#dnaEdit: What Maharashtra can learn from Cidco's smart city project

The first smart city in India is coming up in Maharashtra without any financial aid from either the state government or the Centre. Cidco’s undertaking in Navi Mumbai (South) can become a showcase project for the state as well as for the entire country, which has seen very little of planned development, especially of urban centres, since Independence. Neighbouring city Mumbai, which has long been groaning under the strain of serious infrastructural lapses, can expect an exodus to the Cidco-developed greener pastures. The town-planning authority in Navi Mumbai proposes to offer quality of life that Mumbaikars, or for that matter residents in any Indian city, can only dream of. With Mumbai’s dazzle gradually fading, the time has come for Navi Mumbai to rise and shine. 

Being a cash-rich body with substantial landholdings, Cidco has earmarked Rs 2033 crore to turn seven nodes of Navi Mumbai which are under its jurisdiction, into a smart city. The decision is, no doubt, influenced by the fact that Navi Mumbai is already a planned city with considerable open spaces and far less population than Mumbai and Thane. Still, Cidco’s efforts are laudable because it has capitalised on these advantages and come up with a blueprint to not only improve upon the existing framework, but also create new infrastructure. The first step towards the big dream will be to remove all forms of red tapism, streamline its processes and minimise chances of graft. Cidco plans to make its administration efficient and transparent through Information Technology. Project approvals and progress reports will be regularly posted on its website. The cumbersome process of obtaining occupation certificate will be done away with. In the new system it will be mandatory for flat owners and builders to obtain all permissions by uploading relevant documents on Cidco’s site. This technology-driven approach will also prevent encroachment on its lands and deter malpractices in construction activities. At the core of any smart city vision is the commitment to sustainable, inclusive, environment-friendly development. Cidco wants to connect all civic schools through broadband, supply fully treated sewage water to homes through two different pipelines (for drinking and other household purposes), employ latest technology for waste management and build low-cost housing units for the economically disadvantaged. 

Beyond the contours of the smart city programme, lies Cidco’s brownfield and greenfield projects that will extend the benefits of development to the adjoining areas of the satellite city. The brownfield project will cover Panvel, Dronagiri, Kamothe, Kalamboli, Kharghar, Ulwe and Taloja nodes where existing systems such as transportation, water supply and waste-water management will be retrofitted using smart technologies. The greenfield project in Pushpak Nagar near the airport will be developed from scratch. The emphasis on transit-oriented development will be a key factor in drawing people and businesses. Cidco feels that these major changes will create nearly nine lakh high-end jobs. 

If Cidco manages to pull it off, it will give a major boost to the Prime Minister’s vision of developing 100 smart cities across India. Navi Mumbai can become a template for other states to emulate, though every site will have to grapple with its own sets of complexities and challenges. 

Smart cities call for a change in mindset — one that is radically different from our existing notions of development. Cities have been ruined by haphazard and mindless construction activities. What has aggravated the crisis is the near absence of oversight by competent town-planning authorities and civic bodies and the scant respect for regulations by builders. The Chennai deluge and the Mumbai floods in 2005 have already exposed the consequences of their actions. Now it is for Cidco to offer a new direction, provided it stays on course and lives up to its commitment.