Gurgaon, the Millennium City of (North?) India, is set to herald in the maiden Smart City experience in India. The Modi-led NDA government at the Centre had last year itself announced an ambitious plan to develop at least 100 cities in India into smart cities. A Smart City has been defined as one that employs digital 'smart' technologies and engages more actively and effectively with all stakeholders to enhance the performance of its civic services and the well being of its citizens. It is believed that a Smart City should be able to respond faster and better to city and global challenges, than one that has a simple 'transactional' relationship with its citizens. A Smart City also endeavours to optimise the utilisation of its limited resources. The key 'smart' sectors that have been identified for a Smart City are: transport, energy, healthcare, water and waste. Interest in smart cities has been motivated by major external and internal challenges, including climate change, economic restructurings, the shift to online in retail and entertainment, ageing populations and pressures on public finances. Gurgaon was voted by the Union Cabinet to become the pilot for future Smart City projects under the government’s new Urban Renewal Mission, which has planned a total outlay of about Rs 1 lakh crores. The ‘Gurgaon Plan’, announced by Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal and Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar at an event last week, has been allotted a year’s time to show results. At the programme, the Union Power Minister mentioned that government officials have been given the task of coming out with a blueprint of the way forward within two weeks. The Minister explained that the ‘Gurgaon Plan’ was a very important project because its success would be crucial in replicating the model across the country.
The Smart City project envisages the setting up of a ‘smart power grid’ on priority – it is deemed to be the foundation, the ‘backbone’, of a Smart City. Once set up the smart grid will ensure 24x7 power to Gurgaon. It will help rid the City – residences, commercial establishments, industries and institutions - of its dependence on diesel or gas generator sets for power back up. The project will entail an overhaul of the existing transmission network and the upgradation of 39 power substations. It is expected to be executed in two phases. The Smart City initiative is also likely to alter Gurgaon’s Master Plan – for example, it will now become necessary to incorporate the speedy and spontaneous development of an upgraded power supply network. A Smart City committee has also been put in place. Chairman, Power Grid Corporation of India RN Nayak, Additional Chief Secretary (Power) Rajan Gupta, Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner TL Satyaprakash and MCG Commissioner Vikas Gupta will form the all-important Committee and will be responsible for preparing the roadmap for the implementation of the project. The working of the Committee will be monitored and supervised by the Haryana CM himself. TL Satyaprakash says, “We have decided to first attend to the critical power system. An unreliable power supply has always been one of the major problems of Gurgaon. After setting up the ‘smart grid’ and ensuring 24x7 power, we would be able to more effectively deliver on other Smart City projects.” Gurgaonites are pretty excited with this concept of Smart City. Yadav, a resident of Sushant Lok, says, “I am very happy to know that Gurgaon will be turned into a Smart City. The population here has increased considerably, but the infrastructure has remained inadequate. Let’s hope that the govt. is serious on this, and will complete it on time. 24x7 power would indeed be something remarkable.” For the Smart City project, the following would be taken up on priority:
‘One Map Gurgaon’ - a mapping of the City based on a Geographical Information System (GIS)
Electricity System (including the integration with Renewable Energy) – for the setting up of the ‘smart grid’ (Multi-modal) Transport & Traffic System.
It is expected that the smart grid would bring about efficiency in the power supply network and facilitate:
- reduction in AT&C (Aggregate Technical & Commercial) losses
- reduction in outage frequency & duration
- improvement in power quality
- integration with renewable energy sources
- demand side management & demand response
- consumer participation in energy management
- improvement in overall consumer satisfaction.
But while the grand plan has been announced, there are issues of financing that have come to the fore. There seems to be a serious disconnect between ‘reality’ and the budgetary allocation for the development of smart cities. Only recently Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, in his interaction with the media, had responded to a query on the budgetary allocation of around Rs 6,000 crores for the 100 smart cities versus the actual requirement, by suggesting that there are many different ways of getting smart cities off the ground. On Gurgaon, he had mentioned that it has been mostly developed through active private initiative, perhaps dropping a large hint that the private sector will be very much at the forefront when it comes to setting up the ambitious smart cities. As of now even Gurgaon’s major business districts have poor civic infrastructure – like potholed roads and inadequate parking facilities. The Gurgaon landscape is also awash with large chimneys of diesel generator sets jutting out from the tops of glass and concrete buildings. Public transport is in a mess; one can witness the complete lack of public transportation facilities between commercial and residential areas. This has led to a heavy dependence on cabs, which has pushed up the costs for various establishments. It has also resulted in heavy traffic jams and, consequently, a loss of productivity. Sewerage is another problem. The City has still not connected hundreds of residential sewage drains to the main sewers – and the new sectors have been anyway left to drown in their own muck. Though dubbed as the Millennium City, Gurgaon has certainly not lived up to that promise. A question often asked is – which millennium? Today almost every developer in the City has ongoing court cases with its tenants or buyers, for failure to develop or deliver as promised. The government and administration have also lacked imagination, and even the intent. In this ever-increasing mess, some companies have already exited the City. These are not happy tidings for a city that was, and is now again being, proudly showcased as a game changer. Pradip Choudhry, Estate Manager of IREO, says, “The City was developed as a sum of multiple ‘building projects’, while the civic infrastructure is yet to be built. The basic problem is the undeveloped or under-developed infrastructure. Gurgaon is not at all well connected – physically, economically or socially. In contrast, Chandigarh is a very well organised and maintained city. It is quite tough to say whether Gurgaon will ever become a Smart City. The residents and the administrators need to be far more disciplined.” The challenge for the government therefore is immense. The government, however, is upbeat. It says that it has already started the ‘smart process’, and the first step towards a Smart City would be to prioritise and focus on offering 'smart solutions' for essential services like power, traffic and water management. It has also made it clear that people will have to show patience, as an entire city cannot be converted into a smart one overnight. Government officials have clarified that services would be made 'smart' on a prioritised basis and a city would be covered in a phased manner. The cities also need to become more sustainable and develop better resilience to disruptions. A Smart City is ultimately expected to benefit its citizens, by generating employment opportunities, increasing human productivity and helping realise the inherent urban potential of the City. Good Luck, Gurgaon. Let’s Get Smart!.
Gurgaon is on its way to becoming the smart phone and smart card capital of the country. What we can definitely do without is smart money, smart alecs and smart arses!
The real estate lobby, not surprisingly, is rejoicing at the ‘fresh opportunity’. Along with the politicians, they may well be the happier lot, with the potential of more ‘activity’ in the City. However, some people fear that, with the land acquisition bill already becoming contentious, the government’s intent to heavily involve the private sector in the development of smart cities could meet with strong opposition. Unfortunately there is now even skepticism on the PPP (Public Private Partnership) model.
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