UD Ministry asks States to ensure launch of smart city projects by June end
Smart Cities selected in the first round of City Challenge competition and respective state governments were today asked by the Ministry of Urban Development to ensure launch of implementation of smart city projects by June 25th this year marking the first year of launch of Smart City Mission. Shri Rajiv Gauba, Secretary (Urban Development) spoke to the Chief Executive Officers of Special Purpose Vehicles set up for implementation of smart city plans and Municipal Commissioners of 16 Smart Cities and Mission Directors and senior officials of 9 respective state governments through video-conferencing and urged them to ensue launch of projects by June 25th. During the two hour long interaction, Shri Gauba reviewed the progress in respect of conversion of Smart City Plans of these cities into specific projects for tendering and awarding of works. Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam that account for the remaining four smart cities have been kept out of the review as assembly elections are in progress in these cities. Shri Rajiv Gauba ascertained progress by each city in respect of putting in place institutional mechanisms, transfer of central grants and share of respective states to SPVs, preparation of Detailed Project Reports for calling tenders etc. Each of the 16 cities furnished details of projects being prepared in respect of Area Based Development including Retrofitting and Redevelopment and ICT based Pan-city solutions. While urging the Smart Cities to ensure appointment of full time CEOs for the Special Purpose Vehicles, Shri Rajiv Gauba urged them to look beyond the IAS cadre given the shortage of officers and choose professionals for heading SPVs. On hearing the responses of different cities, Shri Rajiv Gauba complimented them for innovative thinking and initiatives like mobile governance, LED lighting, Smart Classrooms, Open Air Gymnasiums etc. Shri Naresh Kumar, Chairperson of New Delhi Municipal Council informed that substantial groundwork has already been done for the launch of projects by June this year. These include ; roof top solar systems, smart grids, e-Waste centres, 24 X 7 water supply and water quality sensors, mobile governance, multi-utility ducts, 20 MW Solar Power Plant, Smart Control Centre etc. He informed that a provision of Rs.400 cr for Smart City Project has been made in the Budget for this financial year. Cities that participated in today’s review are : Visakhapatnam and Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh), Belgavi and Hubbali-Dharwad (Karnataka), Pune and Solapur( Maharashtra), Ahmedabad and Surat (Gujarat), Jaipur and Udaipur (Rajasthan), Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), Bhubaneswar (Odisha), Ludhiana (Punjab) and NDMC. Under Smart City Mission, launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on June 25 last year, the first batch of 20 selected smart cities have proposed a total investment of over Rs.48,000 cr over the next four years. central Government will provide an assistance of Rs.500 cr for each city while the respective States and urban local bodies will provide an equal amount. Rest of the required resources have to be mobilized through convergence of all schemes of central and state governments, PPP, Municipal Bonds and borrowings from financial institutions.
India and South Korea sign MoU for Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Development of Ports
An MoU was signed by Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road, Transport and Highways and Shipping, Government of the Republic of India and Mr. Kim Young Suk, Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, Government of the Republic of Korea in Mumbai today. The South Korean delegation led by Minister Kim is in Mumbai to participate in the Maritime India Summit, 2016 (MIS, 2016). This MoU is for cooperation and mutual assistance between India and Republic of Korea in port related matters.The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Shipping for signing of this MoU on 06.04.2016. It is recalled that MIS, 2016 is a maiden flagship initiative of the Ministry of Shipping, Government of India that provides a unique platform for participants to explore potential business opportunities in Indian Maritime Sector. MIS, 2016 is being organised from April 14-16, 2016 at Mumbai and will have conference, exhibition and demo sessions. Republic of Korea is the Partner Country of MIS, 2016. A delegation of over 100 participants from South Korea are attending the Summit. The signing of the MoU is expected to help both countries to encourage and facilitate the development of ports, port related industry, maritime relationship and cooperate in the tasks of sharing of technology, experiences in the fields of port development and operation, exchange of information on construction, building, engineering and related aspects in the field of port development, Joint participation in port-related construction, building and engineering projects that both parties are interested in, exchange of experts including officials from the relevant ministries of each country in the field of port, and related education and training, other types of cooperation that may be mutually agreed upon between the two countries.
Ministry exempts domestic cargo from Customs documentation
As India proved to be the fastest growing larger economy in the world, investors and traders have great opportunity to expand their business and grab the market, according to K N Raghavan, Customs Commissioner, Kochi. To promote more sea transportation, domestic cargo is fully exempted from Customs documentation by the Shipping Ministry. Cargo vessels moving through the coastal berths need not keep Customs documents, according to a govenrment circular. Instead the details can be recorded in the advice book kept in the vessel. He was speaking at a seminar on promoting trade and investments with BRICS countries by FICCI and BRICS Council jointly in cooperation with Exim Bank and State Bank of India. Speaking on the occasion, N Shankar, Executive Director, Exim Bank, expressed hope that the upcoming BRICS Summit at Goa in September would boost the trade between BRICS countries, R Muthuraj, Joint Director, Foreign Trade, Kochi, spoke on the various aspects for promoting trade between BRICS countries from the prospective of DGFT. K B Rajan, President, Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Alex Nainan, Vice-President, Seafood Exporters’ Association of India, Kerala Region, K K Pillai, Cochin Exports Processing Zone Industries Association, and Savio Mathew, Head, FICCI Kerala State Council, spoke.
Ajmer, Kota at work to realise ‘smart’ dream
Ajmer and Kota districts which couldn’t make it to the list of first 20 cities for smart city project will be vying for a spot in the second list. After these two districts were rejected in the first round, the state government is upgrading its smart city proposal and working on the shortcomings highlighted by the Centre. The reworked proposal will be submitted before June, the final deadline. In this regard, the state government has appointed a consultant firm, ICRA, for preparing action plans for these two cities. A local self-governance (LSG) official said, “The state government has appointed a new consultant to prepare the detailed project report (DPR). We are hopeful that these cities will be selected in the second list. The DPR will be submitted in June.” For Ajmer, the state government has also joined hands with US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) which will assist administration and municipal officials in preparing a roadmap for the smart city proposal. After these cities failed to secure a position in first list, the Union ministry of urban development had announced a provision of ‘fast-track round’. In all, 23 cities will compete in the ‘fast-track round’ to qualify for the second list. As per the proposal, Ajmer will be developed on retrofitting model, while Kota will be developed on green-field model. An official explained that there will be three approaches – retrofitting, redevelopment and green-field development. Under the retrofitting scheme, a city can undertake an area of minimum 500 acres and implement the scheme in three years. Similarly, in the case of green-field development, the project area can be a vacant land spread over at least 250 acres and the project can be completed in 10 years. For Ajmer, the state had earlier proposed to develop 1,334-acre area, out of which Rs 925 crore was proposed for area-based development and Rs 341 crore for pan-city development. The major development was proposed in the north side of Anna Sagar Lake in Ajmer. Similarly, for Kota which is to be developed as a green city, the state had proposed 395 acre area adjoined to Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) near Ranpur Village. It was proposed that Rs 1,045 crore will be spent to develop the area, and Rs 437 crore for the pan city development.
IL&FS keen to invest in infra projects in Hyderabad
Prominent infrastructure firm IL&FS today evinced interest in investing in different infra projects in Hyderabad, including housing and roads, the Telangana government said. IL&FS representatives met Telangana Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao and held talks with him, a state government release said. IL&FS expressed its readiness in taking part in the revival of Musi river here, the release added.
Pune to hire professional CEO for smart city project
Pune will be the first city among the first batch of 20 Smart Cities to hire a professional as the chief executive officer (CEO) to execute the ambitious project. In almost all other cities, bureaucrats have been posted as CEOs. Sources in the urban development ministry said the city administration has informed them about the decision and they will select the candidate by inviting applications from professionals. “This approach is good and prove more productive. As such, there have also been examples of central government bringing in professionals at secretary level,” said an official. The Smart City guidelines of UD ministry provides for appointment of CEOs to drive the concept and oversee execution rather than leaving these tasks to municipal bodies. The CEOs will be the executive head of special purpose vehicles (SPV) for each city like that for Metro rail projects where managing directors are the sole in-charge. They will hold office for a fixed tenure of three years. These SPVs will be headed by a divisional commissioner, collector, municipal commissioner or head of development authority. In Bhubaneswar, an additional chief secretary has been appointed as the head of the SPV. Almost all selected cities in the first lot have set up SPVs. As per Smart City Mission guidelines, central assistance of Rs 200 crore for each selected city would be released only upon incorporation of SPVs.
Ahmedabad locks horns with Mumbai over India’s international finance centre
The race and lure to set up India’s international finance centre is fast turning out to be a tale of two cities — Ahmedabad and Mumbai — and subtle politics playing out around the two western business hubs. At a recent meeting with finance and commerce ministry officials, managers of Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (Gift) — the special economic zone near Ahmedabad — said it would be against global best practices to have a second offshore financial centre in a country with partly-convertible currency, a person familiar with the discussion told ET. The concerns voiced by Gift comes at a time the Maharashtra government is trying to cobble together a plan with senior bankers to carve out a slice of Mumbai, India’s financial capital, as a global financial services centre that would over the years compete with Dubai and Singapore. Gift authorities fear that two finance centres would not only be unviable but could also confuse investors. “Besides, if Maharashtra is given the permission, it would be difficult to refuse other states.Even if the law allows, multiple centres could be a supervisory challenge for regulators like RBI and Sebi,” said a government official who attended the meeting where officials of the state-controlled Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority were also present. While Gujarat, under Narendra Modi’s regime, was the first state to make a serious effort to set up a global services and finance district — having applied in 2010 and received the central approval a year later — the Devendra Fadnavis government of Maharashtra has been trying over the past few months to revive the dream of building a finance SEZ in Mumbai where all leading banks, financial institutions, brokerages and stock exchanges are headquartered. Despite repeated recommendations from senior financial services experts in the last 15 years to create an offshore finance hub in Mumbai, earlier state government rarely pursued the idea which was put on the back burner after the market meltdown of 2008. Mumbai has the legacy. Many bankers would find it easier, but Gujarat has the first-mover advantage. In the last 60 days, deals worth $150 mn, mostly external commercial borrowings, have been struck in the Gift international finance centre (IFC),” said a senior banker. “Banks like Yes, Federal, ICICI have a presence in Gift, SBI will soon open shop while BSE and NSE have entered into MoUs,” the banker added. However, officials in the Maharashtra government believe that Gift can co-exist with IFC in Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex. Indeed, in the second meeting of the task force (set up by Maharashtra to prepare a master plan for an IFC in Mumbai), a senior banker gave a presentation to Union Minister of state for finance Jayant Sinha on how two IFCs can operate in sync with each other. “We are trying to allay the Gujarat government’s apprehensions on the issue. It’s understandable,” said a state government official. Among the possibilities discussed was that BKC, where real estate is expensive, can house high-value and front-end operations while back-end offices requiring more space can be in Gujarat. Maharashtra is yet to identify 50 acres of land — the minimum required for a multi-services SEZ — as against Gift which is spread over 886 acres with the finance centre occupying 261acres. “Chicago and California had also wanted to be an IFC like New York, but they didn’t succeed. A finance centre is not just about real estate and infrastructure, but also about tradition and quality of life,” said another Maharashtra government official. The Union Budget has proposed scrapping securities transaction tax, commodities transaction tax, dividend distribution tax in Gift besides lowering minimum Alternate tax ( MAT) from 18.5% to 9%. The SEZ also attracts sops such as reimbursement of Provident fund contribution, electricity duty exemption and rental subsidy from the Gujarat government. Maharashtra, under the circumstances, may have to tread carefully. On one hand, building a full-fledged SEZ would pose a challenge to Gift which has the backing of the Prime Minister. On the other hand, it cannot disregard the importance of Mumbai with the regulations and tax rules for IFCs now in place.
Ministry wants Kejriwal government to pay Rs 10,000 crore for 8 new elevated corridors’ construction to improve Delhi traffic
The road transport and highways ministry wants Delhi’s Kejriwal government to pay Rs 10,000 crore for the construction of eight new elevated corridors linking the eastern and Western peripheral expressways to improve traffic situation in Delhi. The centre has proposed link road projects worth Rs 20,000 crore that can provide direct connectivity between the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways through Delhi. The issue was taken up on Tuesday during a meeting between road transport and highway minister Nitin Gadkari and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Work on the both the expressways, which will work as an outer ring road for Delhi, has already started. The two expressways will help divert the long-haul inter-state heavy vehicles from Delhi roads and the proposed link roads will allow seamless exit of local traffic to take the expressways. “Since these projects are planned to decongest Delhi that would also significantly cut down on the pollution, the state government should bear half the total project cost. We have communicated this to the Delhi government,” a senior transport ministry official said. The shipping ministry and the Delhi government will also sign a state support agreement for cleaning of Yamuna river front and making the river navigable.
Huawei says ready to kick off Smart City projects in India
Huawei said that it is all set to kick off a number of Smart City projects in the country in collaboration with its partners, targeting areas like Public safety, even as the Chinese telecom gear maker reckons that larger Smart Cities deployments would not happen too quickly. “I think smart city as a concept rather than a solution. In Huawei if you look at all the Indian smart cities, it’s not going to happen too quick, based on my experience with China, Dubai, and Singapore,” Joe So, CTO of Industry Solutions Enterprise Business Group at Huawei, told ET, in a recent interaction. “We are initiating a lot of projects with our partners in India. However our strategy is to be focused on certain areas rather than doing everything,” he said, suggesting that the initial focus would be on public safety. The executive also emphasized that the company is actively engaging with the Indian government to build trust and inform the authorities that the company can provide the best equipment at reasonable prices. “Just a company doing business, we want to earn the trust, because it’s not an easy with a lot of issues ahead. We want to tell you can partner with us trust us,” he added. Huawei works an infrastructure provider for ICT solutions of Smart Cities, and it will offer an open platform which will hold all the applications in vertical layers. The gear maker is also looking to collaborate with system integrators, software developers, and other partners to form a Smart Cities platform, which can be deployed across the identified cities in the country. “Our [Smart City] ecosystem is open we do not have a lot of preference. We assess the partners on their competence, suitability, and enthusiasm and willingness to invest in the solutions,” he added. The Indian government recently shortlisted a list of 20 cities, which it plans to make ‘smart’ by providing efficient physical, social, institutional and economic infrastructure. The government has defined a smart city in the Indian context as a city that provides a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment, and supports the application of smart solutions. Players like Ericsson, ZTE and Cisco are also betting big on the Smart Cities project in the country. Ericsson expects that by the year 2020, 20% of India revenue will come from its Industry and Society unit, which focuses on smart cities. Cisco, on the other hand, already closed four project proposals in Navi Mumbai, Pune, Jaipur and Lucknow, while ZTE recently signed agreements with the governments of Haryana, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. On competition from these players, Joe said, “It’s good to have competition. I welcome the joining of companies in competition with us. I think it’s only through competition, you can prove that you have the best price for the Indian market. We are the only company on earth who are providing the complete solution on ICT infrastructure.” The executive also said that the company is continuously investing its resources in India, and considers it as one of the important markets for the enterprise business. “It’s almost the same size as China. We see there is a tremendous opportunities in India. It’s very competitive as well. This is a year of growing our enterprise business,” Joe said, adding that verticals like BFSI and Education are going to be an area of growth for Huawei this year. The company also reckons that telecom operators’ increasing investment in networks will play a crucial role and help the Smart City projects.
India keen to set up a port in Bangladesh: Nitin Gadkari
India is keen to set up a port in Bangladesh and a high-level committee will be sent to the neighbouring country in this regard, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today said. “We are exploring the opportunity to set up a port in Bangladesh and further strengthen our ties. We have sent a committee to Bangladesh in this connection,” Union Road Transport and Shipping Minister today said. The Payra port in Patuakhali district of Bangladesh will be another major milestone between the nations, Gadkari said, addressing the media at Foreign Correspondents Club here. He, however, said a final decision will be taken after the recommendations from the committee, and investment proposals will be finalised only after that. The external affairs ministries of both sides have already held a preliminary round of talks for the port development and a delegation from the shipping ministry under a joint secretary will be visiting Bangladesh next week to study the site and prepare a detailed project report, he said. Gadkari said finer details, including investment requirements, will be worked out after the committee’s recommendations. A senior official said the proposal is to set up a port at Payra in Bangladesh and a detailed project report is ready. About Chabahar port in Iran, he said India is eyeing investments there and Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is on a visit to Iran with a high-level delegation, including road transport and highways ministry officials. Gadkari had earlier said India is looking at an investment of Rs 2 lakh crore at Chabahar port in Iran in various infrastructure projects and the investments will depend on the outcome of the negotiations on gas price as Iran has offered to supply natural gas at USD 2.95 while India wants rates to be lowered. India has already pledged to invest about USD 85 million in developing the strategic port off Iran’s south-eastern coast, which would provide India a sea-land access route to Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan. Gadkari said that during the recent summit of heads of African nations, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had expressed keenness that India should join hands with African nations for building roads and ports there. In reply to a query, Gadkari said India is keen to beef up its ties with China too.