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cities 12integrated

cities 10workingcities 13

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Navigating India’s urban transformationTransforming Urban LandscapeA historic national event marked the 3rd anniversary of the flagship Urban Development Missions comprising Smart Cities Mission; the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation of Urban Transformation (AMRUT); and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), PMAY(U). The event in Lucknow on ‘Transforming Urban Landscape’ that was held on July 27th and 28th, 2018 had the distinguished participation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri and many ministers and stakeholders from all States and Union Territories.

The Prime Minister highlighted the national resolve under Urban Transformation Mission that has made life simple, easy and safe for millions of people, becoming stronger over the three years. The goal of these missions is to increase the standard of life of poor, lower-middle-class and middle-class people living in cities by giving them better civic facilities. Addressing the gathering of Mayors, Commissioners and CEOs, the Prime Minister referred to the important role played by the representative of the cities of the country and said that urban administrators present in the gathering symbolise the hopes and aspirations of New India, and the new generation; working on the shoulders of millions of nationals with participative efforts.

Recalling the efforts of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Narendra Modi said that the vision to transform the landscape of Urban India is closely connected with Lucknow, from where Vajpayee ji was an MP. Appreciating the various initiatives taken by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the Prime Minister said that the Union Government has worked to augment the speed, scale, and quality of living, keeping the spirit of those initiatives intact. He said the Government wishes to provide Housing for All by 2022. Expanding on the progress achieved so far, the Prime Minister explained the astounding work done in this direction.

He elaborated how the houses being made today have a toilet and electricity connection and are a symbol of women empowerment, as they are registered in the name of women.

The Prime Minister reminisced that India once had well planned urban spaces. But lack of political will and clear thinking had caused immense damage to the urban centres. He further highlighted that India is growing rapidly, and the cities which are its growth engines, cannot continue to develop haphazardly. He pointed out how the Smart City Mission will help prepare Indian cities to take up the challenges of New India; and prepare world class intelligent urban centres in India, for the 21st century. He said living spaces should be characterised by the 5 “E”s: Ease of Living, Education, Employment, Economy and Entertainment.

Hardeep Singh Puri proclaimed that the mission towards urbanisation in India has been remarkable over the past four years and the world is in awe of India’s three-pronged strategy of urbanisation. He further developed on the focus area of poverty alleviation, affordable housing and cleanliness as three major issues which are placed in the centre for development of more than 4,200 cities and towns. At the second level, issues related to basic infrastructure like drinking water and sewerage are being resolved in 500 cities; and at the third level, there are 100 smart cities where increasing use of digital technology is making the citizen life easier by increasing levels of urban infrastructure and services. This will encourage smart urbanisation in the country.

The Union Minister said that with 7,933 towns, India is now the world’s second largest country in terms of urbanisation. He said that the rapid growth of urbanisation has created immense potential for investment in this sector and increasing urbanisation has put pressure on civic infrastructure. It is expected that work will be done in the cities due to emerging demands in basic infrastructure, employment, commerce, trade, industry and other service sectors.

Referring to the challenges of Urban India, Hardeep

Singh Puri said that global standards should be kept in view. He stressed that India has to work towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In view of rapid urbanisation, on June 30, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched flagship Urban Development Missions of Smart Cities Mission; the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation of Urban Transformation (AMRUT); and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), and these three missions are going to fulfill the aspirations of the country. He added that housing and employment are the two things that are very important for common people. Urbanisation should be of the type in which both of these needs are fulfilled.

The Missions so farThe flagship missions under the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs have taken a systematic approach at planned urbanisation undertaken in India. The aim is to achieve transformative, inclusive and sustainable urban development through planning and reforms for achieving Urban Renaissance.

In June 2017, the Ministry has developed a set of

Inauguration of Municipalika + CAPEx + IIPM 2018

Municipalika 2018 will be Inaugurated by Hardeep S ingh Pur i , Un ion Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs, and

Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra, on 19th September, between 10 am and 1 p m , at Bo m b a y Exhibition Centre.

19, 20 & 21 September 2018Bombay Exhibition Centre - Mumbai

a 360 degree event on city development

India’s First and OnlyB2B Prope�y Show

15th International Exhibition & Conference on Sma� & Sustainable City Solutions

International Exhibition and Conference on Innovative Building

Materials & Technologies

2 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018Cover story

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liveability standards in cities with an objective of developing standards to generate a liveability index and rate cities against these standards to facilitate a competitive environment amongst cities and result in systematic improvement in the quality of life of citizens. These standards act as a guide to the urban missions.

Urban missions designed and launched after consultation with various stakeholders, including State and City Governments and participating citizens focuses on targeted outcomes and better resource utilisation, decentralisation of project formulation, appraisal and approval. The missions empower State/UT Governments and cities, promoting healthy competitive spirit among cities and states. Smart Cities selection strengthened cooperative federalism, extensive citizen engagement and public outreach in all missions. The approach of the missions focuses on empowerment in providing livelihoods and basic amenities to the people. Periodic reviews and monitoring of the the missions at the state level is ensuring adherence to timelines of projects including adoption of PPP (Public Private Partnership) models for implementation. The mission also aims to give a stimulus to investment and create avenues for private sector participation by incentivising and encouraging Urban Local Bodies to become self-sufficient and mobilise resources to attain viability through instruments like adopting user pay instruments, using land as resource and raising funds including through Municipal Bonds. The emphasis is on improving urban governance for better service delivery, transparency and accountability heralding an urban renaissance improving the quality of life of urban populace on a sustainable basis.

Smart Cities MissionThe Smart Cities Mission is aimed at driving economic growth and improving the quality of life of people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology that leads to smart outcomes. The objective is twin oriented with area-based development in the form of city improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and city extension (Greenfield development), plus a pan-city initiative in which smart solutions are applied covering larger parts of the city. Application of smart solutions enables cities to use technology, information and data to improve infrastructure and services. At an investment of

`2,03,979 crore, 100 cities are selected with 95 Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed where each SPV will have at least ̀ 200 crore equity. The mission is realised through myriad initiatives.

First, smart solutions and initiatives in urban transport impact the lives of all citizens and in a variety of ways ensuring safe and convenient access and routes for all users by reducing accidents and by promoting transit-oriented development on the road nodes. Smart road projects are progressing in 31 cities. Pilot projects for smart roads are completed in 4 cities including Pune, Namchi, Bhopal and Agra. Smart Road Projects are active across 35 cities with `3,529 crore and Smart Mobility Projects in 26 cities with `1,778 crore investment.

Second, smart solar energy powers the smart city with 10% energy requirement coming from solar energy and at least 80% buildings to be energy efficient and green buildings. This has resulted in reduced carbon emission and dependency on the conventional power grid. Work was completed in six cities and is near completion in 41 cities.

Third, water supply infrastructure and services are better managed by Smart Cities leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT) through Performance-based Management Contract (PBMC). Smart Water has improved quality of water supply, is active in leakage control and regular water supply while reducing the loss of water through leakages and pilferage and providing 24x7 water supply. Tenders for smart water projects are issued in 46 cities and work awarded in 38 cities.

Finally, a Smart City Centre is a platform where information from various urban agencies is collected, analysed and used for decision making by the agencies involved in the city management and planning. Improved quality of services to citizens, safety of citizens leading to making cities more inclusive is one of the goals. Command and Control Centre Projects are active across 23 cities at `3,084 crore. Smart City Centres are operational in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat, Pune, Nagpur, Rajkot, Visakhapatnam, Bhopal, Naya Raipur and Kakinada.

Ahmedabad now has free Wi-Fi implemented on BRTS corridors leading to an improvement in ridership by 20,000 in March 2018. Zero Tolerance Junctions (40+) have resulted in improved traffic discipline. Rajkot, by the use of undeniable video evidence has seen the crime rates coming down by

18%. Vadodara has seen 240% improvement in the usage of public transport after introducing additional buses fitted with GPS, GIS, Wi-Fi, etc. Kakinada’s environmental sensors for automatic weather feed and lightning detection feed and air quality data has helped alert citizens in time against calamities.

The Prime Minister congratulated these efforts that have started to give results. He elaborated how in the last two quarters, there has been a significant reduction in the crime rate as a direct result of the use of smart technologies in cities, highlighting on how due to area monitoring through the CCTV camera, there has been a reduction in the number of malpractices in the public place.

Under the Smart City Mission, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing & Urban Affairs highlighted that 100 cities have been selected and 5,151 projects are proposed for the development at the cost of over ̀ 2,00,000 crore. In this, one-fourth of the projects have been tendered and 15% work has also started.

Cities have the option of choosing one of the retrofitting, redevelopment and Greenfield models. Significantly, more than 90% of the cities have shown interest in the retrofitting model. He elaborated that `48,000 crore in the smart city scheme were given by the central government and the same by the state governments. Later, projects worth `1,00,000 crores were started combining resources like government fund participation and debt and other financing sources.

AMRUTThe Prime Minister recaled the efforts of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee towards urban transformation. He elaborated this as the reason for AMRUT today and its association with Atalji.

Hardeep Singh Puri further added that the focused leadership model has been made in the direction of implementation of schemes in the cities. Referring to AMRUT, he said that for five years i.e. from 2015-16 to 2019-20, `50,000 crore were allocated. He said that for all the 36 States and Union Territories, sanction of `77,640 crore was approved under State Annual Action Plan, in which the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) will contribute `35,990 crore in the form of central assistance. He said that so far `13,047 crore have been released as central assistance to the States and Union Territories.

Contd. on page 3

3 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 Cover story Contd. from page 2

The AMRUT Mission works towards water supply, treatment and safe disposal of sewage and septage, drainage, urban transport and green spaces/parks for the cities targeted under the mission. Launched on June 25, 2015, the scheme strives to provide universal water supply coverage and substantial improvement in sewerage network in the 500 mission cities. The mission incentivises and implements a reform agenda under which the following has progressed:• 2,985 projects worth `43,192 crore have been

completed or are at various stages of completion• 867 projects costing `13,535 crore are under

tendering• Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of 639 projects

costing ̀ 12,687 crore have been approved. • State Level High Powered Steering Committee

(SLHPSC) has approved Detailed Project Reports for ̀ 69,452 crore The Mission Director highlighted that Andhra

Pradesh, Telangana and Madhya Pradesh are best performing states under the scheme with contracts awarded for projects costing more than 95% of their approved State Annual Action Plan (SAAP).

Pradhan Mantri Awas YojnaBeneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY) got a chance to talk to the Prime Minister via video link, from different cities of Uttar Pradesh. These housing opportunities changed the lives of the poor, homeless people of the country. The Prime Minister expressed satisfaction over the progress of PMAY and congratulated all the citizens of the cities who have received their home and wished them prosperity.

The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna envisions Housing for All by 2022, envisages an overall target of 50 million homes to be constructed across the country’s urban and rural areas. The Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna-Urban (PMAY-U) scheme, targets 20 million houses, and seeks to address the housing requirements of urban poor including slum dwellers. Launched by the MoHUA in 2015, the mission aims to achieve its target in seven years, with houses to be alloted under four verticals. Allotted `33,000 crore in the union budget 2018, the progress of the urban scheme is tracked through phase wise targets.

The scheme is being implemented through the following verticals:

1. Slum rehabilitation of slum dwellers with participation of private developers using land as a resource

2. Promotion of affordable housing for weaker section through credit linked subsidy

3. Affordable housing in Partnership with Public and Private sectors

4. Subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house construction In urban areas, out of 8,341 proposals considered,

40.6 lakh houses were targeted by 2017, out of which 3.4 lakh have been constructed, and work is ongoing on 18 lakh houses.

In terms of overall seven year target of 51,10,382 housing units have been sanctioned so far, out of which 7,76,076 units have been constructed.

Urban Transport The Prime Minister recalled how former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in a way, made Lucknow a laboratory for the improvement of urban life of the country. The roads which connect to Lucknow, to about 1,000 villages, the flyover, bio technology park, scientific convention centers and other such works were

done in Lucknow as his vision was during his tenure as Lucknow’s MP. Today the Metro is either running in 12 cities in the country or it is going to start soon. Lucknow too is seeing the expansion of Metro as a direct result of Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji’s tenacity to bring this system into a major way in urban transport.The success of the Delhi Metro is being replicated all across the country.

The urban transport mission is to coordinate, appraise and approve all Urban Transport matters at the central level. All the interventions in the urban transport by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs such as Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), urban transit infrastructure or financing of metro rail projects, etc. are carried out as per the provisions of National Urban Transportation Policy (NUTP), launched in 2006 and reinvigorated in 2014. Urban Transport division also finances mechanisms in transport sector, capacity building at institutional and individual levels under Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP), financing of various traffic/transportation studies and surveys under the scheme for Urban Transport Planning to encourage cities to plan better and manage their urban transport systems. It also organises annual conference and exhibition on urban transport for knowledge sharing amongst experts and stakeholders. Overall investment of `51,183 crore were approved for Metro projects during 2014-18. The investment has materialised in 195 km of projects across seven states. Today there are 479 km of metro systems operational in 10 cities and additional 630 km are under construction. Further about 700 km of metro rail systems and

381 km of Rapid Rail Transit Systems (RRTS) are under planning in various cities ‘I-METROS’, an association of all Indian Metro Rail companies was launched on March 8, 2018 which will be a forum for exchange of ideas, pooling of knowledge and sharing of experience, best practices, innovations, etc. among the Indian Metro Rail companies.

Approved State Annual Action Plan

`77,640 crore `69,452 crore 500 `43,192 crore `13,535 crore `12,687 crore

DPRapproved bySLHPSC

WorkCompleted

Contractawarded

Cost of Projects under Tender

DPR Approved for Tenders

The detail of progress of Mission is as under:

Name of theState/UT

10,371 2,82,034.58 78,008.36 27,653.18 51,10,382 28,93,113 7,76,076Grand Total :-

ProjectProposalConsidered

Investmentin Projects

CentralAssistanceSanctioned

HousesSanctioned

HousesCompleted

Housesgroundedforconstruction

CentralAssistanceReleased

Financial Progress (Rs in Crore) Physical Progress (Nos)

Sl.No.

PMAY: Overall progress (Source: PMAY website progress report)

Canada and India: Building Innovative and Quality Infrastructure Pa�nerships

Canada's commercial relations with India are growing at a strong pace, and the Canadian government continues to see India as a priority market. Expanding commercial relations with India is a priority for Canada.During his visit to India in February 2018, Prime Minister Trudeau welcomed more than $1 billion in commercial deals between Canadian and Indian companies, which will lead to the creation of well-paying middle class jobs for Canadians and Indians.Canada's commercial strengths match the needs of India, such as products and services related to energy security, food security, infrastructure, innovation and education.Canada's approach to expanding trade and investment with India is to match Canada's strengths to the policy areas India is focused on such as Skill India, Digital India, Smart cities, expanding infrastructure, supporting energy and food security, developing clean and renewable energy sources in India.Over 1000 Canadian companies are already active in India, and many of these companies have products, technologies and services that can contribute to developing world-class urban spaces.C a n a d i a n i n v e s t m e n t i n t o I n d i a h a s skyrocketed. In the last few years, Canadian private equity investment through large institutional investors such as pension funds has topped an estimated $20 billion.Infrastructure and urban development are two of a number of sectors with great potential for collaboration and growth. This was recognized by Prime Minister Modi when, in April 2015, he traveled to Canada and held a number of d i s c u s s i o n s w i t h l e a d i n g C a n a d i a n infrastr ucture companies, experts and government representatives to learn how Canadian companies can contribute to India's urban development goals.

Homegrown Sma� Communities Canadian communities consistently rank as the most intelligent and sustainable in the world. Canadian cities such as Brampton, Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg have continually been moving towards better urban infrastructure. In 2016, Montreal was named the 'smartest city in

the world by the Intelligent Community Forum (ICF), a global research think tank. Three Canadian cities, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal stood at 23, 28 and 33 among the world's most sustainable cities, according to a report by the London-based Centre for Economic and Business Research.Such sustainability is de�ned by many �smart� factors including environment, mobility, connectivity, governance and quality of life. Canadian companies have played a signi�cant role in contributing to the development of world class cities in Canada and around the world through a focus on robust infrastructure using home�grown expertise. Some of these Canadian companies are ready to share their expertise and experience with key partners in India.

Public-Private Pa�nershipsA key factor in the development of world-class infrastructure in Canada has been its model for Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), which is widely recognized as one of the most e�cient and e�ective in the world. Having a robust PPP framework has been critical in the development of Canada's thriving urban centers. In addition to the infrastructure created, Canadian companies have developed signi�cant expertise in implementing projects on a PPP basis.

Government to Government Suppo� for Sustainable Urban DevelopmentI n s u p p o r t o f t h e i r c o o p e r a t i o n o n infrastructure, the governments of Canada and In d i a h ave e st ab l i sh e d s eve r a l f o r m a l cooperation mechanisms related to both road and rail transport. Since the signing of the Canada-India Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Road Transportation in 2012, Canada and India have been working closely to improve the exchange of information, and to share best practices between their respective private and public sectors. During the visit of Prime Minister Trudeau in February 2018, Canada and India welcomed a call for research proposals amounting to $4 million toward cleaning polluted bodies of water and mitigating �re hazards in buildings. Key partners in this initiative are the India-Canada Centre for Innovative Multidisciplinary Partnerships to Accelerate Community Transformation and Sustainability, India's

Department of Biotechnology, and India's Department of Science and Technology.Given the scale and geographic diversity of Canada's landscape, Canadian companies have acquired extensive expertise in the design, construction and operation of transportation-related facilities. Canada is also a leader in intelligent transportation systems including those related to tra�c management, Global Information System tracking, weigh-in-motion technologies, rapid transport systems and multi-modal transportation.Canada participated as a partner country at Municipalika 2014, 2015, 2017 and is again a partner country in 2018. This year too, the High Commissioner for Canada to India, His Excellency Nadir Patel, will be speaking at Municipalika's inaugural session, sharing Canada's experience in building world-class cities and underscoring Canada's commitment to India.

Pa�nering for SuccessIn addition to support from Global A�airs Canada, this year's delegation to Municipalika is supported by the Province of Ontario, Province of Alberta and Province of British Columbia � a powerhouse of Canadian infrastructure capabilities ranging from professional services, technologies, solutions and a world class eco-system to support the cutting edge companies. Close to 20 Canadian companies/organizations are participating in Municipalika this year: BioCube India Private Limited, Carl Data Solutions AB Embedded Private Limited, Carleton University, Challenger Manufacturing Ltd, CONXCORP, DC Grid Development Corporation, Endura Form Plastic Solutions Ltd, EnEco Systems Inc, ez enRoute Ltd, IBI Group, Intellizim Corporation/Teknobuilt Ltd, Kryton International Inc, Lake Water Recovery International Inc, Lea Associates South Asia Pvt Ltd, Merit Canada, Pack-Smart Inc, Premier Tech Aqua Systems India Private Limited, Real Tech Inc, Ion Exchange, Transoft Solutions Inc, Arconas Corporation, Pyfera Capital, Alacrity FoundationCanadian infrastructure technology, service, quality and expertise can help contribute to India's urban development goals. Canada's Trade Commissioner Service, which has eight o�ces across India, can help clients to connect with the right Canadian partner:IndiaCommerce@international.gc.ca

The 15th Municipalika 2018 Exhibition and Conference on Smart and Sustainable City Solutions, CAPEX (Construction, Architecture, Planning and Engineering Expo) for Innovative Building Materials & Technologies, and IIPM (India International Property Mart), India’s first and only B2B property show for properties covering all asset classes - will be held at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai, from September 19 to 21, 2018. Together, the three events engage holistically in the integrated development of the built environment, giving a 360° vision of Future Cities. In the wake of massive demographic growth and urban explosion, solutions for all issues relating to sustainable urban development, including buildings and infrastructure, will be covered through the exhibition and conference segments.

The event will be inaugurated by Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State (I/C) of Housing and Urban Affairs and Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis will preside.

The event will have participation of over 1,500 delegates in the conference segment, from over 300 Indian cities and towns and abroad, and over 5,000 professional visitors in the exhibition segment, including ministers, mayors, municipal commissioners, urban local bodies, Smart City CEOs, and parastatals, along with technology providers, professionals and all urban stakeholders. Participation is expected from faculty and students of architecture, engineering technology, and management, to get exposure on latest trends.

MunicipalikaThe 15th Municipalika 2018, will provide a mega-networking forum for governments, experts, entrepreneurs and service providers to collectively find solutions to urban challenges. Municipalika provides a platform to evolve, evaluate and share policies, strategies, cutting edge technologies and innovations towards smart and sustainable living in cities.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Department of Telecommunication, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Resource, Ministry of Home Affairs - Office of Fire Advisor have extended strong support to the event.

Canada is a Partner Country, bringing an array of technological best practices for possible use in India’s city development missions.

With the ongoing Urban Agenda for 100 Smart Cities Mission, 500 AMRUT Cities, PMAY-Housing for All, Swachh Bharat Mission, the event aims at discussing strategies, best practices, and display of technologies, equipment and solutions for implementing these agendas across the country.

Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, will deliver the keynote address and Chair the plenary conference session - Sustainable and Progressive Cities, on urban reforms and the ease of doing business.

The Smart Cities Conclave will see participation from several Smart City CEOs, industry experts and technology providers - dealing with challenges and opportunities arising out of the Smart Cities Mission.

There will be a special session on Fire and Public Safety, which will see participation of Chief Fire Officers, Fire engineers from Institute of Fire Engineers, Maharashtra Fire Services, Mumbai Fire Brigade and top academic institute like IIT-Gandhinagar, FSAI and FPAI, deliberating about the fire regulations for all types of buildings and their implementation.

Municipalika 2018 will host a session on ‘Participative Cities’ which will be an interactive session between citizens and government for joint actions in improving our cities. There will also be an Annual Meet organised by All India Council of Mayors, where Mayors from across the country will participate.

Humane Cities, a session on ‘Housing for All’ under PMAY to cover important issues relating to housing for all income groups and financial models for making houses affordable, will be co-curated by MagicBricks.

The three-day long conference will also include many other sessions on Healthy Cities covering integrated water management and waste management; Resilient and Secure Cities; Green Cities for low carbon, energy efficient, sustainable built environment and communities, and use of renewable energy; Connected Cities for efficient and citizen-friendly urban mobility; Digital Cities and E-governance for the ICT support to cities; and on Integrated Cities for self-contained cities.

Canada, being the Partner Country, are bringing senior professionals and academicians from many Canadian cities and would have two seperate interactive sessions with Indian stakeholder interests.

CaPExCAPEX - Construction, Architecture, Planning and Engineering Expo, is a platform for showcasing innovative building materials & technologies. The Expo provides opportunities to project the needs of infrastructure, building construction and architecture and providers of mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire services (MEPF), green building products, building materials and technologies which are environment friendly and energy saving.

With professional and institutional support from organisations such as Indian Institute of Architects (IIA), Institution of Engineers (India), Institute of Urban Designers India (IUDI), Practicing Engineers Architects and Town Planners Association (PEATA), Indian Buildings Congress (IBC), Ready Mixed Concrete Manufacturers’ Association (RMCMA) Builders Association of India (BAI), Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), Indian Plumbing Association (IPA), Confederation of Construction Products and Services (CCPS), All India Glass Manufacturers Federation (AIGMF), uPVC Window and Door Manufacturers

Association (UWDMA), Indian Society for Trenchless Technology (INDSTT), Consulting Engineers Association of India (CEAI) and Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), among others, the three-day event holds promise for knowledge dissemination and sharing. The event will also host the annual members meet of the IIA and a group interaction of the BAI, along with a ‘Design Lounge’ where leading architects will showcase their work.

The Decision Maker’s Conclave, a special Buyer-Seller meet, will provide a great opportunity for solution providers to meet architects, builders, green building consultants, EPC project heads and material procurement heads from large corporations.

The conference will focus on the current trends and avenues for innovative construction methods, techniques and regulations with themes such as - Regulatory Frameworks for safe and sustainable built-environment, innovations in the use of concrete and steel, precast and prefab construction for speedy construction, green building design and products, and novel facades and fenestrations - being discussed over the three days.

IIPMIndia International Property Mart (IIPM) is India’s first and only B2B property show. IIPM will be showcasing properties and projects covering all asset classes (commercial, residential, retail, hospitality, logistics, SEZs, etc.) for investing, buying, leasing and operation. IIPM will host national and international exhibitors, and B2B visitors for property investments and sale, bringing in real estate operators, builders, developers and allied institutions for promoting investments in all asset classes, cities and townships, economic zones and business parks.

The event is being organised with JLL as the Knowledge Partner and CNBC-TV18 as the Media Partner. JLL will co-curate the sessions with Good Governance India Foundation. Key conference topics include exciting sessions on emerging asset classes, new demand for office spaces - coworking offices, housing for different age groups, real estate regulations in the changing world, enhanced real estate funding options, investment and insurance products including REITS, warehousing and logistics, asset and facility management, cities of tomorrow - Tier II cities poised for growth.

With Industry Partners including National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), Builders Association of Navi Mumbai (BANM-CREDAI), Maharashtra Chambers of Housing Industry (MCHI), Export Promotion Council for EOU and SEZs (EPCES), SME Chamber of India associated with IIPM, strategies for boosting B2B commercial property development needs will be discussed. National Association of Realtors (NAR), India and Infrastructure Facility Human Resource and Realty Association (INFHRA) will contribute to the demand side segment of property development.

Three-in-one mega event on Future CitiesMumbai, September 19 to 21, 2018

www.capex.co.in www.municipalika.com www.iipm.asia

a 360 degree event on city development

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 6smart cities

The Integrated Command and Control Cen-tre of the Naya Raipur Smart City was inaugu-rated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 14, 2018. Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri and Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Dr Raman Singh were also present on the occa-sion, along with Rajat Kumar, IAS, CEO, Naya Rai-pur Development Authority (NRDA) and Prakash Chandraker, VP Energy Business, Schneider Electric India.

Schneider Electric has implemented an Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) along with a utility management system (Electrical and Water SCADA) and an intelligent Building Management System (BMS) for the city. The integrated project has been executed by Schneider Electric along with consortium partner, IL&FS Technologies Limited after it was awarded to the consortium in 2017.

5,60,000 individuals now inhabit Naya Raipur and experience first-hand benefits of living in an inte-grated city. The entire city is covered with GIS map-ping alongwith 128 CCTV cameras, 40 speed detection cameras and 42 number plate recognition cameras.

Naya Raipur is the first integrated city in India. The aim is to deliver critical services like 24x7 sup-ply of quality water, metering of water connections,

complete automatic generation of utility bills by appli-cation system, enhanced city security and safety, citizen-based mobile apps and city portals. This

is supported by connected products of more than 100,000 input/output points, edge control, applica-tions, advanced analytics and services.

10th Smart City Centre becomes operational in Naya Raipur

Ahmedabad wins three awards for Smart City projectsUnion Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs declared the latest countrywide smart city rankings. Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat have ranked among the top five in the country with second, third and fifth spot while Nagpur aced with the first rank. This rec-ognition shows that the municipal bodies in these cities have made significant progress on smart city projects. Ahmedabad in particular has won awards in three categories – Water and Sanitation category for smart water management, Transport and Mobil-ity category for intelligent transit management sys-tem and Innovative idea category for its integrated command and control centre (ICCC). Few strategic decision enabled the achievement. Under ICCC, AMC

chose to hire the bandwidth from the existing opti-cal fibre buried in the city from BSNL. With 35% of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) passengers being female, the city ensured CCTV surveillance and real-time bus arrival updates at 158 BRTS stations through ICCC. Under the Janmitra Wi-Fi scheme, at every BRTS station passengers can access unlim-ited internet at 2 mbps speed, resulting in more than 10,000 internet sessions daily. Another benchmark is the Janmitra card, introduced to address shopping and transit needs of Amdavadis. The ICCC also main-tains a ward-wise water balance in a smart manner through real time inputs from all water treatment and distribution plants.

Chennai’s 30+ Smart City projects on fast trackChennai Corporation is set to begin work on at least 33 projects under the Smart City Mission, including an Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC).

The civic body commissioned ‘Namma Chennai App’ a mobile phone-based grievance redressal system at a cost of ̀ 9.5 lakh. The corporation also established 28 smart classrooms for ̀ 1.75 crore and converted 1,772 sodium vapour lamps to energy-saving LED lights at a cost of `3.44 crore. Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs ranked the city 37 among the 87 smart cities in the country with a score of 31.46.

At a cost of ̀ 149.84 crore, the ICCC will incorporate a disaster management system, city surveillance sys-tem, ICT-based solid waste management system, vari-able messaging system (digital display boards), inte-gration with a parking management system, smart street light monitoring, smart poles, environmental

sensors, data centre, mobile command and control centre and a smart city governance portal.

The range of projects includes smart parking man-agement, restoration of water bodies, 24x7 water supply, intelligent transport system, microgrid management system at primary electrical distribu-tion substations, electrical and ICT utility corridor, smart metering for electrical networks and toilet maintenance.

L&T to design Panaji’s city control centreUnder the Smart City Mission, Imagine Pan-aji Smart City Mission Development Limited (IPSCDL) picked L&T to design and imple-ment Panaji’s city-wide intelligent city man-agement system and the integrated command and control centre. L&T has also been picked for a similar project in Nagpur with their bid of `180 crore.

The first phase of work will include laying of the optical fibre network, creation of Wi-Fi hotspots at key locations and setting up the integrated command and control centre to mon-itor the city. Expected to be operational in the next four months, the command and control centre will cover the entire city with 400-odd surveillance cameras, and will be integrated with the city’s garbage management system and the Goa police control room. The intelli-gent city management system will see the inte-gration of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, air quality sensors, radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, emergency management systems and security systems. The entire system will be implemented in a phased manner.

7 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 smart cities

Chandigarh Smart City projects are on a roll with three new proposals. Egis International SA, project manage-ment consultant has submitted the project reports and will place these before the Board of Directors of the Smart City Limited soon for its approval. The com-pany will float tenders for implementation of the proj-ects soon.

First, the heavily populated Mani Majra block will be provided with round-the-clock water supply. The proj-ect will start on pilot basis and cost ̀ 80 crore. The com-pany will install the infrastructure for the project.

Second, the city will have intelligent traffic light man-agement system, which will cost more than `42 crore and is likely to be completed within a year. This project is aimed at making the entire functioning of traffic lights smart and managed from a control room. The system will synchronise traffic lights to reduce the halting time at intersections, fuel wastage, pollution and the number of accidents. The project is expected to complete within a year of the allotment of work.

Finally, under a sharing scheme 5,000 bicycles will be made available. City residents will be given cards which they could use to pay the fee for using bicycle. Bicycle sharing points will be introduced at the Sector 17 Plaza, Panjab University, Sukhna Lake, Rose Garden, PGI and bus stand among other busy places in the city.

Chandigarh’s three new Smart City projects New Delhi to have digital interactive panels under ‘NDMC Link’The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has come up with ‘NDMC Link’ digital interactive panels which comprises all government department sites and information regarding railways, airlines, wayfinder, maps, bus services, NDMC services, tourist spots and air quality data. The aim is to provide all-round information pertaining to the national capital.

Taken from ‘Link NYC’ concept in New York City, NDMC’s new service is part of its mega-budget smart city project. Two panels screens are installed at Con-naught Place, one at Palika Bazar and another near Charkha Museum. NDMC Chairman Naresh Kumar said that the motive behind installing such panels was to provide free Wi-Fi services and access to important government services.

Apart from information and access to key websites, salient features of this panel include a mobile charging point, sensor and camera along with free Wi-Fi. The height of the panel is 2.7 meters and it has a 46-inch interactive panel. NDMC has also kept the business part in mind as the panel also has 75-inch LED screen for advertisement. While the process of installing of the panel has just begun , the civic body will come up more such panels with several other attractive features.

The panels will soon be seen in Sansad Marg, Lodhi Colony, Khan Market, Sarojini Nagar, Mandi House, Bengali Market, India Gate and Gole Market.

Enhanced financial limits for TN Smart CityThe powers of the special purpose vehicles formed under the smart city project have been enhanced in Tamil Nadu as per an order issued by the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department.

The boards formed by various smart city will have a revised financial limit for smart city projects/pro-posals. The administrative sanction power for munic-ipal corporations, except Chennai, has been increased from ̀ 1.35 crore to ̀ 3 crore. The Greater Chennai Cor-poration can pass projects up to ̀ 25 crore. The earlier upper limit was ̀ 10 crore.

The Commissioner of municipal administration can now sanction projects up to `15 crore, instead of earlier stated `6.5 crore. The same financial limits apply for the special purpose vehicles as well. A spe-cial committee headed by the Chairman and Manag-ing Director of the Tamil Nadu Urban Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited, Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation, Com-missioner of Municipal Administration and the Addi-tional Secretary to Government (finance department) passed the order.

The officials from municipal corporations have welcomed the decision as they said, this was one of the major reasons for the delay in implementation of the project. “Earlier, we had to travel to Chennai and represent the projects in front of the high-powered project sanctioning committee. Now this will expedite the projects,” Coimbatore Corporation official stated.

India Smart Cities fellowship and internship programmeHardeep S Puri, MoS (I/C), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has announced the launch of the Smart cities fellowship and internship programme. As pilot projects, these programmes will be imple-mented in 25 cities/state.

The India Smart Cities Fellowship Programme and India Smart Cities Internship Programme is designed to provide valuable experience to the youth. This will cultivate young leaders, strengthen their understand-ing of Indian urban sector and prepare them for greater

leadership roles in future.MoHUA will engage 30 young graduates/post grad-

uates and PhDs as Smart Cities Fellows. The period of engagement is 1-to-3 years. While, MoHUA will engage students pursuing Undergraduate/Graduate/Post-Graduate degree as Interns to help implementation of Smart City Projects in various States/Cities. The intern-ship will be on unpaid basis for a period of 6 to 12 weeks. They will be given an Experience Certificate at the end successful completion of the programme.

Fellows/Interns will provide necessary support to Office of Mission Director and/or CEOs of selected Smart Cities in terms of analytics, research, documen-tation, independent assessment, visualisation or any other related activities.

Interested applicants may apply online through Smart Net (www.smartnet.niua.org) till August 31, 2018. Applications received will be scrutinised and shortlisted by the Selection Committee.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs (I/C) launched the Pilot on For-mulation of Local Area Plan (LAP) & Town Planning Scheme (TPS) for selected cities on July 9, 2018 at 3.00 pm. He stated that in most of the countries both devel-oped and developing, there has been a growing reali-sation that the increasing population has to be accom-modated in two areas in cities – one is those parts of the city that are already developed but not able to sustain the pressure on the existing infrastructure (Brownfield areas) and second, the periphery of the city that is prone to haphazard growth (Greenfield areas).

The existing areas can be redeveloped by prepar-ing Local Area based Plans (LAPs). While at the same time, the Town Planning Schemes (TPS) can be implemented for planned urban expansion in the peripheral greenfield areas.

The scheme will enable the selected cities to send the proposals for formulating Local Area based Plans (LAPs) and Town Planning Schemes (TPS) for which central assistance would be available. Based on the formulation of Local Area based Plans (LAPs) and Town Planning Schemes (TPS) by the city concerned, prioritisation of urban infrastructure projects would be taken up.

An amount of ̀ 50 crore would be provided as Cen-tral assistance - `2 crore per city for identified 25 cit-ies - for preparing LAP/TPS. The Central Assistance for the scheme would be 100% and shall be released in three installments; 20% with submission of prelimi-nary proposal, 40% during submission of draft plan and remaining 40% during submission of final plan.

The exercise of preparing Local Area Plan and Town Planning Scheme is expected to be completed in a period of one year; the preliminary proposal in two months, the draft plan in 10 months and final plan in one year from initiation. Town and Country Plan-ning Organisation will provide handholding support to the state nodal agency.

Guidelines have been prepared for the operation-alisation of the Scheme and shall be circulated to 25 States where the cities have been identified.

The Scheme shall enable the cities to identify the areas for LAP/TPS Scheme and encourage bottom up approach to resolve the area based infrastructure problems in a short period of time.

LAP/TPS Scheme launched for select cities

Sl. No City State

1 Greater Visakhapatnam Andhra Pradesh2 Guwahati Assam3 Vadodara Gujarat4 Indore Madhya Pradesh5 Chennai Tamil Nadu6 Bengaluru Karnataka7 Thiruvananthapuram Kerala8 Warangal Telangana9 Pune Maharashtra10 Varanasi Uttar Pradesh11 Jaipur Rajasthan12 Amritsar Punjab13 Patna Bihar14 Faridabad Haryana15 Bhubaneswar Odisha16 Ranchi Jharkhand17 Raipur Chhattisgarh18 Panaji Goa19 Shimla Himachal Pradesh20 New Kolkata West Bengal21 Srinagar Jammu and Kashmir22 Dehradun Uttarakhand23 Aizawl Mizoram24 Gangtok Sikkim25 Imphal Manipur

The 25 Cities Identified to take up pilot on formulation of LAP/TPS.

19, 20 & 21 September 2018 | Bombay Exhibition Centre - Mumbai

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DAY 1: 19th September 2018

08:00 - 09:30

10:00 - 11:30

Delegate Registration

Conference Inaugural Session Inauguration by Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Hon�ble Minister of State (I/C) of Housing and Urban A�airs, Shri Devendra Fadnavis, Hon'ble Chief Minister, Maharashtra State and Shri. Durga Shankar Mishra, Secretary, MoHUA, to give Keynote Address.

11:30 - 13:00

13:00 - 14:00

Inaugration of the Exhibition and VIP Tour, Exhibition Visit by Delegates

Networking Lunch

HALL - A (MUNCIPALIKA) HALL - C (CAPEX) HALL - D (IIPM)

15:00 - 16:00

14:00 - 15:45 Conference Session CS 01: Sustainable and Progressive Cities

Conference Session CS 02: Fire and Life Safety

Technical Session TS 01: Steel and Iron

14:00 - 15:00 Pro�e�� Session PS 01:Session on all asset classes across cities by JLL

Panel Discussion PS 02:New Age Real Estate

15:45 - 16:00 Tea Break

16:00- 17:45 Conference Session CS 03: Sma� Cities Conclave

Conference Session CS 04: Resilient Cities and Public Safety

Technical Session TS 02: Regulatory Frameworks for Safe, Sustainable Built Environment

16:15 - 17:15 Panel Discussion PS 03:Regulation in a Changing World

17:45 - 18:30 18:00 - 18:30 Fireside Chat PS 05:Housing for Di�erent Age-Groups

18:30 - 20:00 Vision Address: Future Cities

20:00 - 21:00 Networking Dinner

DAY 2: 20th September 2018

Conference Session CS 05A: Healthy Cities: - Integrated Water Management

10:00 - 11:45 Technical Session TS 03: Green Buildings

Conference Session CS 06A: Digital Cities, E-Governance Roadmap

10:00 - 11:00 Panel Discussion PS 06:Making Cities Sma�: - A Clear Way Forward

12:00 - 13:30 Conference Session CS 05B: Healthy Cities: - Waste Water Treatment and Management

Conference Session CS 06B: Geo-Spatial Solutions for Urban Planning

Technical Session TS 04: Building Skin Design: Facades and Fenestrations

11:00 - 11:30 Tea Break

11:30 - 12:15

12:15 - 13:00

Pro�e�� Session PS 07A: Proptech: The way forward

Pro�e�� Session PS 07B: Proptech: The way forward

13:30 - 14:30 13:00 - 14:00Networking Lunch Networking Lunch

14:00 - 15:00

15:00 - 15:45

15:45 - 16:30

Panel Discussion PS 08:Real Estate Funding, Investments Insurance including REITS

Pro�e�� Session PS 09:Brand Building in an Evolving World

Pro�e�� Session PS 10:Women in Real Estate

14:30 - 16:00 Conference Session CS 07A: Healthy Cities: Sanitation for All

Conference Session CS 08: Green Cities-I(Energy, Environment and Ecology)

Technical Session TS 05 A: Innovations in the use of Cement, concrete and composites. Construction chemicals and pe�ormance enhancers

16:00 - 16:15 16:30 - 17:00Tea Break Tea Break

17:00 - 18:00 Fireside Chat PS 11:Warehousing and Logistics: Ushering In a New Era

DAY 3: 21st September 2018

10:00 - 11:45 Conference Session CS 09A: Humane Cities: PMAY challenges and way forward

Conference Session CS 10: Connected Cities: Sustainable Urban Mobility

Technical Session TS 06Pre-Cast + Pre-Fab construction (10:00- 11:30)

11:00 - 12:00 Panel Discussion PS 12:New-age ��ices �0�0

12:00 - 13:30 Conference Session CS 09B: Humane Cities: Housing Finance

Conference Session CS 11: Renewable Energy to power cities

12:00 - 13:00 Pro�e�� Session PS 13:Whats new in Asset and Facility Management?

13:30 - 15:00 13:00 - 15:00Networking Lunch and Exhibition Visit Networking Lunch

15:00 - 16:30 Conference Session CS12: Integrated Cities Fireside Chat PS 14:Cities of Tomorrow - Tier II Cities Poised for Growth

15:00 - 15:45

16:30- 16:45 Tea Break

16:45 - 17:45 Valedictory Session and Awards Distribution

HALL - B (MUNCIPALIKA)

Exhibition Visit

Technical Session TS 05 B: Innovations in the use of Cement, concrete and composites. Construction chemicals and pe�ormance enhancers

Conference Session CS 08: Green Cities-II(Energy, Environment and Ecology)

Conference Session CS 07B: Healthy Cities: Integrated Solid Waste Management

16:15 - 17:45

17:15 - 18:00 Fireside Chat PS 04:New demand for o�ice space - Coworking

17:45 - 18:30 Exhibition Visit

18:30 - 19:45 Pa�icipative Cities - �pen House Citi�en Inte�ace: Special Session with Mayors

20:00 - 21:00 Networking Dinner

a 360 degree event on city development

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 10Integrated cities

A separate Special purpose Vehicle (SPV) has been formed between Delhi – Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) and Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) for the implementation of the proposed Integrated Indus-trial Township at Greater Noida. The SPV has been con-stituted for development and management of the pro-posed Integrated Industrial Township (IIT).

Named the Integrated Industrial Township Greater Noida Limited (IITGNL), the township is constituted under the Companies Act, 2013 and is seen as the flagship project for the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Devel-opment Corporation Limited (DMICDC). IITGNL will work towards creating a “sustainable and smart com-munity and the new administrative body is in the work stages,” said Alok Tandon, CEO of Noida and Greater

Noida authorities. “The new authority has been planned for this project as around 50% development work would be industrial in nature,” added KK Singh, General Man-ager, Greater Noida Authority. Interestingly, IITGNL will have officials from both the authorities on board.

302.63 hectares has been earmarked in Greater Noida for the proposed industrial township, the site for which is located 11 km from Pari Chowk. Work on the project has already started near Ghodi Bachheda village.

The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) is an ambitious infrastructure programme aimed at develop-ing new industrial townships as “smart cities” and con-verging next generation technologies across infrastruc-ture sectors. Four such cities, one each in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra each, will be developed in Phase I.

Industrial township to come up in greater Noida soon

Integrated planning for Aurangabad Industrial Smart CityAs a part of the Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC), India’s first industrial smart city, Jacobs Engineering Group (earlier CH2M) received a $4.6 million contract from Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited (DMICDC) to provide new city program management services.

This new integrated industrial township will have more than 60% of total land for industrial purposes, whereas 40% for residential, commercial, institutional and social-cultural amenities. The city will feature transit-oriented

development and walkable township, water and energy conservation and use of renewable power sources. Its digital solutions and ICT will help integrate the various functions of the city, for example online e-governance will digitise procedures, utilise analytics, real-time monitor-ing systems for ensuring hassle-free and efficient living for the citizens.

AURIC has secured several awards since 2015, which include:• SKOCHPlatinumSmartCityPlatinumAward2017• SKOCH Order of Merit Award 2017 for E-Land

Management System• TimesNationalAward2017–BestofficeBuilding(Auric

City Hall Building)• TimesNationalAward2017–BestinArchitecturefor

AURIC City Hall (Auric City Hall Building)The planning of the smart city includes preserving

existing water bodies, the five lakes and creeks and measures have been taken to ensure good water quality, along with horticulture and plantations to support biodiversity and ecology of the city.

Multi-product SEZ inaugurated in MWC JaipurA multi-product Special Economic Zone (SEZ) within Mahindra World City (MWC) Jaipur was inaugu-rated by Rajasthan Minister for Industries Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, marking MWC’s continued com-mitment to drive economic growth and industrial-isation in Rajasthan. Falling in the ambit of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), MWC is a joint venture between Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd (MLDL) and Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO). The city includes a 3,000-acre integrated business city, newly launched multi-product SEZ, a domestic tariff area and social and residential infrastructure.

Existing operational companies in MWC Jaipur have earned cumulative foreign exchange of `7,097 crore through exports by creating direct and indirect employment opportunities for 35,000 people. The multi product SEZ addition is set to increase this footprint.

MoUs were signed with two new customers - Sigma Electric, global leader and exporter of castings/preci-sion-machined components, and Aro Granite, the larg-est exporter of processed granite from India for setting up manufacturing facilities in the SEZ. Previously, 81 companies have signed similar MoUS of which 49 are already operational.

New digital hub in Kerala as Nissan Knowledge CityThe Kerala Government has allotted land to Japanese auto-motive major Nissan Motors to set up its digital innovation hub in Technocity at Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram. This would be Nissan’s fifth digital hub after Yokohama in Japan, China, Paris and Nashville in the U.S.

The digital hub will be a research and development facility shared amongst Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alli-ance and will function as the nerve centre for electric and automated vehicles research . It will host a team of engi-neers and scientists, working on Artificial Intelligence, cognitive analytics, machine learning and other digital technologies.The company is expected to generate 3,000 direct employment opportunities. This campus will be named as ‘Nissan Knowledge City’.

According to a government order, 30 acres of land will be allotted in the first phase and another 40 acres in the second.

Nissan chose Kerala to set up its digital innovation hub owing to multiple factors ranging from available tal-ent pool in IT and engineering, airport connectivity, cost-effectiveness, quality of life, social amenities, and lack of traffic issues to positive feedback from successful IT com-panies at Technopark.

The next step will be entering into an MoU between Nissan and Technopark, which is expected to be launched shortly.

As a directive of IT policy, the Government consti-tuted a hi-power IT Committee, which meet every quar-ter under the guidance of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Its agenda is developing Kerala as a digital state, by bring-ing in big ticket companies/IT investments and thereby generating IT employment/revenue in the state.

`1,000 crore investment in Sri City facilityToray Industries (India), a subsidiary of Toray Indus-tries, Inc, a Japanese conglomerate, plans to invest `1,000 crore in setting up a manufacturing unit in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh (AP).

Amarnatha Reddy, Minister of Industries, AP Gov-ernment, unveiled a plaque marking the start of project construction in the presence of Uchiyama, Consul Gen-eral of Japan in Chennai and Akihiro Nikkaky, CEO & COO, Toray Industries, Inc. The ease of doing business in the State and industry-friendly policy of the govern-ment encouraged several Japanese companies towards AP, particularly Sri City.

Akihiro Nikkaky said, “We acquired a large plot to house several facilities at a single location in the inte-grated industrial township, Sri City. Toray has plans to make advanced raw materials for Indian industries and manufacturing clusters for the next decade.”

Toray is the 20th Japanese company setting up facil-ity in Sri City, and this is Toray’s second production unit in India.

The 85-acre site will have two plants and is expected to start commercial production in March 2020.

The other unit will be an Engineered Plastics Resin Compounding plant that will make raw materials for electrical components used in automobiles and in elec-trical and electronic connectors.

This unit will start commercial production in Sep-tember 2019, according to a statement.

Both plants will initially generate 130 direct and 520 indirect jobs, and these numbers will go up during sub-sequent phase.

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 12digital cities

$8.4 billion is the figure Artificial Intelligence Software platforms market is set to reach by 2021 at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 39.7%. What does this mean for India and particularly its cities?

Indian cities pose a unique set of problems for urban planners. For MNCs, India is emerging as an important sector for AI and Analytics Research. Here, advances in AI and spatial data analysis may work to solve India’s crippling urban issues. Siemens in collaboration with Electronics City Township Authority (ELCITA) is devel-oping a traffic management solution that fully automates traffic control and monitoring. A prototype is currently being tested at the Electronic City campus in Bengaluru.

AI powered smart solutions will manage and develop energy grids and water distribution as Integrated Man-agement systems based around Narrow Band Internet of Things or 5G connectivity. These new technologies will enable to not just people to people communication

but also people to machine and machine to machine communication.

Adapting AI needs preparations on multiple levels. First, a software platform tailored to the Indian needs; second, creating a robust Information communication infrastructure to supplement traditional data and phys-ical infrastructure (example: energy grids and transport network); and finally developing human resources at different levels - in high schools, the polytechnic insti-tutes and advanced research institutes. This is viable only if necessary policies are in place.

When planning policies for AI, an ecosystem sup-portive of research, innovations and commercialisation of applications should be the target. Fiscal and non-fiscal incentives along with creating think tanks and centres supporting interdisciplinary research for AI research and deployment should be the Centre and State govern-ment’s initiative.

artificial Intelligence revolution’s meaning for Indian cities

Five cities join the ‘City Data for India Initiative’Five more Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Bhu-baneswar, Chennai and Vijayawada – have joined the ‘City Data for India Initiative’, a collaboration of Tata Trusts and World Council on City Data (WCCD), to leverage high calibre data for improving urban plan-ning, infrastructure investment and day-to-day oper-ations management of these cities. The unique collab-oration between WCCD, Tata Trusts and Indian cities will also continue to lay the groundwork towards build-ing smarter, more sustainable, resilient, prosperous and inclusive cities across the country.

The ‘City Data for India Initiative’ was launched by Tata Trusts in association with WCCD and Pricewater-house Coopers, India in 2016 with an objective of creat-ing a culture of data driven decision making in Indian cities. This partnership is geared towards bolstering Government of India’s mandate on engaging with effec-tive benchmarking standards towards better account-ability, transparency and governance. Pune, Jamshed-pur and Surat have since been recognised as the first ever in India to achieve WCCD ISO 37120 certification.

The certification is an assurance of sufficiency in city level data to enhance service deliveries to their inhabitants. The initiative recognises the importance of increasing capacities within Indian Urban Local Bod-ies, and aims to do so through the placement of dedi-cated City Data officers in the next phase, to drive the data engagement and management strategies of the corporations.

Digital and paperless Thiruvananthapuram for speedy approvals and ease of doing businessThiruvananthapuram city corporation is set to launch an Intelligent Building Plan Management System (IBPMS) software as part of its efforts to go digital and paperless. Local Self Government (LSG) department has tied up with the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) to launch the software to issue building permits.

Thiruvananthapuram Corporation is launching the software as a pilot project. Once it is found error-free and successful, it will be extended to all corporations in the state. Building designers and corporation engineers are undergoing training to use the software.

Earlier, the corporation used IKM software ‘Sanketham’, which saw many glitches after its

implementation. It was not fully online as most of its work was done manually. However, IBPMS is expected to be a major improvement over ‘Sanketham’ as it has file tracking and monitoring facility.

The software maintains transparency, as an individ-ual can track his application status at every stage. No Objection Certificate (NOC) can also be applied here and its response can be tracked. The application will only get uploaded if it fulfils all the norms. Building plans are to be uploaded in .dwg format.

It has provisions for automated rule checking and the results can be easily reviewed. Only after this pro-cedure the file will be forwarded to the concerned engi-neers. The software is developed by DEV IT company.

Digital Mobile Radio for Thrissur copsThe Kerala Police has launched the trial run of its latest Digital Mobile Radio (DMR) system at Thrissur, DMR Tier-III. The aims is to implement new communication system for police personnel in the state.

The DMR will help police control rooms to track the exact location of policemen and police vehicles which will carry a hand-held devices, integrated with the control room using the Geo-graphic Information System (GIS).

With foolproof communication network, better voice quality, encrypted messages and extended range with mobile repeaters, the DMR is bet-ter than the existing analogue system used by the police.

The project costs approximately `80-90 crore and will be implemented jointly by the Centre and the State. DMR Tier III will redefine the commu-nication network of the police in the state. The analogue system will be replaced by the DMR in phases over the next three years. Apart from send-ing and receiving SMS, DMRs will also have the facility to conduct conference calls and limit the calls to a select group, as per the requirement.

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 13working cities

The Maharashtra state cabinet approved a proposal to amend the section 73 of the Maharashtra Munic-ipal Corporation Act 1949. In a move that will dilute powers of the standing committees of the civic bodies and give more power to the municipal commission-ers, the state cabinet gave the go-ahead for removing the ̀ 25 lakhs limit for proposals that a commissioner can approve, without having to go to the standing committee.

However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corpora-tion (BMC), the Mumbai civic body, is not part of the decision as it has a different act to govern it.

As per the act, for any contract which involves any expenditure in excess of `25 lakhs, the previ-ous approval of the standing committee shall be necessary.

Following the amendment, the projects under-taken using the government’s funds would not need approval from the standing committee, stated a senior urban development department officials. The state would be vesting more power with its appointed commissioner.

Manisha Mhaiskar, Secretary, Urban Develop-ment Department said, “The Maharashtra (Munic-ipal) Corporation Act’s specification of the uniform amount of ̀ 25 lakhs for all corporations is very static, because we have bigger corporations such as Thane and Pune, and we have smaller corporation such as Parbhani.”

The state government now plans to make the limit flexible, which in turn will now be based on the bud-get of the municipal body. There would be a classifi-cation based on the budget of the corporations.

The Government of Maharashtra and the U.S.-India State and Urban Initiative, led by the Centre for Stra-tegic and International Studies (CSIS) Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies announced three new projects for the state.

First, the Government of Maharashtra and the Net-work for Global Innovation (NGIN) will sign an agree-ment to develop a Cleantech Incubator Ecosystem, to accelerate adoption of sustainable technologies and facilitating their trade and investment growth. NGIN is collaborating on the development and implementa-tion of the ‘High Performance Innovation Ecosystem’, including planning, funding, build-out and ongoing operations, while also inviting a government designate to become a member of NGIN.

Second, Georgia Institute of Technology will launch a pilot research project to understand the consumer dynamics and consumers’ responsiveness to adop-tion of new technologies in the electricity sector in Maharashtra led by Georgia Tech’s Assistant Profes-sor Anjali Thomas Bohlken and Associate Professor Usha Nair-Reichert.

Third, Pune was declared as India’s first Light-house City as a result of a Grand Challenge compe-tition launched in 2017 by NITI Aayog and Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Institute. A Lighthouse City

has demonstrated that it has smart urban develop-ment with population density of greater than one mil-lion that needs diverse modes of passenger transpor-tation. The Lighthouse City is supported by an Urban Mobility Lab that in Pune will be initially hosted by the Pune Municipal Corporation starting in August 2018. The lab will advance the design, integration and

implementation of new solutions for complex trans-portation challenges, as well as how these ideas can be replicated and scaled. The goal is to demonstrate ways to upgrade transportation services to meet the needs of rapidly growing cities, while showing operational efficiency and reduction of pollution, congestion, and petroleum demand.

u.s.-India state and urban Initiative’s new partnerships with the government of Maharashtra

SKOCH awards for Telangana cities Flexible budget limits for Maharashtra Municipal Commissioners

Telangana state’s Municipal Administration and Urban Development department bagged eight SKOCH awards in various categories for innovative practices bringing munic-ipal services closer to citizens.

The Director of Municipal Administration (DMA) was awarded for Energy Efficiency through Smart Street Light-ing and e-Office, while the Mission for Elimination of Pov-erty in Municipal Areas was awarded for Survey of Urban Homeless in 74 Urban Local Bodies of Telangana State. The second award is for providing employment through skills training. Six ULBs also received awards, Miryalaguda for Urban reforms in AMRUT scheme; Karimnagar for Improving liveability and open gyms, smart governance through citizen service and project LED; Shadnagar for

Garbage source segregation and property tax collection; Sid-dipet for Sustainable city by use of technology; Boduppal for Innovation on solid waste management, e-governance; Sir-cilla for citizen service centre and citizen buddy, LED street-lights, innovative aspects in solid waste management and sustainable waste disposal.

The SKOCH awards celebrate human excellence and agents of change in society for spearheading positive socio-economic changes, salutary transformations and gov-ernance, by displaying exemplary leadership abilities. They are the highest independently instituted civilian honours in India since 2003 for best practices in the fields of gover-nance, finance, banking, technology, corporate citizenship, economics and inclusive growth.

New chapter in Bihar land acquisition laws

Technical cell for Bihar UDHD

The Bihar state government has notified the Bihar Indus-trial Area Development Authority (BIADA) (Amend-ment) Act 2017, which will enable major changes in land acquisition for industrial purpose. Managing Director of BIADA, R S Srivastav said that the act comes as a relief to the authority that has been falling short of land. 25 acres of land will now be freed up for use by industrial houses like ITC, Britannia Industries, Prince Plastics and Terra Motors each, companies that are interested in setting up operations in Bihar.

Provisions of the act will be implemented as soon as the Industries Department notifies the rules for it. BIADA will be ensuring acquisition and removal of encroachment from industrial areas. The act will also allow the author-ity the ability to buy land at market price with mutual con-sent of its owner. Srivastav remarked that BIADA pre-viously had to acquire land at two and a half time of the

prevailing circle rate in urban areas and four times in rural areas as compensation to the owner. The industrialists had to pay 10% land development charges to BIADA render-ing the land unviable for development. Here, it must be noted that Bihar circle rates are higher than market prices in most areas.

The Bihar State Urban Development and Housing Department (UDHD) will soon set up a separate inte-grated technical cell to look after the development proj-ects of local bodies. The step has been taken to tackle the shortage of engineers in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). The cell will have 577 posts, including those of chief engineers and junior engineers. UDHD Minister Suresh Kumar Sharma said the cell would be set up at state level with its branches in divisions and ULBs. “The cell will provide strategic coordination and support to local bodies and execute various projects in towns. With the incorpora-tion of technical cell, the department will have optimum number of experts to handle various projects,” Sharma

stated, adding that the cell would start functioning from August 2018.

Sources said the decision to establish the technical cell got the state government’s nod in May 2018 in view of diverse development projects being undertaken in towns.

“We engage engineers of other departments to exe-cute development projects in different towns. In doing so, many of our projects get delayed,” he said.

Meanwhile, the UDHD is also planning to form a fly-ing squad at the state level to act against those violat-ing municipal norms. “The flying squad team will also redress the grievances of citizens,” Principal Secretary of the department, Chaitanya Prasad, said that adding the activities of the technical cell will also be monitored by the flying squad.

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 14growing cities

As many as 13 million people are estimated to work out of co-working and serviced working spaces by 2020 and hence the demand of such offices are on the rise.

Asia Pacific is expected to have the highest demand for such flexible office spaces, than anywhere in the world. JLL India reports that 40-50% growth in this sec-tor will take place this year and attract an investment of around $400 million. Experts predict that by 2020, of the total workspace built across the country, co-work-ing spaces will occupy 20%.

The buyers of these spaces are usually millennial and large startup ecosystems and this segment is high-lighted to rise as one of the key contributing factor for this trend in India. The potential market size across India for co-working spaces is expected to be 13.5 mil-lion by 2020, half of which will be from enterprises that are expected to take upto 10.3 million seats.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) would be contributing around 1.5 million users worth of demand, whereas startups will demand upto 100,000 seats by 2020, as per the JLL report.

Six cities in India require an estimated 5 million seats in co-working spaces and around 8.5 million of pro-jected demand will be from Tier II and Tier III cities.

Co-working space users to rise to over 13 million by 2020 in India

Andhra Pradesh & Singapore enterprises to share knowledge for city buildingThe Building and Construction Authority (BCA) will lead a delegation of around 30 companies to Andhra Pradesh in an upcoming trip to help boost the Indian state’s expertise in construction quality, among other areas. Companies forming the delegation include con-tractors, consultants, material suppliers, IT firms, and trading and investment firms.

The companies have expressed interest in ventur-ing into the Andhra Pradesh market and construc-tion companies such as the Tiong Seng Group and CKR Group are already in talks with developers in the state to provide precast solutions. The BCA has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Andhra Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (APRERA) to share knowledge and help them build up institutional capacity to enable “a vibrant and pro-ductive real estate and built environment industry in the state.”

The move will accelerate the construction work of Amravati, create nine cities and 27 townships, all of which will be self-sustainable.

The BCA will share with APRERA its expertise in the following areas: • Initiativestocreateasafebuiltenvironmentthrough

the Construction and Real Estate Network (Corenet) e-Submission System for project approvals

• ConstructionQualityAssessmentSystemandBonusSystemforConstructionQuality(BSCQ)forqualityconstruction procurement

• GreenBuildingRoadmapsandGreenMarkCerti-fication to promote environmental sustainability in the built environment

• ConstructionProductivityRoadmapstoenhancethequality of construction workforce, and the adoption of productive technologies to ensure cost effective and timely delivery of construction projects.

Tata Projects consortium to re-develop Worli’s BDD chawl

New Trade and Export Infrastructure

Trade Infrastructure for Export Scheme (TIES) approved as many as 15 projects to develop infrastructure for promoting exports. The Scheme is to create proper infrastructure for development and growth of exports through engagement of central and state agencies. The Centre and the states will share the cost of proj-ects equally between them.

Of the total scheme outlay of `600 crore, ̀ 80 crore was provided in 2017-18 and the same amount will be provided during the current fiscal.

The approved projects include set-ting up of an integrated cargo termi-nal at Imphal International Airport; establishment of trade promotion cen-tre in Bhopal; solid waste management

system at Noida SEZ; and construc-tion of office cum laboratory complex of export inspection agency at Visakhapat-nam, including setting up of a cold chain in Madhya Pradesh.

The implementing agencies of these projects include Karnataka Fisher-ies Development Corporation Ltd, Visvesvaraya Trade Promotion Cen-tre, Bengaluru, Cochin SEZ, Air-port Authority of India, Coffee Board, Exports Inspection Council and Andhra Pradesh Medtech Zone.

The central and state agencies, including Export Promotion Councils, Commodities Boards, SEZ authorities and apex trade bodies are eligible for financial support under the scheme.

A consortium of Tata Projects, Capicit’e Infraprojects Ltd and China’s CITIC was awarded the ̀ 11,744 crore project for redevelopment of existing BDD (Bom-bay Development Department) Residen-tial and Commercial Societies (Chawls) at Worli, Mumbai by the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) and Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Author-ity (MHADA).

An area of 26 million sq ft is set to be redeveloped employing over 10,000 peo-ple and the construction will be carried

out in five phases over eight years.The project is being developed by

Mumbai Housing & Area Development Board, a regional unit of MHADA. The project comprises construction of 98 rehabilitation and sale buildings of 22 to 66 floors. The project also includes construction of 720 transit camp units. At present 9,700 families reside in BDD Chawls which are more than 90 years old.

The urban renewal project will serve as a model for other chawl development projects.

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 16HEALTHY CITIES

On May 16, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs announced the results of the survey under-taken under Swachh Survekshan between January and March this year. For the second time, Indore, the commercial hub of Madhya Pradesh, was declared the cleanest city in India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over the award to Mayor Malini Gaur and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan and said that Indore was an inspiration for the rest of the country. As per the Swachh Survekshan 2018 report, Bhopal followed second.

Vijaywada was declared India’s Cleanest Big City, while Gaziabad bagged the title of Fastest Mover Big city. The tag of India’s Best City in Citizens’ Feedback was given to Kota in Rajasthan, Best City in Innova-tion and Best Practices to Nagpur in Maharashtra, Best City in Solid Waste Management to Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra, Cleanest Medium City to Mysuru in

Karnataka and Cleanest Small City to the New Delhi Municipal Council area.

The Swachh Sarvekshan 2018 assessed 4,203 urban local bodies, impacting around 40 crore cit-izens across the length and breadth of the country, through 2,700 assessors. The survey was organised

by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, under the aegis of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), as per the Union Minister. Based on the survey, 29 cities and cantonment boards at the national level, 20 cit-ies at the zonal level and three states for best perfor-mance in urban areas were awarded.

PM Modi hands the award for ‘Cleanest City’ to Indore in Swachh Survekshan 2018 Rankings

Indo-Dutch projects contribute to the Namami Gange InitiativeIn the recently concluded Netherlands Trade Mission to India 2018, Indian and Dutch companies shared ideas about collaborations. MoUs were signed for G2G knowledge sharing and multiple projects were started with Dutch cooperation. Some of those projects are specifically targeted to contribute to the Namami Gange Initiative.

Kanpur has more than 400 tanneries. During the leather processing, many chemical waste products end up in the water, which is harmful to both health and ecology. In the project that is partly financed (¤2.5 million) by the Dutch Government, chemical company Stahl work together with several tanneries and the local government on cleaner business processes and

fewer discharges into the water. This project started on July 1, 2017 and has proven a success.

In the Hindon basin - which is connected via Yamuna river to Ganges and runs chiefly through Delhi and Noida - a Dutch consortium in collabora-tion with paper mills, ULBs, the World Bank and the state of Uttar Pradesh is working on two investment projects aimed at converting waste and waste water into energy, to sell to the government and paper mills. The clean water is returned to the paper mills, used for cooling centers, irrigation and brought into the river. The Dutch government is involved in this proj-ect through the multi-year Ganges program of ‘De Werkplaats’.

Israel to help with Seawater Desalination Plants in JamnagarGujarat’s plans to become water-sufficient by 2050 is now in motion. The state government has sought Israel’s technical assistance in setting up 10 desalination plants along its 1,600 km-long coastline.

The move came after Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani visited the Dan Region Wastewater Treat-ment Plant at Shafdan. The Shafdan plant is a complex inter-regional system that collects, treats and reclaims municipal wastewater in high density urban areas and industrial zones. Established in 1977 by Israel’s National Water Company (Mekorot) the plant with a capacity to treat 3.70 MLD of water is the biggest in the country.

MoUs between a private Israeli company, mPrest,

and Gujarat State government were signed to carry out a gap analysis study in developing smart cities in the state. mPrest is a leading provider of mission-critical mon-itoring, control and analytical software for the Indus-trial Internet of Things (IoT) and defense sectors. It has

a special focus on Internet of Energy (IoE), big data and smart cities.

mPrest has its Indian headquarters in Bengaluru where it develops command control, communications, computers and Intelligence C4I applications.

Thiruvananthapuram supporting urban farming for sustainabilityThiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation has taken a lead by launching large-scale initiatives along with Thanal. Under the Kerala Government’s Green Protocol, Thiruvananthapuram and the state’s Depart-ment of Environment and Climate Change (DOECC) are working on supporting residents’ startups and NGOs in urban farming.

By implementing favourable economic models and policies, organising workshops and subsidising sim-ple technologies, governments can help spread aware-ness and uplift urban farming to its full potential. Urban farming is a compound process involving waste man-agement and food production. When implemented it reduces water consumption and waste production resulting in a lesser burden on civic infrastructure. It produces pesticide-free organic food chipping in the growing food consumption of dense urban areas.

At present urban farming is in its nascent stage. Startups are supporting small-scale urban farming for individuals and institutions. Dr Anand Kumar Singh, Deputy Director General (Horticulture) at Indian Coun-cil of Agriculture Research (ICAR), stated that urban dwellers growing their own vegetables is a positive sign for the society, environment and sustainability.

National Mission for Clean Ganga@namamigange @cleanganganmcg National Mission for Clean Ganga nmcg.nic.in

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18 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018HEALTHY CITIES

The Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Tech-nology (CIPET) research institute under the Chemi-cals and Fertilizers Ministry will set up a state-of-the-art e-waste recycling unit for Bengaluru in the next four months. India’s first such unit in the government sector, initiative will later be replicated at other places, Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers Ananth Kumar announced.

India’s technology capital, Bengaluru produces an estimated one lakh tonne of electronic waste a year and occupies third place in the country in producing e-waste. India generates about 18 lakh tonne e-waste a year, which is growing at 30% annually. Of this, a major portion is picked up by the unorganised sector which extracts whatever value it can and dumps large parts of it into landfills.

The CIPET says it has developed technologies for recycling e-waste plastics into value-added products for various applications including electrical and elec-tronic components and structural composites. The project will promote entrepreneurship opportunities for strategic utilisation of high performance plastics and metal waste. The setup would broadly design eco-friendly techniques of managing and processing the e-waste in an organised manner.

E-waste recycling unit for Bengaluru

Surat’s unique underground garbage systemSurat is setting an example in urban waste man-agement for the country. The city’s municipal body has installed 43 underground garbage bins, each of which can contain up to 1.5 tonnes of waste as a part of the Smart City Mission. The garbage bins are fit-ted with sensors to send alerts to the control room as soon as 70% of the container is full. These under-ground bins are placed on footpaths and each one has two inlets for throwing waste; one for individuals and the other for municipal carts bringing collected waste. Many more municipal councilors are request-ing the similar installations in their areas, claimed M Thennarasan, Commissioner of Surat Municipal Corporation and Director/Chairman of Surat Smart City project.

Surat generates 2,100 tonnes of garbage per day and 800 tonnes is processed and treated. The rest is disposed of scientifically. Meanwhile, plans to install a system to treat 2,000 tonnes of daily-waste are in place. The municipal body has engaged 425 vehicles which ply on 900 routes for door-to-door collection of waste. Each vehicle has RFID tag and GPS for real-time tracking and to prevent leakage.

The city is also unique in that it treats 57 million liters of sewage every day and turns it into 40 mil-lion litres of treated recycled water. For the past four years, the municipal body has been supplying treated water to the nearby Pandesara industrial estate.

Waste to Energy plants by Hitachi Zosen IndiaHitachi Zosen India Private Limited has signed contracts with Essel group for the delivery of three waste-to-energy plants in the cities of Kadapa, Anantapur and T P Gudem, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India.

The firm, a group company of waste-to-energy firm Hitachi Zosen Corporation, said that each of the plants comprises one R-Grate type waste combustor

and flue gas treatment systems with a processing capacity of 330 tonnes per day and a power output of approximately 6 MW.

The contracts have been executed between Hitachi Zosen India and special purpose companies owned and operated by Essel Infraprojects Ltd.

The company also noted that three contracts have been awarded simultaneously by the client for which Hitachi Zosen India has previously delivered a 600 tonne per day waste-to-energy plant in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh in 2016.

The three projects mark repeat orders, which the company said is the result of the client’s trust accu-mulated from the satisfactory completion of the Jabalpur project and correspondences and services after completion closely aligned with the client in addition to the established reliable technology hav-ing a track record of more than 850 plants delivered worldwide.

It is expected that total capacity of four waste-to-energy plants delivered by Hitachi Zosen India will, by 2019, reach 570,000 tonnes per year.

Cleaning up Amritsar’s drains and solid wasteNational Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) will provide technical support to the Punjab Government in solid waste manage-ment and sewage treatment. As per a recent Mem-orandum of Understanding signed between the two, NEERI will use a combination of technol-ogies for completely clearing out over 6 million tonnes of municipal solid waste which is said to be lying in the dumping ground at Amritsar for more than 30-35 years.

NEERI Director Rakesh Kumar said that waste would be segregated in a way that some materials can be reused. “Plastic waste can be converted into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) and used at cement plants, silt can be used for making tiles or bricks,” Rakesh Kumar stated.

Apart from this, NEERI will implement an in situ drain cleaning technology for reviving 2.2 km-long Tung Dhab drain in Amritsar, also known as the Hudiara drain. Flo-raft and Nano bubble dif-fuser system will be used to clean the drain. The drain will be converted into a system where silt, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) in water is reduced. The pilot experiment of in-situ cleaning technology will be carried out in Nagpur.

Both the projects are a part of Amritsar’s Smart City project. “As per the agreement, we will take about nine months to complete the drain clean-ing and two years for the dumping ground,” said Rakesh Kumar.

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Engineering and Automotive Group- Belmaks is demonstrating its complete range of Road Sweeping Vehicles at Municipalika 2018 in Mumbai. Alongside the entire vehicle range, innovations and advances carried out in the �eld of Solid Waste Management and Road Cleaning will be the main focus of its exhibit. During the exhibition- India’s First Electric Road Sweeping Vehicle will be launched! This zero-emission cleaning vehicle would be displayed alongside Truck-mounted Vacuum Road Sweeper, Compact Sweep-ers for narrow roads and Litter Picker Vehicles. With the opening of its new facility in Farid-abad, Belmaks will have the largest capacity in India for manufacturing 500 Road Sweep-ers in Phase-1. Hence, Belmaks will play its role in ‘Swachh Bharat’ and ‘Make in India’ mission.

Belmaks is a diversi�ed business house from Delhi NCR India with interests in Engineering and Manufacturing, Hydroponic Farming, Start-up Investments and now Special Purpose Vehicles for Waste Management. Our �agship business is providing complete solutions in Sheet Metal and Fabrication through our 7 manufacturing plants to the Auto Industry, Construction and Mining Industry, Agri and Defence where we design, manufacture and supplies various assemblies Tier-1 to OEMs in India and abroad. Our expertise is in Com-mercial Vehicles where Belmaks is one of the largest Chassis Frame manufacturer supply-ing over 6000 frames and 300 Large-sized (14-24 cubic meter) tipper trucks every month.

Road Sweepers traditionally have not been successful in India due to many reasons. The imported European or American Sweepers were not built for Indian conditions and availability of spares and high price is a big hurdle. Indian-built sweepers, unfortunately, lack of quality and technology and just are not e�ective. Hence Belmaks approach was to source the best sweeping technology from around the world in forms of JVs and TAs and then capitalize on its own strength of manufacturing and understanding the Commercial vehicle eco-system in India so that synergies from best of both worlds can be achieved and result in a premium product- o�ering International Technology and Indian prices.

Belmaks has partnered with market leaders from South Korea and China, each specializ-ing in their own Vehicle-type. Belmaks, along with partners R&D team, have jointly conducted intense research and studies on Indian roads and waste. For di�erent applica-tions and road-types, di�erent sweeping mechanisms are more e�ective. Belmaks is going to display 4 di�erent vehicles for di�erent applications within a city and showcase how these and our upcoming vehicles can help transform our roads and streets to a level where we can all be proud of. Below is the sneak preview of our vehicles.

Belmaks Showcasing Green Technology Sweeping Solutions

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 20gREEN CITIES

Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), part of Confed-eration of Indian Industries (CII) has come a long way with 1871 members across 23 local chapters and 150 stu-dent chapters. The council offers 22 rating systems cov-ering commercial buildings, homes, affordable hous-ing, schools, villages, places of worship, industries, hospitals and data centers as well as metros and mass rapid transit systems. Combinations of buildings are also covered, including neighborhoods, campuses, townships, SEZs, cities and villages.

“With over 4,500 projects of nearly 5.34 billion sq ft built-up area, India ranks only second after the U.S. in green technology projects. However, this is only about 5% of the total buildings in India, green building is still in its nascent stage with an exponential potential growth. The Indian green building market is expected to reach 10 billion sq ft by 2022 valued at $35-$50 bil-lion,” said Dr Prem C Jain, Chairman, IGBC.

CII-IGBC has introduced Green Product Certifica-tion (GreenPro) which helps an environmentally con-scious customer to make an informed choice to buy eco-friendly products.

By reducing energy consumption, water efficiency and re-usage, waste generation by extensive recy-cling, the use of green building practices leads to bet-ter air quality, enhanced daylight, leading to lower

electricity consump-tion, superior health and overall wellbe-ing and enhanced productivity.

The Green Build-ing movement is gain-ing deep roots with many states and cities attempting to intro-duce the green build-ing regulations as a part of the Building Regulation and Devel-opment Control Reg-ulations. Author-ities now provide incentives through enhanced FSI/FAR, reduction in development charge and faster environmental clearance by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) for IGBC rated projects.

The National Building Code 2016 and ECBC 2017, provides a supportive framework for introducing a new approach to sustainability with Sustainable Development Goal 2030.

Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) installed 563 rooftop solar grids. The grid provides a total capacity of 6,837 kW. Another 736 units of 3,651 kW capacity will be installed in the next stage.

Adding to the momentum, the Greater Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has recently initiated construction of first of its kind floating solar farm of two MW capacity at Mudasarlova reservoir and has a similar plan of constructing a three MW solar farm at Meghadri Gedda reservoir.

Currently, Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) is the largest producer of solar power in the district with a 10 MW plant near the airport. Vijaya Milk Products Pvt Ltd produces about 1.15 MW of solar power, while Sim-hachalam Devasthanam is providing one MW with Visakha Dairy rounding off to 420 kW. The GVMC has also installed a rooftop solar grid of a total capacity of 258.24 kWp.

Some of the educational institutions in the district,

such as Gitam University, St. Joseph’s College, Avanti Group of Colleges, Timpany School, VCTPL, Lendi Engineering College, NSRIT have already jumped onto the solar bandwagon.

India achieves 5 billion sq ft green building footprint

Andhra’s solar march

Ministry for Environment approves regional projectHarsh Vardhan, Environment and Forest Minister, said that dust pollution is a major cause of pollution in Delhi and the ministry is working to tackle it in a scientific manner.

“The first phase of the project has been approved at a cost of around `100 crore for the states of Pun-jab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan,” an offi-cial said.

The project not only aims to mitigate climate change impacts and enhance adaptive capacity, but also counter the adverse environmental impacts that arise from stubble burning.

During the past two months, levels of pollution in New Delhi and its outskirts have been increased, affecting air quality and visibility. Pollution in Delhi gets aggravated during winter months. People burn agricultural waste to clear cropland, which contrib-utes to the choking of already polluted air.

Authorities in New Delhi government attributed stubble burning by farmers in neighbouring states as the reason for increased pollution and smog. The deadly smog chocks air causing breathlessness and lung difficulties, besides badly affecting visibility.

India’s first platinum-rated railway stationSecunderabad Railway Station became India’s first platinum-rated railway station, on 15th June 2018, boosting Indian Railways green and sustainable initiatives. Mr. C.Shekar Reddy, Chairman, Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) Hyderabad Chapter presented IGBC plaque & certificate to Mr. Vinod Kumar Yadav General Manager, South Central Rail-way (SCR) at a programme organized at Secunder-abad railway station.

What enabled Secunderabad Railway Station to bag this distinction is its record of being a 100% LED lit railway station, more than 80% of the space

ventilated with adequate fresh air, 500 kWp grid-connected solar PVs installed at station rooftop, treatment & recycling of 100% wastewater from sta-tion & coaching yard (3.5 lakh litres) for coach wash-ing & apron cleaning (2 Lakh litres) and 100% solid waste segregation for municipal, recyclable, hazard-ous & biomedical waste.

Dr. Prem C Jain, Chairman, IGBC said that IGBC aspires to facilitate 10 billion sq.ft of green build-ing footprint by 2022 where the team from Indian Railways will play a major role in achieving this vision.

Harsh Vardhan, Environment and Forest Minister

Getting Indian cities electric-vehicle readyNational Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) states that Indian cities will need 4,900 Direct Cur-rent Fast Charging (DCFC) stations while interstate corridors will only need 400 DCFC stations. Cities must build a seamless network of charging stations for encouraging Electric Vehicle (EV) adoption.

A case in point is Mumbai. The city is embracing the EV by setting up charging stations at strategic locations, including popular retail malls, business hubs, highways and neighborhoods. The chargers can also monitor the battery charging status and the units consumed while charging a car. Recently, the city also added a fleet of electric buses to its public transport system.

Even with approximately 30% penetration across two-wheelers and four-wheelers in India by 2030, EVs may need only 3-4% of today’s power genera-tion capacity. According to NITI Aayog, India can save 64% of passenger road-based mobility-related energy demand and 37% of carbon emissions in 2030 by pursuing a shared, electric, and connected mobil-ity future. This would result in a reduction of 156 mil-lion tonnes of oil equivalent in diesel and petrol con-sumption - net saving of roughly `3.9 lakh crore in 2030.

Robust charging infrastructure could be the key to ramping up EV sales in India. Meeting this infra-structure need could call for an investment of around $1-1.5 billion.

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 23happening cities

The Confederation of Real Estate Broker’s Asso-ciation of India (CREBAI) in association with Sai Estate Consultants held its 1st National Conven-tion in Mumbai on June 27. The event was held to unite the broker community and address the con-cerns and challenges faced by them. The event was attended by Gautam Chaterjee, RERA Chairman, Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (Maha RERA). He talked about the importance of RERA registrations for the real estate brokers and consultants.

The event witnessed huge number of bro-kers coming together along with dignitaries,

bureaucrats, celebrities and thought leaders in the industry. Industry veterans like Amit Wad-hwani, Director, SAI Estate Consultants, Niran-jan Hiranandani, National President, NAREDCO, Mayur Shah – President MCHI and government officials came together to address the challenges of brokers post RERA and standardising the broking commission for all brokers.

Amit Wadhwani spoke about the change of strat-egies of the real estate brokers after RERA came into force and the difficulties faced by them. He stressed that once the RERA is properly under-stood, many things would get clear.

CREBAI & Sai Estate Consultants hold 1st NatCon for brokers in Mumbai

MCGM organises city waste expo to cut out plastic use in MumbaiThe city-wide plastic ban was imposed by the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) on June 23 and 200 inspectors are deployed to catch hold of defaulters. The March 23 notification, brought under the Maharashtra Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Control) Act enacted in 2006, banned the manufacture, sale, transport, storage and use of plastic, including bags, dispos-able plastic spoons, forks, cups, glasses, contain-ers and thermocol for decoration.

In a bid to help citizens find alternatives to plastic bags, the MCGM organised an exhibition in June at Worli where a discussion and debate on the need to do away with plastic was also conducted.

A similar exhibition was organised last year at the National Sports Club of India where citi-zens were informed about the options available to treat garbage at the source itself. This time, it is of greater significance owing to the plastic ban.

Around 100 vendors displayed various alter-natives to plastic. These include cloth, paper or jute bags. The MCGM had also planned to rope

in some plastic recyclers for the event.Meanwhile, the MCGM collected 142 tonnes

plastic after it launched the toll-free number, on which people can call municipal staff to collect plastic in their possession. Vans will be sent for collection from societies which have accumulated 10 kg or more. The MCGM planted plastic collec-tion bins in high footfall areas, mainly big mar-kets after the ban was announced.

TERI Summit recognises 18 winners showcasing transformational growth focusing on environment

Uber launches traffic analytics initiative for Indian cities

Frost & Sullivan and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) co-hosted the India Sustainability Leadership Summit 2018 and the 9th edition of Sustainability 4.0 Awards 2018 on June 1, 2018 in Mumbai.

Industry experts and dignitaries from various establishments and Government bodies delib-erated ideas, solutions and technologies across industry verticals toward building sustainable economies. The panelists represented compa-nies that undertook initiatives and actively inte-grated sustainability principles into their busi-ness culture.

Encouraged by the initiatives taken by various companies across industries, Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI said, “Sustainability considerations are beginning to form an integral part of commercial normality and increasingly of competitiveness. The assessment results clearly indicate that companies that achieve their envi-ronmental and social performance also reflect better financial performance and create long term value for their shareholders.”

Risks, market-based opportunities, stake-holder expectations, pressures of legislation are some of the elements that drive the sustainability agenda. Inspiring success stories were also shared by companies like Punchline Energy Pvt Ltd, Vision EarthCare Pvt Ltd, Bamboo Prod-ucts Pvt Ltd, etc. Their presentations showcased diverse new business models, strategies, and best practices redefining the functioning of the busi-ness ecosystem.

The evening concluded with the 9th edition of the Sustainability 4.0 Awards 2018, a platform

to recognise sustainability in all fields of busi-ness. Awards were presented to companies in three major categories: Leaders, Challeng-ers and Believers. Mahindra & Mahindra Lim-ited received the Sustainable Factory of the Year Award along with the Safety Excellence Award - Mega Large Business, Automotive Sector. Other winners include Indian Oil Corporation Lim-ited, Hindalco Industries Limited, Schneider Electric India Private Limited, L&T Hydrocar-bon Engineering, Bharat Aluminium Company Limited among a total of 18 winners in different categories.

The popular taxi app, Uber, introduced a free urban planning tool ‘Movement in Mumbai’ on June 27. The tool would help city planners make informed decisions on infrastructure, urban mobility, and traffic manage-ment. A data-sharing exercise on traffic patterns, Uber Movement launched in Delhi last month, and will be replicated in Bengaluru and Hyderabad soon.

Amitesh Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traf-fic), Mumbai Police, who was present at the launch, con-veyed that the move was welcome and various potential uses for the data that has been collected exist.

At the event, the representatives of the company pre-sented case studies to show impacts of infrastructure projects on the traffic in the city, carried out with the help of data collected from Uber users. Prabhjeet Singh, Regional General Manager, Uber India and South Asia, said the company aims to harness the power of tech-nology towards data-driven policy-making through movement.

Stressing on the fact that data privacy lies at the heart of the project, the organisers also gathered feed-back from a panel of experts in the urban sector.

The World Urban Campaign (WUC) is an advo-cacy and partnership platform to raise aware-ness about positive urban change in order to achieve green, productive, safe, healthy, inclu-sive, and well planned cities. It is coordinated by UN-Habitat and driven by 180 committed part-ners and networks around the world, includ-ing organisations, local authorities, the private sector, research institutions, professionals, aca-demia, parliamentarians, trade unions, youth groups, and the media. The goal is to promote dialogue, sharing, and learning about improving our urban future. The Campaign works to place the urban agenda at the highest level in devel-opment policies. It allows a platform for partici-pants to share best practices and innovative ideas regarding cities. The WUC recently announced a line-up of events for Urban thinkers to partic-ipate in, from scheduled from July to October, including the following:• 8-12 Jul: IFHP – World Cities Summit 2018, Amster-

dam & Rotterdam/Netherlands • 08-12 Jul: united Nations – HLPF 2018, Global • 03-04 sep: Convergences – 11th Convergences

World Forum – Make Society Tomorrow • 07 sep: uN-Habitat & arcadis – 8th Annual Shel-

ter Academy on Climate Adaptation and Mitiga-tion, Amsterdam & Rotterdam/Netherlands

• 01-05 Oct: IsOCaRP – 54th ISOCARP Congress, Bodø/Norway

• 28-30 Oct: Qatar green Building Council – Qatar Green Building Conference, Doha/Qatar

Ajay Mathur, Director General, TERI

World Urban Campaign invites participation from #UrbanThinkers

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 24connected cities

The Pune Metropolitan Region Development Author-ity (PMRDA) has requested the Central Government to bear the construction cost of Pune ring road project. The cost of the project is ̀ 23,828 crore, out of which the total construction cost is ̀ 10,234 crore and land acquisi-tion cost around ̀ 13,594 crore. The first phase between Satara and Ahmednagar Road which is 32 km of the 128.66 km ring road, will take three years to complete and the entire project will be completed in seven years.

With a width of 110 meters and requiring a land area of 1430 hectares, the project will have two service lanes on each side in addition to four+four lanes on

each side. Cycle tracks, footpaths and Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) will also add to the width along with a 33.5 meter-wide Metro corridor for mass tran-sit. Also, three sites on the road could double up as an auxiliary airstrip

Construction of tunnels of total length 3.75 km with six major bridges, eight flyovers will aid the internal/arterial roads for balanced development of land in 46 Town Planning Schemes proposed along the Ring Road. Truck terminus, developed marketplaces for agricultural products and multi-level car parking are also proposed.

Ring road for Pune by PMRDa

Low Carbon Mobility Plan for BhubaneswarThe Housing and Urban Development Department (H&UD) of the Government of Odisha and German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), GmbH India on behalf of the Government of the Fed-eral Republic of Germany are working on a Indo-Ger-man bilateral technical cooperation labelled Sus-tainable Urban and Industrial Development (SUID). Under it, the project titled as Integrated Sustainable Urban Transportation System (SMART-SUT) for Smart Cities in India is initiated. GIZ will provide technical advice and support in planning and imple-ment non-motorised transport, public transport and modal integration in Smart Cities in India. The project works with three Smart cities namely Bhubaneswar, Kochi and Coimbatore where their respective state governments will promote Low-carbon Comprehen-sive Mobility Planning (LCMP). While also support the relevant urban transport agencies in setting up the required institutional structures and enhancing their capacities for an efficient delivery of urban transport services.

The LCMP will look into the development of trans-port infrastructure to meet the mobility needs of indi-viduals irrespective of their economic status, mak-ing the environment sustainable for people living in the city. Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) will implement the project, in close association with Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and

Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited. GIZ experts will prepare the project operational plan. H&UD, on the other hand, shall involve BDA and other stakeholders

to participate in the state and national level project steering committees, as required by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.

BEST service in Mumbai to be wet-leased to private sectorConsidering the current complex problems of falling revenue, lack of popularity and increasing costs of the BEST bus service, has led to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai’s decision to wet-lease the service to private players.

Fleets of the BEST will be increased, reviving the bus service by making it more advance, accessible and efficient. In defence to the objections from citizens regarding privatising the age-old BEST service, Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta said that BEST tickets prices, bus routes, protection of current BEST employees, their children will continue to be controlled by the BEST.

With extreme pressure for development in Mumbai, private developers are eyeing the BEST depots too. The commissioner said, that BEST depots are public lands and has rejected all pro-posals for redevelopment. Instead, by increasing bus fleets and involving private buses, will allow for fleet combination flexibility, bring in flexibil-ity in operations without changing ticket prices, hence making it financially sound, efficient and most preferred than Ola and Uber. He assured that apart from current BEST employees, employ-ment of private drivers, having Maharashtra domicile, will be preferred.

With the new metro service in the city, there is imagined to be a change in routes for BEST ser-vice, which will be rationally altered only where necessary. A dynamic route planning using GPS in buses, where passengers can plan their route and bus numbers, will be installed. Also, in case there is a sudden crowd in one place, moving out people by increasing the frequency of buses, will be dynamically decided using this bus schedul-ing system, controlled by the BEST and not the private sector.

Delhi Metro’s Green Line expandedNewly operationalised 11.2 km-long fully elevated Mundka-Bahadurgarh section of the Delhi Metro’s Green Line will now facilitate travel of people employed in industrial units along the corridor and cater to the city youth studying in Haryana’s upcoming educational hub.

This is Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s (DMRC) third foray into Haryana after Gurgaon (Yellow Line) and Faridabad (Violet Line).

With seven stations, the Mundka-Bahadurgarh stretch is an extension of the existing Green Line from Inderlok to Mundka turning the entire Inder-lok-Bahadurgarh section to become 29.64 km-long, increasing the span of the Delhi Metro network to 288 km with 208 stations. The entire section will have a total of 20 trains in service at a frequency of around eight minutes and total running time between Inder-lok/Kirti Nagar and City Park (Bahadurgarh) of 50 minutes.

This section has expanded Haryana’s 21 km of lines under the DMRC network to 25.8 km.

All the seven stations are equipped with the latest energy-efficient systems and are rated as “platinum” by the Indian Green Building Council for adhering to green building norms

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 25humane cities

The housing loan limit for priority sector lending has been revised from ̀ 28 lakhs to ̀ 35 lakhs in met-ros and from ̀ 20 lakhs to ̀ 25 lakhs in other centres, by the RBI, provided that the dwelling unit does not exceed `45 lakhs. This hike in the priority sec-tor slabs would allow first-time home buyers avail higher loans which would probably boost sales in the truly affordable housing projects.

With the subsidy of ̀ 2.68 lakh through Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) along with this revi-sion, owning a house in metros will make owning a house in the metros a reality for many, especially for the economically weaker sections and lower income groups. However, a dwelling worth `45 lakhs is not more than a studio and rarely available in the city limits in megacities.

Through PMAY, the Central Government has set a target of constructing 20 million houses in urban areas by 2022. The priority lending tag will reduce equated monthly instalments on loans and will ensure easier access of credit to these planned constructions.

The Government has supported the affordable housing sector by lower GST rates, increased tenures of loans with credit-linked subsidies and extended IT benefits to apartments up to 645 sq ft carpet areas.

Hike in priority sector lending limits makes affordable housing more accessible

All houses built under PMAY-U to have 33% more carpet areaThe Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry has declared that the Government has approved a 33% increase in carpet area of houses eligible for interest subsidy under its affordable housing scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U), to attract more bene-ficiaries. The decision was made after inputs from var-ious stakeholders.

This move by the Government implies that the car-pet area of a house has been enhanced to 160 sq m from 120 sq m for MIG-I, while it has been increased to 200 sq m from 150 sq m in case of MIG–II. As per the origi-nal scheme, beneficiaries can avail a subsidy up to ̀ 2.35 lakh on the purchase of a house under the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS).

The enhancement in carpet area will encourage more MIG customers to avail the benefits provided under the

scheme, in addition to increasing construction activity and giving a push to the housing sector in cities all over the country.

HuDCO’s significant growthHUDCO’s performance in 2017-18 has been unprece-dented with HUDCO achieving the highest ever sanc-tions of `38,648 crore which was 109.2% of target, and highest ever disbursements of ̀ 16,565 crore, which was 182.1% of target. Besides, HUDCO also launched its first IPO to divest 10% of its paid-up equity. The initial pub-lic offering of HUDCO saw strong investor demand and was oversubscribed by 80 times and investors bid for `1,623 crore shares against the `20.40 crore shares on offer. The qualified institutional buyer’s part was over-subscribed by 55 times. HUDCO made a strong debut with the stock getting listed on May 19 on BSE. HUDCO’s balance sheet has touched a record high of ̀ 50,000 crore and the market capitalisation of HUDCO as on March 31, 2018 is ̀ 14,000 crore (approx). The domestic debt instru-ments of HUDCO have continued to enjoy ‘AAA’ rating, the highest rating assigned by three Credit rating agen-cies, namely – M/s India Rating & Research Pvt Limited (IRRPL), M/s CARE Ratings and M/s ICRA Limited.

Housing operationsIn view of HUDCO’s motto of ‘profitability with social justice’, a significant emphasis is laid in HUDCO oper-ations on addressing the housing requirements of low income group and weaker sections of the society. HUDCO supported 1.54 million houses throughout the country (excluding retail lending portfolio).

During the year 2017-18, HUDCO sanctioned housing projects in various states, with a loan amount of ̀ 15,770 crore, including loans to individuals under its retail lend-ing portfolio of HUDCO Niwas.

HUDCO provides significant support for the imple-mentation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), by offering its services for project appraisal, propaga-tion and dissemination of scheme details, monitor-ing and site inspections, funding, organising aware-ness programmes on government schemes, organising capacity building programmes for the Government/State/ULB officials, hand holding of State Government

for preparation of DPRs. In addition, HUDCO also pro-vides loan assistance as viability gap funding to states and their agencies. As one of the Central Nodal Agen-cies (CNA) for the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) component of the Affordable Housing Mission, HUDCO disbursed a total subsidy amount of ̀ 50.74 crore to 2605 beneficiaries.

Infrastructure OperationsIn respect of urban infrastructure, HUDCO sanctioned 92 urban infrastructure projects in various states, with a total loan amount of ̀ 22,878 crore during the year 2017-18. This included 15 for water supply, 22 for roads and bridges, 32 for social infrastructure, five for sewerage, one for drainage development, 11 for commercial proj-ects and six energy sector projects.

the Road aheadHUDCO also envisages major funding opportunities under other flagship programmes such as develop-ment of 100 Smart Cities, Swachh Bharat Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation & Urban Transformation-AMRUT, National Heritage City Development and Aug-mentation Yojna (HRIDAY), etc. in the coming years.

UP tops the PMAY-G scheme with more than 7 lakh units constructedUttar Pradesh topped the list of all states in the coun-try under Centre’s flagship scheme Pradhan Man-tri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G). More than seven lakh dwelling units were constructed in Uttar Pradesh last year.

Addressing a press conference at media centre in Lucknow, Mahendra Singh, Minister of State (I/C) Rural Development said, “Uttar Pradesh achieved 85% of its target by constructing 7,71,073 houses in one year to claim the top position while the national average in the implementation of this scheme for poor in rural areas has been just 34%. Moreover, the 7,71,073 houses were constructed in just nine months.” Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh claimed the second and third posi-tions with 47% and 45%, respectively.

Under the scheme, more than 47,000 units were built in Sitapur and nearly 7,000 in Varanasi.

The success has motivated the state government to seek funds for over 11 lakh housing units from the Cen-tre in the next year, the Minister said. Singh further said that as rural development minister he was promising that there would be no scarcity of water in Bundelkhand and efforts are being made on the war footing to ensure adequate availability of water.

The state cabinet had approved another scheme, the Mukhya Mantri Awas Yojana (MMAY), to pro-vide houses. Beneficiaries get `1.3 lakh as the subsidy in MMAY.

Land available with sick PSUs to be used for affordable housingThe Central Government, at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved revised guidelines for time-bound closure of loss making Central Pub-lic Sector Enterprises (CPSE) on June 6. The land that would be freed up as a result, will be utilised for affordable housing as per relevant guidelines issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.

The revised guidelines would reduce delays in implementation of closure of loss-making CPSEs and will replace the guidelines issued by the Department of Public Enterprises in Septem-ber 2016.

The state-owned NBCC Limited, is being con-sidered by the government to construct afford-able housing using these land parcels currently being held by sick public sector undertakings. NBCC would be starting those projects on gov-ernment land and a detailed project report (DPR) has been prepared, with the first few projects soon to be announced. Considering that the land par-cels occupy a very large area, other housing infra-structure will be developed in addition to afford-able housing.

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 27vibrant cities

The Archeology and Museum Department of Gujarat has announced that it plans to replicate the Central Government’s ‘Heritage Mitra’ scheme in an effort to better conserve and maintain the built heritage of the state. Under the scheme, the department will hand over the responsibility of important monuments to private entities.

The original ‘Adopt a Heritage’ Scheme, imple-mented by the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India, aims to involve public sector companies, private sector companies and corporates to take up the develop-ment of better infrastructure, maintenance strat-egies, and public amenities to make heritage tour-ism in India at par with the industry across the world. Operationally, a private partner is selected through an innovative process called ‘Vision bid-ding’, where the company with the ‘best vision’ for the future of a heritage site, gets the chance to ‘adopt’ it, and associate the conservation effort with their CSR activities, becoming ‘Heritage Mitras’. Tools such as the Incredible India web-site, will provide visibility to both the sites and the private partner managing it.

The scheme was brought into effect after a ‘Critical Gap’ analysis of important monuments across the country was carried out. The Govern-ment identified improvements that can be made in and around the heritage sites with the involve-ment of corporate sector and PSUs under the CSR activities. Some of these include public conve-niences such as drinking water and toilets, clean-liness, ease of access for differently abled and senior citizens, standardised signage and illumi-nation. Advanced amenities such as surveillance system, night viewing facilities and tourism facil-itation center would also enhance tourist experi-ence, and result in an increased footfall.

The scheme has been widely accepted, with 31 agencies having been approved, so far, to adopt a total of 95 ASI-listed monuments located across India. Several agencies including public, private, individuals, schools and law firms have come for-ward to adopt heritage moments falling under the project.

In Gujarat, 362 monuments and heritage sites fall under the jurisdiction of the state. Replicating the operational principles of the ‘Heritage Mitra’ scheme, will allow the state to overcome logistical and infrastructure constraints, through partner-ing with private parties for management and main-tenance of heritage sites. VP Patel, the Secretary Sports & Cultural department said that by repli-cating the scheme, its potential would be extended to more monuments and local heritage, in addition to ASI-listed monuments.

Gujarat Government replicates ‘Heritage Mitra’ scheme for conserving built heritage

Four mega-tourism projects to be developed in AmravatiFollowing projections which estimate that more than 10,000 foreign tourists will be visiting Amravati by 2025, the state administration has decided to develop four mega-tourism projects in the newly designed capital region. As components of this ambitious ini-tiative, a sports and recreation hub, a world-class tourist resort and two family entertainment centres are all set to be developed.

All four projects will be undertaken by the urban planning department of the Amravati Development

Corporation Ltd under the Amravati Central Park project. The combined budget for the projects is esti-mated to be around `60 crore, with additional pri-vate investment. Two acres of land in Sakhamuru village and Inavolu village each, has been surveyed and finalised by officials.

Developers were called upon through an open tender under a model of public private partnership, and once the partners are finalised, the project is expected to be completed in two years.

Public spaces for vibrant cities: The Urban Park in ChandigarhThe UT administration and the Municipal Corporation of Chandigarh recently began the ground-work to enliven the largely-deserted Sector 17 in the heart of Chandigarh city, under the umbrella of the Smart Cities Mission.

Designed by the legendary Le Corbusier as a pedes-trian public zone when the green-field city was origi-nally planned 60 years ago, Sector 17 witnessed a reduc-tion in footfall overtime, with the coming of malls and other options for recreation elsewhere in the city. The new proposal aims to provide innovative options to engage the public in the form of an urban park, which

will cater more specifically to the changing recreational needs of citizens. Good green and lung spaces for all, cre-ate healthy cities.

The administration, through partnerships with rel-evant consultants and private parties, aims to draw in more crowds to the area by converting it into a commer-cial hub, along with introducing new public programs and sports facilities. Well connected to the bus trans-port line, the design proposes to create a public hill inte-grated with an amphitheater, to be built using excavated earth from a football stadium nearby. The spacious park will also include football and basketball courts, cycling tracks and skating rinks. Cultural infrastructure such as exhibition spaces, sculpture plazas and food courts also form a part of the plan. Solar powered street light-ing, surveillance and electric carts would be used for logistics, in accordance with the imagination for digi-tisation. The park will also offer parking facilities and Wi-Fi to visitors.

With a budget of `13.5 crores and various partners already on board, the city administration main driver is to provide quality pedestrian spaces and public infra-structure that the citizens of congested cities crave and deserve.

UNESCO declares south Mumbai’s Victorian and Art Deco ensembles as a World Heritage SiteMumbai’s rich cluster of Victorian and Art Deco build-ings in the Fort precinct and Marine Drive was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July, to add to the Ele-phanta Caves and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Ter-minus that are also on the list. Collectively known as the ‘Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai’, the new Mumbai precinct was added to the global list of heritage sites at the 42nd session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, in Bahrain.

The inscription was declared after an onsite techni-cal evaluation and positive recommendation by ICO-MOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites), the technical advisory body to UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation. To get a World Heritage tag, a site should be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one of 10 selection criteria laid down by UNESCO. A

UNESCO World Heritage Site tag propels a precinct to global fame, attracting more tourists. It ensures additional funding from international agencies and grants for upkeep of the structures. “The UNESCO status has added no other regulatory mechanism, but it gives options for better funding,” said Conservation Architect Abha Narain Lambah, who put together the

three-volume nomination dossier and management plan, supported by various citizens’ groups from the precinct.

The ensembles includes historic landmarks like the Bombay High Court, University of Mumbai, David Sas-soon Library and Maharashtra Police Headquarters buildings, the Art Deco buildings along Marine Drive, and the Eros and Regal cinema halls.

“These historic buildings are unique because they’re not dead monuments but active public buildings in use as courts, libraries and cinema halls,” said Lambah. “This tag means an international acknowledgement of Mumbai’s pioneering role in managing historic urban heritage that is in living use,” Lambah adds. “It also posi-tions Mumbai high on the global map of financial and cultural destinations and will translate into increased cultural tourism in Maharashtra.”

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 28RESILIENT CITIES

Technology is gaining popularity as the foremost tool to make cities safe, especially for women. In this context, the Mumbai Police’s recent proposal to introduce panic buttons across locations, aerial surveillance through drones backed by facial recog-nition software and video analysis tools seems the right step forward when it comes to women’s safety in the city. By mapping areas prone to crime against women from past reports, the police aim to estab-lish a faster response to distress signals.

A cost of over `250 crore is expected for the

project, to be reportedly met by the Nirbhaya Fund set up by the Centre. `825 crore of a corpus of over `2,900 crore has been spent, to develop safety and support infrastructure for women over the country. The Ministry for Women and Child Development, is the nodal minis-try for the fund since 2015. Apart from Mumbai - Delhi, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad, were announced to be developed as safe cities with women’s safety and security in mind.

Mumbai Police take city-wide measures for women’s safety

Mapping earthquakes and building resilienceEarthquakes have occurred between large time intervals world over and that too without much prediction. The devastation they cause not only to ageing buildings and settlements but also to the entire infrastructure of trans-port, electricity, water supply and communication lines is extremely disturbing.

With improvement in datasets by seismic experts, it is now predicted that the next big earthquake will be in seismic-prone areas of Europe and Central Asia.

National Disaster Management Authority with the Government of Uttarakhand on the occasion of Interna-tional Day for Disaster Reduction in October 2017, con-ducted a mock exercise to test earthquake prepared-ness, to generate awareness among the local population. Later, warnings by scientists in Dehradun in a two-day workshop in November highlighted the probability of a major earthquake in the Himalayan region. This was followed by a 5.5 magnitude earthquake at Rudraprayag, Uttarakhand a week and a half later. Since the region falls in a Zone 4 of the seismic risk scale, experts predict a much greater earthquake of magnitude 8.0 in the region.

Similarly, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) reported that Romania has the highest seismic risks of about magnitude 7.0 or higher every century, in the EU.

This risk information is influencing decision mak-ers in EU and Central Asia who work on building resil-ience through energy-efficient investments, building tremor-resistant infrastructure and quake-resistant building techniques.

Governments across the world including coun-tries such as Istanbul, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Arme-nia and Lisbon are taking measures to protect ame-nities and institutions against earthquakes through upgradation of building codes, measuring seismic risks for apartment buildings, creating financial resil-ience of governments after disasters.

It is an important time in history to record the recurring catastrophic disasters that take place, anal-yse the procedures of disruption and hence create tech-nological and policy measures towards building resil-ience in all seismic areas.

Smart Cities to leverage new technologies for cyber securitySmart Cities are leveraging new technologies - Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Robotics and Big Data, and networks to create a core infrastructure that helps coordinate and optimise systems, promising a higher standard of life. A city that constantly collects and runs on data and data-driven systems using it to constantly resolve the problems that cities face in terms of congestion, lack of access to services, crime and sustainable development amongst others.

A data-driven network has to consider its vulnera-bility to cyber-attacks; hacking a Smart City would be catastrophic. Hackers could take advantage and trig-ger massive cyber-attacks. A Smart City collects data of about millions of citizens – their movements, prefer-ences, activities and personal information. If leaked, it would be a gross breach of privacy.

To ensure resilience against cyber attacks, the city will require a robust and comprehensive cybersecurity system - a combination of hardware and software sys-tems to ensure the security of the main data repository. Cybersecurity is essential for smart cities with end-to-end encryption, strong access controls and an isolation of trusted resources. At the heart of India’s Smart City program should be the selection of most secure cutting-edge technology products and applications.

Developers admit fire safety norms not maintained in Mumbai high-rise buildingsAfter the Beaumonde Tower in Mumbai caught fire in June, developers of high-rise buildings in the city have claimed that once the buildings are handed over to the society, the internal firefighting system is poorly maintained by the society administration. While the developers need to ensure that fire safety norms are maintained while building the high-rise, the onus is on the society administration to main-tain the system.

Meanwhile, the association of societies has also agreed that there’s a serious lapse on their part and proper training process has to be implemented regarding the matter.

Ramesh Prabhu, the Chairman of Maharashtra Societies Welfare Association, said, “Many housing societies do not bother to create volunteers within the building who will be fully aware of the working of the machinery installed in the building meant to be used during a fire emergency. The tanks which are sup-posed to save water for fire emergency is mixed with the regular water supply tank. The grills are made in such a way that one cannot escape during fire and also even the security guards aren’t trained to use the machines.

29 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 RESILIENT CITIES

Vijay group’s ‘Sky Saver’ promises fire-safety in high-rise buildingsVijay Group, a leading manufacturer and exporter of passive fire protection systems is all set to launch a revolutionary life saving kit ‘Sky Saver’ in India. The Sky Saver backpack is a sturdy, durable and comfortable Controlled Descent Device (CDD). This device allows you to safely and securely descend to safety, at a speed of three to six feet per second.

Emergency rescues from very tall buildings are very

difficult, and ‘Sky Saver’ can play a pivotal role in sav-ing lives.

The Sky Saver is a product that educates the masses on how to escape fire-flame and warn us about possible fire-related incidents. Apart from adopting other preventive measures like Fire Protection System, Sky Saver also comes with an option to descend from the windows of the building to safety. Practically, the use of Sky Saver is so easy that it does not require special training. Just like a back-pack, it is easy to put on. So far as the product credibility is concerned, holds the certifications from the highest international safety standards including CE, TUV, SII, ASTM and ANSI.

Fire related incidents have been on a rise in the last few years. Most of the fire incidents occur due to our carelessness and lack of attention to safety. “More than a thousand fire related incidents were witnessed, claiming hundreds of lives over the past few years. Besides, properties worth crores of rupees have been destroyed in cities like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Fire incidents become particularly difficult to handle in the metros with its high rises and access restrictions. Fire, if started on a higher floor, becomes challenging to control and put out. Therefore, the government and the builders are becoming increasingly cautious of the fire protection systems that they install,” said Rajesh Salot, Director-Owner, Vijay Group Salot.

Hospitals flout fire-norms in VishakhapatnamA major fire accident was averted recently at an operation theatre in King George Hospital, Andhra Pradesh’s biggest government hospital, with the timely intervention of the staff present. The main cause of the fire was an electrical short-circuit, since contractors had not used star-rated electrical wiring and instruments to cut costs.

The case of King George Hospital threw light on the fact that none of the 38 government hospitals in Vishakhapatnam, including the 20 in the GVMC limits, has fire NOC, said Regional Fire Safety Officer GVMC E Swamy. Of the 253 private hospitals, 213 have not obtained the NOC.

Coming to the cinemas, multiplexes and shopping malls, almost all have the required fire fighting equipment in place and have obtained the NOC from the department, but what is observed is that the fire exits remained locked due to security reasons, presenting a liability.

When it comes to function halls, 85% have not obtained fire NOC. In Visakhapatnam GVMC limits, there are about 98 function halls and of them 45 are government owned, with no NOC.

However, due to the strict enforcement of the DEO and officers from the higher education department, schools and colleges have stuck to the norms.

Giving an example for hospitals above 10 m height, Swamy said the basic requirements are sufficient number of extinguishers in each floor, hose reels on each floor, landing walls, automatic smoke detectors, sprinklers, 10,000 litres terrace tank, 50,000 litres underground tank, 1620 lpp pump and jockey pump. The fire fighting equipment primarily depends on the type of occupancy (school, hospital etc) and the height of the building. National Building Code (NBC) has laid out norms for safety in each case.

Commissioner calls for fire safety campaign in ChandigarhKeeping with the movement of rising awareness regarding fire-safety, Municipal Commissioner Kamal Kishor Yadav directed the Chief Fire Offi-cer-cum-Additional Commissioner of Chandigarh to conduct a city-wide awareness campaign in June. The focus of the campaign was on providing knowl-edge regarding how to act in case of an emergency. The fire officials were also instructed to ensure fire-fighting and safety measures are in accordance

with the National Building Code of India through-out the city. In a meeting held in June, Yadav called a monthly report of the fire department. The theme for the month of May was ‘Fire Safety and Evacua-tion Drills in Schools’. In pursuance of the theme, the officials recently conducted a fire safety and evacua-tion drill in 30 city-based schools as well.

Following a string of tragic drowning in the city of Mumbai, authorities have taken city-wide steps to make beaches and waterfronts safer. An action plan has been put in place to secure these popular public spaces.

Early on in July, the fire brigade installed lifeguard chairs for better surveillance at six of Mumbai’s sea-fronts — Girgaum, Dadar, Juhu, Versova, Gorai and Aksa. Lifeguards would also have manual sirens and jet-skis and other boats for rescue operations. PS Rahangdale, Chief Fire Officer, Mumbai Fire Brigade said, “About 36 lifeguards will man the beaches in two shifts. There is also a flood rescue team present on weekends and high-tide days.”

He also highlighted the danger zones: seashores at Bandstand and Worli are rocky and difficult to monitor, beach stretches near the end of Versova and Juhu see a heavy surge due to backwaters causing underwater currents, Aksa and Gorai have sinking sands — these are spots that citizens need to be careful of.

The Coast Guard comes into the picture for rescue when called upon by state and central authorities. Coast guard helicopters and divers had swung into action ear-lier this month, during the search for a group of missing boys at Juhu. The sea in the monsoon is challenging for the Coast guard to navigate, and their area of jurisdiction is five-nautical miles beyond the coastline. There are plans to have a community interaction with fishermen to reiter-ate the dangers in venturing into the sea, the need to carry life jackets and general safety near the sea.

Lifeguards stationed on Mumbai beaches

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 • 30capex

Developers of affordable homes in India are faced with multiple challenges and the requirement for swift execution and consistent quality of construc-tion is the biggest of the lot. With the scale of a typ-ical affordable housing project, low-wastage and speedy construction is vital to achieve the volumes in the prescribed period of time, as any delay in com-pletion leads to cost escalation. The solution lies in innovation and technology, and using it consciously to deliver quality products.

Technology is a significant enabler of construction speed, cost-optimisation and quality. Certain build-ing materials and ready-to-fit techniques can boost productivity, while enhancing quality, improving speed and reducing waste. New advances in tech-nology enable meticulous conceptualisation during the pre-construction stage, promoting efficient use of labour and materials as it lowers uncertainty in exe-cuting construction and timely delivery.

From the wall systems to the foundation, every element of the structure can use advanced technologies.

Mahindra Lifespace Developers tied up with IIT-Madras and discovered trench foundation technol-ogy, which allows the building to have shear walls that are covered with an envelope of lightweight blocks. Instead of conventional shuttering, Puravan-kara developers have upgraded to ‘Mivan’ an alumin-ium wall formwork, used to build walls and slabs in one continuous pour of concrete, cast monolithically. To replace the heavy brick wall, Precast flat panel system, 3D volumetric construction, tunnel form, hybrid concrete construction, thin joint masonry, and Cellular Lightweight Concrete (CLC) are emerg-ing options. Tile adhesives have replaced mortar for flooring, and doors, windows and fittings work on the basis of ‘ready to fit’ components. Kitchen plat-forms can be built in three hours by mounting mar-ble over mild steel box sections.

The ‘structure’ base of the building is where tech-nologies are really playing out, such as in the case of precast constructions. Though having huge potential, it isn’t fully tapped in the country yet, believes Amit Pal from Mahindra Lifespace Developers.In terms of technologies of the future, 3D printing, which is making an entry into India, has proven that a house can be built in 48 hours Shapoorji Pallonji Engineer-ing & Construction is at an advanced stage of adopt-ing 3D precast technology in some of their projects.

Emerging construction technologies set to make ‘Housing for All’ a reality by 2022

Shortlist revealed for World Architecture Festival Awards 2018The World Architecture Festival announced the shortlisted entries for their 2018 awards in June, featuring 536 projects ranging across architec-tural typologies, infrastructure and landscape projects. With more than 1,000 entries received from projects located in 81 countries across the world, the shortlisted teams will be invited to pres-ent their designs to a jury of more than 100 inter-national judges, who will determine the best projects within the completed and future proj-ect categories. These finalists will then move on to present to a ‘Super Jury’ who will deter-mine the winners for the 2018 World Building of the Year, Future Project of the Year and Landscape of the Year.

Projects based in China, Vietnam, Netherlands and the UK feature prominently in the list. From India, the biennale pavilion at Kochi by Stapati, the Alpha Healing Center at Godhara by Art and

Architecture Associates, ‘The Street’ in Mathura by Sanjay Puri Architects along with two other proj-ects by the same firm, and the Lupin Research Park by Shma Company are a few among the shortlisted projects.

Cross Laminated Timber gains popularity as a sustainable building materialPopularised in Europe, Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) is being touted as a promising option for sustainable, ver-satile building. The material consists of planks of sawn, glued, and layered wood, joined at perpendicular angles to obtain structural rigidity in both directions. The panel has great tensile and compressive strength.

The panels can function as walls, floors, furniture, ceil-ings and roofs. CLT’s thickness and length can be adapt-able to the demands of each project. CLT panels are cut in their production, already foreseeing the joints required by the design. Construction on site lasts only a few days due to a quick drying process. The structure requires no

cladding in drier regions, reducing cost. Factors such as shorter construction time, greater quality control, and low-wastage can balance out higher material costs.

Made from reforested wood, it doesn’t require the burning of fossil fuels during its production. It has been used for infrastructure and support in large construction sites, and its potential for small constructions has been noted because of its interesting appearance and struc-tural strength. It has recently started being used in larger projects as well, as ‘The Tree’, in Norway, became the first 14-storey CLT building in 2015. The 300 meter tall ‘Tooth-pick’ in London is also in the pipeline.

Hyderabad-based company launches concrete wall panelsAs the construction industry deals with shortage of kiln burnt bricks, there are alternatives that are com-ing to the rescue. Robomatic Precon, a Hyderabad-based building materials company announced the launch of its concrete hollow-core wall panels in May.

With imported technology from Finland, the com-pany has set up a manufacturing unit in three acre on the Srisailam highway in Rangareddy district, the second of it’s kind in India. The technical knowhow is from Acotec Finland.

The Robomatic Precast walls are thick hollow-core, non-load-bearing wall elements made of nor-mal concrete. The construction time is seven times faster than conventional brick laying work, though the cost is the same. Cavities in the wall can be used for services. The precast walls can be used in small, large, high rise buildings and residential villas, opti-mising carpet area since walls are thin. Having the strength of concrete, the panels do not need curing or plastering. Installation will be done by company personnel.

Presently available in Hyderabad, the material will be made available across India based on mar-ket requirements. Robomatic has plans to conduct demos at customer sites to popularise their prod-uct. With monolithic casting using Peri Technology and MIVAN technology being increasingly used by developers, new construction systems are receiving acceptance by the industry.

31 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2018 capex

The need for energy efficient and economical methods of construction propelled the central government to set up the Building Materials & Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) in 1990, which considers certain types of materi-als eco-friendly: agro-industrial wastes, by-products, resi-dues, natural fibers, plantation timbers, including rice and wheat husk, bagasse from sugarcane, coir, hemp etc., that are cultivated on a large scale in Indian farms. These three materials especially stand out in terms of durability and cost-effectiveness, and are gaining popularity:

1. Rice Husk Ash (RHA) produced after burning of rice husks can be used as an admixture for concrete. RHA has high reactivity and pozzolanic property, which improves the workability and solidity of the cement. Silica present in rice husk ash combines with the calcium hydroxide resulting in excellent resistance to acidic environments, a drawback in Portland cement. RHA mixed concrete has been found to be very workable and durable based on sev-eral tests and can prove to be boon for the cement and the

concrete industry in several parts of the country because of large production of paddy in India.

2. Plastic bricks have been extensively used in highway and railway infrastructure. Plastic from the millions of the bottles and bags are melted and molded in the form of bricks are used in the construction of the roads, increasing elastic-ity and load bearing capacity. In India, this technology has been initiated on an experimental basis for railway sleepers.

3. Bagasse Particle Board is made from residual pulp from sugarcane after the juice has been extracted.This by-product is now being used as a substitute for wood in par-ticle boards, to be used for laminated floors, replacing high-density and expensive wood fiberboard. When made into a laminated particle board with resin as a bonding agent and wax as dimensional stabiliser, it gains strength and water resistance.

Usage of these innovative green building materials will considerably reduce the exploitative use of concrete, wood and other traditional resources.

Eco-friendly material made from plastic and agricultural waste

Sustainable ceilings with ReWall panelsGreen building materials are no longer limited to walling systems and paving, and even specialised interior finishes and cladding have begun to cater to the industry of sustainable and responsible con-struction. A new material that continues this trend is the ReWall Ceiling Tiles, which are eco-panels that are suitable for use on commercial drop ceil-ings in retail and industrial or institutional settings.

ReWall is made of 100% recycled content from milk and food cartons, making it non-toxic unlike some other panelling and paint finishes. ReWall ceiling tiles are made without formaldehyde glues, water or chemicals and they do not emit VOCs. Each tile has a water-resistant core and is surfaced with a polycoated paper waste producing a semi-gloss finish. The tiles come in different sizes and can be covered with paper or veneer, while being mold resistant in themselves.

The ReWall products contain have very low car-bon footprints and contain 59% bio-based content. They qualify for numerous LEED points when used and are highly moisture-resistant. They are Class C flame and smoke rated. However, they are not intended for exterior, structural or excessively wet environments.

GreenPro Summit 2018 celebrates sustainable building materialsThe GreenPro Summit 2018, held in Hyderabad in April, witnessed 13 indus-try leaders being awarded the ‘Green-Pro Plaque’ for the production of sustain-able building products. Parasuraman R, founding Chairman, IGBC, also launched the GreenPro Reference Manual during the event. The event also saw the release of a GreenPro standard for Ready mix Concrete.

Pursuing ‘Green’ is the only way to address the challenges of increased resource consumption and waste gen-eration that accompanies the economic growth in India. Green products, equip-ment, technologies and services will have wider applications and demand in future, and product manufacturers have realised this.

To align with this development, Green Products and Services council of CII-Sohrabji Green Business Centre launched the GreenPro – Green Products Certifica-tion. An internationally recognised ecola-bel by CII in India, the certification system guides the manufacturers to position their

products as ‘Green’ and gain increased market reach in ‘Green Building’ sector.

The certification helps to facilitate Green Building projects in selecting the right products and equipment, allows manufacturers to reach out to environ-mentally conscious consumers and puts a system in place for a product to be clas-sified as ‘Green’.

With over 19 product categories, 53+ companies working on a certification and 380+ certified products, including prod-ucts by NITCO, Tata, ACC and Godrej, the certificate aims to cover over 1000 prod-ucts by 2022. The certificate provides a range of benefits to both manufacturers and users.

AAC as an energy and cost-efficient building materialAlthough the product has been used since 1923, AAC has become popular recently due to its potential applica-tion in the affordable housing indus-try. Manufactured using fly ash, it contains pockets of trapped air, which make it porous and lighter than other building materials. The material can be employed for internal as well as

external construction, due to its high thermal insulation and ease of instal-lation, making it useful across build-ing types, rigid structure, insulation, fire resistance, and economy of con-struction. Fly ash being an unavoid-able by-product of thermal power plants, is available in abundance, making AAC a recycled product that

works out economically. AAC con-sumes approximately 50% less energy than concrete to manufacture, and thermal mass of AAC offers ther-mal insulation, which reduces costs related to heating and air-condition-ing up to 30% resulting in continued financial benefits during the life of the construction.

The rise in urbanisation and need for affordable housing are estimated to drive the AAC market in India over the next few years. However, lack of awareness about AAC among con-struction professionals, builders, developers, and architects presently acts as restraint for the product to reach its full application potential.

The objective of ‘GreenPro’ - Green Product Certification is to enable green product market transformation in India and achieve global standards in green products and technologies.ParasuRaman RChairmanCII - Green Products and Services Council