Kohima, June 26 (PTI): The Kohima Smart City Development Ltd (KSCDL) has so far completed 17 out of 35 projects of the Smart City Mission, a senior official said on Saturday.
It includes, integrated command and control centre, capital cultural hall, beautification works, community building at New Market, pedestrian friendly footpath, and mobile hotspot, said KSCDL chief executive officer K Theunuo at the 7th anniversary of Smart City Mission.
Kohima is not only a smart city but also a cultural city in Nagaland consisting of different tribes which have been residing here since time immemorial, he said.
Theuno said KSCDL has adopted interventions in the city services by upholding the rich culture, traditions and identity.
He said that KSCDL is doing its best to develop infrastructure and services for social, economic, institutional and governance as part of the Smart City Mission.
He informed that Kohima Smart City Area based development is limited to seven, out of the 19 municipal wards only covering an area of 280 acres.
Briefing on the present status of Kohima Smart City project, he said the original project cost of Kohima Smart City was Rs 1,000 crore on the basis of 50:50 funding pattern between Centre and state government.
However, the project cost was revised to Rs 550 core due to change of funding pattern to 90:10 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) with Central government share of Rs 500 crore and state share of Rs 50 crore, resulting in cancellation of projects worth Rs 450 crore.
Some ongoing works like – Multilevel parking at Old Medical Directorate and NST Bus station, Walk-able Street, Cycle Track are expected to be completed within two-three months, he said.
Some new major projects are City Centre, Local Ground redevelopment, Battle Tank re-development and Community buildings with parking and commercial facilities are to be completed before June 2023, he said.
Principal secretary to Nagaland chief minister, K D Vizo Saturday called upon the implementers of Kohima Smart City project to engage the community and leverage technology to benefit the citizens.
Vizo stressed on the need to engage the community to identify the factors affecting them, and find out potential solutions as part of the Kohima Smart City project.
On leveraging technology, he said creating a smart city must also include educating the public to be smart citizens and that includes extensive use of Information technology and electronic data-backed approach.
The smart city team should be innovative and have long-term solutions that are not only effective but also has potential to improve upon the original plans, he said.
“We should use information and communication technologies extensively to increase operational efficiency, share information with the public and improve both the quality of services and citizen welfare,” he said.
Vizo said the focus of Smart City Mission is on sustainable and inclusive development to create cities that work for its citizens — liveable, sustainable and thriving and to offer multiple opportunities to its people to pursue their diverse interest.
“Let our mission be to build the four pillars of the Smart City Mission – Social Infrastructure, Physical Infrastructure, Institutional Infrastructure, including governance and Economic Infrastructure.