The Chhattisgarh Government is looking at a higher quantum of capital infusion for pacing up infrastructure development for its various projects in the new Capital region.
The Government is now looking for additional financial assistance of Rs 820 cr to further develop infrastructure of India’s fastest growing green field city - Naya Raipur, which is also shaping up as a ‘Smart City’, official sources informed.
It may be recalled that there is already a reasonable surge of NRI interest globally in buying home and even commercial properties in Chhattisgarh’s high-tech green field capital city- Naya Raipur.
With realtors globally marketing their properties for Smart Cities in various countries, Naya Raipur which is emerging as one of the strong contenders in the green field city segment in India has evinced great interest among expatriate Indians in buying home and even commercial properties here, officials had informed earlier.
Interestingly, many of the expatriate Indians also don’t even belong to Chhattisgarh but want to settle down in a green field smart city environment which suits their comforts and lifestyles which they experience abroad.
The Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for a green field city is that its infrastructure is built following global engineering parameters to make the quality of life of citizens much above the average living in any other conventional city, officials stated.
Quite recently, the United Nations (UN) decided to set up a Technology Innovation laboratory in Naya Raipur.
A meeting, presided over by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh was held at his official residence in Raipur.
During the meeting, a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) among State Government's Electronics and Information Technology Department, International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), NayaRaipur and the Telecommunications and IT division of the United Nations, officials said.
Notably, Naya Raipur being first planned city of 21st century already has state-of-the-art infrastructure at its disposal. The city has well planned economic and social infrastructure, officials informed.
The Village Development Plan is also taking care of social equity and cohesion. The rich culture and heritage all adds to the strength of the city, they informed.
It may be recalled that a ‘Master System Integrator’ will manage the extraordinarily high-technology oriented ‘Naya Raipur Smart City System’.
The Naya Raipur Smart City System will comprise Smart Governance, City Surveillance, Intelligent Transport management System, Electricity and Water supply and City Command and Control Centre among others, officials informed.
Notably, the Naya Raipur as a Smart City will leverage the collective intelligence created by connecting physical, institutional, social and economic infrastructure to deliver a quantum improvement in the quality of life of local population, they informed.
Notably, the new capital city of Chhattisgarh is a ‘green field’ city and is planned to develop its infrastructure gradually in order to provide world class amenities and facilities to its residents and visitors.
NRDA has taken the next step in “Smart City’ development with plans now for ‘Information & Communication Technology” (ICT) enablement of infrastructure and citizen services, officials informed
Naya Raipur is already among five other cities in the country chosen as ‘Demonstration Cities’ for the Centre’s ambitious Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP).
The final five cities participating as 'Demonstration Cities' under Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP) are - Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Mysore (Karnataka), Naya Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad (Maharashtra).
Detailed project profiles were prepared by all cities with the assistance of the SUTP Consultants and then endorsed by the SUTP Steering Committee to be included to SUTP as ‘City Demonstration Projects’, officials stated.
It plans of developing a project comprising IT-enabled systems to manage a host of utilities using state-of-art technology.
The design would comprise IT enabled land management system, city surveillance besides a host of other systems till now popular and being used only in the developed countries.
The other city management systems include intelligent lighting systems, pay and use parking systems, city guide map available through web browser, intelligent transport system, city level wi-fi touch screens across the city, display boards across the city for providing real-time information, emergency alert and crisis response systems, traffic re-routing applications based on real time traffic data.
The city would also have an Central Control Center for monitoring all the services including central traffic control and management system.
It may be recalled that Naya Raipur has emerged in the country with the largest land bank of a mammoth 237 square kms ( 23,700 hectares).
The NRDA has plans of developing a ‘Transport Hub’ spread over an area of 161.9 hectares in the new capital city.
The hub would include setting up light Rail Transport System (lRTS) stations. The area being earmarked for the 'Transport Hub' would be 12.55 per cent of the total area of the new capital city, officials stated.
Five residential sectors having more than 8000 dwelling units had already been completed in Chhattisgarh’s new high tech capital Naya Raipurlast year, officials informed.
The habitation in the residential sectors has also started, they informed.
It may be recalled that the Naya Raipur Development Authority (NRDA) will also develop a ‘land Management System’ for managing disposal of land for infrastructure development, officials said.
Naya Raipur is not just fast emerging as the hi-tech State capital of Chhattisgarh but also an adventure sports destination.The four kms cycling track, Kayaking, Burma bridge and a 2 kms skating track are some of the facilities already functional in the new capital city, officials informed.
Boating facility had been made available to visitors at the Jungle Safari from January 1 this year in the new capital.
The Jungle Safari comprises of four separate Safaris including Herbivore Safari, Bear Safari, Tiger and lion Safari.
Around 166 personnel including officials, doctors, zoo-keeper, guard and other staff are deployed for taking care of animals in the Safari.
Notably the Chhattisgarh government has also earmarked 258.48 hectares of land in the capital for setting up a ‘Nature Resort’ and a ‘Theme Park’ in future, officials stated.
On the other hand, it may be recalled that a 'Theme Residential Township'—the first of its kind in Central India would have people living in sort of a ‘getaway’ location surrounded by natural surroundings in the new capital city.