The City Corporation is turning no stone unturned to meet the challenge of making it into the list of Smart Cities in the country. This will determine the fate of the capital in the future.
Experts state that if the city makes it to the final list, Thiruvananthapuram will be eligible to receive aid of Rs 1000 crore from the Central government. Since this is a great feat for the city, the City Corp is seeking opinions from citizens on how the city should be developed. It has also roped in suggestions from 100 wards under the Corporation.
Discussions prove fruitful
On Friday, a consultative meeting of MLAs, MPs and other eminent citizens was held in the capital city. Apart from compiling ideas on area specific development that consists of city improvement (retrofitting), city renewal (redevelopment) and city extension (greenfield development), the meeting intended to identify a pan-city initiative. Former ISRO Chairman and a resident of Shastamanagalam, G Madhavan Nair succinctly told that the city should have a vision and steps should be made to achieve it. There were large-scale suggestions on how to brand the capital- either as a heritage city, education hub or a tourism centre.
O Rajagopal MLA, former MLA Neelalohitadasan Nadar, filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan, art director Soorya Krishnamoorthy, Trivandrum Airport director George G Tharakan, Srikumar Chattopadhyay of Centre for Development Studies, officials from Vizhinjam seaport, chairpersons of Town Planning Standing Committee Satheesh Kumar R and Welfare Standing Committee R Geetha Gopal attended the meeting held at the Government Guest house in Thycaud. However, MPs from the district A Sampath and Sashi Tharoor, power minister Kadakampally Surendran, K Muraleedharan MLA were absent from the meet.
Madhavan Nair mooted the idea of developing a well-connected satellite township. The city should have long term as well as short term projects. For waste management, he suggested a model similar to that in Vienna where centralised waste treatment plants have been successfully implemented. Rajagopal MLA said that the city deserved better amenities that matches its legacy.
Make it a hub of artists
Adoor Gopalakrishnan wanted the city to be transformed into a hub for arts and culture. To make such a hub, the city should renovate its theatre infrastructure, he said. Soorya Krishnamurthy voiced his opinion that proper maintenance be made of heritage spots such as East Fort and Kanakakunnu. Tharakan spoke about the aeropolis project which envisaged a multi-model transportation facility by integrating airport, railways and canals. There was a consensus on better utilisation of city’s inland water bodies. The session was moderated by Principal Secretary (Ports and Fisheries) James Varghese who handled the LSGD when Kochi was included in Smart City list. He summarised the proposals and made his own suggestions while preparing plans for Kochi. He reminded that participation of people played an important role if the project needs to see the light of day. “ Thirty per cent mark is allocated for corporation’s plans.
It includes vision and goals, plan strategy, citizen engagement. Hence, ward sabhas are important,” he said, He highlighted the advantages of the capital in terms of better sewerage network, funding from newly constituted Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board etc. James Varghese pointed the challenges in starting satellite townships, redevelopments, land acquisition from the perspective of Smart City fund utilisation. Mayor V K Prashant who summarised the meeting said that it would convene a similar meeting to finalise the suggestion received from ward Sabhas by October 10.