The government has announced its big vision to set up 100 smart cities across India, inspiring cities to get smarter and faster. Although it is a given that information technology will be the underpin that will hold such smart cities, what are their implications for citizens? At a recent event, PADMA SHRI ARUN FIRODIA, CHAIRMAN, KINETIC GROUP, extolled his Smart City blueprint: what a smart city can be, how it has to be managed within a geographical limit, how such a Smart City is feasible, practical and can be developed at zero cost-along with suggestions as to how we can stop cities from growing too big. Corporate Citizen brings to you a rundown on Firodia's Smart City talk and his Smart City blueprint.
The natural progression is to grow from town to city. Cities like Tokyo, New York or Mumbai are very efficient, but they are too big. When a city becomes very big, it becomes unmanageable. The question is what is the correct size of the city, which is neither small, so it is efficient-and not too big, so it is governable. A city like Mumbai or Pune has more than two municipal corporations and now there is a movement to increase the number of corporations to even more, because they are becoming ungovernable. My question is why allow a city to become that big? Why not restrict the size of the city to something that is manageable? The size of a city that is manageable, is of five-seven lakh population. Examples of cities which have five-seven lakh population are Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and these are cities recognised all over the world as model cities. A city which is manageable in its geographical boundaries, is the first thought.
Around five decades ago, the communist revolutionary and the founding father of the People's Republic of China, Mao Tse-tung, had decided that they don't want villages but only towns. So, all the villagers were told to move to towns. A village of 1000-2000 people, like we have in India, doesn't exist anymore in China. They have towns, each with a population of around 20,000. They created a town out of 10 villages. Now that town of 20,000 suddenly becomes efficient, because it can now have a school, library, doctor, repair workshop, traders, etc. A village of 1,000 people had none of these facilities and villagers would commute to the nearest city or town for their smallest needs. So, Mao Tse-tung decided to make efficient towns and told farmers to stay in towns, but go to their villages (less than 10 kilometres away) on bicycle, do their work and return to the towns in the evening. Now this conversion of village to town has really transformed China and improved people's lives.
I have made a blueprint of a city which is 6 * 2 kilometres. The city has industries, which we need because we need employment. If all the industries are located in a specific band, you can have pollution control, effluent treatment and wellsuited logistics. These industries in my Smart City blueprint are linked to each other by efficiently managed logistic support. More important is the residential area next to the industry, so the workplace is at a walkable distance from people's homes. You might wonder if that is feasiblein the Mumbai mill areas, people walked from their house to work in the mills. Which is why you would find sirens installed outside the mill and not inside, which was used to call the people to walk to their workplace. It was a nice and compact arrangement.
One of the important things in a Smart City is zero pollution. Therefore, every industry must ensure that not only is water effluent treated and released, but even particulate emission or the air they are emitting out is treated and then sent out into the atmosphere. Every industry has to install an airborne monitor to continuously monitor the quality of the effluent or the exhaust and ensure industries treat their exhaust in a fashion that no harmful exhaust pollutes the city. It may add one or two percent to the cost, but if it adds 100 percent to the health of the people, it is worth that cost. People should live next to the industry, but the industry should not pollute or emanate harmful pollutants. All emission should be monitored and ensured that it is within the prescribed norms.
In my Smart City blueprint, people not only live next to their workplace, they also live next to all amenities, and all commercial and recreational facilities. This way people spend just a few minutes commuting. In a city like Mumbai, people spend one to two hours commuting each way, while in a big city like Tokyo or Los Angeles people spend two-three hours commuting. But in our Smart City, people will spend just a few minutes walking to work or for amenities. Now there are other amenities like hospitals and shopping centres, which you don't need on a daily basis. So, they are located a bit away from the residential areas, but still at a walkable distance. In this city there is also a walkway, which is meant for people to walk, where vehicles are not allowed. And on the side of this walkway, there are little shopping stalls. In our cities we have these unauthorised small stalls, which serve a purpose-to meet our daily needs. In our Smart City, these stalls will be authorised and given licensed space.
On the central road that we have shown in our plan, there is track for an electric tram. Those who do not want to walk longer distances, can use the electric tram or use electric vehicles on the road meant for vehicular traffic. I strongly recommend electric vehicles for the Smart City, like electric auto-rickshaws, electric scooters, electric mini-buses and buses. Electric vehicles are zero-polluting. What they require is overnight charging of batteries. There are batteries which can be charged in one hour, they are expensive but can be used if you want fast charging.
Though electric vehicles are preferred in the Smart City, it does not mean that non-electric vehicles are banned. We allow people to have fuel-run vehicles but for them parking on the city roads will be expensive. They will have multistorey parking facilities, where you have to pay per hour and you will not be allowed to park on the road-side. Only electric vehicles will be allowed to park on the roadside and they can also charge their vehicle batteries while they are parked. We have to induce people to use electric vehicles, public transport, bicycles or walk. We have to create the conditions so that people are induced to walk, use bicycles and electric vehicles by designing the city that way, and from day one, ensuring that these modes of transport are actually used by the people. The city has to be planned in such a fashion that public transport is encouraged, walking is encouraged, electric vehicles are encouraged and private transport is not banned but discouraged.
'Though electric vehicles are preferred in the Smart City, it does not mean that non-electric vehicles are banned. We can allow people to have fuel-run vehicles but for them parking on the city roads will be expensive. They will have multistorey parking facilities, where you have to pay per hour and you will not be allowed to park on the roadside'
Domestic effluent that pollutes the river water can be treated and reused. Each of the city houses use about 100-120 litres of water a day, which can be brought down to as less as 25- 30 litres a day by recycling and reusing the water. First, you get clean drinkable water for drinking, cooking or bathing. The water which goes down the drain should be collected and recycled, to be used for toilets, which again goes down another drain and recycled to be reused for gardens, or farms or car wash. Effluent water can be recycled for garden use and need not go to the rivers. In the same way, the city decides not to dump effluent or garbage into neighbouring villages or rivers, but it is treated and reused.
Our Smart City is bordered by farms that produce vegetables or grass for cattle feed and also has poultry farming so we can get fresh vegetables, milk or eggs from within two kilometres. The farmer is allowed to directly sell his produce to the consumers. The city provides him with water for his farm, and access to the city market to hawk his produce, while the advantage to city dwellers is that they can get the produce at half the price, in the absence of middlemen. In the Smart City, we try to avoid the multiple agencies of middlemen, transportation and spillage, by inducing the farmer to sell directly to the consumer. As the transit distance is less, there will be no spillage and transportation, and the produce will come at low cost to the consumers. In cities today, the middle class spends 50 percent of their income on food; if that is available at half the price, then you save 25 percent of your income. So, in the Smart City, people can live at less cost and enjoy a better standard of living.
Urban dwellers' main cost of living comprise of food, transportation and children's education. A Smart City should offer land to schools and even construct the school building free of cost, so people can just come and set up their schools and impart quality education to children. Quality education means that it should be at the standard of International Baccalaureate (IB) with teacher student ratio of 1/20. With land and school building provided free of cost, all that the schools have to spend on would be teachers' salaries. This way quality education will be available at affordable cost.
Our Smart City plan shows that there is a boundary around the city with only two entrances. These entrances will have security, which will allow entrance to only authorised people within the city. Housing will be provided to the people as per their liking and affordability, but they should have a work permit. If they have a work permit in the industry or any commercial establishment, they can come and stay in the city. They can avail all the amenities within the city, provided they are bona fide residents of the city. Those who are working in the city are the bona fide residents of the city. And as the city becomes bigger, more people should be encouraged to come in.
Till now, I talked about self-sufficient multiple wards, with school, industry, hospital, playground and everything. As the population increases, you add additional wards, and restrict it when the population reaches a maximum of five-six lakh. Each self-sufficient ward is one of the key ingredients of the Smart City. The ward officer will have the power to spend the funds for that ward. Citizens of the ward with a population of 20,000, will be able to give their suggestions to the ward officer, on how to spend the money on their suggested projects. If every ward has its own budget for road repair, cleanliness, garbage collection, education, etc., and citizens will be ready to pay for those services; I am sure every citizen will willingly pay more taxes if they are sure the usage of their money is to their satisfaction.
'City NGO, Janwani has started a very novel concept called 'Participatory Budgeting' in Pune city. In this Participatory Budgeting, we have told the commissioner that if your budget is a few thousand crores, allow around `50 lakh per ward, for which people of the ward can make suggestions'
In a large country like India, we think we are helpless and can't influence the decisions made by the government in Delhi. The same is the case at the state and city level-we are not able to influence decisions taken by state government or city mayor or commissioner. This is because the city is too big to a hear a citizen's voice. But, in your local ward, you can make your voice heard. You can go to your corporator and make your voice heard. The corporator will look into your complaints or suggestions and influence the ward officer, to improve things you want. So, in the Smart City, every ward will be self sufficient, every ward officer will have the power to spend money, jointly with the people's elected representatives, and people will take part and interest, ensuring that the money they give as tax money is wisely used.
Today, we are paying property taxes which are really miniscule-a few thousand rupees a year. We should be willing to spend much more. But people are reluctant because they think it will be misused. If you are able to influence the way your money is used, you will be willing to pay more taxes. For example, the city of Surat in Gujarat was afflicted by the plague sometime back. The commissioner there then decided to clean up the city. Today Surat has become khoobsurat. Today people in Surat are willing to pay more taxes, because they saw that the commissioner made a difference in their lives. Today Surat has become a very live able city. So, if you make a difference in the lives of the people, they are willing to pay higher taxes, provided they have the right to decide how to spend their money. In the Smart City, there will be possibility and feasibility of how their taxes should be spent. For this purpose, e-governance is required, because 20,000 people cannot make their voices heard, except through e-governance. The Smart City should have everything controlled electronically. All your suggestions, requirements, applications, plebiscites, referendum-everything should be controlled by e-governance.
City NGO, Janwani has started a very novel concept called 'Participatory Budgeting' in Pune city. In this Participatory Budgeting, we have told the commissioner that if your budget is a few thousand crores, allow around 50 lakh rupees per ward, for which people of the ward can make suggestions. So, every citizen can make a suggestion as to how to spend that 50 lakh rupees on the development of their ward. All this is put up on the website where people can file suggestions online, which, then goes to the ward officer in the corporation. People can also monitor online, the progress on their suggestion. This way people become involved in the corporation affairs. In the guidelines for the Smart City issued by the government, one of them is participatory budgeting. This way we can involve citizens by bringing in decentralization and e-governance.
'If the land is free, a Smart City can be developed with 2,000 crore rupees, and the cost to the government will be nothing. All that the government has to do is prepare and approve the plan, issue guidelines, and provide water, electricity and fuel on a chargeable basis'
Electricity can be generated through solar energy. In an area of 6 * 2 square kilometre, a lot of electricity can be generated by using solar roof-tops which will not only meet the needs of the residents, farmers, and transport, but also provide electricity to the industry. This way one-third of industry requirement can be provided through rooftop solar power generation. Today solar power generation is not expensive -it comes to around six-seven rupees per unit, which is about the same charged by the electricity board. Now, the Maharashtra government has allowed net-metering, where you generate electricity through solar generators and feed into the government grid. You will get paid for what you feed into the grid, and you pay for what you draw. At the end of the year, it will be calculated whether you have fed more or drawn more electricity, and charged as per that. So every citizen or industry or commercial place can generate solar power on their rooftops and feed the grid during the day and consume it during the night.
Water will come from rainwater harvesting. In our Smart City, we will also ensure there is no water loss from evaporation, by covering the water surface with plastic balls, and by not making wide but deep wells. The well is an Indian invention. The advantage of the well is that for a given surface area, it has maximum storage capacity, so evaporation loss is minimised. The well gets its water from the nearby river and the water gets filtered on the way to the well. A better option than the well is a bore-well. So, if you want to store rainwater, dig wells and bore-wells. In a 6 × 2 square kilometre area you can store enough water through rainwater harvesting to meet your entire need, provided from day one you have dug enough wells or bore-wells. The groundwater is stored in this way, then pumped out using solar power and used for your need, then it is recycled and finally used on the farmland. This way a Smart City will ensure no demand on water, no demand on electricity, no demand on the drainage system. It will be a self-contained Smart City.
A Smart City will come at zero cost to the government. Say, the government approves a Smart City plan like the one we have prepared and invites developers to build the Smart City. The government won't bear any cost, but if the farmer's land is procured for the city, he will have to be given alternate land around the city and also given a livelihood. If the developer agrees to giving farmers guaranteed water supply and a market, they will be happy. If I take farmers' land for the Smart City and give them land outside the Smart City with free water supply and free access to the market to sell their goods, farmers will not be unhappy to give away their land. If the land is virtually free, water can be rainharvested, and electricity can be generated, then expenses will be limited to constructing houses, solar rooftops, transport infrastructure. But all this can be charged. If somebody wants to live in these houses, you can charge rent. If somebody wants to use your transport infrastructure, you can charge a fee on the user. If the land is coming free, the developer will agree to invest, say, Rs.2,000 crore on development and recover the same over a 10 year period. Banks also should be willing to give money to developers. The plan will be prepared by the authorities, subject to guidelines. If the land is free, a Smart City can be developed with 2,000 crore rupees, and the cost to the government will be nothing. All that the government has to do is prepare and approve the plan, issue guidelines, and provide water, electricity and fuel on a chargeable basis.
We can't make Mumbai or Pune into a Smart City at zero cost to government. To convert these cities into Smart Cities will require huge investment. But that does not mean that Mumbai and Pune cannot become Smart, they should become Smart, but people should be willing to pay for it. But a greenfield or new Smart City, in the suburb of Mumbai or Pune, can be set up, with each having a population of five-seven lakh. So that future migrators from villages need not come to Mumbai or Pune, they can come to Smart Cities and live a happy life.
The government should identify locations around the metro cities that can house a population of five-seven lakh and invite people to submit their plans. Then the developers can go all over the world and induce industries to set up factories there, induce the farmers to part with their land and develop nice Smart Cities. Such entrepreneurs exist, and people are willing to come and invest in India. If the government gives a go-ahead and approves the location of greenfield Smart Cities around metro cities, I am sure this dream will come in to reality. And if there are 500 such Smart Cities and in every district there is one such Smart City, 25 crore population will move to Smart Cities (500 * 5,00,000 = 25 crore). Some districts can have more than one Smart City. For a city like Pune, there can be three to four Smart Cities.
People are waiting to leave their villages and come to cities. The question will arise whether we want villagers without skills to come into these cities. No, we want villagers with skills. So, all these industries will have to run their industrial training institutes, where the people who come to the cities can be trained to be able to work in those industries. Let us have our villagers coming to Smart Cities, we will train them, we will use them in our industries, provide them employment, and good working and living environment. Going one step forward, we should ensure that people from all over the country come and live there. India's real strength is that it is multi-cultural. So, in the Smart City, we should ensure that not only do local people migrate, but people from all over the country are encouraged to come there with their skills, knowledge and culture. So, each Smart City should become a mini India. I want to call these smart cities as antarbharatiya cities. With such smart cities, all the dreams of Swachh Bharat, Samarth Bharat, Sakshar Bharat, Shashakt Bharat will be realised. These dreams cannot be realised in villages, they cannot be realised in mega cities, they cannot be realised by starting industries here and there they can be realised only in Smart Cities.
Physically challenged people can move using electric vehicles. Now electric vehicles are available which can take voice commands and even neck commands. Technology makes all this possible. Designing the city suitable for physically challenged people is possible. In old cities, physically challenged people are at a big disadvantage, but in a Smart City, design principles can accommodate the needs of physically challenged people.
People's entry will be controlled, that does not mean that only local people will be allowed inside. We would like people from all over the country to come into the Smart City. Countries like the US have prospered because they allow people from all over the world to come and live there. Mumbai city prospered because people from all over India came and lived there. Parochialism has no place in a Smart City. We have to get people who will contribute to the city. You cannot say that local people will not be given a place, because that will again give rise to tension. Similarly, if people whose land you are taking are not given a place, it will again be an issue. So, there has to be a good mix of local and outside people. Outside people should come with special skills, managerial or technical skills and the local people should be trained to become workers. Right in the beginning we have to plan the city to be self sustaining. It does not matter if India is illiterate. Our soldiers who are tenth-grade pass operate the Bofors gun and they can do that because they have been trained. Your formal education needs to be supplemented by skill-training. Continuous training and energising people is required. Smart people have to be self sustaining.
'First our mentality has to change, that we want to make our city pollution free for our children. Citizens have to make that sacrifice and not insist on private vehicles but prefer public transport. There is definitely a need for educating the people and for some sacrifice on their part, like, I will walk a little bit, I will not clog the roads, I will use public transport that kind of awareness and change of mentality is also required'
In Delhi, there are electric-run public vehicles which cost Rs.1 lakh and charge passengers five rupees, whereas in Pune there are petrol-run auto-rickshaws costing Rs.5 lakh and charging passengers over Rs.25. Electric vehicles are cheaper because one unit of energy costs six rupees and a petrol vehicle which has five horsepower fuel engine, consumes two litres of petrol in one hour. One litre of petrol costs 60 rupees. Electric vehicles are cheaper to run and manufacture also. Electric vehicles are cheaper because you make them deliberately lighter. Electric vehicles are the way to go, as they have low running and purchase cost.
At one time, industries did cause pollution and there was a regulation that industrial areas should be distinct from residential areas. For example, in the industrial area of Pimpri Chinchwad they realised that people used to live in Pune city and commute to Pimpri-Chinchwad, on a daily basis. Hundreds of company buses would clog the roads during the peak hours. However, now you hardly see any company buses coming from Pune to Pimpri -Chinchwad, because the government understood the folly and they allowed residential areas in certain pockets in Pimpri Chinchwad. Now the government has gone a step further and has decided that residential areas will be allowed within MIDC areas. Again, they are coming back to the idea that you live near your place of work. Pollution is a problem but you don't allow industry to pollute. First, make sure that they will not pollute, make sure that their exhaust is monitored and not allowed to exceed the norms. That is the way to go rather than saying let industries pollute, but we will keep people away.
You will find that the entire Japan is a smart country. With 90 percent Japan being hilly, they have still managed to make pollution free smart cities. In Tokyo, private cars are not allowed, only taxis or public transport are allowed. Japan is smart because-and Hitachi can do their job because-people know the importance of good health and zero pollution; they are willing to commute by subways and taxis and not by private cars. Here in India, our people are not willing to commute by public transport and prefer only private vehicles. Here Hitachi or any other company may fail in their attempt. So, first our mentality has to change, that we want to make our city pollution-free for our children. Citizens have to make that sacrifice and not insist on private vehicles but prefer public transport. There is definitely a need for educating the people and for some sacrifice on is also required. So, Hitachi can succeed if we change our mentality.
By Rajesh Rao
