Smart City project scaled down;50 per cent road length cut short

Staff Reporter

The much touted, ambitious Smart City Project in East Nagpur has been scaled down as officials failed to make headway with land acquisition. This has reduced the road network to just 50 per cent from the earlier plan. Disclosing many hurdles the project has been facing, Prithviraj B, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nagpur Smart and Safe City Development Corporation Limited (NSSCDCL), said that the company has been working under tight deadline and concentrating on completing the allotted work. He was speaking at a media interaction at his office, on Monday. As per earlier plans, roads of 49.76 km were to be rolled out and now, new work orders are meant for just 13.5 km besides earlier completed 12.36 km. The mega plans and big promises of local leaders have failed to materialise due to stiff opposition from locals and has resulted in the mega climbdown. The result, road length in the Smart city area has been reduced by nearly 50 per cent. This seals the project’s fate. Smart city concept was based on Area Based Development (ABD) mode and was to be constructed in 1,730 acres of land spread over Punapur, Pardi, Bharatwada and Bhandewadi villages. The development project was under Town Planning scheme as per MRTP Act. During media interaction at NSSCDCL's office at NMC Headquarters, Civil Lines, the new CEO said, Smart Cities Mission is now required to complete all projects by June 2024, this is the final deadline and thereafter no extension is going to be granted. So we have issued work orders for four packages that involves laying of 13.5 kms road with amenities.

Now that land acquisition seems almost impossible to completed, the company (NSSCDCL) has decided to prioritise the work and execute only those projects that are feasible and could be completed within the stipulated time frame. From the media interaction, it was certain that the entire scheme of Smart City failed to take off. One of the prime reason for project debacle was that already 70 per cent of area was already developed, though haphazardly due to mushrooming of unauthorised layouts, said the CEO. However a fine reading would reveal that the Town Planning scheme sanctioned for Smart City Project in city was to taxing for citizens. First under the provisions of MRTP Act, Government could acquire upto 40 per cent of land of owners and pool them for development of amenities. Secondly, even the cost of development of civic amenities was to be recovered by NSSCDCL from the citizens whose land is going to be acquired. This was met with stiff resistance as citizens did not had that much deep pockets and they were also skeptical of promised high returns giving the stature of city. But Prithviraj said in earlier estimate the total recovery from land owners was pegged at Rs. 3200 crore but post arbitration the amount was reduced to just Rs. 247 crore. The Smart City project of Nagpur is most challenging as major land was already urbanised and hence acquiring the land remained a major challenge. Of the 42 work orders, 15 have been completed and 15 other are in last phase.

To a query, Prithviraj said that Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) has now agreed to part with land required for rehabilitation of brick kilns, they are currently occupying significant portion of land in Smart City area. Though all of them would not be accommodated, yet a large number of them are likely to get the new land parcels for their unit. He said by Diwali, the Home Sweet Home, the multi-storey project of rehabilitation of Project-affected Persons (PAPs) is going to be completed. Similarly, out of four elevated service reservoirs (ESRs), the people residing in area would get piped water supply within next two months as two ESRs are going to be commissioned in Bharatwada. A simple analysis would reflect that the blame rests totally at Government's door as they drafted a Town Planning scheme for East Nagpur, where entire burden was laid on the shoulders of land owners. As per provisions of MRTP Act, Government can acquire upto 40 per cent of land and pool it for development of amenities. But the catch was that NSSCDCL was also told to recover development fees from land owners. This was nothing but double jeopardy, a to punishing the land owners. But now in the new development mode, the company has decided to provide 160 amenities in Smart City area. To another query as to kiosk installed at city bus stops, Prithviraj said they are right now not working as it needs software upgrade as RBI did not permit use of cash at these units. NSSCDCL officials including Rajesh Dufare, General Manager; Dr Sheel Ghule, General Manager; Rahul Pande, Chief Planner; Neha Jha, Chief Accounts Officer; Dr Pranita Umredkar, General Manger (I) and Project Director; also were present during the media interaction.