BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials and delegates from Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government, China, held a discussion on Tuesday to share knowledge about smart cities and the best practices followed by both the municipal corporations on improving cities.
Yong Hong, Vice Mayor of Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government, led the nine-member delegation. He said that they were here to understand the concept of planning and urbanisation. He said Bengaluru has a lot of similarities and the problems faced by both cities were also similar.
During the discussion, the Chinese delegates said that their waste-to-energy plants were located within the city and people had no problem with that. They also spoke of the technological advances being adopted in smart city management.
The BBMP officials present at the discussion said that MoUs will be signed soon, after discussing with the government. The officials clarified that agreements will not be signed for finances, but to bring in technology on improving roads, infrastructure and other better practices. BBMP officials were impressed to know how 20,000 tonnes of waste was being converted to energy every day, how the city roads were washed, and how despite the presence of mechanical sweepers.
Civic body plans to beautify black spots
A team of BBMP officials, citizens and other like-minded people, under the banner of Swachcha Sundara Bengaluru, beautified a black spot on Kanakapura Main Road, near Yelachenahalli Ground Point by drawing rangoli on the black spot. BBMP officials said they wanted to bring back this system where after cleaning the black spot, it is beautified too. “However, in 40% of the cases, it has been seen that black spots return to haunt the localities. So, BBMP is planning to revive it so that the art work will be protected,” an official said.