Guwahati Smart City Limited Bane or boon?

Pallab Bhattacharyya

(The writer can be reached at pallab1959@hotmail.com)

'We shape cities, and they shape us," so said Jan Gehl, the Danish Architect and urban design consultant who had transformed urban environments around the world based on his research into the ways people use - or could use - the spaces where they live and work. The tag line of Smart City under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development which is inspired by Jan Gehl, is "Smart cities are cities that work." In other words, cities that work for the betterment of their residents will continuously become better versions with each passing day because of the whole-hearted participation of its residents. Smart cities provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to their citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and the application of 'Smart' Solutions. "The focus is on the sustainable and inclusive development and the idea is to look at compact areas, create a replicable model which will act as a lighthouse to other aspiring cities."

During the currency of the Covid pandemic, certain cities are actively providing support for rapid response in COVID-19 management. The Integrated Command and Control Centres (ICCC) set up, which comes under Smart Cities, have been transformed into war rooms in various cities including Bangalore, Pune, Agra and Vadodara, just to name a few, for real-time monitoring and effective management of the pandemic using technology. However because of the non-implementation of the main features of the project in Guwahati we fail to give effect to the best practices of other smart cities which was shared with all CEOs and Municipal Commissioners.

In an article 'How to work from anywhere can build the city of the future written by Amita Midha President Asia-Pacific and Japan Dell Technologies dated 9th April 2021 on the World Economic Forum website the following critical points were raised-

(i) The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed how millions of people work and their relationship with cities where work is based.

(ii) The pandemic has shown the significance of technology and how vital it is for a city to reinvent and stay relevant.

(iii) Smart cities can help urban centres retain talent, as well as better prepare for future challenges and crises.

As per the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs City Ranking for Ease of Living Index for the year 2020 for 49 cities in India, Bangalore ranks at the top with a score of 66.70 and Guwahati at 46th position (48.52), the average score being 53.51. This is an eloquent testimony to the poor state of affairs in Smart City administration in Assam.

To study the malady afflicting Guwahati Smart City, some timelines need scrutiny -(1) Smart City Mission was launched by PM on 25-06-15 (2) A Special Purpose Vehicle viz. Guwahati Smart City Limited (GSCL) to implement the project was created on 11-05-16 (3) Prime Management Consultant (PMC) to Design, Develop, Manage and Implement Smart City Projects, Guwahati was appointed on 10th November 2016. Tata Consultancy Engineering, the PMC selected on tender finalization, would provide strategic, advisory, liaising, consultancy and project management services to support GSCL in planning, designing, implementing and monitoring Area Based Development Project under the Guwahati smart city proposal. (4) Tender for Master Systems Integrator (MSI) who would implement the project on the ground was published on 12-06-20 but could not be finalized to date because of it being embroiled in a series of court cases. It may be noted that MSI is a very crucial agency that would Design Engineering, Supply, Installation, Erection, Testing and Commissioning including O & M for five years for city surveillance and Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) in Guwahati. ICCC is the nerve centre that functioned as War Rooms during the currency of the Covid pandemic in several successful smart cities in India. A perusal of the Smart City Mission website indicates the following: Tender Issued-10 Projects/611 Crores, Works Completed: 3 Projects/ 8Crores, Work Order Issued: 6 projects/111 Crores, GOI Funds Released: 196 Crores, GOI Funds Transferred to SPV: 196 Crores, State Matching Share Released: 196 Crores, Utilization Certificate GOI: 59 Crores, Utilization Certificate State: 0 Crores.

From the above timeline, it is clear that GSCL failed miserably in maintaining the schedule which should have been very strictly adhered to for a project of this dimension. A study of the court proceedings of various cases lodged in the Hon'ble Gauhati High Court viz PIL No. 72/2016, WP © 684/2021 and WP(C)/2959/2021 points out non-application of mind by competent authorities in resolving the issues expeditiously and cancelling the tender of selection of MSI instead and starting the process de-novo. This had prompted the successful bidder to file a Writ Petition in the Court challenging the Government's decision pushing the fate of the project to a state of uncertainty.

The poor performance of the smart city project can be attributed to the following reasons-(a) frequent transfer of MD GSCL is adversely affecting its functioning and the flow of the work. Every individual has his way of dealing with works and the workflow gets affected every time the officer is transferred. (b) poor execution of projects because of lack of supervision owing to the frequent transfer of core functionaries (c) Lackadaisical attitude of officers because of uncertainty prevailing in GSCL (d) Political interference-Political leaders have a say on every project under the smart city mission and many projects are kept on hold by the leaders for reasons unknown, asserts an insider.

Citizens of Guwahati have failed to avail the opportunities which a smart city could offer during this critical time of the pandemic. Furthermore in the days to come the importance of smart cities will increase as the projection of the UN that 68% of the world population would live in cities by 2050, indicates. It is therefore imperative on the part of the Government to lay stress on the following points for course correction. Firstly, the MSI should be appointed as early as possible by resolving the court matters on a priority basis as it is going to implement the nerve centre ICCC which provided yeoman's service in many other states during the pandemic. Secondly, the MD GSCL should have a fixed tenure of service to function effectively. Thirdly the political interference which is creeping into the system and the policy paralysis happening, as a result, should be arrested at the earliest. The present CM Assam who has good administrative skill will be the right person to bring the project to its logical conclusion. Successful implementation of the smart city project will greatly help in the improvement of the health sector management and bring a new era of efficient governance which will be a matter of inspiration for other cities of Assam in general and NE in particular. Fourthly, since police surveillance, Traffic management, city surveillance through CCTV monitoring are activities intricately connected with ICCC, integration of Assam Cyberdome Project and ICCC would greatly enhance the effectiveness of the project. Fifthly a research centre should function to implement innovations and best practices to satisfy the growing needs of the citizen. Absolute Transparency in the execution will inculcate confidence of Guwahati netizens in the Government and help them in crystal-gazing the bright future of the project.