eration Agency (JICA) is investing US$ 4.5 billion (INR
27000 crores) in the first phase of the Delhi-Mumbai
industrial corridor (DMIC) project. JICA has also taken
up the planning initiative for three Smart Cities — Tum-
kur in Karnataka, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh
and, Ponneri in Tamil Nadu alongside the Chennai-Ban-
galore Industrial Corridor.
Now, let us try to understand the critical challenges
and choices for the implementation of Smart City Mis-
sion. Following the launch of Smart Cities, the citizens
will require smart solutions like smart buildings, smart
transportation, etc. Even though the Smart Cities policy
has created excitement among the investors, there are
several doubts about sustainability and governance of
these cities. The governance system across states and cit-
ies in India is fragmented, lacks efficiency and transpar-
ency thereby affecting the whole delivery and quality as-
pects of value offerings and customer service. According
to a report released by Brookings Institution in August
2016, the urban local bodies (ULBs), transport authori-
ties and concerned departments have not yet developed
enough to function as autonomous institutions. They
don’t have planners on their staff and have the employ-
ees who are not trained in required skills. The Smart City
concept requires a centralized metropolitan governing
structure. It should involve both administrative agencies
and citizens to gain wider acceptability and transpar-
ency but, the policy does not encourage or educate citi-
zens to understand the technology and participate in the
city designing process.
With the aim of developing Smart Cities in India, it is
evident that advanced technological equipment will be
used to make the operations fast and efficient. Technol-
ogy will play a significant role in building the futuristic
Smart Cities. The deployment of advanced technologies
and data analytics network will make these cities more
efficient and responsive. The real-time data availability
from these cities will enable the quick understanding of
the trends and issues, thereby making a quick resolution
of the same. It is thus required that public and private
players worked in cohesion to enable the process. There
is a need to improve the reliability and flexibility of the
various components of urban life using technology. Theright use of technology will act as a key enabler in ensur-
ing sustainable living environments in cities. It will help
in effective planning and management of public utilities
such as power, water, the Internet, and transport thereby
improving their cost, access, and quality. The benefit of
technology is thus known to all and now is the time to
implement it holistically. However, technology should
not be considered as the only solution and should be uti-
lized only as a tool to enhance civic service without los-
ing the humane and green orientation as the core com-
ponents of the city.
There is enormous potential in India to build an effi-
cient ecosystem for Smart Cities. This will create oppor-
tunities and contribute to country’s economic growth
through technology and innovation. Our cities are rap-
idly becoming the shaping units of human habitation.
How smartly we construct, manage and operate our cit-
ies will be the exclusive determinant of citizen’s future.
We owe it to our future generations to make our cities
smart through the use of innovation and technology.(Amit Kapoor and the co-authors of the article, Sandeep
Goyal and Abhishek Singh are part of the Institute for
Competitiveness, India. To know more about the Insti-
tute visit http://www.competitiveness.in)The governance system across states
and cities in India is fragmented, lacks
efficiency and transparency, affecting
the whole delivery and quality aspects