With PUNE listed on the number two slot among the Top-20 cities declared by the Centre to be developed as a smart cities, the civic administration has devised various smart ideas and strategies to take up the responsible task in hand.
For this ambitious Smart City Plan, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) has been proposed to carry out the process that by rough estimation is expected to take near around 10 years to change the overall landscape. For the Area Based initiatives, Aundh-Baner-Balewadi (ABB) area was chosen to implement the Smart Cities improvements.
The overall project is worth INR 3,480 crores, out of which INR 1,035 crores will be invested in pan city enhancement & the rest of INR 2445 crores will be spent on the development of Aundh-Baner-Balewadi locations. The pan city improvisation will include investment towards city-wise transport, traffic control & Wi-Fi etc.
In Aundh-Baner-Balewadi (ABB) area, the smart city project will incorporate sustainable transport and power solution, effective metering systems, waste management, e-governance, social and economic transformation of slums and many more.
The area was chosen for development given that it is likely to be the fastest growing region in the PMC limits for the next 15 years. This area is exposed to rampant construction in the last decade, with people working in the IT industry favoring it. There are also traces of the old villages which existed on the sites of modern day buildings and upcoming skyscrapers. The ABB area also contains a significant waterfront on the River Mula.
There are various key initiatives planned for this area; some of the planned initiatives are:
1: Infrastructure development to provide world class transportation facility, improved mobility and waste water management
- 26 KM elevated BRT extension with direct access to Hinjewadi (IT hub)
- Overhaul of 54 regular bus-stops with ICT solutions
- 100 electric buses to complement existing buses for ABB-Hinjewadi connectivity
- 46km of road improvement
- Access to mass public transport through 100 e-rickshaws
- 100% differently-abled friendly pathways
- Increasing water availability through Rainwater harvesting and waste water recycling in the ABB region
- Zero waste and garbage ABB region through garbage truck augmentation, RFID tracking of vehicles, RFID based attendance system and monitoring of garbage areas
- Centralized command and control center with camera feed from critical areas, emergency services through 5 SWAT vehicles
2: Create social infrastructure as per benchmark standards
- Additional 3 multi-specialty hospitals in the region
- Additional 3 schools in the region with international standards
- Additional 76 public toilets created and maintained to global standards
- State-of-art fire stations for high rise cum compact development
- Smart parking for 750 cars
3: Enhance livability quotient considerably on top of fixing infrastructure
- Drive open space innovation: Interconnected gardens 5 minutes away for each resident, open space increase from 4% to 10% of total area; open vegetable market
- 3.5 km riverfront with walking promenade, recreation zone and entertainment zone
- 8 acre start-up zone and 36 acres commercial space to create 45,000+ jobs by 2030 to promote mixed use development and walk-to-work culture
- Make area look better through 100% underground wiring and vehicle free road
4: Drive socially inclusive growth in the region
- Make ABB region slum-free by redevelopment of 500 slum households
- Drive socio-economic transformation of slums by focusing on 4 problem areas – sanitation, healthcare, education and skill building
5: Improve sustainability quotient of the region
- Smart street lights with 85% LED lamps to bring 30% energy savings – lampposts also fitted with air pollution sensors, panic button, Wi-Fi access point and CCTV camera
- Smart grid in ABB for 100% power supply and 3% reduction in AT&C losses
- Solar roof tops to contribute 15% of energy requirements
6: Leverage ICT solutions for citizen convenience and e-governance
- Seamless Wi-Fi connectivity at 1Mbps+ speed – 100+ access points for 10,000 simultaneous logins
- Citizen app for grievance redressal and multiple functions integrated with the intelligent operations center (IOC)
- Digital Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to improve SPV functioning with Geo enabled city operations for multiple activities such as Land management, Tax assessment
- E-SPV: Comprehensive ABB online portal with multiple activities across all departments with citizen desk for physical verification
