New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has announced that in order to make New Delhi a smart city, they will soon start 3D mapping of all places includes buildings, trees, roads and sewers. NDMC has already a budget surplus of Rs 27.2 crore, and after their annual budget announced yesterday, they will now move more aggressively to convert New Delhi into a smart and safe city.
While presenting the annual budget, NDMC Chairperson Jalaj Srivastava said “A smart city cannot have only a few hours of water supply a day, or electricity outages, or the streets and public places littered with garbage. Only clean cities are perceived to be smart”
Some of the tasks which the new Smart City project aims to do in Delhi in coming days:
- Replacing 18,500 street light poles with LED, and installing CCTV cameras in them to monitor and check crime
- WiFi in 2G/3G mode for all their residents; on a revenue sharing model so that no extra expenditure is incurred
- Generate atleast 4MW of Solar Energy by optimally utilizing rooftops of Government buildings; Open Tender will be floated for the same
- Aiming for 100% recycled energy sources; Garbage and junk would be recycled in an eco-friendly manner to generate energy
Which Areas Will NDMC Cover?
New Delhi has been divided into three local bodies: Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) and Cantonment Board (areas under Army). MCD controls more than 97% of the New Delhi, whereas NDMC only controls 3% of the city which includes the crème de la crème locations, commonly known as Lutyen’s Delhi.
All important buildings and offices such as Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament House, Supreme Court, North and South Blocks are in NDMC, along with various embassies of different countries and diplomatic centers. Delhi Government allocates different budgets for all three local bodies.
NDMC basically covers an area of 43.7 kms, and is headed by the Chief Minister, who is Arvind Kejriwal as of now.
But Will These Projects Start?
Yesterday, while announcing the annual budget for Delhi, CM Arvind Kejriwal had reduced the budget allocations for development and infrastructure works by Rs 1350 crore, and increased the budget for non-planned subsidies such as free water and free electricity by Rs 2500 crore.
The smart city project by NDMC falls under the development and infrastructure works, and although NDMC has a separate budget, the overall funding is derived from the same pool of funds (Rs 38,000 crore for 2015-16).
It would be interesting to observe how the newly formed AAP Govt. carries forward the smart city project after promising heavily subsidized water and electricity to please the masses.
We will keep you updated.