Kochi was among the first 20 cities to be shortlisted under India’s Smart Cities Mission. CW reached out to Shanavas S, CEO, Cochin Smart Cities Mission (CSML), to catch up on the progress of the projects and know more of what is in the pipeline. Tell us about the achievements of the Cochin Smart City so far. Kochi has showcased much progress in the project implementation stage. Due to some technical issues, some projects could not be taken forward. Kochi has been awarded for the smart city empowering India Award 2019 for the e-health solution project in 2019, and in 2018 won the challenge of CITIIS challenge (City Investments To Innovate Integrate and Sustain) launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs with the support of European Union and AFD (French Development Agency) with a grant of Rs. 151 million. The city has also won different challenges initiated by the ministry such as Streets for People, Cycles for Change, and Nurturing Neighbourhood to promote and get citizens to participate in the ongoing implementation process. Ongoing Projects List: Tell us about the current ongoing projects? Currently, we are working on the renovation of the Ernakulam Market, which is the economical hub of the city. Around 230-233 vendors are housed in the market and we needed to rehabilitate them first. As such, the work was carried out in two parts: Rehabilitation, followed by renovation. Identifying the space for rehabilitation was a challenge due to conflicts with the landowners, which we had to resolve in the court. However, that was cleared and the rehabilitation was successfully done before the renovation work could begin. Currently, the piling has been completed, and the remaining work will take two years to complete. What measures has the CSML implemented to improve mobility? As part of the ministry initiative, Cycle for Change programme, we have conducted a pilot run in the city area for cycles where we realised that we need not develop a dedicated cycle track but only provide a demarcated lane. We will be providing these cycling lanes throughout the extent of the smart roads as well as other roads. These will be in the eight wards of the Smart City – three in the city area and five in the West Kochi area. The aim is to maintain a good level of connectivity between the cycling networks. Any measures for sanitation and hygiene? We have provided over 10,000 green and blue bins for solid waste segregation and waste management in households across the city. This is in addition to providing suction compaction machines and sweeping machines for the city. We have tenders live for toilet blocks to be constructed around the city and the feeding booths. Any update on LED or solar lighting in the cities? Under the Smart Cities Mission programme, Kochi Smart City is implementing new LED project pan-city wherein there will be 42,000 LED lights installed. The tender will be floated by this month. Solar project is also being planned to be executed in the city. Upcoming projects being planned by Kochi Smart City: SI No Project Name Amount in million 1 Street Light - PAN City 400 2 Refuse compactors 250.9 3 Chittoor Road 247.8 Foreshore Road MI Shanavas Road SRM Road 4 Poonthuruthy Bava road 236.7 Thamarakulam road Faseela road Chakkamadam jew town road Nazreth - Rameshwaram canal road Statue Road 5 South Railway station Road and Ravipuram Road 199.8 Salim Rajan Road, IGH Road & Alunkal Street Karshaka Sangham Road, Udaya Nagar Road & Bank Road 6 Development of Amaravathy and Calvathy Road in West Kochi 146.4 7 Development of parks andopen spaces -Phase 2(Ro-Ro,Parade Ground,River road,Subhash Park & Church Road) 98.8 8 Nehru Park 91.9 Pallath Raman Ground Mattanchery Park Veli Ground 9 Mobility Corridor 90 10 Supply, Operation and Maintenance of Truck Mounted Road Sweeping Machine 84.8 11 GIS Mapping 75 12 PJ Antony Cultural Centre 70.7 13 Supply, Operation and Maintenance of Vehicle Mounted Jetting cum Suction Equipment for Drain Cleaning 63.1 14 Rajendra Maidanam 57.3 Marine Drive balance work High Court Jn development Vanchi Square Vyttila Chilavannur Park 15 Community Hall Mattanchery 52.4 Renovation of Customs Boat Jetty 16 Changambuzha Park 35.9 17 Construction of two Minor Bridges(Chirattapalam & Konchery) 29.8 18 Desktops to KMC 24.5 19 Anganwadis 21.2 20 Toilet Block 3 nos for Veli Ground, Mattancherry Park, Nehru Park 9.1  Total – Projects in the Tendering Stage 2,286.1 million   How is Cochin Smart City working for the next challenge of the mission? Many of the projects that CSML has undertaken in the last phases, are in fact the scaled-up versions of earlier projects. For example, now CSML is developing more than 20 public spaces and developing various roads. Also, we are replacing all street lights around the city to LED lights. Tell us about the open spaces that the Cochin Smart City has been working to renovate CSML has developed open spaces both in Ernakulum and West Kochi area to provide more green spaces in the city. These open spaces will act as the lungs of the city. With a focus to enhance the tourism and heritage profile of the Fort Kochi-Mattancherry corridor, CSML has developed an Open-Air Theatre on the vacant land of 385 sq m area within Kochi Municipal Corporation Zonal Office premises at Fort Kochi. The scope of work includes development of the Open-Air theatre and a toilet unit, along with the operation and maintenance of the landscaping works. The proposal will offer great tourism opportunities as well as a better space for community gatherings and functions. The project cost is of Rs 10.7 million. The Vasco da Gama Public Square and Walkway development project visualises improving the existing beach, walkway and connected landmarks. Improving connectivity, efficient utilisation of the public space, uniform pavement and lighting proposals, universally accessible infrastructure, better seating facilities and organised parking are other prominent issues the project focuses to resolve. The project cost for this is of Rs 19.5 million. We are also aiming to revitalise all the open and public spaces, along the western water edge of Ernakulum mainland by improving the accessibility, and introducing various activities and linking the same with each other to create an active corridor for recreational facilities. CSML has also proposed an integrated continuous open space corridor between Rajendra Maidan on south of the corridor up to Tata Canal to the north of the corridor. The project is conceived to upgrade and integrate all the open spaces between those areas into an open space corridor to act as a public space. The proposed project shall ensure to provide a variety of attractions and recreational activities for people across all walks of life and thereby, transform the area into one of the most visited areas of the city. The project comprises of five components broadly. Major interventions of the project include surface paving, landscaping and providing street furniture such as benches, streetlights, and advertisement boards, and repairing and constructing storm water drainage trenches. The scope of work includes site cleaning, streetscaping, finishing, MEP works, and landscaping and maintenance works. All the open spaces projects are in the tender stage including for Nehru Park, Pallathu Raman Ground, Mattanchery Park, Veli Ground, PJ Antony Cultural Centre, Rajendra Maidanam, Marine Drive balance work, High Court Junction development, Vanchi Square and Vyttila Chilavannur Park. What is the budget? CSML is being funded under the equal contribution of the Central and the state governments. The total funding cost is of Rs 10 billion. Any parting message? Improving the liveability standards of the city is the main aim of the Smart Cities Mission and the Kochi Smart City has achieved this standard always, and has continued to be a place of opportunity for the industry.