NT NETWORK
PANAJI
Panaji is now among the future smart cities of India having made it to the second list of successful cities announced by the Centre on Tuesday.
Addressing a press briefing in the city, Panaji MLA and vice-chairman of Goa State Infrastructure Development Corporation (GSIDC) Sidharth Kuncalienkar Tuesday said that the selection of Panaji was through successful bidding.
Stating that funding the smart city will not be a problem and that the residents will not be taxed, Kuncalienkar said that work on the project has already commenced with the state budget sanctioning Rs 80 crore. Projects undertaken by GSIDC will be through e-bidding process, he said.
“The city made the grade by improving on its proposal by nine per cent after reworking on the costing and presentation factors. There are no major changes between the first and the reworked proposal,”claimed Kuncalienkar. Transforming Panaji into a smart city will involve a total capital expenditure of Rs 1,775.12 crore over a period of five years. Of the total expenditure, Rs 534.12 crore is the smart city component, funded 50:50 by the state and the Centre. The remaining Rs 778.55 crore is through convergence – various central schemes, Rs 396.83 crore via PPP and Rs 65.62 crore in operation and maintenance (for a period of ten years).
According to the proposal, Panaji as the smart city will have better transport infrastructure for its residents in the form of hop-on hop-off buses, pedestrian plazas, solid waste management disposal system and hopefully a better quality of life for the citizens. The Panaji MLA said that though there will be no direct employment occurring in the city due to the smart city status, indirectly, however, the city will benefit from more jobs due to the increased inflow of tourists and business opportunities.
The press briefing was held in the presence of Dr Pramod Sawant, chairman of GSIDC.
Earlier, in January 2016, the central government had announced the first list of 20 smart cities in which Panaji had failed to find a place. For cities that missed the bus, a fast-track mode of selection under the competition was announced. Altogether, 23 cities bid in the fast-track mode and 13 were selected.
The proposals were selected on credibility of implementation, city vision and strategy, environment impact, cost effectiveness, innovation, scalability and citizen implementation.
The smart city project covers Panaji city and two-kilometre area surrounding the city and includes Bhatlem, Mala, EDC Patto Plaza, neighbouring areas of old post office etc.