Page 16 - DIGITAL ISSUE MAY 2018

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SMART CITIES Preserving and developing open spaces - parks, playgrounds, now joined the list of C40 cities (cities like Beijing, London,

and Copenhagen) working towards reducing the greenhouse gas
and recreational spaces in order to enhance the quality of life
emissions from goods and services. Chief minister Edappadi K
of citizens, reduce the urban heat e ects in Areas and generally
Palaniswami has recently signed an agreement with C40 Cities,
promote eco-balance:
declaring the State’s commitment to bring in zero-emission public
While in Ajmer, a `250 crore project for the escape channel
project is in the works. e city is developing promenades along transport vehicles.
the Ana Sagar Lake, which is situated in the center of the city. e
Once installed it can modernize the tra c movement in the city
Command and Control Centre that was developed by Department Another project in the works is the ‘Safe Ahmedabad project’.
of Information Technology (DoIT) is already in place. by employing a host of solutions including an automatic number
e pink-walled city of Jaipur is currently ramping up its scenic plate detection system, a command, and control system, red light
quotient by building three new parks under the smart city project. violation detection system, tra c management, smart parking and
e parks will include an open gym area, yoga center and play areas to control the tra c rule violators.
for kids.
While Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has partnered Making governance citizen-friendly and cost e ective
with Gandhinagar-based Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Last year, Jaipur also become the rst city in South Asia to monitor
US-based Natural Resources Defence Council (NRDC) along with and operate smart city infrastructure via a single network. While
other groups to design and implement the 6th edition of Heat Bhubaneswar is all set to open an Integrated Public Service Centre
Action Plan (HAP) to protect city dwellers from climate fueled where citizens will be able to avail themselves of an array of services,
scorching temperatures. HAP includes several key elements like which includes paying utility bills and applying for various welfare
expanding use of cool roofs, re ective paint on buildings to inside schemes. Raipur has also entered into a contract agreement with
temperatures lower, increasing access to drinking water, an early Axis Bank to start a unique Raipur city smart payment system to
warning system used during heat waves, a robust public education simplify payments for 55 public services, including city bus services,
campaign about how to avoid harm from excessive heat, inter-agency taxes levied by the municipal corporation, and parking fees.
coordination to alert residents of predicted high temperatures and While Bhopal awarded a contract to Hewlett Packard Enterprise
training for healthcare professionals to prevent heat-related illnesses (HPE) to build and deploy a new command control center to collect
and death, and mapping of high-risk areas and communications. and manage data, as well as monitor the city’s civic utilities and
e idea for HAP came about in the a ermath of the heat wave services. e initiative with HPE is being implemented in six other
in May 2010, which led to 1,344 additional deaths that month, as cities in the state: Gwalior, Jabalpur, Indore, Ujjain, Satna, and
compared to the 2009 and 2011 average. Sagar. e uni ed cloud command center will handle and leverage
“Ahmedabad was the rst city to prepare and implement heat action data generated by these cities, which have a combined population
plan, which has now been adopted by 30 cities in 11 states, which of more than 20 million people.
face extreme heat waves during summer,” said Mihir Bhatt of All e prepaid Janmitra card from Ahmedabad can also be seamlessly
India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI), which also works used for all major transport systems, paying bills, parking fee,
with the civic body in Ahmedabad and many other places. e city recreational areas, municipal bills, utility payments and shopping.
has also replaced nearly 1.5 million streetlights with LED lights, It can be used like a debit card.
which are connected to a command and control system. Command and control centers have become operational in four
Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has entered a new vertical cities such as Surat, Rajkot, Nagpur, and Vadodara.
of water puri cation, by winning the order for puri cation of While the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation is going to
Telibandha Lake, from Raipur Smart City Limited (RSCL). e lay a 1,000km optical bre network, install 270 Wi-Fi hotspots,
order is the rst ever order of its kind from the Smart Cities segment 50 smart kiosks and Variable Message Display systems. Citizens
using environment-friendly Phytorid Technology developed by the can use smart kiosks (installed at government o ces, bus stops,
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) markets) to pay all utility bills, recharge PMPML's proposed
under the Council of Scienti c & Industrial Research (CSIR) and MI card, book railway and bus tickets and also tickets for events
includes operation & maintenance for ve years therea er. around the city. Variable Message Display systems will share
real-time basis information and guidance on tra c congestions,
Promoting a variety of transport options - Transit Oriented diversions, emergencies, programmes, weather and other important
Development (TOD), public transport and last mile para- announcements. A total of 60 VMD systems are to be installed at
transport connectivity; tra c junctions and markets.
Bengaluru is currently testing a prototype of an intelligent tra c e Pimpri Chinchwad Smart City Limited has invited bids to
management solution in collaboration with the Electronics City select a system integrator to implement these projects with eleven
Township Authority (ELCITA). e system includes capturing national and international companies have expressed interest in the
video streams from several cameras and processing them using projects.
arti cial intelligence so that typical tra c management tasks such Giving an identity to the city - based on its main economic
as vehicle detection, tra c density estimation and control of tra c activity, such as local cuisine, health, education, arts and cra ,
lights can be automated for real-time performance. culture, sports goods, furniture, hosiery, textile, dairy, etc;
And Chennai has become the rst Indian city to electrify its Fundamental to a smart city’s growth is its ability to identify what
bus transportation system. Under the ‘Smart’ initiative, it has type of city it is and what that means for its development.

18 CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITIES|MAY 2018