Catalyzing Smart City Processes

Bangalore is a technology hub and a lot of innovation is happening. How is this translating in terms of improving public services on the ground?

 When we do pilot projects, we also try to work with a couple of private companies which have smart solutions, and we as a non-profit organisation would like to help them in doing field testing. We believe that ICT is a key enabler for smart cities, which has not been adequately embraced by cities. As a Foundation, we try to promote and share the existing smart practices that are available and we would like to make sure that the public accepts and uses them. Ride sharing & pooling is one area where there are a lot of players out in the market right now. The technology is quite stable. The only difficulty for these companies is in getting users.

Our Foundation acts as a platform for different stakeholders to come together. Solutions are available somewhere, but these are not being used by the citizens or not being appreciated by the authorities. So we try to bring them together to see how they can be used, or things can be improved or citizen’s awareness can be raised.

Internet of Things (IoT) is a promising technology which can help track the city infrastructure and its resources. There have been quite a number of IoT related start-ups in Bangalore and we want to help them test their products on field and study their impact.

ICT has not widely been used to solve city problems and civic issues. That is something we would like to take up and propagate.

There is a wrong notion that the Smart City Mission would provide the entire city with smart features. That is not the case. The funding received is Rs.1000cr. That is nothing for any city. So in the proposals of Smart Cities submitted to the central government they have taken two aspects. One is the area based development. For example, if Bangalore takes up the smart city projects, they are likely to focus on one area, say Malleswaram, and make that area smart. The other is to take one pan-city solution like Intelligent Traffic Management or the BRTS.

As envisaged by the Centre, these projects should be a replicable model which will act like a light house to other aspiring areas/cities.

What about funding?

There are basically three sources of funding. One is what comes from the central government which is Rs.500cr per city per year. The second part is a similar funding of Rs.500cr from the state government. The third is tapping private sources. That is where public-private partnership is expected to play an important role. In addition to the government funding, private investment can come in to any extent.

One of the objectives of the Smart City initiative is also to encourage private investment. So the potential is there. But a lot depends on the city government, whether it can take advantage of the project or scheme. The government has created special purpose vehicle (SPV) in each city for the purpose of improving the planning and implementation. So the opportunity is created.

One final point, the nation is looking at not just Bangalore. Actually Bangalore has to become smart in a lot of other areas as well. We are actively looking at smaller cities that are already in the list of Smart Cities like Belgaum and Davangere. Similarly, in every state, apart from the capital, there are a number of smaller cities. The focus has to be there, because introduction of technology or smart governance requires more attention in smaller cities.