Clean city contest to boost Swachh Bharat Mission

New Delhi: Cities across India could soon get a rank for cleanliness and hygiene.

The City Challenge had given a sense of competition and purpose to the ambitious Smart City project. The Union government is planning to do something similar for its signature campaign, the Swachh Bharat Mission.

A pan-India survey to rate 75 cities on cleanliness and hygiene parameters will take off soon. The idea is to accord a status of national priority to Swachh Bharat and provide linkages with the Smart City plan. Earlier this year, a quick dipstick study by the government on cleanliness in cities had come under attack for its limited scope and insufficient coverage.

Recently, the government had announced a 0.5 per cent cess on all taxable services towards the Swachh Bharat Mission in an attempt to keep its promise of delivering a clean India by 2019.

Competitions and contests have been at the heart of several mega schemes of this government.

When asked about the merit of a survey to rank cities for cleanliness, Karuna Gopal, an advisor on government projects such as Smart Cities and Swachh Bharat, said it would offer a scientific assessment of the level of cleanliness. It would help the authorities to mentor and guide those lagging behind, she added.

The rating of cities for cleanliness would be the starting point for Smart Cities, government officials said.

The engagement of citizens' with various Smart City projects would also throw up similar findings.

Thousands of such inputs - as seen on mygov.in, an interactive platform between the government and citizens on big projects - reveal that it is perhaps impossible to have a Smart India without a clean India.

Citizens are unanimous in their feedback for the Smart City proposal that cleanliness is the starting point. Sufficient public toilets and dustbins are a must, garbage collection should be efficient, and stringent laws should be imposed on people found spitting and throwing garbage. This is true for all Smart City contenders, be it Indore, Bhopal, Shivamogga, Puducherry, Ghaziabad, Udaipur, Namchi or any other.

In a message that big schemes must converge with each other, the Ministry of Urban Development on Saturday asked states and urban local bodies to provide for piped natural gas supply and compressed natural gas stations in cities selected for development as Smart Cities. The Centre asked them to "ensure convergence of various schemes", according to a government statement.

Besides linkages and convergence with other key schemes, the Smart City project has picked up on other fronts as well with less than a month to go for the first cut-off phase. States and urban local bodies have to submit their city-level plans to the Centre by December 15, after which 20 cities will be selected based on their scores for the first phase of financial allocation.

So far, 98 cities are in the fray and the government has decided to put in Rs 500 crore for each city in phases. Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir are yet to nominate a city each.

More than 15 countries and 30 organisations across the world have collaborated with Indian cities in some manner for the project so far, estimates suggest. Among the countries that will have a role in the project include the US, Canada, the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Africa, Abu Dhabi and the Netherlands.

Ecorys Nederland, a research-based consulting firm in the Netherlands, is advising Bhagalpur in Bihar for the Smart City project. Royal HaskoningDHV, another consulting firm again from the Netherlands, is working with Dahod in Gujarat.

Among other consultants, Tractebel Engineering of Belgium is in a tie-up with Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, Mott Macdonald of the UK is backing Jaipur, Deloitte Touche of Japan has entered a pact with Bidhannagar in West Bengal and Data World of South Africa with Namchi in Sikkim.

Estimates suggest that building a new Smart City with 1 million population would cost around Rs 20,000 crore a year for the next 10-15 years, while building on existing cities would be cheaper depending upon the nature of retrofitting work required. The Centre has decided to spend Rs 50,000 crore and the remaining is expected to come from states and private entities.

The global opportunity for Smart Cities by 2020 is pegged at $1.7 trillion. In India, the Smart City segment could mean an opportunity of $50 billion.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.