One year on, Bengaluru still not any smarter than it was

BENGALURU: Even a year after Bengaluru was included under the Smart City project, all proposed initiatives remain in the nascent stage as the special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up for the purpose is ill-equipped.

While technical experts are yet to be taken on board, the entity now has a few civic officials, most of whom are not able to concentrate fully on the project as they hold additional charges as well.

An urban development department (UDD) official said the SPV formed for the project is yet to get a general manager – technical. “Without technical experts on board, it is difficult to implement the projects which are now in proposal stage. At the executive level, the SPV has eight civic officials all of whom hold additional charges as well. It has 15 slots at the directors’ level and eight at the state government level, including additional chief secretary of UDD as director and six from BBMP.

One director, who should represent the Centre, is yet to be appointed,” he added.

Bengaluru was the seventh city from the state to be chosen for the project in June last year. The SPV was formed only in January. Two board meetings have been held so far and a third is expected to be held by next week. The project management company (PMC) was taken on board only in March. Under the project, Rs 1,700 crore has been allocated to Bengaluru for implementing smart interventions to improve the lives of citizens in five years, of which one year is already over.

The plan involves improvement of transit hubs, road related works, market area development, retrofitting of buildings, lake development, setting up of control and command centres among other things. However, no detailed project report has been prepared or tenders floated for any of these initiatives.

AB Ibrahim, managing director, Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC), who is also the state director for smart cities in Karnataka, said release of funds is an issue. “We got the first instalment for Bengaluru only a few days ago. From now on, the project implementation will gain pace. I won’t say we’ve completed one year as the SPV was formed only in January this year,” he added. KUIDFC is also coordinating on behalf of BBMP for the release of grants.