Smart City project to begin next year

Work for the smart city is likely to begin early next year with the arrangements in place to set up the smart city team and consultants.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Work for the smart city is likely to begin early next year with the arrangements in place to set up the smart city team and consultants. Thiruvananthapuram Smart City Limited, the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) through which the smart city project will be implemented, will float a tender to select the project management consultant on November 28.  Smart City work involves both area based development and pan city solutions. The consultant selected will handle both the projects.

The consultants can submit their bids till November 18. The tenders will be opened on November 22. The technical bids will be finalised by the end of this year and the final selection of the consultants will be done after considering their financial competitiveness. Technical bids fetch a maximum score of 80 percent and the financial bids get the rest.

The corporation plans to carry out some of the minor works under the project. “The detailed project report by the consultancy will take time and it will be closer to the end of the next year when the bigger works start,” said an officer of corporation.  The corporation plans to involve government agencies such as Kerala Water Authority and KSEB to take up some of the minor works.

“We do not need to prepare detailed project reports for minor projects. We can limit the role of consultancy
and the money paid to them as consultation fees to some extend,” said the officer. Corporation presented the final blueprint of smart city proposal. The project cost will be over Rs 1,500 crore. Smart city project will Central assistance to the tune of Rs 194 crore in the first installment for the first two years of project implementation. It covers some of the expenses met by the corporation for the registration of the company.

The city made it to the list of Smart Cities in the third round, paving way for better infrastructure development, in June. The capital city become the top scorer among 30 cities included. Subsequently, state government appointed K Gopalakrishnan, as the Chief Executive Officer of the Smart City project SPV on July 20. He will appoint officers required for handling projects, finance, IT etc. An integrated centralised control room will be set up to integrate ICT solutions in smart water network, traffic and transportation, smart mosquito density system, safety and security, disaster management, solid waste management. 

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