Decoding the selection criteria of smart cities in india and retrospecting Kohima smart city failure
FOLLOWING the identification for inclusion of Kohima City in the National Project for Creation of 100 Smart Cities in India through a proposal sent by the Government of Nagaland to the Ministry of Urban Development, which was further supported by a Memorandum submitted to Shri. Narendra Modi, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India by Shri. T.R. Zeliang, Chief Minister of Nagaland during his visit to Nagaland on 30th November, 2014 and 1st December, 2014, there seems to be an air of great excitement in Nagaland, particularly for the people living in Kohima.
This excitement was even more heightened by the widely circulated promotional video filming of Kohima Smart City in the Whatsapp and other Social Media. However, the excitement and imagination seems to have short-lived at least for the time being, after the dream of having a smart city crushed out from the first two phase’s short listings. Of course, there are still more short listing phases in the pipeline for us to be selected. However, the failure of the highly valued project proposal costing crores of rupees has in fact opened up endless arguments amongst the Nagas, especially in the available social Medias. To this, some of us might like to argue as to why be impatient of waiting for the next selection to take effect. But to many, the concern is more as to why the project failed to take off even after given a second chance. This very curiosity lends one to ponder seriously over the project criteria evaluation process. And in doing so, one is confronted with the shocking realities negating the laid down GOI Ministry of Urban Development selection criteria over existing inherent defects in our system.
Decoding the Selection Criteria:
After identifying the number of cities across each state the next step involves selecting the right city. This will be conducted in a set of two stages.
The 1st will incorporate a city challenge competition, wherein every state will be required rate their cities against a set of predefined weighted criteria. These weighted criteria will involve existing service levels (25 points), institutional system and capacities (15 points), self-financing (30 points) past tract record (30 points).
Existing service level will involve improvements in service levels over census 2011, the presence and efficiency of an operational online Grievance Redressal System, publication of monthly e-newsletter and online publication of municipal budget expenditure details of the last two financial years on website. Institutional systems and capacities include the provision of penalties in case of delay in service and improvement in internal resource generation over the last three years. Self-financing would be reflected in payment of salaries by urban local bodies up to last month, auditing of accounts up to FY 2012-13, Contribution of internal revenues to the Budget for 2014-15 and percentage of establishment and maintenance cost of water supply met through user charges during 2014-15.
Past track records include percentages of past projects completed under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), percentage of capital requirement met through internal resources and reforms introduced.
After evaluating the cities with regards to the parameters mentioned above, cities will be required to produce City Plans, which will be studied in the next step for the final selection.
In the next and ultimate step, the cities for funding will be prioritized, which will be subject to the scores of the 1st step. Initially 20 cities will be selected and the remaining will be asked to make some required changes. In the subsequent stages the remaining cities will with each stage consisting of 40 cities.
The eventual selection in the second stage will be undertaken by the apex body at the Ministry of Urban Development. 30% of the evaluation will consist of the credibility of the city in terms of existing resources and successful execution of projects and reforms in the recent past. The rest 70% of the evaluation will comprise of the impact of the plan on the poor and under privileged sections of the city, cost effectiveness of the plan and adoption of innovative technology etc.
Core Infrastructure Elements:
Assured water, electricity, sanitation and solid waste management systems, efficient urban mobility and Public transportation, affordable housing, especially for the poor, robust IT Connectivity and digitalization, good governance, especially e-Governance and Citizen Participation, Sustainable environment, safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly and health and education.
Against these backdrops of prerequisite Criteria, Kohima city seems hardly viable for this golden project. Defects are manifold, but the first impression being that the majority of the public continues to have that highly indomitable spirit of stubbornness, practically not willing to be civilized anymore unless being enthused or imposed. Therefore, instead of the concept of ‘bottom-up’ approach rather it should hammer down from ‘top-to-bottom’. Another major concern is the inadequate availability of the above mentioned ‘Core infrastructure elements’ which seems covering a holistic combination of various departmental activities in one project. This integrated approach ultimately needs almost all the government machineries to move together. Thus, all those who are running the government need to be on their toe for prompt responsibilities.
However, the main inherent defect needing much concern is the non-implementation of the Municipal Act, 2001 by the present day government. We had held one municipal election during 2004; so far it’s the first and the last election of its kind. It is understood that the election to the local bodies were kept pending due to the non-implementation of the 33% women reservation policy in the local bodies. Consequently, against almost 0% surplus revenue, our local bodies are incurring loss of about 40 crores of centre funding for not having elected bodies. And whereas, to this onerous task to multi-facets of municipality, only a single represented government administrator is seen running the show.
Therefore, while building 100 Smart Cities across India is to be carried out in a period of 8-10 years, our available reality shows feasibility way far behind. Which, seeing in this perspective, unless the lawmakers and the responsible authorities take stock of the situation for a fast-track course in identifying the core problems, else we might have to only plea for mercy or do some manipulation or altogether give up the hope of having one. Therefore, lest we become smart else the city will remain unsmart, at least for the time being.
PFUCHE KOZA,
Bayavu Hill, Kohima
