Ahmedabad

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Smart City?

No universally accepted definition of a Smart City. The conceptualisation of Smart City, therefore, varies from city to city and country to country, depending on the level of development, willingness to change and reform, resources and aspirations of the city residents.

The objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions.

What are the core infrastructure elements in a smart city?

The core infrastructure elements in a Smart City would include:

– adequate water supply,
– assured electricity supply,
– sanitation, including solid waste management
– efficient urban mobility and public transport,
– affordable housing, especially for the poor,
– robust IT connectivity and digitalization,
– good governance, especially e-Governance and citizen participation,
– sustainable environment,
– safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, and
– health and education

What is the Smart City Challenge?

To fructify the honourable prime minister’s vision of 100 smart cities, the MoUD has floated the Smart City Challenge to identify the top cities that are ready for the next stage of development. The government has gone ahead and defined the process after detailed consultation. A two stage process has been created, based on which cities will be selected in the days to come. Each Smart City aspirant will be selected through a ‘City Challenge Competition’ intended to link financing with the ability of the cities to perform to achieve the mission objectives. Selected city will get Rs 100 crore a year for 5 years from Central Government. The stages of the competition are as follows:

Stage 1: Shortlisting of the Cities by States

The State/UT begins with shortlisting the potential Smart Cities on the basis of conditions precedent and scoring criteria and in accordance with the total number allocated to it. The first stage of the competition will be intra-state, in which cities in the State will compete on the conditions precedent and the scoring criteria laid out. On 27th August 2015, Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) announced list of nominated cities for Smart City Challenge Round 2.

Ahmedabad had been selected as one of the 100 cities in Stage 1 of the challenge. Other cities from Gujarat to appear among the top 100 are Gandhinagar, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot and Dahod.

Stage 2: Challenge Round

Each city formulates its own unique vision, mission and plan for a “smart city.” Their concepts reflect the city’s local context, resources, and priorities of citizens. Each city develops a pan-city and area-based proposal.

In the second stage of the competition, each of the potential 100 Smart Cities prepare their proposals for participation in the ‘City Challenge’. The proposals will also outline the consultations held with the city residents and other stakeholders, how the aspirations are matched with the vision contained in the SCP and importantly, what is the proposal for financing of the Smart City plan including the revenue model to attract private participation.

Crux of the Smart City Mission

– 100 Smart Cities to be developed over the next five year

– The government has earmarked INR 48,000 Crores for the Smart City project

– The Centre and state government-ULB funding for every city will be Rs 1,000 Crores (500 each) over a four-year period.

– In the first round of competition, 20 cities would get selected and would receive Rs. 200 crore from Centre in the first year itself

The stages of the competition are as follows:

Stage 1: Shortlisting of the Cities by States

– Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) announced list of nominated cities for Smart City Challenge Round 2.

– Ahmedabad had been selected as one of the 100 cities in Stage 1 of the challenge.

– Other cities from Gujarat to appear among the top 100 are Gandhinagar, Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot and Dahod

Stage 2: Challenge Round

– Each city formulates its own unique vision, mission and plan for a “smart city.”

– Each city develops a pan-city and area-based proposal.

Status of Ahmedabad

– Ahmedabad had been selected as one of the 100 cities in Stage 1 of the challenge.

– Proposal Preparation in progress

– Citizen Engagement Plan in progress

o Online and Offline Surveys floated – on AMC website, facebook page and twitter page and locations like Kankariya Lake Front

o Online discussions on MyGov.in platform

o Competitions – Tagline, logo and Essay Writing

Activities

We intend to achieve active citizen participation through the following mechanisms:

– Press Conferences / Talk Shows / Panel Discussions

– Face-to-face consultations

– Competitions

– Surveys

– Focus Group Discussions

– Other Promotional activities

Municipal Commissioner’s speech on Smart City Ahmedabad

Distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon,

On behalf of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, I welcome you all in the Inaugural Talk show for smart city Ahmedabad. Thank you all for coming here at such short notice and for being a part of this initiative.

I would like to begin this event by shedding some light on what is a Smart City? There is no universal definition of a smart city. Rather, a smart city is defined by its objectives and what it intends to achieve. In the smart city Initiative we intend to look at the physical infrastructure and better them through technology and management. Physical Infrastructure includes Transportation, Connectivity and Public utilities among others. The effect of a growing population is experienced first-hand by physical infrastructure. The city needs to improve its existing infrastructure as well expand to accommodate the growing population. To give you an example, transportation can be improved by reducing the need to use private vehicles. This can be achieved through a better mass public transportation coupled with improved pedestrian facilities and alternate modes of travel such as Shared bikes or electric cars. While some of these solutions may not be implemented right now but we must plan for the future and start planning now.

Similarly, other pillars also need to be looked in a similar light, with a vision for the future with focus and planning for the next 20 years.

However, to create a vision for the future we must be aware of the current scenario and ground realities in the city.

We must assess where Ahmedabad stands on the path of growth. I want to remind the citizens of Ahmedabad that our city is the one of the first cities in the country to successfully implement the BRTS and has now become one of the first cities in the country to adopt the segregation at Source model for Solid Waste management. This has only been possible because of the contribution of each and every citizen of Ahmedabad.

But the question is – are we doing enough? What are the ways that the city can be further improved?

This is where the smart city challenge comes into picture. As you all must know the Smart City initiative was launched by the MoUD, Government of India to create self-sufficient and sustainable cities for the future. Under this Initiative our city has been selected in this list of 100 cities in stage 1 of the challenge. In the next stage each city is required to make a proposal for making their city Smart.

The smart city proposal essentially asks us to present two plans for the city. One plan will be a pan-city initiative. It will cover the entire city and should address a common problem. The other plan will be targeting a particular area of the city and will be a geographically constrained project. The Area-based plan includes three options of either focussing on a new area or a Greenfield project, or redevelopment /retrofitting of an existing area. Whatever may be the plan but the guiding principle of the proposal remains betterment of the masses.

All inclusive growth and development remains the guiding principle of the smart city proposal. With this in mind, I would like request all of you present here and the citizens of Ahmedabad to actively participate in making Ahmedabad a Smart City

Ahmedabad Smart City Presentation