ECIL Chairman and Managing Director P. Sudhakar said on Thursday that smart cities would emerge as engines of growth.
In his keynote address at the inaugural of the two-day national convention of Computer Society of India, he explained how issues like water scarcity, energy crisis, health and hygiene, employment challenges, traffic congestion, safety and security, and environmental pollution had to be addressed to convert urban agglomerations into smart cities.
Stating that 75 per cent of the national GDP in the next 15 years would come from urban India, he said influx into urban areas would further compound the difficulties, causing stress on resources like water and energy. Modernisation drive, as part of smart city initiatives, would make the cities better places to live in future.
Mr. Sudhakar said modernisation was not a static phenomenon, and welcomed the move to convert Visakhapatnam into a smart city.
“It involves intelligent way of resource management,” he said.
The smart city concept was based on improving physical, institutional, social, and economic infrastructure.
Role of IT
Laying emphasis on the role of information and communication technologies, he said it would bring about the required change with optimal use of various applications.
The smart city concept would enable exchange and analysis of information across the subsystems.
“India is the fourth largest power producer, but quality and reliability need smart and intelligent grids and delivery system,” he pointed out.
Calling for use of IT for slicing and dicing data, he said a lot needed to be done for digitalising, monitoring, and maintaining various things by proper use of big data analysis, cloud computing, social media, and Internet of Things.
Wi-Fi connectivity
He said 100 per cent Wi-Fi connectivity and a speed of 100 Mbps should be developed as part of smart city initiatives.
He called for developing technology platforms such as sensor embedded software, command and control, and customised apps for better delivery system.
Modernisation initiatives call for intelligent resource management, says CMD of ECIL
