Thiruvananthapuram: Public Private Partnership to help fund smart city plans

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The estimated cost of the smart city project, in the proposal prepared by IDeCK, exceeds Rs 1,000 crores, the smart cities grant, and part of this amount will be raised from Public Private Partnerships. Even though no company has promised to invest any amount, as per the presentation which introduced the proposal before the councillors, Rs 142.4 crores is estimated to be raised from Public-Private Partnerships. The amount is higher than that set aside as the Corporation's smart city share - Rs 125 crores.

Since there has been no promise of investment, DC checked with experts and officials regarding its feasibility. An official said that PPP was an integral part of smart city project proposal. The government's 'Make in India' programme also encourages the use of PPP Model for upgrading infrastructure in 500 urban areas. It is feasible according to G Vijayaraghavan, one of the experts who were part of the smart city technical committee. The former member of Planning Board says, "There will be advertising returns from some of the components of the proposal, like, say the smart bus stops. Moreover investors will be ready to set up infrastructural elements, like water fountains, as part of CSR. The planners who worked on the proposal calculated the cost of each project and worked backwards."

A few days before the council meeting where smart city project proposal was presented before people's representatives, the smart city team had met with start-ups at Technopark. However, it was not a meeting to raise investment, according to sources. "Smart city is one of the areas of 'Hackathon', an annual event which the Startup Mission organises. So the meeting aimed at introducing the ideas proposed in the smart city to various start-ups," an official said. The discussion at Technopark focused on pan-city projects as Integrated Centralised Control Room proposed needed IT support.