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Kohima: Chief Executive Officer of the Kohima Smart City Development Limited (KSCDL), K Theunuo, said out of 32 projects under the Kohima Smart City Mission, 20 have been completed to date.
Informing this during the 7th foundation day of KSCDL at the Capital Cultural Hall, Kohima, on Friday, the CEO also disclosed that six projects are on the verge of completion while the remaining six projects are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
The Smart City Mission under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched in 2015 will come to a close in June 2023.
The state capital Kohima was selected as one of the 100 smart cities in the year 2016 and was incorporated under the Companies Acts 2013 as Kohima Smart City Development Ltd. (KSCDL) and the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of the Company was established on March 24, 2017, Theunuo informed.
The ongoing projects are the up-grade of Kohima local ground, redevelopment of the WW-II Battle Tank area and Kohima City Centre.
Theunuo added that the KSCDL has taken up 32 projects with a budget provision of INR 550 crore on the basis of funding pattern of 90:10 (central share INR 500 cr and state share INR 50 cr).
Some of the milestones achieved over the years are the Integrated Command & Control Centre (ICCC), Capital Cultural Hall, Kohima town beautification, safe and accessible pedestrian footpath, up-gradation and rejuvenation of the community amenities and multi-level car parking at Old Medical directorate and NST.
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]Kohima Smart City (KSC) has also been rendering continuous support in traffic management, smart street lights and city surveillance through various initiatives.
Further, its contribution towards good governance/e- governance includes developing the Open Data Portal and conceptualising the Data Maturity Assessment Framework (DMAF).
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It may be mentioned KSC was accredited as the ‘top performer’ for its outstanding contribution towards promoting data governance by the Ministry.
Kohima Smart City also became the only city from the North-east states to be accredited ‘Top Ten’ in all the three major Ministry interventions - Street for people, Cycle for Change and Nurturing Neighbourhood Challenge - and then went on to win the first seasons and received cash wards in all the categories, the KSCDL CEO informed.
While Kohima Smart City continues to cater to the needs and aspirations of its citizens to build a sustainable city, Theunuo believes that it is the principle of collective responsibility that will enable the city to grow and attain its full potential and called for building Kohima as a model city.
Advisor of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, Zhaleo Rio, said Kohima was selected as one of the smart city missions back then and money was sanctioned to the state exchequer. At that time, there was a lot of confusion as to how to implement the project. Initially, the board of directors wanted to launch without the nodal department and because of the differences of opinions, two “good years were wasted” without having the project implemented, the advisor said.
But today, within five years the KSCDL achieved so many things in the area of infrastructure, basic amenities and facilities, Zhaleo noted and congratulated the implementing authority.
He also said the concept of a smart city is not only infrastructural development but citizens are expected to be smart, should have high civic sense and indulge in good hygiene and maintain those amenities and assets created in a planned manner.
Failing to maintain the assets created will project a bad image of the Nagas, he said and urged the people to make proper use of the amenities.
With the smart city mission coming to a close, Zhaleo appealed to all the stakeholders including the Kohima Municipal Council, municipal wards, and the department concerned to see that assets created are used and maintained properly, even after the project stopped. The stakeholders should not stop the work but extend cooperation, educate citizens to be smart and make an attempt to make proper use of the assets, he added.