Gurgaon, India’s 1st “Smart City”

Gurgaon is all set to become a smart city. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its nod to the NDA Government’s flagship 100 smart cities project and the new urban renewal mission. If the project is successful then it shall be replicated in other cities across the country.  The city will be developed as part of the countries ‘100 smart cities, initiative.

The ‘Smart Cities’ will focus on Transport, IT enabled governance, Conservation of Natural Resources and Renewable Energy.

These cities will have multiple Central Business Districts and Industrial Zones. The land use will be integrated and mixed-use will be encouraged. Provision will have to be made for affordable houses for the workers near the industrial zones.  Apart from these, the government is also looking at setting up high capacity multi-nodal mass transit corridors, with due encouragement to cycling and pedestrian ways. Also, recycling and re use of water and solid waste will be provided, and governance and administration will be IT-based on real time basis.

The first-of-its-kind initiative will be jointly piloted by the state and central governments, said Union power minister Piyush Goyal, who made the announcement at a program in the city.   The project has been envisaged with a 12-month deadline for ensuring 24-hour power supply to Gurgaon and to rid the city of its dependence on diesel generator sets for power back-up. This will be a model project that will be replicated later in all other cities in the country labelled as no power-cut zones.