For smart city tag, Gurgaon banks on green transport
GURGAON: Winning the smart city tag is not going to be a cakewalk for Gurgaon as it is likely to face tough competition from the other developing cities in Haryana.
Under the Union government’s smart city project, which was launched on Thursday, only two cities in Haryana will be developed as Smart Cities. Earlier, four cities in the state — Gurgaon, Ambala, Faridabad and Panipat — had featured in India’s list of 100 smart cities.
But now, the cities will have to pass a two-stage test, which starts with an intra-state ‘challenge’. The participants will be scored on the basis of the parameters listed by Centre, such as an elected city council, public participation in governance, self-financing capability, operation and maintenance cost of water supply, contribution of tax revenue and encouraging non-motorised transport, etc.
The states will have to submit plans of the shortlisted potential smart cities to the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD).
This means, Gurgaon will have to draft a Smart City Proposal (SCP) to include features such as adequate power and water supply, sanitation, rainwater harvesting, smart metering, robust IT connectivity and digitalisation, pedestrianfriendly pathways, improved non-motorised transport and innovative use of open spaces. The proposal must also include encouraging walking and cycling, intelligent traffic management, non-vehicle streets/ zones and smart parking.
However, urban planners have said that the city’s present state of infrastructure may have advantages as well as drawbacks in this challenge.
“The evaluation criteria include performance in JNNURM. Since Gurgaon was not part of it and Faridabad did not perform well, it could be a blessing for Gurgaon. Also, bus transport is an important criterion in developing smart cities. This fits well with Gurgaon’s existing plans,” said Amit Bhatt, strategy head of urban transport, EMBARQ India.
With non-motorised transport being one of the focus points under the project, Gurgaon has an advantage. The city has been working towards promoting friendly modes of transport in the form of a weekly event, Raahgiri, apart from the local authorities planning to strengthen public transport.
At a recent conference on smart cities, the Gurgaon deputy commissioner TL Satyaprakash said that transport is one of the major focus areas of the city’s administration. “Gurgaon is one of the most prepared to be a smart city as we have smart people. The residents, active groups and thousands of corporate firms are ready to provide smart urban design solutions. We just need good planning and framework,” he said.