The ‘tourism capital of Maharashtra’, Aurangabad is famously known for Bibi ka Maqbara, the Ajanta and Ellora caves, numerous forts and temples, and more. The city is also home to Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC), India’s first greenfield industrial smart city.
The Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation (Aurangabad Smart City) aims to improve urban mobility, promote the heritage and rich culture of the city and improve ease of living through technological interventions. Saurabh Joshi, Deputy CEO, Aurangabad Smart City Development Corporation, shares more in an interview.
Aurangabad is slated to get a metro soon, with a DPR already prepared. Please highlight the significance of this for the smart city?
Having a good public transport system is essential for the development and growth of the city. The DPR for Aurangabad Metro is being finalised. In its first phase,the Aurangabad metro will be running in two stretches connecting the important landmarks in the city like the airport, railway station and AURIC. The metro will provide very good public transport, thereby reducing the use of private vehicles. Apart from this, Aurangabad Smart City is also operating public transport in the form of city buses. We are adding 30 electric buses to our fleet;we will get these by the end of April. The vendor has already been finalised.
Please elaborate on the efforts taken towards infrastructure in the areas of traffic management and analytics, e-governance, solid waste management, and any others.
Under the Master System Integrator project, Aurangabad Smart City has installed 700 security surveillance cameras in the city.
Also, we have installed public announcement systems at all the important traffic junctions. This helps in traffic management. Apart from this, under the ISCOPE project, we are going to install about 130 red light violation detection cameras (RLVD) and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. This will provide the necessary nudge for traffic management in the city. The tender has been done and installation is underway.
Under IMEGS (Integrated Municipal E-Governance System), the smart city has developed an e-governance system for Aurangabad Municipal Corporation. This has led to improved governance, better decision-making of the city administration and citizen engagement through online services by developing citizen facilitation centres in every zone.
Also, please highlight upcoming projects along with their cost. Are any tenders already live or to be floated?
March 31, 2022, was the deadline given to complete the tendering process and allot the work planned under the smart city, so the tendering process of all major projects has been completed. No major tender is expected in the future unless the Smart Cities Mission is given an extension and additional funding is provided.
Aurangabad has also been the pilot for the Environmental Insights Explorer (EIE) data from Google. How has this helped the overall development of the city?
The EIE features various tools that both citizens and the administration can use to create personal and infrastructure-level action on climate change. This data helps decision-making and consensus development within the Government and outside. We are the first city in India to sign up in the race to resilience under UNFCCC and are among India’s top 10 cities to pledge to a net-zero carbon footprint by 2050. We are preparing a climate action plan. The plantakes into accountthe current carbon footprint of the city and suggests measures to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint by 2050.
Considering the plans laid for city development under the Smart Cities Mission, how much work has been completed and how much is yet to be achieved?
Under mission funding. Aurangabad Smart Cityhas planned 37 projects. Of these, 26 have been completed. For the remaining 11, work is under progress. Projects like Aurangabad Zoological Park, smart schools, smart roads, bus depotand more are at various levels of progress. We intend to complete all the projects by the end of this year.
What is the total smart city budget for the city, and where is this being sourced?
The total budget for the smart city is Rs 10 billion. It is being sourced in the following manner:
|
No. |
Funds |
Share |
|
1 |
Government of India |
Rs 5 billion |
|
2 |
Maharashtra government |
Rs 2.5 billion |
|
3 |
Aurangabad Municipal Corporation |
Rs 2.5 billion |
On a concluding note, please share a message with construction and real-estate stakeholders on the big opportunities coming along in Aurangabad.
Aurangabad Smart City is undertaking various important projects. These projects will help boost economic growth, local identity and sustainability and improve the quality of life of the people by enabling local area development, core infrastructure and harnessing technology. Thus, the city has become an attractive destination for investors.
