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Six Smart City projects in Chandigarh get rolling
Chandigarh Smart City Limited’s board of directors paves way for work to begin on ground, assigns deadlines to contractors
Authorities have finally got cracking on the projects conceived under the Smart City Mission. Six key projects worth over ₹60 crore were allotted during a meeting of the
board of directors of Chandigarh Smart City Limited (CSCL) on Wednesday.
These include removal of 5 lakh tonnes of waste accumulated in a ground at Dadumajra, bringing major public services online and mapping of city’s underground pipelines.
Besides, the board cleared use of SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) system for Recycled Water Distribution Network, smart classrooms and infrastructure upgrade at four government schools, and deployment of e-karts at the Sector-17 Plaza.
Chandigarh was among the 100 cities selected under the central scheme in 2016 to ease residents’ lives with smart solutions.
Since then, the two dozen projects mooted under the scheme remained stuck due to hiccups in the planning stage. This caused Chandigarh to rank 67th among 100 cities in the Smart City rankings last year.
“Allotment of three key projects has paved way for commissioning of works on ground. Agencies given the task have been asked to start the work at the earliest,” said KK Yadav, MC commissioner-cum-chief executive officer, CSCL.
At the meeting, UT adviser Manoj Kumar Parida also gave directions to clear tendering process of other smart city
projects.
The removal of lakhs of tonnes of waste at the dumping ground in Dadumajra will not only benefit those living in Dadumajra, but also residents of Sectors 24, 25, 38 West, 39, 40 and other areas.
Nagpur-based SMS Limited has been allotted the ₹34-crore project to clear the ground, with a deadline of 18 months from now.
Likewise, the ₹11.50 crore project to bring 28 public services online has been awarded to UK-based, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Among the slew of services are online submission and disposal of building plans, death and birth certificates, and water, sewerage and power connections.
The project aims to introduce a single app for time-bound delivery of services, as UT has already notified the Right to Service Act. The Act holds officials accountable for delay in services. An official said the project was likely to be commissioned in a year.
Then CSCL has awarded the contract for underground mapping of city’s water and sewerage pipeline supply to Tojo-Vikas International (P) Limited. The firm will work to ascertain defunct pipelines, and use data generated from the mapping to upgrade and repair underground lines. Total investment is ₹6 crore and deadline is nine months.
The government schools to get 90 smart classrooms are located in Sectors 22, 35 and 43. These will be equipped with interactive boards, projectors, smart lighting, fire alarms, etc., at a cost of ₹4.8 crore by the firm, Agmatel India Private Limited.
The CSCL board also cleared the detailed project report (DPR) for the 24X7 water supply project. The DPR will be submitted to the Union department of economic affairs for financing of the project through the French development agency, AFD (Agence Francaise de Development).
