Smart Cities

Way back in the 1980s, M.J. Akbar, then founding-editor of The Telegraph, said only half in jest that Indians might soon need a visa to travel to Bombay. Akbar is now Minister of State for External Affairs and Bombay is Mumbai. But the sentiment he expressed then still holds: Mumbai contributes around 35 per cent of tax revenue to the Indian treasury but gets a fraction of it in return to develop the city’s infrastructure. The problem of course isn’t just money. It’s governance. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is...

In the year 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared to smarten up 100 cities of the nation under ‘Smart Cities Mission’ it was a matter of concern to get funds for developing old cities as per the standards of Smart City but ‘Raipur’ is about to fulfil the concept of PM Modi’s ‘Smart City’, said Urban Administration Minister Amar Agrawal . He was addressing the inaugural function of three-day national summit on ‘Smart City’ here on Wednesday. Welcoming the dignitaries, he said that experience and best professional practices of...

Five months after Greater Chennai Corporation issued a recruitment notice, the civic body has appointed two key office-bearers of Chennai Smart City Ltd (CSCL). The corporation has appointed Raj Cherubal chief executive officer of CSCL, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the execution of the T Nagar smart city project, civic body officials said. Cherubal founded urban transportation infrastructure planning agency Chennai City Connect. Greater Chennai Corporation deputy commissioner (works) K S Kandasamy named Harish Kumar as company secretary of CSCL. The civic body is yet to appoint the chief financial officer...

Proposal by iDeCK tries to strike a balance between modernising infrastructure while preserving heritage. The city Corporation’s draft Smart City proposal with projects worth Rs.1,505 crore will come up for the council’s approval on Friday. The proposal prepared by Bengaluru-based consultancy Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka) Limited (iDeCK) tries to strike a balance between modernising the city’s infrastructure while preserving its heritage structures. The proposals come under two broad heads — Area-based development and Pan city development — with projects under the former getting a bulk of the funds. Some of the major projects...

Digital India initiatives and schemes by the government like Aadhaar, digital lockers and computerisation of land records, are gaining momentum in the country and playing a major role in the smart cities mission, said P.P. Chaudhary, Minister of State, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. He was speaking at the inaugural session of the 4th edition of the Smart Cities Summit here. China is the country partner at the summit. Aiming to take the government’s smart cities initiative to the next level, over 1,500 global and national policymakers, financiers and...

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) and global business process management and services corporation, Genpact Ltd. (G) today announced the launch of a Global Center of Excellence in Jaipur, India. The new partnership serves as part of Cisco’s larger Lighthouse City project, a global initiative designed to deploy next-generation cloud-based technology in cities, set to directly impact citizens and society. Smart City Technology The city of Jaipur will gain access to Cisco’s global network and channel program capabilities, which Genpact says will help the city benefit from economic and social transformation as...

Over 30 innovative British companies are in the country this week as part of the three-day India UK Tech Summit here, where they are showcasing high-tech smart city solutions. “The UK is committed to working with India to deliver its ambitious 100 smart cities programme. The UK has already partnered with Amravati, Pune and Indore, and our impressive business delegation shows that UK companies are keen to provide cutting-edge solutions to Indias smart cities,” British High Commissioner to India, Dominic Asquith, said. The India UK TECH Summit 2016, countrys largest knowledge and...