10 Challenges Before India's Smart Cities Mission

Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on September 20 named 27 cities to be developed as smart cities under the Narendra Modi-led government's Smart Cities Mission. The government had earlier said that 40 cities would be taken up for the Smart Cities Mission in the financial year 2016-17. After it had announced the names of the first set of 13 cities on May 24, this was the list of the remaining 27 cities for the Smart Cities concept. 

Earlier, during a debate on how the government's ambitious Smart Cities Mission could become a success, at the Second Smart City Expo in Delhi (May 11-13), Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had shared a great insight. "Smart cannot be static," he had said. "What may be smart today, may not be so in 2030. So, the concept of smart cities will keep changing," Prabhu had said.

Under its Smart Cities Mission, the government plans to develop 100 cities at an estimated cost of Rs 98,000 crore. The project cost includes the funds to be spent under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

So, what are we trying to achieve? 

From communicating with citizens through social media to traffic mobile apps, and from LED street lighting to a leak-identification system, cities have shared many innovative ideas in their smart city proposals. However, core issues remain and we need some guiding principles to carry us through. The objective is "to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of smart solutions".

PropGuide looks at 10 challenges facing India as it seeks to become 'smart':

Let more water flow

According to government data, annual per capita water availability is expected to decline from 1,545 cubic metres in 2011 to 1,140 cubic metres by 2050. With the scale of growth that the country is going to witness in its urban population over this period, much would depend on how cities manage to apply 'smart ways' to bridge the gap in demand and supply of water. 

Besides, water-related diseases are a primary cause of deaths in India. While ensuring that we are not heading towards a water crisis, it will be crucial to check what we drink is safe.

Global inspiration: In Spain, Barcelona's sensor irrigation system provides people real-time data about the level of water required for a particular plant.

Let there be light

According to government estimates, India's energy demand is expected to increase three times in the next 10 years. In a country where even state capitals face power outages, supply issues are going to cause a lot of pain in lighting things up. For cities to be smart, LED bulbs may be good, but a continuous supply of electricity will determine the success of the mission.

Global inspiration: German capital of Berlin has been testing the vehicle-to-grid technology to create a virtual power plant using electric vehicles.

Cleanliness is next to Godliness

We are a country where roughly half the population still defecates in the open. Urban India alone accounts for more than 38 billion litres of sewage generated in the country on an annual basis, and most of this is discharged into water bodies. Further, most cities do not have waste-disposal or sewage-treatment plants.  Data show that around 60 million tonnes of municipal solid waste is generated in urban India annually, and the amount will increase significantly in future.

How efficiently the cities will be able to dispose of garbage without letting it impact the health of the natives could require far more than a smart idea.

Global inspiration: Cities across the Netherlands recycle a large amount of their waste to produce electricity.

Smooth commute

Under the Smart Cities Mission, cities will have to provide their citizens a variety of transport options. Metro projects and transit-oriented development are part of the connectivity plan. What may pose a challenge, though, will be the increased population. For instance, taking a Metro was a great ride five years ago. But it is very difficult to travel board a Metro at Delhi's Rajiv Chowk Station, especially during peak hours.

Global inspiration: New York in the US, which has a low-carbon economy, is known to be a pioneer in adopting electric vehicles, while Boston utilises its citizens' smartphones to manage city traffic.

 A room of one's own

While the Centre plans to build 60 million homes by 2022 across the country under its 'Housing for All' scheme, smart cities are expected to provide homes with smart monitoring systems, cross-device compatibility, wireless connectivity, etc. The conflicts in providing housing to all, and providing smart housing to all, are going to be immense.

Global inspiration: With partnership with many conglomerates, Tokyo is on its way to building homes that will have solar panels, storage batteries, and energy-efficient appliances — all connected to a smart grid.

Click fast, click smart

Urban Indians are busy online. The country, with 3,000 tech start-ups, is the fourth-largest base for young businesses in the world. That shows the extent to which internet accessibility is going to be important in our economic growth. In fact, cities are planning district-wise free wireless networks to be smarter in future. However, how all the clicks will work and all the pages will load without delay are going to be the challenge.

Global inspiration: In Boston, a smart city in the US, more than 150 transactions with the city can be completed fully online.

No more serpentine queues

Citizen-governance conflicts are the most common form of conflicts and, unfortunately, authorities have not been able to address them in an effective manner. You can easily pay your water, electricity, property registration fees, etc, by using online services in some cities, but most others still lack such facilities. A challenge for the Smart Cities Mission will be to cut the red tape and provide most government services online.

Global inspiration: Civic innovation in San Francisco helped the city attract more and more entrepreneurs from the Silicon Valley. Washington DC has put in place a system under which the city uses social media to address citizens' grievances. Montreal has a law in place that allows any citizen who has 15,000 supporters' signatures to initiate a public consultation on any civic process.

The green lantern

While words fill the space on going green, forests in India are disappearing at the rate of up to 2.7 per cent a year, show government data. India, in fact, is responsible for emitting the fourth-largest amount of carbon dioxide annually. At least 627,000 die every year because of particulate air pollution.  How green we go without felling more trees may be a difficult question answer.

Global inspiration: Vancouver in Canada is on path to becoming the greenest city on the planet by 2020. Many US and European cities are making it mandatory for buildings to have partially green rooftops.

Safety concerns

Plans are aplenty. The government wants to create an ideal environment where everyone would be safe and sound. Data, on the contrary, show rising crime rates in the country. Providing smart homes, with smart surveillance systems, may prove useful. 

Global inspiration: In Santa Cruz, US, local authorities analyse historical crime data to predict police requirements in a particular area.

In the pink of health

There are smart classes to teach the children at school, and there are multi-speciality hospitals to cure all that ails you in major cities. However, if you have to approach a government-run school to learn or a government-run hospital to avail of health services, you might think twice in most cities. This particular area will require a lot of ground work before we actually get smart.

Global inspiration: You just need one smart card to access public libraries in Hong Kong. The same card works at public transit networks, shopping centres and car parks, too.