Mangaluru: A two-day workshop on Smart City Mission-Karnataka that commenced on Friday in the city saw experts deliberating on the need for developing sustainable smart cities with focus on the requirements of the city and topography.
The workshop which has been jointly organised by the Mangaluru City Corporation, the State government and the World Bank, saw a participation of consultants from the World Bank, senior officials from state government and KUIDFC, mayors, deputy mayors, chairpersons of standing committees, commissioners of city corporations selected under the project and corporators from Mangaluru City Corporation among others.
Speaking at the workshop, Shashank Ojha, Task Team Leader, World Bank, cited that a smart city had to have two major components — infrastructure, whether that entails retrofitting existing ones or investing in Greenfield sites, and pan-city information communication technology for effective delivery of services.
Mangaluru City Corporation Commissioner Mohammed Nazir too put forth his views on the smart city mission while presenting his vision for Mangaluru. Remarkably, six cities from Karnataka have been selected to be developed as smart cities.
Karnataka Urban Development Minister R Roshan Baig inaugurated the workshop. In his address he stressed that along with institutional changes, behavioral changes among residents too are required for the success of a smart city. He also asked people’s representatives to visit other countries to get ideas on how to make their cities smart.
Delegates from other countries too were present at the two-day workshop held at Ocean Pearl. Mangaluru aims to bring about a sea change in the infrastructure and livelihood in six cities of the state, local delegates vouched.
Six city municipal corporations of Mangaluru,Shivamogga, Belagavi, Hubballi Dharwad,Tumakuru and Davangere have been chosen under the five-year project. Each smart city will be given a Rs 500 Crore grant from the Centre, besides an additional Rs. 500 Crore from the State government.
