Our Correspondent
KOHIMA, MARCH 31
The Municipal Affairs department and the Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) which are trying to get the state capital qualify for the Centre’s ambitious Smart Cities Mission (SCM), are hopeful that Kohima will get selected in the forthcoming fast track stage competition that is scheduled for April 15.
Authorities today informed that a revised vision document for Kohima Smart City is being prepared for the fast track stage in line with the specifications made by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD). The document is due for submission on April 10.
Addressing a press conference at the KMC office this afternoon, parliamentary secretary for Municipal Affairs, R Tohanba said the factors that were found lacking in Kohima Smart City proposal submitted for the first phase selection in December 2015 are being incorporated. He mentioned that consultative meetings with various stakeholders were also conducted and MoUs are being signed with different line departments that will support in the implementation of Smart City. Voicing concern that many people are confused and are speculating about SCM that it would bring drastic changes to the town such as building of big structures or increasing the volume of population and the standard of living, the legislator explained that Smart City is only to change the pattern in the system of how the city should be maintained and achieve efficient governance by developing infrastructure to facilitate IT/e-governance across sectors.
Supplementing to this, secretary for Municipal Affairs, Dr. Maongwati Aier said the vision for Kohima Smart City is to leverage the city’s emerging geo-strategic location to foster sustainable community-led development as a regional hub for tourism and transit for Asian countries, complemented by its significant natural and cultural assets. Stating that the biggest cultural asset of Kohima is the unique WWII Cemetery situated in the heart of the city, the official informed that the Commonwealth will also be documenting their support for Kohima to compete for the SCM. On the issues that really need to improve, Dr. Aier said the core infrastructure that are being concentrated on include road, communication, power and water supply. Although land issues were also considered a drawback, he said five consultative meetings were already held with stakeholders including the Kohima village council, and the latter have assured their cooperation. He said that concentration is being put on government lands for the present proposal and Wards 3-9 were identified as core area for retrofitting.
Another area that is being worked on, he pointed out, includes strategies to enhance revenue generation of the KMC from the present Rs.4-5 crore (annually) to Rs.10 crore, and encouraging public-private-partnership ventures. He informed that the draft rules of Government Tenancy Act have already been prepared and will be put up in the state Assembly soon for approval and once in place, this would help greatly in the revenue aspect, he added.
The official further remarked that specific information is being obtained from various departments to strengthen city profile and baseline analysis and towards this, he said a meeting was held earlier today with nine Chief Engineers of the line departments.
It was learnt that following the first phase competition where Kohima failed to qualify, the MoUD had commented that the needs and aspirations of the city should be further elaborated, establish the identity of the city, stronger linkages between vision and strategies adopted, more elaboration of areas/sectors for smart interventions under area based and Pan City proposals, proposals be made more inclusive and consultations should include citizens from all sections of Kohima city, and more sources of financial strength need to be highlighted.
