Morung Express News
Kohima | April 4
A State level consultative meeting on smart cities mission was held at the Secretariat Conference Hall, Kohima on April 4.
Highlighting that the core purpose of Smart city is to make a city progressive and sustainable, Chief Minister, TR Zeliang mentioned that a city has to have a good and efficient transportation system, quick and effective system for disposal of solid waste and liquid waste, sufficient and regular supply of water and electricity, good health care and education facilities and effective policing system and security arrangement.
However Zeliang also stated that the objectives of Smart City may be hard to achieve as ‘Kohima is a very old and unplanned city’ therefore it is bound to see some serious limitations. “What we are to do is basically that of ‘retrofitting an old city’ and not developing a new planned township or city,” he said. T
he success of the Kohima Smart city project will depend on the involvement and contribution of the whole community of Kohima, particularly the landowners, Zeliang said, hoping that they would sacrifice individual interest for the larger cause of the whole community when necessary.
Kovi Meyase, Administrator, KMC informed that a Special Fast Track competition was provided to 23 states/UTs including Kohima to upgrade their proposals and submit them before April 15. The proposals which achieve the benchmark set by winning cities will be eligible for funding on accelerated basis in 2016-17, remarked the Administrator.
Certain gaps were identified by the Ministry which needed upgradation such as elaboration on the needs and aspiration of the city, establishing the identity of the city, stronger linkages between the vision and strategies adopted towards it, proposals to be more inclusive with consultations to include citizens from all sections of the city, more source of municipal financial strength, inclusion of MoUs from various link and allied departments, to address the absence of periodical baseline survey etc.
Meyase further updated the activities completed by the KMC based on the requirements such as holding meetings with stakeholders, various allied government departments. The KMC is also exploring more options for revenue generation through collection of property tax and other urban facility fees. Meyase also intimated that firms and organizations are coming forward towards being partners in viable developmental areas on PPP mode. So far 7 contractors in Kohima, Ura Academy, Kohima and Ramky Estates & Farms Ltd, Hyderabad have expressed their interests in partnering.
“Our prospects do appear far more encouraging this time because all stakeholders realize the purpose of the Smart City Mission which effectively is to improve the quality of life for the citizens and drive economic growth by enabling local area development and harnessing technology,” stated Kovi Meyase.
Voyants Pvt Ltd, Vice President, Atreyee Mitra Aggarwal said that the strength of Kohima lies in its cultural and historical heritage such as the Kohima War Cemetery, considered one of the most well maintained WWII cemetery in the world, and its urban morphology with extensive, interconnected pedestrians network connecting every ward to the city core. He further stated that the extensive geo-spatial mapping carried out by city administration to create interactive dashboards on e-portals for the community, and its human capital are strong points.
However, the weaknesses of Kohima lies in its poor basic infrastructure, inefficient public transport, vehicular pollution, land availability, and regulatory and governance issues. Kohima being in the Seismic Zone 5, and the havoc caused by the rains are also major threats to urban growth, pointed out Atreyee, while calling for better disaster preparedness.
