Inclusive and Responsive Smart Cities

In the Smart Cities Mission of India, 99 cities have been selected so far. Currently, there are around 3000 projects worth Rs. 1,40,000 crores in various stages of implementation, tenders are called for projects worth Rs. 16,000 crore and 1 lakh crore worth of projects are being readied for issuance of tenders. Though, only 189 projects worth Rs. 2,237 crore have been completed till now which is less than 2% of the overall proposed work.

There are various definitions of smart cities concept. What makes it really interesting, is the interpretation of smartness, which is unique in each project. While the central government is making policy decisions, it is good to see the citizens, states, and ULBs (Urban Local Bodies) involved in the process - as the guiding light of this mission. Such an ambitious project can be sustainable only when the citizens are an active part of it.

While there is a structure in place, with well-defined stages in the selection of 100 Smart Cities, there is ample space for the organic growth of ideas. A lot of preference is being given to innovative ideas, making this project so refreshing to see.

As the urban development picks up the pace with Smart Cities Mission, it would be even more satisfying to see our rural water infrastructure also getting smart water solutions in near future. Water is a basic human right and making it available to all citizens, urban or rural, must be our top priority.

The guidelines on promoting innovative smart solutions under Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT, and Swachh Bharat Mission include smart meters & management, leakage identification, preventive maintenance, and water quality monitoring as smart water solutions. We have talked to city planners, technology providers and project heads to give our readers a better idea of these smart water solutions in the January issue of Express Water magazine. And these solutions are applicable to any world city, not just in India.

Some of the leading experts with whom we interacted for our cover story (Smart Water - Smart Cities) this month, are: Shyam J Bhan - CEO - SUEZ India, Prakash Chandrakar - MP & VP Energy Business - Schneider Electric India, Agendra Kumar - President - Esri India, Sanjeev Sirsi - Head Water Utility - Grundfos Pumps India, Deepak Garg - Founder & Chairman - Smart Energy Water, Michael Berkowitz - President - Rockefeller Foundation, Shaun Severin - Industry Consultant - Bentley Systems, Pratap Padode - Founder & Executive Director - Smart Cities Council India, Surya Dev Prakash – Consultant - Smart Cities Mission, and Paul O’Callaghan - Research Chief Executive - BlueTech. Let me know if you would like to read this issue - I will be happy to share the magazine copy (soft or print) with you.

As we gear up to celebrate the World Water Day this year, we will cover the concepts of Green Water Infrastructure and Nature-Based Solutions for Water Challenges of the 21st century, in the next issue of Express Water magazine. We will focus on Water Pollution, Flood Prevention, Safe Drinking Water and Urban Wetlands. A study by Andhra Pradesh PHED team in 2016, on Soil-Bio-Technology (SBT) based Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) in Mumbai, is on the same lines. This 'green engineering’ concept is developed by Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) indigenously after two decades of research. The report is available on the ‘Smart Cities Mission’ website (click here to download). Another topic on which we will focus in the upcoming February issue is - the overall Impact of GST on the Indian Water Sector and its various segments (I welcome and seek for editorial contributions - opinion based column, a short write-up, or case-study from water professionals, consultants, and companies on all these topics).

Our upcoming event - the Express Water Jal Sabha (8-10 March, Pune, India) is a forum exclusively for the heads of the water supply and sewage departments of Municipal Corporations. The event, with a gathering of 50 delegates from across India, is in line with our vision to create community-specific events that seek to identify specific groups within the overall water community and create avenues for them to come together and brainstorm on important issues. This -by invite only- forum will provide a unique platform for the audience to come together to debate and discuss issues faced by the corporations around water supply and sewage, 24x7 water supply, smart metering, STPs (their financing, and decentralized STPs), among others – all for making our cities better.

- Mayur Sharma

?Editor - Express Water Magazine

Indian Express Newspapers Limited

E-mail: [email protected], Twitter: @TheExpressWater

“ The smallest patch of green to arrest the monotony of asphalt and concrete is as important to the value of real estate as streets, sewers and convenient shopping.” 

- James Felt