment region is coming up at Dholera in Gujarat – a port city 40 km away from Ahmedabad.
The investment in the urban development project at Dholera is pegged at Rs 72,000 crore. A slew of international corporations have evinced interest in the project. Similarly, industrial cities will be developed in the Shendra-Bidkin area of the Aurangabad district in Maharashtra.

The smart cities will have special features. The government has identified these cities as global regional cities with key sustainable development concepts. As per the plans, the focus will be on transport, IT-enabled governance, conservation of natural resources and use of renewable energy.

The blue print for the smart cities on the DMIC corridor says, “The focus will be on reduction of the commuting needs. These cities will have multiple Central Business Districts (CBDs) and industrial zones. The land use will be integrated and mixed-use will be encouraged. Provision will have to be made for affordable houses for the workers near the industrial zones.”

Apart from these, the government is also looking at setting up high capacity multi-nodal mass transit corridors, with due encouragement to cycling and pedestrian ways. Also, recycling and re use of water and solid waste will be provided, and governance and administration will be IT-based on real time basis.

DMIC will serve as a 1,483 km manufacturing hub on the alignment of the Dedicated freight corridor between Delhi and Mumbai. The freight corridor will serve as a logistics backbone to the goods produced on the industrial corridor. The government has also conceptualised four other corridors on which the work is likely to begin at a later stage. These corridors are Bengaluru-Mumbai Economic Corridor, Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Development Corridor, Chennai-Bengaluru, East-Cost Economic corridor and Chennai-Vizag corridor.

India will have 30-40 smart cities in the next five years

The $48-billion networking giant Cisco sees the global smart city business to be worth $3 trillion and close to $6 billion of that is possible from India in the next five years itself, according to the company’s calculations. While the underlying internet of everything (IoE) network is estimated to be about $19 trillion in value, about $600 billion of that is expected to be generated from India. The chief globalisation officer of Cisco, Wim Elfrink, tells FE’s Anand J that, in today’s world, information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure is as essential as other infrastructure services such as roads, power and water. He says that smart cities help us save energy consumption by 30% and water consumption by 50%. Cisco has made India its centre of innovation with regard to its smart city project with the vertical’s head working out of Bangalore. Edited excerpts:

Why has Cisco chosen India as a hub for its smart city plan? From a business perspective, does it make sense and, if yes, how?

When we started this concept seven years ago, we were building a new campus in India. So we made the decision to invest $1.1 billion in India to attract new talent. That building is made on the smart city concept and we have employed all the technological resources we have. In fact, we have deployments in 82 cities of the world. India now has a Prime Minister who says that the country is going to establish 100 smart cities. We have a lot of experience doing this and we want to share all of that. We want to see whether we can build an ecosystem in India to accommodate the vision of the government.

Which are the projects you are working on currently?

The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is the only such project in the world where we have produced a master ICT plan for a city that still has to be built. Dholera, a port city in Gujarat, is the first such city in the world. That shows we can deliver. We have worked with Narendra Modi in Gujarat when he was the chief minister of the state, having opened an innovation centre in the state back in 2011. We had also worked with Amitabh Kant earlier when he was the CEO of DMIC and now as secretary, DIPP.

What are your experiences in working in those 82 cities you talked about and what best practices are you bringing to India?

Every city is a work in progress, always. What we can do is add and create more services to the ICT network. Technology evolves all the time. But the question is, why now? Because now three elements have come together. First, sensors have become a lot cheaper and affordable. Second, we now live in the world of apps—smartphones didn’t exist 5-6 years ago—and consumerisation of technology is possible and hence monetisation is easier. Third, with the Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPV6), we have enough IP addresses for next 100 billion devices, helping in the enormous acceleration of the industry. Now, 138 billion apps have been downloaded and there are 1.3 million different apps in the world. Citizens are asking for services to be delivered through apps. We are moving into a sharing economy; look at taxi services such as Uber—who would have predicted this kind of business model. The momentum is there and governments are daring to come up with the concept of new smart cities. The case study of Barcelona is apt and we have been working on this since the 1992 Olympics. The event gave the much needed economic injection and a new governance model evolved as a result. Therefore, the 100 smart cities planned in India are essential for the economy as urbanisation happens at a rapid pace. We are now looking at how we can share knowledge and become a centre of expertise in the industry, government and public-private partnerships, all of which have to accelerate ICT deployment in India.

But most of the utilities are heavily subsidised in India. How will you monetise and find partners to invest in subsidised services?

We have to look at it through a different lens. We spend money in real systems in India and now we will have to redirect some of that money. You have to view it in a horizontal way and embrace the concept of ICT as an essential infrastructure. Look at the way people have adopted smartphones in India; nobody expected that. They are not subsidised, and something has to appeal to the users which must fulfil their needs. The telephone infrastructure was built as people saw value. You need a visionary to say that we need 100 smart cities. We need compelling services to monetise and make them aspirational. There is enough money available and this is a good start. We are already working on the Electronics City project in Bangalore. People will start thinking and prioritising. Further, we have lots of start-ups emerging in the Internet of Things space. For delivery of cheaper and quality services in education and healthcare, we need ICT, and things have to be approached differently.

What is the most challenging aspect while trying to build a smart city in India?

The issue is not technology or money, but of governance. A new leadership is emerging and that is why our global office for smart cities is based out of Bangalore. We need to ease regulations to get things going, especially for brownfield projects. This has to be done at a local level. You need to see how to create ecosystems and start working at a local level. It is hard to find ownership in an Indian city. Or who is the spokesperson for the city? It is a prerequisite to get started and also how the project is set up.

Where do you think is India going to be in the next five years as far as smart cities are concerned?

We are encouraged by the DMIC. It is a greenfield project and Dholera has a great chance of success. In fact, over the next five years, at least 30-40 cities will be on the way. We will have the testimonials to share. The level of smartness will be based on priorities of each city. It also depends on ecosystem partners and development of apps, etc. Most cities will be different. It will be based on what services people want to have in these cities. We are committed to get this industry going. In India, this industry will be $6 billion in value.

Chandrababu Naidu's announcement of setting up three mega cities and 14 smart cities

Chandrababu Naidu's announcement of setting up three mega cities and 14 smart cities on Thursday is set to bring cheer to realtors, as land prices and real estate business is set to scale new heights, according to experts.

While East Godavari district will get two smart cities - Kakinada and Rajamundry -West Godavari district will be in the limelight due to its proximity to the capital city. Cities like Eluru, Tadepalligudem and Bhimavaram are also set to witness increase in land prices as they are close to Vijayawada.

"In almost all towns in coastal Andhra, land prices touched an all-time high as soon as the announcement on capital was made," said a realtor. "Most of our cities are densely populated, but lack infrastructure. To build smart cities, we first need to have high bandwidth and optical fibre connectivity," said a senior official in the urban development ministry.

Naidu's plan to develop cities in all the districts is also expected to give a thrust to the consumer durables market. Owing to the warm weather in the state, sales of fans and air-conditioners is expected to increase. With over 190 government buildings in and around Vijayawada, the air-conditioning market itself is set for a huge boost.

Naidu's announcement of four-lane roads connecting most of the towns in Rayalaseema districts will also boost inter-state trade. The Chennai-Bangalore express highway and its connecting road network in Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool and Anantapur will give big push to the infrastructure market.

Navi Mumbai to soon be a hub for affordable housing

If you are planning to buy a house soon, Navi Mumbai will soon be a good place to look. In the next nine months, 4,750 acres of land is going to be available for residential construction due to a change in policy.

Where did this land come from?
The City and Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco) recently issued a notification freeing 350 hectares (875 acres) of 1,500 hectares of land for residential construction. Earlier, this land was a regional planning zone, where most plots and its surrounding areas were reserved for the government to build gardens, schools, hospitals, etc. "The 350 hectares now mostly belong to private owners. Now, land owners can apply for conversion and develop it as per their convenience," said senior Cidco official requesting anonymity.

Cidco has earmarked another 400 hectares (1,000 acres) of land to rehabilitate those affected by the Navi Mumbai airport project. Cidco will rehabilitate them by giving them 22.5 per cent of developed land near Ulwe and its surrounding areas. Cidco has also decided to develop a modern township called Navi Mumbai Airport Influence Notified Area (NAINA), close to the new airport in Panvel taluka on 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of land.

Asia's biggest township in NaMu soon
NAINA will be well-planned and is being touted as Asia's biggest township. It will be developed in the next five years in a phase-wise manner on a public-private partnership model.

How much will these houses cost?
Arvind Goel, president of the Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (MCHI), Navi Mumbai Unit, welcomed Cidco's decision of converting the reserved land for residential purposes. "It is good news for developers and potential buyers. Because of the availability of so much land, large numbers of affordable houses will be constructed. These houses will be in the Rs 40-60 lakh bracket," said Goel.

Manohar Shroff, general secretary of MCHI, Navi Mumbai said, "Land prices are going through the roof, so developers were compelled to raise property prices. The availability of a huge chunk of land will surely help reduce land prices and subsequently, property prices. The input cost is important in the construction business."

Development should by eco-friendly: Real estate expert

Atul Nemade, a real estate expert, said that it was good news that some much land is going to be available for housing. "But the development should be sustainable and eco-friendly. It shouldn't just be a concrete jungle, or there will be chaos. Besides, the state government controls the prices and development," said Nemade.

Smart Cities – A Futuristic Vision Of Urbanization In India

Anuj Puri, Chairman & Country Head, JLL India

Across the world, the stride of migration from rural urban areas is increasing. By 2050, about 70% of the population will be living in cities, and India is no exception. India will need about 500 new cities to accommodate the rapid influx of population into its urban regions.

Interestingly, urbanization in India has for the longest time been viewed as a by-product of failed regional planning. Though this is inevitable, and will only change when the benefits of urbanization overtake the costs involved, it is an opportunity for achieving faster growth.

With increasing urbanization and the load on the land in rural areas, the Indian government has now realized the need for cities that can cope with the inherent challenges of urban living and also be magnets for investment to catalyse the local economies. The announcement of ‘100 smart cities’ falls in line with this vision.

A ‘smart city’ is an urban region that is highly advanced in terms of overall infrastructure, sustainable real estate, communications and market viability. It is a city with information technology as its principal infrastructure and the very basis for providing essential services to its residents. There are many technological platforms involved, including but not limited to automated sensor networks and data centres. Though this may sound futuristic, it is now likely to become a reality as the ‘smart cities’ movement unfolds in India.

A smart city offers a superior way of life to its denizens, and one wherein economic development and activity is sustainable and rationally incremental by virtue of being based on success-oriented market drivers such as supply and demand. They literally benefit everybody, including denizens, businesses, the government and moreover the environment.

Origins Of The ‘Smart City’ Concept

The concept of smart cities originated at the time when the entire world was facing one of the worst economic crises. In 2008, IBM began work on a ‘smarter cities’ concept as part of its Smarter Planet initiative. By the beginning of 2009, the concept had captivated the imagination of various nations across the globe.

Countries like South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and China began to invest heavily into research and the formation of smart cities. Today, there are a number of excellent precedents that India can emulate for its own smart cities programme:

• Smart City Vienna in Austria
• Aarhus Smart City in Denmark
• Amsterdam Smart City
• Cairo Smart Village in Egypt
• Dubai Smart City and Dubai Internet City in the UAE
• Smart City Lyon in France
• Smart City Málaga in Spain
• Malta Smart City
• The Songdo International Business District near Seoul, South Korea
• Yokohama Smart City in Japan
• Verona Smart City in Italy

Smart Cities In India

In India, the cities that have ongoing or proposed smart cities include Kochi in Kerala, Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Aurangabad in Maharashtra, Manesar in Delhi NCR, Khushkera in Rajasthan, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, Ponneri in Tamil Nadu and Tumkur in Karnataka. Many of these cities will include special investment regions or special economic zones with modified regulations and tax structures aimed at making is easier and more attractive for foreign companies to invest in them.

This is an essential factor for success for smart cities in India, because much of the funding for these projects will have to come from private developers and from abroad.

Challenges

The smart city concept is not without challenges, especially in a country like India. For instance, the success of such a city depends on its residents, entrepreneurs and visitors to the city becoming actively involved in energy saving and implementation of new technologies. There are many ways to make residential, commercial and public spaces sustainable by ways of technology, but a high percentage of the total energy use is still in the hands of end users and their behaviour. Also, there is the time factor – such cities can potentially take anything between 20-30 years to build

Cidco to install 500 CCTV cams in Navi Mumabi for smart-city tag

NAVI MUMBAI: In a first for the state, the vital locations of a major part of an entire city will be under CCTV surveillance. While over 260 CCTV cameras are already installed in areas under the jurisdiction of Navi Mumbai's municipal corporation, about 500 more will be introduced in six nodes under Cidco: Kharghar, Kalamboli, New Panvel, Kamothe, Ulwe and Dronagiri.

The expanded network, just like the existing one, will be connected to the police control room, where footage will be monitored. The network will also be linked up to a public address and messaging system, and a citizens' portal, thus making Navi Mumbai vie for the status of 'smart city'.

Cidco's managing director, Sanjay Bhatia, told TOI the system would be created for the benefit of people. Surveillance will not be its only role. The cameras will have sensors through which a variety of software applications can be created to give information on pollution and analytical data on traffic. The information can be accessed through a portal to be especially created.

The new cameras will be installed at railway stations, religious places, shops, malls, theatres, hotels, schools, hospitals, key residential areas, industrial units, godowns, warehouses and other commercial and government buildings in Cidco's jurisdiction. Individual housing societies can voluntarily opt into the network.

The CCTV proposal will be put before the next board meeting, likely to convened in a week. To comprehensively monitor the entire city, including both Cidco and municipal corporation areas, the police have issued a voluntary code of practice for linking the camera networks of the two establishments. A committee under the chairmanship of the principal secretary of the department of information technology, Rajesh Agrawal, has been constituted, with senior police officers as its members.

Cidco said Navi Mumbai will become the first city in India to have a code of conduct for a citywide CCTV surveillance system. Keeping in mind Navi Mumbai's increasing population, Cidco felt it necessary to keep tabs on miscreants at public places that are vulnerable to crime. Various government and private establishments have accepted the code.

Installation will be in two phases. In the first—covering Kharghar, Kalamboli and
New Panvel—192 cameras will be installed.

Smart City Dream 2020, By Sudhir Chowdhary, Country Leader, MobileFirst, IBM India/South Asia

India has been talking about the dream of being a developed country by 2020. Few are, however, aware that 

everyday close to 30 people leave rural India to build their future in urban cities. 

Thus there is demanding need to develop India from the grass root level. With the amount of people migrating to the cities, India would have to have more than 100 cities in the coming years to occupy such an outburst. At this point, city and urban development boards will need to use inventive technologies and solutions to accomplish the growing demands on city infrastructures that deliver vital services.

While smart cities are the way forward, mobility is a huge factor for smarter city to become successful as mobility would mean better service and well informed citizens, says Prashant Sharma, country leader, MobileFirst, IBM India/South Asia. “Mobility will help improve connectivity even in emergency situations. Imagine being sent an SMS when there is a Tsunami or an earthquake in or around your area; it would work as an alert system.” In a recent interaction, he discusses with Sudhir Chowdhary how mobile technology will drive the move to smarter cities. Excerpts:

Give us an overview of how mobile technology plays a vital role in smart city?

Modern technology lets us track and observe almost anything in a major urban environment—noise, light, traffic, weather and so on—and use this data to improve people’s living and working conditions. For example, in a country like India, traffic and parking availability is one area of smart city challenges that is leveraging new technology to initiate real change. New technology is emerging all the time that lets us manipulate networks more finely, taking advantage of more sensors, more cameras and more real-time data to improve road traffic.

Mobility will be the key driver of the digital universe. Faster mobile networks are at the core of smart cities and are allowing people to do more on the move. As networks offer more cloud-based services and storage, this in turn leads to more personalised content and apps being accessible to users, which both updates and is updated by ever-smarter mobile devices. Smarter devices, faster networks and the cloud becoming pervasive all combine to power greater intake of digital content—in short, users want more data all the time and want it now.

The Internet of Things (IoT) will also play a crucial role in smart city development. The pure weight of Big Data created by the IoT will have a bearing everywhere, particularly on things like traffic flow—town architects will be able to gather the data, analyse it and use it to adapt future policy and projects.

Let us say, if you have to get a patient in emergency situation from point of accident to the hospital, you may transfer signals to the route of ambulance to turn all lights green and save lives. There are hundreds of used cases where mobility can transform our lives.

How will citizens benefit from a mobile implementation in a smart city?

To improve the quality of life, cities have to realise that smart technologies need to work both ways: not just for citizens but with citizens. A smart city collects and integrates knowledge from the Internet of Things (IoT), the Internet of Services (IoS) and the Internet of People. Citizens are more liberated, more conscious of the surrounding opportunities, and benefit from the integrated services that the city offers. The smart infrastructure is the intelligence of the city, governs its body and reacts to the situations intelligently. A smart city allows new ideas to thrive and new, more effective approaches to be developed in economy, politics, governance, mobility, environment and all the other facets of city life.

Let us imagine a person visiting a city for the first time. She has no idea of what the city has to offer, but she is interested in finding out about museums. With a mobile device on her (phone or tablet) and an Internet connection, she can use this application to retrieve in a few seconds all the surrounding museums. For each of them, she can than request additional details like the entrance cost, opening hours and so on. But the application is not limited to touristic information. Instead, it can display a large variety of objects, to best satisfy the user’s needs in every context.

What other technologies come together to make a smart city?

The purpose of smarter cities is to ensure a more convenient life for citizens by generating various information types from all human behaviours and situations, such as the number of people waiting for the bus at the bus stop, bus numbers they wait for, road traffic conditions that affect the bus arrival time, music they listen to, and many others.

To manage massive amounts of various data types generated rapidly every day, big data technology is essential for the smarter cities environment. Whereas smart sensors and equipment, detecting huge volumes of data, are the sensory organs of the smarter cities environment, big data technology is the brain of smarter cities. Because the sensory organs and brain are closely related, and they function coherently, the combination of smarter cities environment and big data is required to meet the needs of each.

Which are the sectors you see, where there is a high uptake for mobility?

The most common used cases is in the area of retail banking, customer self service app from B2C perspective and relationship management , wealth management, account opening from B2E perspective. In Insurance, most of the companies have launched apps to manage their agency sales force by providing the capability of customer on boarding, illustration, product selection, proposal etc.

What about the healthcare and government verticals?

The health industry can completely transform and using mobility, we can help improve living standards and save life that gets compromised due to mistakes by support staff in hospitals. The app to capture patient complete records and examinations while patients remains in hospital, send alerts to doctors if key parameters like BP, heart beats exceed normal range.

Any client examples highlighting the role of mobile technology?

In the retail segment, we have collaborated with DLF to provide an innovative mobile-phone based solution— BlueZen that channels data insights from customers visiting DLF Promenade, a high end shopping mall serving the metropolitan New Delhi area. In the banking sector, we are working with ING Vysya Bank that has developed a mobile banking app on IBM Worklight. It is a cost effective, secure and scalable mobile banking app.