The strength of Kavaratti is tourism

The capital of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, Kavaratti is well-known for its pristine white sand beaches and calm lagoons. This island city, with a population of just about 12,000 people, was selected in Round 4 of the government’s Smart Cities Mission.The vision of this popular tourist destination is to improve liveability and make it an environment-friendly, zero-carbon and climate change-resilient island city. Tourism is among the primary industries on the island with other major industries being fisheries and agriculture. “The city’s heritage is its natural beauty,” says Dr Atul Pandey, CEO, Kavaratti Smart City (KSCL) with pride, as he shares more on developments and opportunities in conversation with SERAPHINA D’SOUZA.

The total project cost for KSCL is Rs.5.27 billion. Of this, Rs.1.80 billion is from convergence and PPP projects. The net fund sanctioned to the SPV is Rs.3.47 billion. There are 27 major projects sanctioned under the mission. These projects are being executed through line departments of Lakshadweep. 

So far, we have completed two projects of about Rs.11.5 (9+2.5) million. One is the introduction of hydroponic cultivation, which was implemented with the help of the Agricultural Department. The total cost of the project is Rs.2.5 million and it was completely funded by KSCL. The second project is a water harvesting project ( Rs.9 million). Notably, Kavaratti is the only city selected under the mission that does not have a ULB. And, the whole city of 4.22 sq km is covered under area-based development.

The purpose is to not disturb the environment and, at the same time, provide basic infrastructure and amenities. We currently have one operational desalination plant and are planning to build two more – of 1 lakh litre per day and 1.5 lakh litre per day at Rs.1 billion and Rs. 0.45 billion respectively. Another project under AMRUT, already completed, is that of rainwater harvesting tanks Rs.9 million.

So we are planning to have dedicated cruise ship connectivity with the mainland. Procurement of an all-weather ship itself costs about Rs 2.60 billion; this work will be implemented with the help of the Port Shipping & Aviation Department.

Another area is of Internet connectivity; we are having discussions with the government to hire some more transponders from ISRO to provide Internet facilities. Similarly, we have several projects that are basic, but essential to the people. We are also in the process of planning an integrated command-and-control centre (ICCC) that will cover CCTVs, Internet of Things (IoT) and safety and surveillance-related works. Under pan-city proposals, projects include smart metering for electricity/water; utility mapping – GIS mapping of water supply line and electricity line, transformer, overhead tanks, roads, among others.

We currently have two ongoing projects. One is a multipurpose community hall being constructed at Rs.48 million. The other one is being undertaken by the Department of Environment and Forests for solid waste management, which includes smart collection, transportation and monitoring, alerting systems between administration, hospitals and solid waste facilities, at Rs.20 million. 

We are planning to float tenders for the public bicycle-sharing project at about Rs.70 lakh in two to three months. Other projects include beachfront development, walkway, corridor beautification, solar charging centres. Other new projects proposed include urban art with wall paintings, green waste management and bio-methanol plant, and exploring wave and tidal energy. 

We are working towards setting up a digital base framework for IT-enabled services and applications at Rs.335 million. As mentioned, we are also focusing on e-vehicles and bicycle sharing, desalination plants and solar panels. Moving towards solar energy and e-vehicles would help us conserve and preserve the fragile environment of the city. Our board has also decided to explore renewable energy for which we are undertaking two projects – the establishment of solar rooftop systems in public buildings under convergence at Rs.140 million, and solar charging centres at Rs.2.5 million.

We are working towards dedicated ship connectivity to improve the transportation facilities. New roads projects are coming up, which include the development of Beach Road at Rs.52 million, Arterial road with proper signage and road marking at Rs.50 million, junction improvements and smart parking at Rs.10 million, promoting and utilising of battery-operated vehicle for public mobilisation at Rs.10 million, and promoting the utilisation of smart bicycles for the public and tourists including a smart docking station at Rs.7 million.

Under convergence, door-to-door collection has already commenced, which covers the whole of Kavaratti. We have a Rs.20-million project under convergence that includes a solid waste processing unit, smart collection and transportation. Another project is a 1-mld centralised septage processing unit at Rs.72.5 million; and public bio toilets for Rs.1.5 million, for which we are awaiting the DPR. We are also planning to buy some machines to dispose off C&D wastes which has accumulated over a period of time.

The main challenge is geographical isolation. Hence, a lot of private players are reluctant to work here because the cost becomes high. Secondly, they are not friendly with the terrain, and thus don’t have supporting partners on the ground. To overcome this, we have a close collaboration with government departments. 

The third one is the shortage of manpower or human resources. But we are expanding and hope to have a good team in a month or two.

Its natural beauty! The strength of Kavaratti is tourism. In fact, we are collaborating with the tourism department and have several projects under the PPP model. Further, we are also planning an international quality Dive Centre in collaboration with the tourism department.

Project Details

Details	Number of projects	Cost of project (million)
Number of projects 100% funded by Smart City project	16	1,284.90
Number of projects 100% funded under convergence	5	1,112
Number of projects 100% funded under PPP	1	48.50
Number of projects partly funded by the smart city project and partly by convergence	5	2,820.70
Total	27	5,266.10