Keep ear to the ground to win challenge: Mohammed Hanish

Thiruvananthapuram: After 200 smart city discussions involving 20,000 people, identifying one winning idea and the area where it would be implemented is going to be a gargantuan task.   DC spoke to experts involved in preparing Kochi’s proposal for smart city challenge, as to what led them to the winning idea. The public consultations had reached out to 50,000 people in Kochi, according to Mohammed Hanish, the then Smart Cities Mission director.

The Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation MD says that numerous workshops were conducted to identify which strategy to pursue, be it redevelopment or retrofitting. The directorate would whet the entire list of ideas, based on the 18-point selection criteria provided by the central government. The following are some of the criteria – the impact of the proposal, whether it is financially sustainable, if it is possible to implement it within the timelines and if its objectives correspond to citizen’s needs identified in the consultation.

Choosing proposals with existing DPRs was another important strategy adopted in Kochi. Three Kochi Metro projects with existing DPRs were shortlisted. Saving time (six weeks for preparing DPRs) is all the more important now, as smart cities programme ends by 2019-2020. When the consultant submitted the document, the Mission directorate in Kochi did not leave it at that. Pathanamthitta collector R. Girija, who then served as the Mission’s nodal officer, says, “We polished the document submitted by the consultant, word by word..”

For three days, the discussions went on, until the final document was sent out. When asked how Thiruvananthapuram planned to identify the area, strategy and concept for smart city, Mayor V. K. Prasanth said that the 13-member Technical Committee, which has experts from different sectors, will shortlist the best ideas in each field.