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The US is keen on providing technological support to India’s Smart City initiative. 
 
In this regard, the US wants to seek opportunities in all the proposed 100 smart city projects. 
 US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews, who is on a five-day India visit and leading a delegation of 18 US companies on a <keyword id="6377036" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="smart-cities">Smart Cities</keyword> Infrastructure Business Development Mission., said that the US can be a "valuable partner" for India in providing sustainable solutions for Smart City initiative. 
 
Andrews said the delegation comprising 18 US firms have come to meet both policy makers and Indian businesses and would showcase the great technologies that provide great value and potential for India. 
 
"We believe that US can be a very valuable partner in helping India to develop sustainable economy," Andrews said, adding that there are substantial business opportunities for the US companies in India's smart city projects. 
 
US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) Director Leocadia Zak said the US has helped in master planning of Visakhapatnam smart city and is provided technical support to Allahabad and Ajmer. 
 
"This is the beginning of the process. Our efforts are not limited to three cities. US businesses have the technological solutions which will be helpful across India," Andrews said. 
 
The government had recently announced the first batch of 20 smart cities from 11 states and Delhi. 
 
Apart from Bhubaneshwar, the cities in the first batch are Pune, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bhopal, NDMC area of Delhi, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davanagere, Indore, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belagavi, Udaipur, Guwahati and Ludhiana.

US wants to extend technical support to all 100 Indian Smart City projects!

The United States is assisting India in building <keyword id="6377036" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="smart-cities">smart cities</keyword> and a delegation of top American companies will be visiting the country for the same in February. 
 
The delegation led by US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews will come in India on Smart Cities Infrastructure Business Development Mission and tour Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. 
 
Also, US will develop smart cities in Allahabad, Ajmer and Vishakhapatnam as a part of an agreement signed between both the nations. 
 
Meanwhile, the delegation will see the prospects of increasing businesses in India, focusing on technologies, safety and security and transportation. 
 
"US industry stands ready and able to help India make its cities more sustainable - an effort that will greatly benefit India's economic growth and our world's ability to address a changing climate," said Andrews. 
 
PM Modi wants to develop 100 smart cities in the India and create sustainable economic development.

Top American companies are coming to India next month on smart cities mission

<keyword id="434509" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Union-Urban-Development-Ministry">Union Urban Development Ministry</keyword> today asserted that there will be no extension of time beyond December 15, 2015 for submission of city level <keyword id="3909989" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Smart-City-Plans">Smart City Plans</keyword> by respective urban local bodies and states. 
 This was made clear by the Ministry at a meeting with Principal Secretaries of state Urban Development departments and Municipal Commissioners of some cities included in the <keyword id="513113" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="smart-city">Smart City</keyword> Mission, from nine states. 
 
The states represented at the meeting were - UP, MP, West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Nagaland. 
 
In fact, some Municipal Commissioners raised the issue stating that they have been working hard on preparation of Smart City Plans to meet the deadline of December 15 this year, set by the UD Ministry, for submission of plans and if the Ministry would consider extension of time if such requests were received. 
 
Today's meeting was convened to discuss with officials of states and mission cities the actions being undertaken for preparation of city level smart city plans and particularly, efforts towards ensuring citizen participation in formulating smart city vision for each mission city and action plans besides the criteria for evaluation of smart city plans, to be submitted by December 15. 
 
Image credit: Indiatimes

Smart City plans have to be submitted by 15 December, says Union Urban Development Ministry

At the heart of the 100 <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=smart+cities&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">smart cities</a> project of the present government is a desire to drive urbanization in our country. India’s urban population currently at around 350 million is estimated to touch 600 million by 2030. 
 
With growing <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=urbanisation&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">urbanization</a> and infrastructure, public services will also be required to ramped up with support of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=technology&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">technology</a>, and made more efficient and trustworthy. 
 
The performance of public services such as police, government hospitals, fire safety and even those that address national calamities in a city, determines citizen confidence and also the reputation of the city amongst both residents and non-residents. 
 
Private enterprise can partner with government to ramp up solutions in areas that impact basic safety and security and peace of mind of citizens. 
 
How will it work? 
 There's a broad range of crisis situations that we face on a daily basis—this holds true whether one is living in <keyword id="6377036" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="smart-cities">smart cities</keyword> or in our present cities. If a personal safety provision backed by <keyword id="6355118" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="technology">technology</keyword> and an immediate and reliable assistance service is made available, it will make urban life less stressful. This ensures live assistance that can actually be present to protect citizens from real or perceived harm. 
 
CCTVs, vehicle tracking systems, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=gps&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">GPS</a> enabled transport modes are all part of the equation, more so in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=public+transport&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">public transportation systems</a> like cabs etc., where the incidents of “lone commuters” are common. However, these need to be complemented by prompt and reliable assistance. 
 
Providing this service is not rocket science and in a PPP scenario, it would require cooperation and responsibility from all stakeholders, including government agencies and private enterprise as well as end users such as employers and citizens. 
 
As things stand, in places such as the NCR region, police authorities and other public agencies are able to solve about half the crimes but an additional safety and security provision can avert any untoward incident if the affected party had access to prompt action and someone who could help. 
 
Because of the huge infiltration of smartphones, there are a lot of apps that act as an alerting mechanism to family members when one's security and safety are under threat. Offerings of such nature are largely driven by private enterprises that have seen an opportunity to fill the gap that in developed nations is provided for the most part by government. 
 
These apps act as great communication mechanisms, but will need to be followed up with by timely action. In times of panic, though, the best of us may lose judgment of what may be the right thing to do. At such a time, having the right assistance, of someone trained, who is well versed in handling a broad range of situations, can prevent an edgy situation from further escalation. These could include a personal medical emergency or a road rage situation that's become uncontrollable or simply having someone check on you to ensure your personal safety when using public transport in late hours or to deserted areas. 
 
The involvement of private enterprise in large infrastructure projects seemed impractical in the 1970s and 80s, but today it is clearly one of the largest PPP markets in India. Similarly, if government enters into partnerships with private enterprises, to make citizens feel more secure about their personal safety, an impact will be made, both in the short and long term. 
 
(The article is written by Arvind Khanna, founder of <a href="http://www.onetouchresponse.com/">One Touch Response</a>)

Here’s how the govt can ensure safer smart cities via PPP model

The Indian government unveiled another list of 30 cities that will be developed under the <keyword id="513113" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="smart-city">Smart City</keyword> initiative. So far, the government has announced 60 cities under the Smart City Mission. This time, Kerala capital <keyword id="43810" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Thiruvanathapuram">Thiruvanathapuram</keyword> topped the list, followed by Chhattisgarh's new capital Naya Raipur. Dehradun, Jammu and Srinagar also made it to the list. But, Raebareli. Ghaziabad and Meerut were not included in the new list. Announcing the list, India’s urban development minister M <keyword id="74369" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Venkaiah-Naidu">Venkaiah Naidu</keyword> said 45 cities contested for 40 available smart city slots but only 30 were selected to ensure feasible and workable plans that match the aspirations of the citizens. These cities have proposed to invest Rs 57,393 crore under respective smart city plans. With this, the total number of such cities have gone up to 90 with a total investment of Rs 1,91,155 crore. "All of them will put in place <keyword id="3970046" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="integrated-command">Integrated Command</keyword> and Control Centres that enable coordination among various agencies for better service delivery and effective management of scarce resources like water and power. So, these are not mere cosmetic changes," Naidu said.

Another list of 30 cities under Smart City project is out. Here are the new picks

Weeks after the <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> government named the cities which are to be transformed into <keyword id="6377036" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="smart-cities">smart cities</keyword>, we came across the list of firms that have been assigned the job. 
 Consulting firms like <keyword id="6359483" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Crisil">CRISIL</keyword>, <keyword id="50041" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="KPMG">KPMG</keyword>, <keyword id="6372399" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="McKinsey">McKinsey</keyword> 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 &amp; 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 <keyword id="513113" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="smart-city">Smart City</keyword> Mission, a two-day "Ideas Camp" has been organised to enable effective participation of all the 98 cities in the second stage of <keyword id="3088459" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="City-Challenge">City Challenge</keyword> 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

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

IBM will now help <keyword id="6359081" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Surat">Surat</keyword>, Allahabad and <keyword id="6368842" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Vizag">Vizag</keyword> with waste management, disaster management and citizen services and will transform them into ‘<keyword id="6377036" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="smart-cities">smart cities</keyword>’. 
 
The tech giant has selected these Indian cities among 16 global locations for its smart cities programme, under which IBM will send a team of experts to each of the chosen cities to analyse data about critical issues faced by local bodies. 
 
Each consulting engagement under the 'Smarter Cities Challenge' has a commercial value of $500,000. Delhi, Ahmedabad, Pune and Chennai have already received the grant in the past. 
 "The initiative gives us the opportunity to work with city municipal corporations on diverse societal issues from transportation to disaster management, healthcare to waste management and share recommendations to become more effective in transforming citizen services," <keyword id="123121" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="IBM-India">IBM India</keyword> Head Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Affairs Mamtha Sharma told PTI. 
 
Other chosen cities include Amsterdam (Netherlands), Athens (Greece), Denver, Detroit, Memphis, Rochester (New York) in the US, Melbourne (Australia), San Isidro (Peru), Santiago (Chile), Sekondi (Ghana), Taichung (Taiwan), Xuzhou and Huizhou (China). 
 Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> had vowed 100 smart cities by 2022 to meet the increasing urban population, which is expected to rise by more than 400 million people to 814 million by 2050. 
 
The Finance Ministry had allocated Rs 7,060 crore for developing these smart cities. 
 
The world is keen on setting up smart cities, where technology can help citizens access, in real time, infrastructure services like traffic, parking, lighting, and water. 
As per the news agency, by the end of 2016, IBM estimates to make such grants to more than 130 cities, with nearly 800 of IBM top experts delivering pro bono services valued at more than USD 66 million. 
 
"For the first time, in addition to providing pro bono consulting services, IBM will use IBM Watson Analytics Professional Edition to help take the city's pulse, as expressed on social media. 
 
"This might include studying travel patterns, public health, or the effects of man-made and weather events," Sharma told PTI. 
 
(Image:Reuters)

IBM will build Smart Cities in Surat, Vizag and Allahabad

Prime Minister <keyword id="6354477" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Narendra-Modi">Narendra Modi</keyword> today said residents and city leadership should play the major role in deciding how their city will grow and not private property developers, as he unveiled three mega flagship urban schemes aimed at developing cities as engines of growth. Urbanisation should be viewed as an opportunity and urban centres should be viewed as growth engines, he said launching the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and <keyword id="2130852" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Urban-transformation">Urban Transformation</keyword> (AMRUT), <keyword id="2738020" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Smart-Cities-Mission">Smart Cities Mission</keyword>, and <keyword id="2481158" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Housing-for-All">Housing for All</keyword> (Urban) here. 

	"Under these schemes we can go ahead and we can do it together (Centre and state). India is rapidly urbanising. Every year Hindustan gives birth to a small country," he said. 
 

	While 500 cities will be developed under AMRUT scheme, there would be 100 Smart Cities over five years and Housing for All aims construction of 2 crore houses in urban areas in the next seven years. 
 

	Smart City will be selected through a competition among cities while 500 cities are being identified under AMRUT. 
 

	Referring to Smart City, Modi said, "For the first time in India, a challenge was being floated, in which the citizens of urban India could contribute in the formulation of development visions of their cities." 
 

	Those cities which were able to competitively meet the required parameters would be developed as smart cities. 
 

	"This competitive mechanism would end the top-down approach, and lead to people-centric urban development," he said. 
 

	"These urban development schemes were not prepared by the Government alone, but involved perhaps the biggest consultation exercise ever taken by the Union Government, involving all stakeholders and examining global best practices," he said. 
 

	Stressing that all schemes for urban development should move forward based on people's participation, Modi said, "There is a lack of holistic vision about urban planning, and expansion is driven not by the administrators of a city, but by property developers. 
 

	"Through AMRUT, the aim of the Government is to give cities themselves the chance to plan their future growth," he said. 
 

	The Prime Minister said the people assembled for the function here had on them the collective responsibility for better quality of life for 40 percent of India's population that either lived in cities, or were dependent on cities for their livelihood. 
 

	The Prime Minister stressed that aspirations of migrants from rural areas, and slum dwellers, should be balanced with the changing global environment and said ensuring a good life for them is the government's responsibility. 
 

	Giving a simple vision of a smart city, he said it is one which was a step or two ahead of people's aspirations. 
 

	"There should be facility for walk-to-work because today a person spends maximum time in travelling to office and gets very little time to work," Modi said. 
 

	Besides transportation, technology also plays a key role and there should also be provision for energy efficiency, and cycling etc. 
 

	Lamenting the state of affairs in urban areas, he said, "If this had been done 25-30 years ago, it would have led to good results today, but better late than never. Schemes which had a clear vision and were people-centric, were the need of the hour." 
 

	Seeking replication of best practices from across the country, the Prime Minister mentioned Hyderabad's tax collection system, Karnataka's efforts for solid waste management, and Chhattisgarh's work to eliminate open defecation. 
 

	Chhattisgarh, which is fighting Maoist menace, is making an all out effort to make the state free from open defecation, he said. 
 

	Mentioning the challenge of rising population, he said all possible avenues should be explored to find the resources for urban development. 
 

	Highlighting the importance of the housing scheme, the Prime Minister observed that, "A house was a turning point in the lives of poor, which leads towards a better life and the government's effort was to not just provide a house, but to provide the right environment to live life to the fullest." 
 

	Citing the existing housing shortage of 2 crore units, he said India would complete 75 years of Independence in 2022, and by then, it was "our responsibility to provide a house for everyone". 
 

	Noting that public representatives and leaders are remembered by the good work they did in their terms, the Prime Minister asked urban leaders to contribute to doing something for the good of the people. 
 

	If a person gets an opportunity and does something worthwhile, it will be remembered even after 50 years, he said. 
 

	Asking chairpersons of municipalities and mayors of urban local bodies to do some good work in their terms, Modi said, "You can show your grandson whether it is any building or whatever you have done 50 years ago. The success parameter of life is that what you have done for the people." 
 

	The Prime Minister appreciated people for their interest and work in the Swachh Bharat initiative, as well as the positive role played by media in generating awareness. 
 

	"All media men are doing it on their own and media role in Swachh Bharat campaign will always be remembered for this, he said. 
 

	On the rural and urban divide, the Prime Minister said urban and rural development in the country should be complimentary. 
 

	"One way of doing this was to ensure waste water management in urban areas, so that the treated water could be returned to rural areas for irrigation. Similarly solid waste management could generate compost which could act as organic fertiliser for the surrounding rural areas," he said. 
 

	Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Jammu and Kashmir Deputy CM Nirmal Kumar Singh, mayors, chairpersons of urban local bodies and senior officials from all states and UTs have attended the mega event at the Vigyan Bhawan. 
 

	On the occasion, the Prime Minister released logos, and taglines for AMRUT and Smart Cities Mission; and guidelines for AMRUT, Smart Cities Mission and Housing for All (Urban). 
 

	The Prime Minister also visited an exhibition on best practices in urban development. 
	 
	(image credits: indiatimes)

Citizens will plan their city: Narendra Modi on Smart city
project

Many years back, it was only 10 percent of the population lived in cities. Today over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and it is expected by 2050, almost 75 percent of the world’s population will be in cities. The vision for smart cities is to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of urban services and there by improve the quality of life. This will include infrastructure development, IT connectivity, e-governance, efficient mobility, energy, water, waste management and <keyword id="3384315" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Citizen-Safety-and-Security">citizen safety and security</keyword>. 
 
In addition to the infrastructure development it is important to utilize the power if Internet and Information technology (IoT) to create cost effective municipal services, improve public transportation, reduce traffic congestion and also engage citizens more in the community. Mega trends are driving the need for connected devices, integrated systems and services across all the areas but the citizen safety and security poses unique challenges. 
 
Mega Trends – India: 31% of India lives in urban areas and contributes to 63% of GDP. This will increase to 40% live in cities and contribute to 75% of the GDP by 2030. This is huge and thanks to the government of India for recognizing the technology needs to cope up with this scale and driving 100 smart cities program in addition to many other initiatives. From the citizen safety and security perspective the main requirements are video surveillance, automated security alerts, public announcements and a coordinated (police, fire and ambulance) emergency response system. Need to address the affordable housing and education for the urban poor too from the social perspective. Most of the Indian cities are equipped with very bare minimal safety and security measures and even the 1 policemen/765 people is below average in comparison with most of the other countries. At the same time the citizen surveys continue to rate the safety and security requirements lower than traffic, transport, water and solid waste issues. The scenario and trends dives the technology need for integration of devices, systems and services on a scalable plug and play technology platform to optimize the performance, add services and create revenue models to meet capital investment and sustainable operations. 
 
Investment and Revenue: 
From the capital investment and operations perspective, there is very less possibility to generate the funds through efficiency improvements as the current services are very bare minimal. Additional revenue generation in the safety and security domain through value added services also would be a challenge but there could be a way out. Since the traffic and transport management systems which has its own additional revenue generation/cost saving models and are to be implemented on priority, a possible approach would be to implement them using security cameras and public announcement systems which could also address the citizen safety and security. 
 
The Approach: 
The cameras for red light and zebra crossing violation, number plate detection and traffic density monitoring would be able to provide security surveillance too with no/little additional investments. 
 
A camera at the bus stop to monitor the bus stop assets like information displays and kiosks would be able to provide security surveillance, suspected individuals alert and panic button video support too. 
 
The public addressing speakers and displays for traffic management could assist police, fire and ambulance services in emergency situations and also for or security announcements. 
 
Since India is going to witness the explosive smart phone usage, every mobile could assist security surveillance, panic buttons, emergency / disaster assistance and patching authorized mobile phones to the command and control center will make it immensely powerful. 
 
Next steps: 
 
A city will become smart when it is able to provide livable infrastructure, education, health care, jobs, and of course safety and security. This is the time to help the central and state governments, respective ministries and city corporations to prioritize the requirements, revenue models, possibilities and also the organizations start building an integrated, futuristic and scalable technology platform which could cater to multiple applications with little extra cost. It is a great opportunity for technology organizations and citizens to participate, innovate and contribute in this nation building exercise. 
 
About the Author: Suresh Kumar KK, is the Head of <keyword id="3384317" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Smart-City-Engineering">Smart City Engineering</keyword> from Robert <keyword id="3384318" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bosch-Engineering">Bosch Engineering</keyword> and Business Solutions Pvt. Limited. He has more than two decades of experience in system/solution architecture, hardware/software development, system integration, verification and deployment across Defense, Automotive, Consumer, Embedded devices and integrated solutions. 
 
<a href="https://www.neweurope.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/be07-1_4.jpg">Image source</a>

Citizen Safety and Security through a blend of IoT / Smart City solutions

The government is going to formulate the policy for its mega plan to convert 100 existing cities into smart cities. The private sector will be allowed to participate in the process, Urban Development Secretary Shankar Aggarwal said. 
 "We are putting the pieces together and trying to create some kind of a policy framework so that a large number of private sector entities can get into this business and create more jobs. And whatever needs to be done in terms of availability of land, in terms of the plethora of red-tapism and rules and regulations, we will do," Aggarwal said at the <keyword id="2502936" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="National-Real-Estate-Summit">National Real Estate Summit</keyword> organised by industry body PHD Chamber in Delhi. 
 
The government is also in the process of finalising bylaws and floor area ratio (FAR) norms to find a way to fully utilise the existing land in the country, he said. “Why should we acquire so much land unnecessarily? Can we not make use of the existing pool of land? I think it can be done. Why don't we go in for vertical development with 50, 100 storey buildings?" he asked. 
 
Connaught Place, for instance, is today one of the most expensive real estate in the world, but it is artificially created, he said. "This is because we do not bring in more land into the pool or we don't allow the existing pool of land to be developed optimally. We've got to change our system. The government is looking into it," Aggarwal said. 
Image: Thinkstock

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US wants to extend technical support to all 100 Indian Smart City projects!

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Top American companies are coming to India next month on smart cities mission

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Smart City plans have to be submitted by 15 December, says Union Urban Development Ministry

Here’s how the govt can ensure safer smart cities via PPP model

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Another list of 30 cities under Smart City project is out. Here are the new picks

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

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IBM will build Smart Cities in Surat, Vizag and Allahabad

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Citizens will plan their city: Narendra Modi on Smart city project

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Citizen Safety and Security through a blend of IoT / Smart City solutions

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Private Sector To Participate In Smart Cities

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