Cash crunch puts Jaipur Development Authority’s smart dream in limbo

Despite showing interest in several ‘smart’ components of its international ‘sister’ cities, Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) has been unable to advance for their replication. The authority to have entered ‘knowledge sharing’ understanding with counterparts abroad has been unable to reap its benefits due to financial strains. 

“The smart city works are being implemented mostly through ‘Jaipur Smart City Limited’ through the funding for smart city projects, the JDA facing financial issues has not initiated any such work recently,” said a senior JDA officer.

Authority officials had indicated the development of smart traffic monitoring system using bluetooth sensors and smart lighting following a JDA delegation visit to the city of Adelaide in South Australia a few months ago. These projects though remain in conceptual stage for now. As smart city components, the JDA has projects of video surveillance, remote access governance services, interactive kiosks, parking solutions and rainwater harvesting on its current list. Work on the expansion of these services too has been on a slow pace. The only smart initiative of the JDA to have seen advancement has been the ‘smart corridor’ at Dravyawati riverfront. The project, however, has also been subject to ‘cost consideration’. The corridor to have been proposed in addition to the initial DPR was sent to Government e-Marketplace (GeM) for an estimate and was accordingly to be negotiated upon with the current contraction. The estimate though was not received and JDA released a separate tender for the works with an estimated cost of Rs 45 crore. 

It has been the slump in real estate market that has made revenue generation a challenge for the development authority. 

Indications

Even as the market show signs of revival, the Jaipur Development Authority also faces a huge demand for provisioning basic amenities. 
Amid the situation, the authority is expected to stay back seat in the adoption of smart components.