Mumbai: IBM said it would certainly participate in the proposed development of 100 smart cities proposed by the Narendra Modi government.
Answering questions at the announcement of a partnership with the Lodha Group in Mumbai on Wednesday, Michael Dixon, general manager, global smarter cities business of IBM said they see tremendous business potential in India with the growing urbanisation and the government’s proposal to build 100 smart cities.
Governments round the world are going in for smart cities, he said and it is good India is doing the same. IBM has been involved with over 2,500 smart cities created globally over seven years.
Mr Dixon said that a lot smart cities are usually built by the public sector and this is the first time that a private sector company is offering citizens an opportunity for this service and cost effective delivery.
IBM will build and manage the smart city infrastructure for Palava, the Lodha group’s smart city project over 4,000 acres outside Mumbai. It will integrate different services areas such as energy, water, transportation, public safety and smart cards with a central command and control centre that will monitor the health of key systems.
It will also take coordinated action to handle any disruptions or emergency situations in the city, said R. Dhamodaran, executive director, smarter cities, India/SA Region.
Palava’s development director Shaishav Dharia said the first phase of the city has already been completed with 19,000 houses and 3,000 families have moved in.
He said the cost of flats range from Rs 12 lakhs (in 2010) for a one bedroom, hall kitchen (BHK) to Rs 70 lakhs for a three BHK even up to a crore for a villa. When fully completed Palava will have one lakh families and provide three and a half lakh jobs. It will also have a two schools and a University that will focus on research and development.
