The Smart Cities Council India, which has been formed to promote development of smart cities, on Wednesday said it would release the India Readiness Guide on February 10 that will help urban planners understand the framework of a smart city and take steps to improve infrastructure.
Speaking at an event here Pratap Padode, founder and director, Smart Cities Council, said the India Readiness Guide is the first collaborative and comprehensive framework for a smart city, against which cities in India can assess their readiness to innovate. He described the guide as a conceptual roadmap to address growth strategies by focusing on policies that unite key areas such as energy, transportation, water and public safety.
“India is likely to spend US $ 50 billion on smart cities in the next five years,” Mr Padode said, emphasising the need for a proper blueprint for development.
“Of this a sum of US $ 35 million has already been provided for 100 smart cities for making city development plans. Further, in 2016-17, US $600 million will be spent directly by the cities by issuing request for proposals,” he added.
The India Readiness Guide that will be released at the 3rd Smart Cities Summit on 10 February 2016 will be given to the Municipal Commissioners and mayors on 97 cities competing for the smart cities challenge along with 500 AMRUT cities.
US-based Smart Cities Council, an industry coalition to advance smart city development and innovation, had reached agreement with Foundation of Infrastructure Research Studies Training president Pratap Padode to launch the India chapter last year.
The Smart Cities Readiness Guide for India will be based on the Smart Cities Readiness Guide that the Council first released in 2013.
