Miles to go before Guwahati becomes a smart city

Initial euphoria over the city's inclusion has been followed by lack of funds to realise the dream

When Guwahati, the most cosmopolitan city in the Northeast with a population of one million, was selected in the initial draw of the Smart Cities Mission, its residents were delighted.

The mission envisages 24X7 electricity supply with a minimum 10 per cent of the requirement met by solar energy, smart metering, energy-efficient street lighting, 24X7 water supply, rainwater harvesting, solid waste management, robust information technology connectivity and digitalisation.

Residents of the city expected the state administration to either upgrade existing facilities or set up new ones to meet the smart city qualification.

But two years after the roll-out of the mission, problems of water-logging, damaged roads and lack of 24x7 drinking water loom large. Water supply, garbage disposal, wastewater management and sanitisation are substandard. Traffic has increased significantly, with the entry of Uber and Ola operators, as city buses are limited in number.

Come monsoon, localities such as Anil Nagar and Nabin Nagar are almost submerged not by the Brahmaputra but by flooding due to heavy rains and lack of proper drainage. Even as thE problem persists, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state seems focused on renaming major roads in the city.

Why Guwahati needs to be smart

According to the 2011 Census, 31 per cent of the Indian population lives in cities. The population of Guwahati, too, has shot up because of migration. But standards of living remain abysmal. The Smart Cities Mission was supposed to address the problem through area-based development (ABD) projects and pan-city solutions. 

ABD is a template that requires cities seeking the smart city tag to identify an area for development within its area or a new area on its outskirts. The pan-city solution focuses on improving service delivery. This was to be done through a special purpose vehicle (SPV).

The Guwahati Smart City Development Agency (GSCDAL) was set up on May 11, 2016. Beautification of the Barphukanor tilla was the first of a series of projects included in the smart city proposal. GSCDAL Managing Director Ashutosh Agnihotri said it intended to complete three projects in the next two years — developing the Borsola Beel and installation of solar poles.

But Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu is dissatisfied with the pace of progress. He said the Centre had provided more flexibility to states and no individual project was being examined. “All decision-making, including final project approvals, is in the hands of the state government,” he said.

In this respect, Guwhati’s ambitions seem to have hit a roadblock. Himanta Biswa Sarma, state minister for education, health and finance and the BJP’s Northeast Democratic Alliance convenor, said: “We have got approval of Rs 400 crore (from the Centre). The government has asked us to contribute Rs 400 crore as the state government’s share and to generate the rest in the public-private partnership mode (PPP).”

The initial amount proposed for Guwahati under ABD is Rs 1,634 crore and Rs 622 crore for pan-city solutions. The emphasis should be on pan-city solutions, which deal with the application of smart solutions and uses technology, information and data to improve infrastructure and services. However, the Smart Cities Mission prioritises land monetisation.

Replying to a query by BJP member of the Assembly Bhabesh Kalita, Sarma said that out of the sanctioned amount, Rs 300 crore had been released. “So, we have to arrange Rs 2,000 crore,” he said. “Unless we get funds in the PPP mode, we have to rethink how we are going to become a smart city.”

Framework problems

The Smart Cities Mission divides the role of the central and state governments by devolving further responsibilities to urban local bodies (ULB) such as the Guwahati Municipal Corporation and the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Corporation. Twenty per cent of the proposed funding for the project will come from PPP mobilised by forming special purpose vehicles (SPV) to plan, appraise and approve projects.

Here several problems emerge. It is too much to expect that existing mechanisms will fulfil the goals of the mission as there is just not enough capacity. ULBs do not have the legislative backing or executive competence to set up SPVs. So, many of their functions would be transferred to corporate entities.

The state government is hamstrung by PPP funding. Cities such as Bhubaneshwar have stolen a march over Guwahati, with the American Planning Association giving this year’s international excellence award to Bhubaneshwar’s Smart Cities Mission.

There is lack of clarity over fund distribution and the role of SPVs. Sarma’s helplessness was evident when he addressed the state Assembly in August last year: “This project is tougher than we thought it would be. We are now discussing how to collect this amount. People had assumed that as Guwahati is included in the list of smart city projects, money would pour in. That has not happened.” Sarma said it was easier to generate investment under PPP in cities such as Bhubaneswar, Delhi and Mumbai.

For the moment, with large parts of Guwahati already under water, smart city seems a distant dream.