Thiruvananthapuram: The Corporation was mostly certain about making it to the list, but Mayor V.K. Prasanth says there was a 1 per cent doubt over whether Thiruvananthapuram would qualify. “We were 99 per cent sure that we would make it to the list, but had no idea we would top it. We were still worried about a 1 per cent chance of Thiruvananthapuram getting disqualified, if at all the decision was influenced by BJP politics,” he said. It has not been long since thecity received a very poor ranking in the waste management survey called Swachh Sarvekshan, and the Mayor had attributed it to politics.
He said that the proposal had an edge over the others, especially as there was immense citizen participation in the decision. “For the first time in the country, Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) were used to garner public opinion regarding the proposal. Consultation meetings were held in all 100 wards. Our preparatory work was the finest. I am most grateful to the technical committee, stakeholders and every person who worked towards this,” he said. Calling it a proud achievement, LSGD Minister K.T. Jaleel said that it was after the state government intervened, that Thiruvananthapuram was included in the third round of the challenge.
The proposal has several components including multilevel parking, smart traffic system, developing the area around Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple premises and underground duct network system. “Though it looks ambitious, it is feasible. It will help the development of the core city area, which would benefit everyone,” says Deputy Mayor Rakhi Ravikumar. Experts say that a unique feature of the proposal is that it has considered various marginalised communities including people with disabilities and transgender persons. S.M. Vijayanand, who as the then Chief Secretary chaired the state-level high powered steering committee which finetuned the proposal says, “All sorts of social inclusion elements were put consciously. It envisaged an inclusive smart city.”
Time of the essence
Policy makers are aware that Thiruvananthapuram qualifying in the third round of smart cities’ challenge would mean that there is very little time left for the implementation of the project. Unless the NDA, which announced the Smart Cities Mission, gets re-elected at the centre three years later and continued with the project, Thiruvananthapuram has time only till 2020 to complete the project. Interestingly, the completion time of most of the projects is marked as 2020 in the proposal. Underground ducting of utilities and integrated social housing project are two projects which would complete only by 2021.
As soon as the Corporation receives an official communication from the ministry of urban development regarding their selection, they will initiate the process of forming a special purpose vehicle, says mayor V.K. Prasanth. “The winning proposal has a rough draft giving a basic structure of the SPV,” he said. “Most of its members are government officials including the chief secretary. Elected representatives of the council will be part of it. However, some members like company secretary need to be appointed by the government. Work on forming the SPV will start as soon as we receive an official communication from MoUD.”
Kochi smart city project’s implementation got delayed as the consulting agency to help implement many of the projects could not be finalised. Even now the final agreement with them has not been signed. “We have learnt a lot of lessons from the Kochi project,” said former chief secretary S.M. Vijayanand. “It is important to start early. Regarding finalising consultancy, we learnt from Thiruvananthapuram itself.” Mr Vijayanand was referring to the state-level high powered steering committee had identified procedural errors at a meeting to finalise the consultants, and the process was repeated from square one.
IT honchos pin hopes on infra boost
The information technology industry is pinning its hopes on the Smart City project to address its demand to improve infrastructure facilities in the capital. “Most challenges with regard to infrastructure that the IT industry is facing are similar to those faced by the city as a whole,” Group of Technology Companies (GTech) chairman K. Nandakumar said in a statement. “The transition to a smart city will go a long way in addressing these challenges."
He said that robust systems in multi-layer transit, traffic control, waste management and water resources would enable Thiruvananthapuram as a sought after IT destination. Thus Smart City project and Technopark can complement each other. GTech secretary Mr. P. Vijay Kumar said that several IT companies in Technopark had experience in enabling smart cities around the world. They can play a positive role in the smart city project for the capital, too, he said.
Thiruvananthapuram set for makeover?
The central business district of Thiruvananthapuram, which not only holds Thiruvananthapuram residents but a floating population including government officials, merchants and travellers, is going to have a complete makeover thanks to the proposed Smart City project. The 1,403.3 acres of area selected to be developed starts from Thampanoor and stretches to Chalai, Valyasala, Fort, Vanchiyoor, Sreekanteshwaram, Palayam, Thycaud and Vazhuthacaud. The winning proposal estimates a Rs 1,538.2-crore project, of which the additional Rs 538.2 crores comes from public-private partnership, Corporation’s plan fund and convergence of state and central schemes.
A 68.45 km stretch which crosses 44 junctions will be developed to ease traffic. As many as 35 bus stops, with the addition of digital information boards and solar mobile charging facility, will be converted to smart bus stops. Establishing a decentralised waste management relying on kitchen bins in houses and aerobic bins by roadside, as well as material recovery system is one of the proposed projects. One of the most ambitious projects in the proposal is the underground ducting of utilities. It is expected to be complete by 2021.
Five multilevel car parking system, cycle tracks, 8 cycle sharing centres and 5 e-auto stands will be set up. Manaveeyam Road and taluk office road will be developed as heritage corridors. Development of Chalai market, Padmanabhaswamy temple premises and an open air theatre at Putharikkandam grounds are proposed. Across the city, various smart projects including mosquito density gauging systems have been proposed.
