Pune has partnered with European Business and Technology Centre to leverage European smart city solutions
With the centre now having finalised a list of 60 cities which will receive priority funding for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 100 Smart Cities plan, the state governments, municipal corporations and urban bodies are gearing up to ensure availability of basic framework and technology for the creation of Smart City. Recently, the Pune Smart City Development Corporation (PSCDCL) signed a two-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC) to leverage European smart city solutions for the Pune Smart City Project.
According to Pune municipal commissioner, Kunal Kumar, this agreement will give Pune a global perspective on local issues and help in empowering its smart city plan. “It will give us valuable global perspectives on local issues, and will also empower our Smart City initiatives through access to European Union standards of expertise, policy frameworks and also European funding bodies,” said Kumar who is also the director of PSCDCL.
As per the agreement, New Delhi headquartered EBTC which is constituted by the European Union (EU) and managed by EUROCHAMBRES, the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry, with a company incorporated in India, will share real-time knowledge of technologies, solutions and best practices from Europe for the PSCDCL Smart City Project.
“We at the PSCDCL will identify the problem areas and inform the EBTC. They will provide access to technologies and solutions based on EU expertise and knowledge from governments, cities and the private sector,” said Prerna Deshbhratar, additional municipal commissioner, PMC and CEO of the PSCDCL.
According to an official, EBTC can offer access to EU policy frameworks, which could be used as templates for the Pune Smart City Project. The collaboration can help to surface and address the PMC’s requirements for capacity building in evolving areas of Smart City initiatives from Europe. The EBTC can also introduce the PSCDCL to EU funding agencies for the project, organising meetings across Europe. In addition, the EBTC will act as a first point of contact for European government bodies, companies and funding agencies that approach the PSCDCL for various proposals, presentations, delegations and other initiatives.
“The EBTC endeavours to support the governments and private sector involved in the Smart Cities Mission in India with in-depth information and knowledge of available technologies, solutions and frameworks from Europe, by way of broad access to the innovation and legacy created in this field in European countries,” said Poul V. Jensen, director of EBTC.
The PSCDCL which was formed in March 2016 as a special purpose vehicle (SPV) under the Companies Act, 2013, to implement the Smart City initiatives in Pune had already signed a five-year MoU with Global Compact Network India (GCNI) to prepare a framework of governance for smart city through compliance and procurement management as well as public private partnership module (PPP) to develop Pune as a world class city under the Smart Cities Mission.
Interestingly, in this endeavour Pune is not alone. Some of the states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan have already partnered with global technology giants such as Cisco, Oracle, Autodesk for improving their urban infrastructure. In fact, Oracle and the Maharashtra have recently signed an MoU to accelerate the state’s digital transformation initiatives. Similarly, Andhra Pradesh and Cisco have partnered to design and implement the AP Fibre Net project. On the other hand, Pink city Jaipur is embarking on the path of digitisation with the help of Cisco to transform itself into a smart city over the next few years.