Smart City project gets integrated control boost
SHILLONG, Nov 20: The state government is planning to come up with a futuristic administrative city in New Shillong Township which will host the Secretariat and Directorate offices, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said on Wednesday.
While addressing the gathering during the inauguration of the Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICC) on Wednesday, Sangma said that the Secretariat and the Directorate offices which will come up will be of a very high standard.
He further revealed that the road connecting the new proposed Secretariat will be modern one complete with a cycling track, a walking track, green space and utility ducts.
“We are trying to make the new administrative city into a modern city keeping in mind the overall governance for the next 50 or 100 years. Our plan is to create and provide a modern ,good and strong administrative city for the coming generations,” he said.
Informing that this is the kind of vision which his government is working on, Sangma said that 50 per cent of the budget for this ambitious project will be borne by the Centre.
Sangma said the entire concept of shifting the administration to the new city is aimed at decongesting Shillong.
The CM also inspected some of the ongoing urban projects in New Shillong Township, namely, the second phase of the IT Park, a 400-bed working women’s hostel, Secretariat, Skill Park and Prime Innovation Hub.
Sangma informed that the second phase of the IT Park will add another 3,000- 4,000 seats and provide indirect and direct employment to around 10,000 people.
He also said that the work on the unique Unity Mall has just started and the project is coming up at a cost of over Rs 200 crore.
He informed that the government is planning to come up with five-star and four-star hotels in NST.
Earlier, the CM inaugurated the Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC) at Mawdiangdiang in NST.
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs funded the ICCC worth Rs 151.77 crore under the Shillong Smart City Project.
More than 350 CCTV cameras have been installed for surveillance and traffic management under the project.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said the ICCC is the brain of the entire smart city project.
“This is a platform that can connect different activities in the Information Technology field and being an open Application Programming Interface (API) makes it special. The potential of the ICCC is immense and this centre will be a mechanism and technology that can assist in making right and timely decisions,” he said.
Talking about the uses of the ICCC in surveillance, management of disasters, dissemination of information, and management of daily city operations, the Chief Minister said: “Technology is only as good as it is applied and having this ICCC does not mean we will be free from challenges and issues but the information from this ICCC and its application in decision-making and the action ensuing from it is what will make a difference.”
The Chief Minister urged departments such as IT, Urban, Police, and the Shillong Municipal Board to work out the SOPs and protocols and have the systems in place at the earliest so that the available technology can be used for the improvement of Shillong to make it a smart city.
He said the next step is to create a massive data centre at the ICCC. “Meghalaya should become the data centre hub of not only the North East but the entire Eastern region because we have the potential for it,” he added.
He also said that the government is putting up optical fibre connectivity in every block and every district will ultimately be connected to the ICCC.
He also said Tura and Jowai will be integrated into the ICCC in future.
The key components of the ICCC Shillong are the ICCC platform, ICCC with monitoring workstation with video wall 30-seater operator capacity and 20 workstations, a data centre, a collaboration solution, a contact centre, and the city network. The smart elements of the ICCC are a city surveillance system with video analytics, a solid waste management system, an intelligent traffic management system, city Wi-Fi, a public address system, an emergency call box with a public address system, variable message display, smart pole, and smart street lighting.
The city surveillance system has been set up at 96 locations, smart poles at 20 locations, and variable message displays at 20 locations.
Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar, Chief Secretary DP Wahlang, DGP Idashisha Nongrang, Principal Secretary Pravin Bakshi, and East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner RM Kurbah were among the dignitaries present on the occasion.
Also present during the inauguration were headmen of different areas of Shillong and officials from police, urban, and municipal departments.