Warangal smart city quest not easy task

Warangal: Warangal, ranked 21st across pan India in the implementation of Smart Cities Mission, is up there in the top bracket, despite the fact that it has nothing concrete to show under its belt. Surprisingly, State capitals like Chennai and Lucknow failed to fare better than many Tier-II cities. A peek into Warangal’s quest to become a Smart city reveals how hard the coveted goal is to accomplish.

Mapping out of the smart city begun with the constitution of Greater Warangal Smart City Corporation Limited (GWSCCL), a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the implementation of the projects listed in the Smart City Proposal (SCP) on August 18, 2016.

The SCP comprises seven themes, 20 projects and 64 sub-projects under the Area Based Development (ABD) covering an area of about 6.4 square kilometre, and Pan city at an estimated cost of Rs 2,861.

Although, Warangal had been ranked 21st among 99 cities selected under the mission by the Ministry of Urban Development in the implementation of smart city projects, the ground reality is something different. On the flipside, it also indicates the poor progress of the Smart Cities Mission across the country.

Fact file

• Of the 135 kms proposed smart roads works, only 5 kms are in the execution stage while remaining is in the designing stage.
• Bhadrakali Lake Front Development works are already in progress. The work includes development of 1.1 kms of promenade with Kakatiya culture stone sculptures, viewing decks, pedestrian walkways, cycle tracks, large green areas. On the other hand, desilting of Bhadrakali Lake had been completed.
• Meanwhile, tenders were already floated to rehabilitate the Regional and Central Library. The works include redesigning of the building layout, provision of lecture halls, repair to existing buildings, revamping the lighting system, supply and installation of state of art furniture including book shelves. Efforts are also on to call for tenders for ensuring Library Management System. This allows the denizens to access the library through both online and mobile.
• The authorities are ready to float tenders for developing six transfer stations as part of solid waste management with state of art machinery.
• The other initiative ready for floating tenders is Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) which involves installation of around 1,000 cameras for surveillance, automatic number plate reading, signal jump violation detection, developing city wide mobile application, online grievance system and integration of city’s civic infrastructure such as smart water meters.

Funds

It is learnt that although the Central government had sanctioned Rs 94 crore long ago as its first instalment, the funds are in a state of freeze. It might be noted here that although the Centre provides Rs 500 crore over five years, the State will have to make a matching contribution. Unless this is done, the Centre’s funds cannot be utilised.

Speaking to The Hans India, Warangal Mayor Nannapaneni Narender said, “Although the authorities are trying their best to ground as many projects as possible, lack of experienced contractors is resulting into delays in executing them. This apart, designing of these large and complex projects require more time.”