Japan to associate with India for development of three smart cities

Japanese Ambassador to India Kenji Hiramatsu's meet with Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, on 6 Jan 2017, proved fruitful for India's smart city aspirations. Japan articulated its interest in the urban development initiatives of the Indian Government and decided to be a partner.

Chennai, Ahmedabad and Varanasi are the three cities Japan is going to assist in the process of smart city development.

The MoU on cooperation in urban development, signed during the recent visit of British Prime Minister Theresa May, is also making headway following a meeting between Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and British High Commissioner Dominic Asquith.

The last few years have seen heavy investment from foreign countries in India's ambitious 'smart city' plans for a number of cities. MoU with the United states in 2015 for the cities of Allahabad, Ajmer, Visakhapatnam, and France's affirmation to back the development of Chandigarh, Nagpur and Puducherry in 2016 are examples of the Modi government's success in roping in investment.

What's more? Germany also pledged support to Bhubaneswar, Kochi and Coimbatore in implementing their smart city plans in Berlin in 2016. in 2015, agreed to a 5 yr partnership for the development of Amaravathi, Pune and Indore. With fifteen cities already having gained the assistance of world-class firms in building their smart cities, the government's 100 Smart Cities Mission is fast materialising into quantifiable results.

The very idea of a smart city is perceived differently in different countries. While New York is designing the world's largest and fastest municipal Wi-fi network, Singapore is in the process of deploying a massive network of sensors and cameras across the city to monitor everything from petty acts of theft to inefficient energy usage.

In India's smart city programme, the government is primarily focused on fundamental projects like waste management, water management, urban mobility, e-governance, energy management and skill development centres.

The official website for the Smart Cities Mission identifies its criteria for selection of cities for the project as, "Cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment for application of ‘Smart’ Solutions." The shortlisting of cities for the project was a highly competitive process in which each aspiring city made Smart City Proposals (SCP) to win the ‘City Challenge’.

The aim is to build a "replicable model which will act like a lighthouse to other aspiring cities", the Smart City Mission states.