Nashik Municipal Smart City Development Corporation (NMSCDL) is on a mission to not just preserve the traditional and historic charms of the city but also to improve infrastructure by using the latest technology. Under the Smart Cities Mission, there are a total of 52 projects for the city worth Rs 43 billion. Of these, 22 projects worth Rs 10.45 billion are from smart city funding, 10 projects worth Rs 4.817 billion are being executed on the PPP mode, 19 projects worth 27.435 billion are conversion projects and five projects worth Rs 90.1 million are under CSR. Preserving heritage To preserve and give old structures a facelift, a Heritage Road is being constructed that will connect various old temples of the city. This will be completed under the area-based development (ABD) major and minor roads project along with other utilities. The Godavari River plays an important role in the heritage quotient of Nashik City as many heritage temples and ghats are on its banks. “NMSCDCL is implementing the Godavari Rejuvenation project to maintain the heritage value of the ghat area, which includes rejuvenation of 17 ghats,” says Sumant More, CEO, Nashik Municipal Smart City Development Corporation. “The de-concretisation of some of the ghats and demolition of some old structures are also part of these projects. NMSCDCL is committed to implementing these projects with least hindrance to common people and stakeholders.” Smart projectsMultimodal transportation system package: The aim of the smart city projects is to start sustainable development initiatives along with resolving issues pertaining to various aspects. In transportation, NMSCDCL has commenced a bus project in which procurement of 200 CNG, 150 electrical and 50 midi diesel buses is considered. A separate company, Nashik MahanagarParivahanMahamandal (NMPML),has been formed for the operations of this project. To tackle parking issues in busy areas,a smart parking project has been implemented in which 28 on-street and five off-street parking spaces are being created (a total of 6,635 parking slots). NMSCDCL has also implemented the PBS project with 1,000 bicycles on 100 docking stations. And an Intelligent Transport Management System (ITMS) has been adapted for the bus project to streamline routes and operations. ABD package: The mission guidelines have mandated selection of the core area of the city to implement infrastructure projects and provide smart infrastructure. The ABD major and minor roads (water, sewer and underground utilities) project (Rs 2.37 billion), Godavari Rejuvenation package (five projects worth Rs 1.33 billion), redevelopment of two WTPS and implementation of SCADA on five WTPS and 111 ESRs and 7,000 water meters (non-residential) (Rs 2.06 billion), ESR GSR and transmission line construction project (0.25 billion) and GIS mapping of all services are the projects NMSCDCL is implementing in the ABD area.“The integrated major and minor road development is my dream project,” shares More,as it involves retrofitting of Gaothan (old area) of the city, which is challenging as this includes old structures with narrow roads. Initially, a smart pilot road of1.1 km length and 24 m width with facilities such as a footpath for pedestrians, cycle tracks on both sides and underground utilities, one of its kind for the city, was developed by NMSCDCL to create a model for smart road development. This is being replicated on the172 roads in the ABD area under the major and minor roads project; i.e., roads are being developed with ducts along the road and crossing to accommodate future utilities and avoid unnecessary damage to the roads. The mission also aims to upgrade water infrastructure to facilitate 24×7 water supply; NMSCDCL has taken up projects like WTPs, ESRs, SCADA, water meters and GIS mapping to achieve this goal in the ABD area. To mitigate the flood situation in the rainy season, de-silting of the river has been done for a 3.2-km stretch, flood sensors are being installed and an automatic weather station is being installed with the help of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on the upstream side of the river, at Gangapur dam. Pan-city package: The Smart City Mission has made implementation of an integrated command-and-control centre (ICCC)compulsory for all cities to integrate all services on one platform. NMSCDCL has completed an ICCC for corporation services and CCC for police department operations along with a Data Centre and Disaster Recovery (DC-DR) setup. Proof of Concept (PoC) for two signals has also been completed and 46 junction worksare in the pipeline. Other smart elements include 800 surveillance cameras and PTZ-ANPR cameras. In the smart streetlight project, NMSCDCL has converted over 96,000 streetlights into LED, which is resulting in an energy saving of 60 per cent. This project is on a PPP model. A rooftop solar project on 16 corporation buildings, also on a PPP model, has been taken up to produce 1mw electricity. Recreation package: NMSCDCL has renovated three auditoriums in the ABD area and one public garden – the four projects are worth Rs 149.8 million. Sustainable goalsNashik became the fifth city in Maharashtra to launch a Climate Action Plan (CAP) and a Climate Action Cell has also been recently institutionalised within the corporation. The CAP aims to achieve net-zero emission by 2050, reduce carbon neutrality by 2035 and carbon surplus by 2050. The CAP will be prepared jointly by the city corporation and NMSCDCL. NMSCDCL has already started contributing towards the goals of the CAP by implementing various projects that will lead to the use of green energy and saving energy. While there has been a tremendous response for most projects, an exception has been the multilevel car parking project, despite the tender being floated more than once. The project is planned via the PPP mode. “We think people are scared to invest as they are not sure about the return on their investment,” reasons More. “Viability gap funding will be introduced by the authority to fill the gaps.”