VIJAYAWADA: The three-km-long Mahatma Gandhi Road, considered one of the biggest business centres in the city, is all set to become the longest ‘smart street’ in India with the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation and Cisco India readying a slew of services. While some of the services have already been launched on a pilot basis, the project will be formally inaugurated by the Chief Minister shortly.
Cisco India and the VMC have managed to install 240 smart street lights, over 100 CCTV cameras with analytics, 35 WiFi hotspots and sensors to monitor traffic movement, pollution levels and parking availability.
“The luminosity of smart street lights can be remote-controlled. WiFi hotspots are already in place and we are using them on a pilot basis. The analytics feature of CCTV cameras is being tested. We will launch the project formally soon,” Municipal Commissioner J Nivas told TNIE. Representatives of Cisco said the project will make the lives of citizens much easier. “Digitisation helps in promoting transparency and speeds up decision-makin,” said Anil Nair, the managing director of the Country Digitisation Acceleration wing of the firm, in a video released by Cisco India earlier this month.
Funds for project
Cisco India spent Rs 3.81 crore on equipment and the state government put in another `4 crore to make the project a reality