Taking a smart call? : The Tribune India

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Area watch: new chandigarh

Taking a smart call?

While the real estate market remained placid in 2014 all over the country, ripples of hope and excitement in the sector were created over the announcement of setting up 100 Smart Cities and an allocation of Rs7,600 crore for the purpose in the Union Budget.

Taking a smart call?


Geetu Vaid

While the real estate market remained placid in 2014 all over the country, ripples of hope and excitement in the sector were created over the announcement of setting up 100 Smart Cities and an allocation of Rs7,600 crore for the purpose in the Union Budget. It is no surprise, thus, that over the past few months the Smart Cities’ proposal has become a sort of come-back anthem for the sector that was tottering due to the lack of funds and the elusive buyers even though this concept has more to do with the technology and infrastructure set up rather than the construction of a complete new city.  

According to a recent concept note released by the Ministry of Urban Development it is proposed that 100 cities to be developed as Smart Cities may be chosen from amongst the following:
 
  • One satellite city of each of the cities with a population of 4 million people or more (9 cities)
  • Most of the cities in the population range of 1 – 4 million people (about 35 out of 44 cities)
  • All State/UT Capitals, even if they have a population of less than one million (17 cities)
  • Cities of tourist, religious and economic importance not included in above (10 cities)
  • Cities in the 0.2 to 1.0 million population range ( 25 cities).
 
In the vicinity of Chandigarh Punjab Government’s ambitious ‘New Chandigarh’ project will be a strong contender for this “smart” tag as the township is fast taking shape as a modern planned habitation. 
It has already been tagged as Punjab’s first Eco Smart City that will not be just another parasite on Chandigarh. An allocation of Rs1,218 crore has been made for this project in the 2014-2015 budget with the clarification that “city will be a self-contained city and will not be a satellite town of Chandigarh. In fact, it will act as a counter magnet to Chandigarh. The city is being developed on an area of 15,000 acres on the concept of smart city.”   
The area whose key USP is its proximity to the main sectors of Chandigarh, has remained the fulcrum of real estate growth around City Beautiful over the past six years. Several state-of-the-art mixed-use and residential projects are coming up here. Property prices that had witnessed a steep  jump in the 2009-2011 period, have remained stable over the past couple of years. Buyers can choose from plots, independent floors, villas, high-rise apartments as well as commercial spaces. The current price for plots in the primary market is between Rs16,000 and Rs19,000 per sq yd, while it is Rs24,000 per sq yd onwards in the resale market. Independent floors in the resale market are in the Rs50 lakh onwards range depending on the developer and the area of the units.  
With major national realty players like DLF, Omaxe already in the process of handing over the possessions for plots and independent floors in the first phase of their projects (DLF Hyde Park and Omaxe New Chandigarh) and GMADA likely to complete development work in its Eco City project soon, the end users will soon be testing the livability quotient of this budding smart city. Work in projects of other players like Altus group and Manohar Singh & Co is also on full throttle. 
Infrastructure growth, too, has gained momentum here with the 200 ft road from Old Barrier to Siswan T-point getting operational and tender being floated for the extension from Sector 38 West that will provide additional access to the area from the Dakshin Marg in Chandigarh. “New Chandigarh fulfills the parameters of accessibility, energy efficient systems, rainwater harvesting, waste management etc needed for a Smart City. In our project we have catered for all these and more and upgradation like fibre optic cables, automated security etc can be easily incorporated as and when required”, says  DLF Executive Director (Marketing & Sales) Ananta Raghuvanshi. 
Terming the master plan of as its biggest plus point Rohtas Goel, CMD, Omaxe Limited, says “The state government is developing New Chandigarh  as a Smart City that is self sustainable, modern and futuristic. Medical and educational hubs along with world-class recreation centres, parks etc. and promotion of service driven industries have been proposed along with better inter and intra city connectivity”. The master plan of the area has sites earmarked for a Super Speciality cancer institute and Medicity, a world class cricket stadium,   a knowledge hub besides having Metro connectivity, science park, higher education institutions, vocational training centres.
 
The area will be a low density habitation with a significant green cover and stress on setting up non-polluting and service-oriented businesses like IT, health and tourism. 
But in order for this showcase city of Punjab to be included in the “elite 100” list a number of “smart governance” features will have to be factored in. According to the concept note  the selected cities will need to undertake the following through a tripartite MoU between the Central and state governments and the Urban Local Body:
 
  • Have an existing master plan or one that is likely to be approved shortly and have such a validity of at least 10 years.
  • Have digitised spatial and GIS maps
  • Issue all clearances for projects in a collegiate manner using online processes and in a time bound manner
  • Electronic/Online seeking and delivery of all Public Services.
  • Transparent and time-bound procedure of granting free right of way for laying optic fibre networks, water supply lines, sewerage systems, draining systems and other utilities 
  • Create an IT-based platform for effective communication with the citizens and keep them abreast of various activities and plans of the city.
  • Adopt tariff structures that are affordable
  • Create Open Data Platforms that are regularly updated.
  • Make all information and decisions taken available in the public domain
  • Setup a regulatory body for all utility services such as water supply etc. so that a level playing field is made available to the private sector and tariffs are set in a manner that balances financial sustainability with quality.
  • All project first will be offered to Private Sector (PPP etc) for implementation and O&M.

As most of these conditions require government thrust it will depend more on the political will of the Akali-BJP alliance to get New Chandigarh a ‘Smart City’ status. With state Assembly elections slated for 2017 and considering the fact that the political parties will get into the election mode in a year’s time, Badals will have to move things faster. And it remains to be seen whether the Punjab government will take a “smart” call on New Chandigarh or not. 

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