Ramesh Subramaniam is Director General, South-East Asia at the Asian Development Bank, Manila. He was highly appreciative of the wide range of subjects that we had covered on India 2030 in the IE golden jubilee commemorative volume in March 2018. I had a business trip scheduled a trip to Philippines. He invited me to address select specialists at the Asian Development Bank in Manila on India’s Smart Cities project. I addressed them on Diwali day, 06 November. And for my efforts I received a Diwali bonus of a special lunch at ADB’s sprawling dining hall! I also interacted with their senior executives. Excerpts from my talk
India is urbanizing. The migration from villages and towns led to the emergence of megacities, each with a population exceeding a crore. The government has identified 100 cities to develop as smart cities. These will incorporate technology to improve the quality of urban services. There are a few drivers of change: transportation, security, energy, technology, healthcare, housing, water and sanitation and education. I focused on a few of these levers.
Many countries have shown interest in partnering India in helping its cities go smart. These countries will focus on building institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure. They will also facililate citizen engagement, investments, skill development and full employment to improve the quality of life. Of course, attention will be paid to environmental issues, including a mechanism for disaster management.
SMART TRANSPORTATION
India has a strong base for the production of automobiles and auto components. Global majors have established production facilities for Indian and global markets. India produces annually 2.3 million cars, 25 million two-wheelers, 0.7 million three-wheelers and a million commercial vehicles. From taxi apps to car sharing, from rapid bus transit to metro rails, from bike sharing to walking, choices for commuting are expanding.
Powerful multinational corporations have leveraged the new prosperity of the urban middle class. This has resulted in explosive growth in the number of vehicles on roads and has been contributing to traffic jams. Chennai is a typical example: for a population of 5 million, it has 3.7 million vehicles of which 3.3 million are two-wheelers. This means private transportation accounts for a significant share of commuting. In 2010, a full 20 years after I had first recommended it, the metro rail project for Chennai started. The initial phase of 45 km of two metro rail lines will be fully in operation early next year.
Let us meet Dr. V Sumantran, the Harvard scientist, who has worked on automobile research across the globe. He, along with two of his Harvard colleagues, wrote a book on the Future of Car and Urban Mobility. The authors stress that the world must design cities for its citizens and not for its cars. This is true of several metros where the target is to ensure that 70 per cent of commuting happens by mass public transport. The smart city plan would work on automated passenger information system with real-time information, parking management and transit-oriented development that will include walking, cycling and bus connectivity. Role of autonomous heavy buses for public transportation, use of integrated technologies and, importantly, the switch to electric vehicles are all on cards.
In public transport, last mile connectivity is vital. In recent months there is a welcome spurt of initiatives from Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL). Here is an instance. To take care of the last mile conveyance in select metro rail terminals, CMRL has provided for a modest fixed fare of Rs 10 for share auto and Rs 15 for share taxi ride up to 3 km. Such measures have led to a significant increase in the number of commuters by metro rail.
I recently visited Hong Kong, which has a brilliant commuter transportation system. These include the metro rail, big and small buses and trams and ferry services. A pre-paid debit card Octopus, provides for availing not just the services of different modes of transport but also for retail purchases. A refundable deposit of HK $ 50 and refill @ HK$ 50 gets one the Octopus card. There is 50 per cent concession on the transportation services for senior citizens and children.
The ease and convenience of the Octopus cards are worth emulating. I do hope the long talked about move towards a single urban transport authority would take shape soon. Despite all the criticism over demonetisation, there has been a huge shift to simple instruments like RuPay cards. It should be possible for CMRL to introduce a Hong Kong type debit card.
SMART ENERGY
The second significant change will take place in the energy sector. We are heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Nearly two-thirds of India’s installed capacity of 250 GW power is based on coal. The new energy policy envisages phasing out lignite from new plants by 2022 and phasing out coal from 2027. Thus the future will predominantly have solar and wind energy.
Tamil Nadu is a leader in harnessing wind energy. Around 8500 MW, forming a third of the total capacity, is accounted by wind energy. The current focus is on solar power. With an abundance of the sun almost right through the year, India targets to harness 100 GW from this source. The smart city programme will have green buildings that will focus on optimised use of energy. Every significant building will have a roof-top solar facility. The power needs of the agriculture and domestic sectors, which constitute 50 per cent
of power consumption in Tamil Nadu, can be met by solar power.
SMART DIGITAL SECURITY
Smart cities will take care of the safety of its citizens. A broad spectrum of city surveillance and homeland security systems are being installed as part of the intelligent cities’ programme. India’s largest city surveillance project comprising 5000 cameras was established in 1500 locations in Mumbai metro. Similar systems were installed in other cities. The results have been dramatic: in Rajkot (Gujarat), in the last six months, crime rates fell by 18 per cent. Public littering has reduced substantially. In Ta-
mil Nadu, the city cops have been able to track criminals of burglaries, bank robberies and murders with remarkable speed, thanks to ubiquitous security cameras. Push button systems at vantage points also help a citizen in reaching out to the nearest police station. Now it is mandatory to have such emergency push buttons in autos and taxis that have a centralized control system. These help in improving traffic management and in reducing corruption.
