Thiruvananthapuram gearing up for Smart City round 4

Thiruvananthapuram: Though the capital city didn’t manage to find a place in list of 27 smart cities announced by the Centre, Thiruvananthapuram is still in the fray for the fourth round of Smart City competition, along with 47 other cities for the 40 slots that are left. The city had failed to score as much as Kochi during the initial round as its own resources were primarily used to meet the administration cost and less for public projects, according to experts.

The city got a second chance after the Central Government decided to include 7 capital cities in the competition. The proposal will be submitted soon and the results will be announced by the centre by the start of 2017. It is not clear yet whether the centre will choose just 20 cities in the next round and have a fifth round, or if it will choose the final 40. In the run-up for the competition, C-DIT is developing a website for the city’s smart city proposal. On Tuesday a workshop was held for the councillors on the smart city proposal.

Mayor V.K. Prasanth said that the councillors should make a draft of proposals for their own wards, and eventually one will be selected by October 10. Town Planning Committee Chair-person R Satheeshkumar suggested that the Corporation can consider converting the canals in the city into a water transport system. The project would address the sewerage issue and water transport will be a bonus, he said. Former Chief Town Planner Kasturira-ngan said that the city can consider a proposal in which the heritage of Chalai, SriPadmanabhaswamy Temple and Fort Area will be preserved.