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Could you brief us on your range of Which are the smart cities projects in criterions are adequate experience in
services or solutions offered to the which you are present, their current urban infrastructure, urban finance, IT
construction/real estate/infrastructure status, scope of work and timeline for infrastructure, urban mobility and urban INTERACTION
sector. Also detail us specifically on completion? planning etc.
your services or solutions o ered in the As mentioned above, we are currently
SMART CITIES space? involved in Project Management Tell us about the critical challenges faced
REPL felt the need to have a holistic Consultancy for three important smart in speci c to Smart Cities projects
expertise set that would cater to integrated city projects, viz. Varanasi, Kanpur and Overcoming resistance can only give
infrastructure development needs of its Indore. ese projects are at various stages way to new ideas. Although, Smart City
clients. Subsequently, separate divisions in of implementations. In phase manners, implementation projects are facing a lot of
the areas of Urban Planning, Engineering, the DPRs are being prepared and tender local resistance, there are ways to deal such
Building Designs, PMC, Infrastructure documents are being oated for separate situations. e fundamental challenge in
Consulting, GIS were established. projects. We are involved in multiple aspects such projects is lack of awareness of real
REPL Group is ‘Integrated Real Estate including, feasibility report, preparation of concept of smart cities among citizens as
& Infrastructure Consultants’ providing detailed project reports (DPR), RFP on well as implementing agencies. Smart city
solutions to clients both from the corporate sectors such as water supply & sewerage is not all about making city technically
sector and government bodies. Our expertise systems, intelligent traffic management, advanced or IT enabled. It is more about
lies in delivering end-to-end solutions on Command Control Centre, smart making it citizen friendly with provisions
real estate as well as the infrastructure security system, heritage conservation etc. of better livelihood. Another challenge is
projects. e group is intensively involved Overall, REPL is assisting the authorities conglomeration and integration of various
in Smart City Mission of Government of in designing, developing, implementing, parallel development activities. Lack of
India. We have been providing consultancy managing and supervising the smart city capacity building programs and activities
in conceptualisation, planning and projects. also needs to be taken care of.
implementation of multiple smart cities viz., Also, the technical capacity of most ULBs
Varanasi (U.P.), Indore (M.P.) & Kanpur What are the opportunities you are is limited. ey are unequipped to ensure
(U.P). For the Varanasi, Indore and Kanpur seeking in the smart cities space going timely and cost-e ective implementation
Smart City, REPL is appointed as Project forward? Tell us of the smart cities and subsequent operations and maintenance
Management Consultants (PMC) for projects in which you are looking to due to limited recruitment over a number
respective SPVs. We are recently appointed contribute and your strategy to tap them of years along with inability to attract the
as PMC for Dehradun Smart City as well. going forward? best talent in the competitive market at
e consultancy includes the activities such Smart City projects are massive in terms of compensatory rates.
as, feasibility analysis, DPR preparation sale and dimensions. ese entails intense Challenges are then speci c to the type
for various projects, RFP preparation, manpower engagement of sector experts. of proposals like for ‘retro tting’ – road
coordination with various government We are very selectively taking up the widening, expanding infrastructure become
departments and appointed consultants, similar opportunities in other locations common issues. Huge data-gap of existing
project prioritisation and phasing, preparing where we can leverage our experience and infrastructure is also a major issue. In case
capital investment plan, implementation expertise and more importantly where we of ‘redevelopment’ – public consent and for
roadmap, conducting feasibility study, can meaningfully contribute in building the ‘green eld’ – selection of an appropriate
bid process management for selection of smart infrastructure. area; become major challenges.
implementing agencies, overall project
management etc. Plenty Indian and foreign companies Key learning’s from your experience
are involved in India’s Smart City and how they can be applied to the
As a company provide the USP’s of your Mission projects, could you brief us on forthcoming smart cities projects?
o erings vis-a-vis competition the selection process for awarding the We have experienced that the community
REPL integrates a range of services to deliver contracts to companies. involvement in the entire process is a
end-to-end consultancy in diverse sectors. Consultants are selected through a National key element that should be always taken
is unique selling preposition makes it Competitive Bidding Process. e method care of. This must start right from the
unprecedented from many in the same eld. for technical and financial evaluation conceptualisation stage, identi cation of
e diverse consultancy services including is QCBS, i.e., uality and Cost-Based priority areas and also the sustainability
viability analysis, urban planning, GIS, Selection which is a method used for the dimensions.
structural engineering, building services selection of the consultants.
designs, PMC (Project Management e method takes into account the quality Future outlook of Smart Cities and from
Consultancy), EPC Services (Engineering, as well as the cost of the proposal. e ratio a company perspective.
Procurement & Construction) and usually kept for Technical vs Financial e company has gained a lot of exposure in
Marketing Advisory gives REPL a unique is 80:20, which is in accordance with the terms of development of Brown eld. REPL
edge in consultancy offering in today’s World Bank Guidelines for Consultancy has been involved in various brown eld
infrastructure consultancy fraternity. Contracts. The technical qualifying projects like, hi-tech cities, integrated cities.

MAY 2018 |CONSTRUCTION OPPORTUNITIES 27