+
Go Lean to get Smart!
SMART CITIES

Go Lean to get Smart!

With an intent to modernise the urban environments in our country and bring them up to world-class standards, the Government of India recently embarked upon a transformational mission to develop 100 smart cities in the country under the Smart Cities Mission (SCM). The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is the nodal ministry coordinating between the Central Government, state governments, local city authorities and funding institutions. Though considerable efforts are being put into this initiative, press reports suggest that hundreds of projects under SCM are still incomplete and problems have arisen mainly owing to lack of coordination among multiple government departments. In this article, we will examine how the adoption of Lean concepts can solve this problem.

Makeup of typical smart city development

The typical works forming part of the development of smart cities include infrastructure development (housing, water supply, sanitation, electricity supply, health, education, mobility, safety and security, IT connectivity and digitalisation), covering a multiplicity of services across several disciplines and locations. Some part of this work involves ‘soft’ work but a major part involves ‘hard’ work, such as construction. All the development needs to be within the limitations of the urban space available, within a short time to minimise disruptions to normal life and within specific budgetary constraints as total funds available are limited.

About the author: Prof N Raghavan, Professor of Practice, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT-Madras, has a career spanning design, construction, project management, academia and institution building. He is a member of the board of directors of the Institute for Lean Construction Excellence (ILCE). His passionate efforts have been a significant force for the Indian construction sector to see Lean conferences, industry-academia symbiosis and deployment of Lean implementation programmes in real projects. He is a member of several professional bodies and also an independent director in a few transportation-sector SPVs.

Click here to read more

With an intent to modernise the urban environments in our country and bring them up to world-class standards, the Government of India recently embarked upon a transformational mission to develop 100 smart cities in the country under the Smart Cities Mission (SCM). The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is the nodal ministry coordinating between the Central Government, state governments, local city authorities and funding institutions. Though considerable efforts are being put into this initiative, press reports suggest that hundreds of projects under SCM are still incomplete and problems have arisen mainly owing to lack of coordination among multiple government departments. In this article, we will examine how the adoption of Lean concepts can solve this problem. Makeup of typical smart city development The typical works forming part of the development of smart cities include infrastructure development (housing, water supply, sanitation, electricity supply, health, education, mobility, safety and security, IT connectivity and digitalisation), covering a multiplicity of services across several disciplines and locations. Some part of this work involves ‘soft’ work but a major part involves ‘hard’ work, such as construction. All the development needs to be within the limitations of the urban space available, within a short time to minimise disruptions to normal life and within specific budgetary constraints as total funds available are limited. About the author: Prof N Raghavan, Professor of Practice, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT-Madras, has a career spanning design, construction, project management, academia and institution building. He is a member of the board of directors of the Institute for Lean Construction Excellence (ILCE). His passionate efforts have been a significant force for the Indian construction sector to see Lean conferences, industry-academia symbiosis and deployment of Lean implementation programmes in real projects. He is a member of several professional bodies and also an independent director in a few transportation-sector SPVs.Click here to read more

Next Story
Real Estate

Rs 24.4 Trillion Worth Of Plots Launched Since 2022

Housing plots worth Rs 24.4 trillion have been launched across India’s top tier-I and tier-II cities between January 2022 and May 2025, driven by post-Covid demand for customisable living spaces, according to data from real estate analytics firm PropEquity.During this period, developers rolled out approximately 470,000 residential plots across ten cities—Hyderabad, Indore, Bengaluru, Chennai, Nagpur, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Mysore, Raipur, and Surat.Samir Jasuja, Founder and CEO of PropEquity, stated that the increasing popularity of residential plots stems from their liquidity and stronger ap..

Next Story
Infrastructure Urban

Wyndham, Cygnett To Add 60 Hotels Across South Asia

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has entered into a strategic alliance with Indian hospitality group Cygnett Hotels & Resorts to significantly expand its presence across South Asia. The collaboration will bring Wyndham’s La Quinta and Registry Collection Hotels brands to India, with plans to develop over 60 hotels across India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal in the next ten years.This move seeks to capitalise on the growth of India’s travel and tourism industry, fuelled by infrastructure investments, a growing middle class, and rising domestic and international tourism.Dimitris M..

Next Story
Infrastructure Urban

Marengo Asia To Invest Rs 1.5 Billion In West India Expansion

Marengo Asia Healthcare, a prominent multi-specialty hospital platform backed by marquee investors including Samara Capital, Havells Family Office, and the Godrej Family Office, has announced a strategic investment of Rs 1.5 billion to expand its presence into Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The move is part of the group’s wider vision to build a pan-India network by strengthening its operations across northern and western India.Currently operating around 1,500 beds across four hospitals in Delhi NCR and Gujarat, Marengo plans to double its bed capacity to 3,000 within the next 12 months. This wi..

Advertisement

Advertisement

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Get daily newsletters around different themes from Construction world.

STAY CONNECTED

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Talk to us?