India's first smart city takes shape in Gujarat

[Nicky G]

India's first smart city takes shape in Gujarat

The $12 billion smart city, located 12km from Ahmedabad international airport and 8km from the state capital, Gandhinagar, aims to become a global financial hub, offering international companies world-class infrastructure.

12 billion USD, that's a lot. A hundred of these cities mean investment of over a trillion dollars. :shocked:

"The project is attracting a number of companies. The Bombay Stock Exchange Brokers Forum has been allotted 300,000 sq. feet (27,870 sq. meters) in GIFT city for development of a commercial tower," Gujarat Finance Minister Saurabhbhai Patel told the Nikkei Asian Review.

The BSE Brokers Forum is shifting its back-office operations to a $20 million tower in GIFT city from Mumbai to cut costs. "With Gujarat being a low-cost center, naturally the cost there is lower than Bombay," said Alok Churiwala, vice chairman of BSE Brokers Forum, which has stake of about 40% in the BSE.

The BSE is one of the world's largest stock exchanges in terms of listed companies, with more than 5,000. Foreign stock exchanges are also expected to set up operations in GIFT city in the coming years. GIFT plans to attract 6-8% of India's financial services to the new smart city.

Focus on the financial sector interesting.

"GIFT city's development will happen in three four-year phases, starting in 2012, 2016 and 2020," Shah said. GIFT city's tallest building, the Diamond Tower, will be 410 meters high and built in the last phase of development, Shah said.

An area totaling 12.5 million out of the 13 million sq. feet earmarked for development in the first phase has been filled. "Banks like HDFC Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda have already taken space in the first of the two towers built," Shah said. Other organizations, such as Tata Communications, World Trade Center and State Bank of India, are building their own offices.

Most of GIFT city -- 67% -- has been zoned for commercial development, 22% for residential development and 11% for social facilities. A school, hospital, club, five-star hotel and university are also planned.

"The International Finance Services Center at GIFT city is the only place in India where you can do offshore banking, offshore insurance and offshore asset management. Its operating guidelines are due in about four to six months, following which the city will become functional," Shah said. He also said things are moving at a much faster pace since Modi became prime minister in May.

According to Shah, GIFT city will create 1 million new jobs: 500,000 in capital-market trading and core financial services, and 500,000 support staff jobs.

He said the focus now is on developing infrastructure. "Most of GIFT city's infrastructure is a first for India. A district cooling system will be operational by December, following which we will not require individual air conditioning. We are also working on an automated waste management system and a utility tunnel. We have connected all utilities to a common command and operation center."

GIFT city has made it onto a list of the world's 100 most inspirational and innovative projects, compiled by international accounting firm KPMG, which said the mega project in Gujarat combines state-of-the-art connectivity, infrastructure and transportation with sustainable and environmentally sensitive growth.

So a million new jobs. Again, 100 of these means 100 M new jobs. Awesome. :thumb:

 

[mattster]

WTF is a smart city anyway. A city with a fast internet connection ?

Everywhere you go in South-East Asia and especially India - you hear this buzz-word "smart city".
In Malaysia you have the "multimedia corridor" which was supposed to be Malaysia's version of Silicon Valley.
Today it is nothing more than a bunch of empty fancy office buildings and mostly filled with government offices.

In Cochin, Kerala - they have been talking about the so-called Smart City project for almost 1.5 decades, and till now there is barely squat.
But that is Kerala which is another planet of its own.

My point is this buzzword is thrown around without any real understanding of what it is or should be.

 

[ezsasa]

WTF is a smart city anyway. A city with a fast internet connection ?

Everywhere you go in South-East Asia and especially India - you hear this buzz-word "smart city".
In Malaysia you have the "multimedia corridor" which was supposed to be Malaysia's version of Silicon Valley.
Today it is nothing more than a bunch of empty fancy office buildings and mostly filled with government offices.

In Cochin, Kerala - they have been talking about the so-called Smart City project for almost 1.5 decades, and till now there is barely squat.
But that is Kerala which is another planet of its own.

My point is this buzzword is thrown around without any real understanding of what it is or should be.

There is no standard definition for smart city anyways, unless atleast a couple gets built we may not know the indian definition of smart city. it is also true that it takes atleast 10 ten years to build a full fledged one.
Lot has been said about this GIFT city but the fact is only two buildings show up in google maps.

 

[Bangalorean]

WTF is a smart city anyway. A city with a fast internet connection ?

Everywhere you go in South-East Asia and especially India - you hear this buzz-word "smart city".
In Malaysia you have the "multimedia corridor" which was supposed to be Malaysia's version of Silicon Valley.
Today it is nothing more than a bunch of empty fancy office buildings and mostly filled with government offices.

In Cochin, Kerala - they have been talking about the so-called Smart City project for almost 1.5 decades, and till now there is barely squat.
But that is Kerala which is another planet of its own.

My point is this buzzword is thrown around without any real understanding of what it is or should be.

Read up on the IoT (Internet of Things) - the next big thing in technology. It is the future. A world of interconnected devices which talk to each other and to humans, through cloud-based portals, smartphones, etc.

A smart city is a city that is built from the ground up, to incorporate technology into the very city's design. A network of sensors at various locations (bus stops, buses, road traffic junctions, etc.) constantly sends information to the cloud, which enables intelligent traffic management, rerouting, easy access of information to citizens, etc. Sensors and interconnected computing will change the way the human race leads life - imagine your refrigerator automatically detecting that you are running out of milk, and places an order online!!

Of course, it will take time to reach those levels. But in general, a smart city is a city that is built for IoT applications from the ground up. Not sure how scrupulously Indian smart cities will follow this principle. But that's what the principle is.

 

[Zebra]

WTF is a smart city anyway....

Smart city - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A smart city (also smarter city) uses digital technologies to enhance performance and wellbeing, to reduce costs and resource consumption, and to engage more effectively and actively with its citizens. Key 'smart' sectors include transport, energy, health care, water and waste. A smart city should be able to respond faster to city and global challenges than one with a simple 'transactional' relationship with its citizens.....

Definitions

The term smart city is still quite a fuzzy concept and is used in ways that are not always consistent. Here are a number of definitions:

* Smart Cities Council: "A smart city is one that has digital technology embedded across all city functions."

* Frost & Sullivan: "We identified eight key aspects that define a Smart City: smart governance, smart energy, smart building, smart mobility, smart infrastructure, smart technology, smart healthcare and smart citizen."

* IEEE Smart Cities: "A smart city brings together technology, government and society to enable the following characteristics: smart cities, a smart economy, smart mobility, a smart environment, smart people, smart living, smart governance."

* Business Dictionary: "A developed urban area that creates sustainable economic development and high quality of life by excelling in multiple key areas; economy, mobility, environment, people, living, and government. Excelling in these key areas can be done so through strong human capital, social capital, and/or ICT infrastructure."

* British Government: "The concept is not static, there is no absolute definition of a smart city, no end point, but rather a process, or series of steps, by which cities become more 'liveable' and resilient and, hence, able to respond quicker to new challenges."

* Caragliu and Nijkamp: "A city can be defined as 'smart' when investments in human and social capital and traditional (transport) and modern (ICT) communication infrastructure fuel sustainable economic development and a high quality of life, with a wise management of natural resources, through participatory action and engagement."

* Giffinger et al.: "Regional competitiveness, transport and ICT economics, natural resources, human and social capital, quality of life, and participation of citizens in the governance of cities."

 

[Zebra]

http://defenceforumindia.com/forum/economy-infrastructure/29651-gift-gujarat-international-finance-tec-city.html

 

[Kunal Biswas]

I like the plan ..

 

[dastan]

This is first? I thought already a few were in progress

 

[Zebra]

I like the plan ..

Sir, there are two different projects GIFT City and Dholera SIR.

Dholera SIR will be huge.

 

[Nicky G]

WTF is a smart city anyway. A city with a fast internet connection ?

Everywhere you go in South-East Asia and especially India - you hear this buzz-word "smart city".
In Malaysia you have the "multimedia corridor" which was supposed to be Malaysia's version of Silicon Valley.
Today it is nothing more than a bunch of empty fancy office buildings and mostly filled with government offices.

In Cochin, Kerala - they have been talking about the so-called Smart City project for almost 1.5 decades, and till now there is barely squat.
But that is Kerala which is another planet of its own.

My point is this buzzword is thrown around without any real understanding of what it is or should be.

To over-simplify it, you'd have hard of smart homes / home automation where various devices talk to each other and enable a better experience for the user. Take that and amplify it to the level of a city. Its essentially M2M (Machine to machine) communication that leverages analytics to be 'smart'. Various aspects of a city are linked and optimized.

Its not just India or SE Asia, have a look:

Amsterdam Smart City

Telcos are betting big time on this. Cisco seems to be all over this.

 

[Apollyon]

Read up on the IoT (Internet of Things) - the next big thing in technology. It is the future. A world of interconnected devices which talk to each other and to humans, through cloud-based portals, smartphones, etc.

A smart city is a city that is built from the ground up, to incorporate technology into the very city's design. A network of sensors at various locations (bus stops, buses, road traffic junctions, etc.) constantly sends information to the cloud, which enables intelligent traffic management, rerouting, easy access of information to citizens, etc. Sensors and interconnected computing will change the way the human race leads life - imagine your refrigerator automatically detecting that you are running out of milk, and places an order online!!

No. Smart Cities =! Smart Homes where everything is interconnected and most tasks are automated.
Today's vision of smart city focus mainly on to provide eco-sustainable, self-sufficient livelihood for it's residents. The public transport facilities, buildings and other infrastructure should be environmentally benign, energy efficient and use clean fuel.

 

[ezsasa]

GIFT city cannot be taken as a definition of smart city because it is not built as city for people to live in, rather it is a large business centre with facility for employees's families to reside in. That too not all employees will be able to get a place to stay with in the city. Most of them will be living in Ahmedabad or Gandhi Nagar.

There are some property market videos confirming what I said above.

 

[mattster]

People are totally confused about IOT and Smart City.

Both are buzzwords that are over-hyped.

IOT is simply about connecting sensors at home and work with the aim of making life easier.
Again its hype is I think much bigger than its potential. I don't think IOT is going to be a huge game changer.
I don't think people want their refrigerator automatically ordering the groceries. It may have some potential when it comes to health-monitoring and preventive medicine

This reminds me about AI a few decades ago.......people were predicting that AI will do all kinds of things that never came to pass.