After missing the bus twice, Varanasi, the high profile constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally made its way into the third list of 27 Smart Cities.
The city has proposed Rs.2,520-crore plan for Varanasi Smart City. As per the proposal received from the State, Rs 1,659 crore will be spent on area development and Rs 618 crore on pan-city solutions and rest on technical and administrative expenses and other contingencies.
Varanasi, which gets 65 lakh tourists every year, had fared badly in the first list when it was ranked 96 on the list of 97 cities that competed for inclusion under the Centre’s flagship Smart City Mission. The main bottlenecks are bad roads, traffic congestion, an age-old drainage system and poor sanitation.
However the city is excited after getting selected in the third list.
“At present our primary focus is to streamline various projects that are running under various schemes in the city. Works on many areas are already on. The city will form the SPV by the end of October,” Municipal commissioner Shrihari Pratap Shahi told BW Smartcities.
Under the area based development, the city has selected old Kashi, the area around ghat and Vishwanath Temple, spread across the area of 1,300 acres.
The Old City area accounts for 7 per cent of the city’s geographical area, 31 per cent of the population and 38 per cent of the city’s GDP.
Under the pan city work the city is already working on many projects which include rejuvenation of ghats and temples, assured supply of power and water, waste management, improvement of waterways, development of 11 parks, smart multi-level parking spaces, cultural-cum-convention centre, Kahsi Kala Dhaam, Shilpi Haat to promote local art and craft.
Apart from that optic fibre connectivity across the city, online service delivery, Intelligent Traffic Management Systems, pedestrian pathways, non-motorised transport, GPS on buses, e-booking of boats, guides, taxis etc, CCTV-based monitoring and surveillance, e-Suvidha centres, information delivery on mobile Apps, smart card for all services among others, as per the plan.
“Work on underground cable is 25 per cent complete. Also we have selected 35 roads for repairing and we are also looking for site to build parking. To remove traffic congestion. Work for renovating ghats have been given to IL&FS and once SPV will be formed, other tender process will be initiated,”Shahi said.
“Apart from that we will be creating a light and sound show, night bazaar, rejuvenation of water bodies and smart energy initiatives like solar boats, floating solar panels in Ganga, energy efficient street lighting,” Shahi said.
The city is also working on installing solar panels on all government buildings and schools.
According to the smart Ciy plan, in addition to the support from the Central and State Government, costs of project are to be met with resources of Rs 1,290 crore through convergence of various schemes, Rs 505 crore from the corporation’s own resources and Rs 140 crore from PPP, said the official.
Once the plan is put in place, the State Government hopes to increase tourist inflow by over 25 per cent and increase in revenue generation from international tourists and pilgrims by over 30 per cent.
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