Meet the army that’ll make the ‘Smart City’ dream a reality

Weeks after the Narendra Modi government named the cities which are to be transformed into smart cities, we came across the list of firms that have been assigned the job.

Consulting firms like CRISIL, KPMG, McKinsey and Mott MacDonald are among those 37 companies which will prepare the roadmap for the 88 out of a total 98 cities’ list that the Modi government plans to develop as smart cities. An Economic Times report revealed that the consulting firms’ names for the remaining 10 cities will come-up by the end of this week.

States like Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir are yet to nominate a city under this very ambitious plan, wherein the government plans to develop basic infrastructure and enhance urban living.

KPMG will develop an action plan for New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area while McKinsey will do it for Pune.

For the Smart City Mission, a two-day "Ideas Camp" has been organised to enable effective participation of all the 98 cities in the second stage of City Challenge competition. However, only 20 cities will be selected out of the total number in the first lot.

CRISIL Risk and Infrastructure Solutions Limited in association with Pri Move Infrastructure Development Consultants Private Ltd and Probity Soft Private Limited have bagged the contract for six cities – Nagpur, Kalian-Dombivali, Nasik, Thane, Solapur and Amaravati.

While Jones Lang La Salle Property Consultants India Pvt Ltd in association with Townland Consultants Pvt Ltd and Tata Consulting Engineers will work in the cities including Vadodara, Bhubaneswar, Amritsar, Chennai and Tiruchirapalli, the business daily revealed.

ICRA Management Consulting Private Limited in association with NJS Engineers India Private Limited and All-India Institute of Local Self-Government has managed to get for five cities including Rajkot, Kochi, Ajmer, Erode and Coimbattore, as per ET.

According the plan, the Ministry of Urban Development will provide Rs 100 crore to each of the cities over the next five years. On the other hand, the central government has decided to provide Rs 48,000 crore for the mission. The government will also provide the funds to urban local bodies at frequent intervals in the next five years.

The central government has also asked the state governments to generate the equal amount as the cost of the Smart City Mission is estimated to be around Rs 96,000 crore.

Kanpur, Ghaziabad and Thanjavur will seek help of Dorsh Holding GmbH in association with Dorsh Consult India Pvt Ltd and L R Kadaliya and Associates to prepare plans. While Greater Mumbai, Muzaffarpur, Durgapur (Bengal) will take help from Alia Consulting Solutions Pvt Ltd and Genesis Fin.

The Economic Times also added that Lucknow and Namchi (Sikkim) are working with Dataworld Pty Ltd in association with Innovest Advisory Services Pvt Ltd and Caritas Eco Systems Pvt Ltd for finalising plans.

On the other hand, Hyderabad and Aurangabad are with Knight Frank (India) Pvt ltd with Fortress Infrastructure services and PSP Financial Consultants Pvt Ltd.

Moving on to Navi Mumbai, we see that the city has to preapare plan with Tandon Urban Solutions Pvt Ltd with Spatial Decisions and Maha Infortech Pvt Ltd while Bhopal will do it with Price Waterhouse Coopers with Rudrabhishek Enterprise and CPG Consultants Pvt Ltd. Visakhapatnam and Ludhiana are to take assistance from AECOM India Pvt Ltd with AECOM Asia Company Ltd and Varanasi and Jhansi from N K Buildcon Pvt Ltd.

All city-wise Smart City Plans will be evaluated in the second stage of the 'City Challenge' competition for identifying the top ranking 20 cities for financing during the current financial year.
Image: indiatimes