PWC is front runner to become consultant for MP smart city projects

Madhya Pradesh has picked up PWC for its Smart City project as a consultant. "PricewaterhouseCoopers were the lowest bidder," a Bhopal Municipal Corporation spokesperson told Business Standard.

The Corporation will be nodal agency to implement the project if it gets a go-ahead from the Central government. The corporation, state urban development department and other agencies has already sensitized people to give a take-off to the smart city planning process. "The proposal is expected to be submitted to the government of India by December this year." The consultant will design the proposal.

As many as nine participants were in fray for picking up the consultant's job. "Besides PWC, PELL Frischemann, DRA Consultant Pvt Ltd, Noventus Solutions, All India Institute of Local Self Governance etc., were among the competitive bidders but PWC was the lowest bidder," said the spokesperson.

The capital town of Bhopal will be first Smart City if the proposal and funds are arranged. Besides Bhopal, other towns namely Indore, Jabalpur, Satna, Sagar and Ujjain have figured among the list of 98 cities announced by Central government.

A two-day conclave organized here recently outlined the proposed smart cities to be come up in the state.

The Bhopal Municipal Corporation has floated its Smart City plan which has certain strategic components to develop smart city; improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and city extension (Greenfield development) and a Pan-city initiative in which smart solutions are applied covering larger parts of the city.

Under retrofitting "more intensive infrastructure service levels and a large number of smart applications will be packed into the retrofitted smart city" while redevelopment will effect a replacement of existing built up environment and "enable co-creation of a new layout with enhanced infrastructure using mixed land use and increased density." Under greenfield development the smart city will have the smart solutions through innovative planning, financing, plan implementation and affordable housing too. While pan-city development envisages application of "selected Smart Solutions to the existing city-wide infrastructure" by using information technology and data to make infrastructure and services better.

The two-day conclave also discussed if the Bhopal Municipal Corporation will have to go solo or with private partnership. "An SPV (special purpose vehicle) model would be best option for such projects, as many other departments will have certain role in developing a smart city," a senior bureaucrat who participated in the conclave told BS.