Smart city projects to be put on fast track

33 projects expected to kickstart over the year, including command and control centre

After completing just three projects under the Smart Cities Mission in the past few years, the Chennai Corporation is set to kickstart at least 33 projects over the year.

On Tuesday, Chennai Corporation finalised the areas for a pilot project on smart parking management — Second Avenue and Shanthi Colony in Anna Nagar, Second Avenue in Besant Nagar and Marina Beach. “The pilot project will begin this week,” said an official.

After the Union government launched the Smart Cities Mission in 2015, the civic body was able to commission a mobile phone-based grievance redressal system ‘Namma Chennai App’ at a cost of ₹9.5 lakh. It also established 28 smart classrooms at a cost of ₹1.75 crore and converted 1,772 sodium vapour lamps to energy-saving LED lights at a cost of ₹3.44 crore.

Chennai has been ranked 37 among the 87 smart cities in the country by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, with a score of 31.46.

There has been a flurry of activity in the past week, as three companies showcased innovations in technology as part of the technical evaluation of bids for the Integrated Command and Control Centre, which is the key aspect of the smart city initiative in the city. “The original cost was estimated at ₹210 crore. The revised cost is ₹149.84 crore,” said an official.

Funding challenges

Disaster management expert N. Mathavan, who developed a disaster resilience index for the city, said the residents need a command and control centre to mitigate crises during the northeast monsoon. However, challenges in funding have delayed the project. The command and control centre is expected to take off soon.

The Integrated Command and Control Centre will incorporate a disaster management system, a city surveillance system, an ICT-based solid waste management system, a variable messaging system (digital display boards), integration with a parking management system, smart street light monitoring, smart poles, environmental sensors, data centre, mobile command and control centre and a smart city governance portal.

Senior officials convened a detailed review meeting to revise the estimates for the Command and Control Centre. “The cost estimate of the proposal was reviewed by line departments such as Buildings Department, EDP Cell, Electrical Department and ELCOT and the final revised estimate is ₹149.84 crore. This will be spent from the Chennai Smart City Fund,” said an official.

Tenders called

Tenders have also been called for a ₹9.49 crore cycle sharing system, a ₹11.63 crore electromagnetic flow meter for water supply, smart meters for bulk consumers, water meters for Metrowater tanker filling posts and solar rooftop plants in public buildings.

Even after Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani set a deadline of March 31 for commencement of all smart city projects, many projects are yet to take off.

Detailed reports

Officials said the preparation of detailed project reports is under way for seven projects at an estimated cost of ₹293.26 crore.

The projects include the restoration of 24 waterbodies, multilevel car parking at Sivagnanam Road and Uttamar Gandhi Salai, 24x7 water supply for T. Nagar, sewer network augmentation for T. Nagar, redesign of bus routes in T. Nagar and a skywalk connecting Mambalam railway station and T. Nagar bus terminus.

The detailed project reports for five projects estimated at ₹369.92 crore are yet to be prepared. The projects include an Intelligent Transport System, microgrid management system at primary electrical distribution substations, electrical and ICT utility corridor, smart metering for electrical networks and toilet maintenance in T. Nagar, officials said.