The discussions at the third edition of ‘National Summit on 100 Smart Cities India 2017,’ revolved around the roadmap for innovation, sustainability, surveillance and development for smart cities.
Indian government’s $7.3 billion Smart City mission is aimed at applying smart solutions to improve infrastructure and service delivery in the cities.
Speaking at the third edition of ‘National Summit on 100 Smart Cities India 2017,’ Shashi Dharan, Managing Director, Bharat Exhibitions said, “The Indian government’s vision to create 100 new smart cities to support the rapid urbanization is an important step, as it seeks to provide residents with an efficient and reliable infrastructure, enhanced quality of life and economic opportunities. It is an established fact that without information and communication technologies (ICT) one cannot have a good smart city but there are various other elements too that we need to pay a close attention.”
Amit Singh, Director – Smart Cities, PwC said, “The 100 Smart Cities is no magic wand to address all the problems that we have, but a small attempt to address the rapid urbanization that we are witnessing. The success or failure of this lies in our own hands as the citizens are the most important part of the smart city ecosystem”.
Arun Kumar Mishra, Director, National Smart Grid Mission said, “Historically, people were not required to contribute to the Smart City Grid. However, the times are now changing and we cannot go ahead and serve to the demands of people as and when it comes. We need them to have an active participation in the smart city process”.
Dinesh Chand Sharma, Director – Standard & Public Policy, EU Project, Seconded European Standardization Expert in India (SESEI) said, “We need to implement technologies that are future proof. There is a set standard that defines ‘Smart City’ but there is a need to have a standard ICT architecture and for surveillance that can be used to plug and play applications.”
Commenting about the challenges and key learning about Smart Cities, Alka Asthana, CTO, Bharti Infratel said, “The big challenge right now is that the expectation set has not been standardised.”
Swayan Chaudhary, Managing Director and CEO, Panaji Smart City Development said, “It is a new process for all involved and the biggest challenge that this mission faces is implementation. Since it is a new process for all involved, the need of the hour is effective consultation. Experts in the domain and industry leaders need to step up and come out with consolations that can help in effective planning and execution of plans.”
Reji Kumar Pillai, President and CEO, India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) said, “Planning a city may take decades and not just years. What we are trying to do is look for quick fix solutions for the existing problems, which should not be the case today. The rate of change of technology and its impact also needs to be taken into account while planning for a smart city.”
The 100 Smart Cities India 2017 featured the designated heads of municipalities, urban/city planning, research/academic institutes, engineers/consultants, energy and utility experts, mobility and transportation experts, technology providers and many more.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.