The State Government might have proposed six towns to get the coveted smart city tag, the places are bound to fight tooth and nail to get into the list of 100 from across the country. The Centre is in the process of finalising parameters which would ultimately be the scale for the selection of the cities to be developed as smart ones.
The criteria would be based on towns’ performance in the areas of their municipal tax collection percentage, digital interface with the citizens and spread of basic infrastructure. “The Centre wants to test capability of the towns on such lines so that their systems do not falter when they get the tag. Selection of the towns for smart cities would be based on the ratings on such scales,” said a senior official of the Urban Development department.
The towns have to compete in a ‘city challenge’ initiative under which all aspiring cities and towns will be evaluated based on parameters like credit and sanitation rating. Based on their scores, the places would be picked up for inclusion. “Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu made it clear that given the magnitude of the task aspiring cities and towns have to qualify themselves for selection. This is meant to make the towns active participants in the process so that desired results are achieved,” said the official of the department.
The State Government has named Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Deoghar, Dhanbad and Dumka to be selected under the dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Though the Centre has decided to bring in only 100 towns nationally to be developed as smart cities and not more than two or three towns would be selected from a State in the first phase of the project. This may keep only Ranchi and Jamshedpur along with Deoghar into the list.
“The mission is being treated as national priority. Following the presentation from the States, it was deliberated that what should be done in a smart city, innovative ideas were shared. Areas like telecommunication facility, lighting, water, sanitation, waste management system etc were identified on which notable upgradation would take place,” said Deepak Sahay, Special Officer of Jamshedpur Notified Area Committee (JNAC) who was in Delhi for the two-day workshop organised by Union Urban Development Ministry last week.
Also, convergence and incorporation of ‘Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan’ and ‘Digital India’ would be done on priority basis. However, discussion on the source of the investment required and share coming from the States are yet to be finalised. More or less there is clarity that the projects would be executed through PPP mode with major public sector investment coming from the beneficiary State and its urban local bodies. Over 10 countries have expressed interest in developing smart cities in the country.
Smart cities are aimed to take care of growing needs of urbanisation in the country and also to help bridge the rural-urban divide. As per plan, smart cities will have proper water and power supply, effective waste and sewage management system, reliable public transport facility, seamless digital collectivity, hi-tech security system and employment for citizens.
“Most importantly the cities would be largely self-sustained to meet its expanses coming on keep the facilities running. Besides this, living and energy uses would be least a burden on natural resources,” said the official. “Nevertheless land acquisition is the one area which is going to be the biggest hurdle while setting up smart cities in Jharkhand,” he admitted.