The works pertaining to the Kakinada Smart City programme have gained sudden momentum and the digital projects are getting accelerated to offer services to the public from February.
Though the city is among the 20 that got the ‘Smart’ tag in January, 2016, not much has been done so far except the works like distribution of designed pushcarts for street vendors and making arrangements for supplying piped cooking gas in select residential areas. Selection of private players for various projects has remained a time-consuming task for the officials.
Following constant monitoring by the Central and the State governments, orders have been issued for works worth ₹300 crore and projects estimated to cost about ₹240 crore are at the bidding stage now. “The expansion of optical fibre along the core path in an extent of 6.2 km has already been completed. We are now installing smart street lights and access points for closed circuit cameras and the Wi-Fi,” says S. Aleem Basha, Commissioner of the Kakinada Municipal Corporation, talking to The Hindu . The Smart City-related ICT solutions include Command Control Centre, CCTV surveillance, Wi-Fi, automatic number-plate recognition, face detection and waste and disaster management.
Infrastructure
With the construction of the Command Control Centre nearing completion and the municipal schools gearing up to be equipped with internet-based smart classrooms, arrangements are in place to make all the smart elements functional in a short time. “Along with providing the ICT-related services, we are also keen on developing infrastructure under the Smart City Mission. Developing the market areas, expanding the bridges and beautification of parks are in our to do list,” explains the official.
In a city that produces 220 metric tonnes of garbage every day, emptying the trash bins is a major challenge for the sanitation staff. By spending about ₹94 crore, the civic body is now converting the conventional bins into sensor-based ones, so that the Command Control Centre will get an electronic alert immediately after a bin gets filled. “Similarly, the surveillance will be improved drastically. The CC cameras and the number plate reading system improve public safety on the roads, while the automated signal lighting system eases the flow of vehicular traffic on the arterial roads,” says Mr. Basha.
Works such as construction of a sewage treatment plant, boat building yard and fish processing units are also on the cards.
