NEW DELHI: Bhopal which is the state capital of Madhya Pradesh will soon come out with 5,000 more residential flats as a part of area-based development (ADB) initiative under the Smart City program.
Nearly 2,000 housing flats have already been completed under the scheme.
Tarun Pithode, Bhopal’s District Collector and Smart City Chairman said that another 5,000 flats are being constructed in order to vacate government houses in the region under area-based development scheme as a part of a phased program to develop Bhopal as a Smart City.
Pithode, a 2009-batch Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, and previously worked with the Indian Railways.
The official added that several blocks are also being developed for commercial activities including schools and gardens and the progress have been satisfactory so far.
The Bhopal Smart City chief also said that the local administration has plans to raise Rs 1,000 crore to further accomplish the ongoing projects.
The body has floated the Expression of Interest (EOI) to raise money to further develop smart city-led initiatives, Pithode said and added that five financial institutions have shown interest to lend Rs 1,000 crore.
The private, as well as public sector lenders that have evinced interest in Bhopal city programs, include Axis Bank, Punjab National Bank, Power Finance Corporation and the Housing and Urban Develop Corporation (Hudco).
In the state capital, many roads and drainage systems are being developed, and planning is done in such a way with a provision of common utility duct that no wire could be seen outside, as a part of area-based development.
Pithode said that dedicated tracks for bicycle users are also
being developed further, and apart from it, a smart city relies upon on multi-level
smart parking which the body has already done at three locations and has also
approved it at two different sites.
Bhopal, which is the second-cleanest city in the country has
several garbage transfer stations, where cleaning and segregating is already
done by the local municipality, and it is being compressed and transferred to a
dumping location for making manure and generating electricity.
Pithode said that the one-time fee for e-bikes has been
reduced from Rs 500 to Rs 50 for senior citizens, women, and students, and the
administration is constructing dedicated areas in parks for making smart city
inclusive.
The official plans to encourage digital payments in the
commercial and housing complexes having Wi-Fi hotspots under the area-based
development project, a part of the broader smart city initiative.
The top official said that 150 smart poles have already been
installed while another 250 are expected to be completed by year-end and will
have Wi-Fi hotspots, charging points for electrical vehicles, weather sensors,
street lights, and signage.
India’s central city is also deploying 200-kilometer-long
optic-fibre cable (OFC) and has identified 22 squares to put up 240 smart
cameras as a part of a surveillance system, for a safe city initiative.
“These cameras can be further used for safety purposes
including crime control,” the official said and added that the local police are
also running a similar project, as a part of an integrated traffic management
system where using intelligent cameras, challans are being produced.
In addition, the city administration has an ambitious strategy to install cameras across the Bhopal Bus Rapid Transit System or BRTS, to detect vehicles and people violating the traffic norms.
Bhopal has also created an incubation centre in the smart city office premise, and about 10 entrepreneurs, according to him, have come up with their innovative ideas, and have been doing outstandingly well in the country.
Anurag Asati of Kabadiwala, Vibhu Tripathi of Vizbee Robotics and Vijay Mamtani of Prayogik Technologies, are some of the Bhopal-origin innovators of national fame. Madhya Pradesh has close to 125 registered tech startups, while Bhopal is considered as a supportive city for budding entrepreneurs.
Source: ET Realty
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