The new wave of the Smart City program will aggressively push for 15 cities of Tamil Nadu to be included in the Smart City 2.0 program that is envisioned to be launched by 2025. The new wave will pursue 100 cities through a special-purpose vehicle for the development of civic, mobility, and infrastructure projects. It would be a big day on Monday when the key state leaders, including Municipal Administration Minister K.N. Nehru and DMK Parliamentary Party leader Kanimozhi, present a proposal to Union Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Tamil Nadu had been one among the first in the lot when it came to reaping benefits of the much-publicized scheme, Smart City, released in 2015. Coming from a pool of 12 cities short-listed for its first round of announcement, Chennai of Tamil Nadu had figured only the second next after Uttar Pradesh. The state has already used about 98% of the Rs. 18,000 crore allocated under the old scheme and now wants to play a more significant role in the new round.
Smart City 2.0: Core Elements and Objectives
Smart City 2.0 focuses on the reengineering of cities with smart infrastructure, intelligent mobility solutions, and citizen services. The core elements considered while shortlisting the cities for this initiative include the following:
- Energy and Sustainability: The cities should ensure at least 10% of energy requirement to be fulfilled through solar sources. Recycling of wastewater and a smart traffic management system will be taken up.
- Citizen-centric Amenities: Smart digital application adoption for citizen safety and convenience and for safety through systems.
- Waste Management and Cleanliness: It would comprise the primary basis under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan focusing on sanitation and waste management. The cities which will be in success will be allocated rich points
- Revenue and Service Efficiency: It will rate the cities, which will perform well in generation of internal revenue, online redressal of grievance system and service delivery.
Top Cities of Tamil Nadu that can be Taken
The State of Tamil Nadu will focus on important cities like Chennai, Coimbatore, and Madurai in the Smart City 2.0 scheme. It is one of the state’s fast-growing cities.
The State will cover all fast-growing small cities also. There would be merely a focus on growing cities, but other emerging urban locations as well, like the OMR areas in Chennai.
According to D. Karthikeyan, State MAWS Secretary, the decision would be taken to an extent considering the analyses of how much the models available for cities would meet the requirements of the central government, which may run from infrastructure and citizen services to sustainability.
Problems and Concerns
Smart City 2.0 is a recently proposed opportunity that would be exciting, yet challenging for Tamil Nadu. The main criticism of the earlier Smart City program is that it was not wide-ranging enough, and all of the urban areas did not fulfill its demands.
For instance, Chennai had set aside Rs. 1,000 crore for development and T. Nagar saw only Rs. 600 crore without great success. According to residents and experts of urban planning, the center of attraction should have been spread to other developing areas like OMR, which are urbanizing rapidly but not having the infrastructure to hold on.
Experts also propose that more mobility-related projects, such as BRTS and non-motorized transport infrastructure, are a part of the Smart City project. These elements are inevitable for developing an eco-friendly and sustainable urban habitat.
Demand for Transparency
The other important issue is transparency in the Smart City project. There has been no response from the government to a report by the PWC David Committee investigating allegations of corruption at the previous stage of this Smart City project. The activists want that too. And one hears it time and again that it can lead to embezzlement of funds if transparency is lacking in this phase. They warn that if not effectively regulated, the Smart City 2.0 will remain a “money-minting exercise” and not a genuine attempt to revitalize its urban landscape.
Conclusion: The First Leap of Tamil Nadu in Urban Development
Tamil Nadu continues to be a champion under the Smart City 2.0, State leadership feels elated with hope over urban renewal.
Smart City 2.0 Programme. In this connection, considering that the need has seen a fresh spur towards sustainability of energy sources, enhanced mobility and improved services for citizens, transforming the city, of course is a prime moment of ideal circumstances. Critical observations in cautioning related issues to accountancy initiation phases as well as equitable dispersion are maintained along with execution process. Only if such considerations were bettered can the above project make better promises in sustaining as well as healthy life ahead for Tamil Nadu’s cities.
Refer :
TOI, Link to article
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