Development of Kathmandu as Sustainable Smart City

Prof. M.N. Sreehari,
Advisor to Govt of Karnataka for Traffic,
Transport & Infrastructure.

Smart Cities are associated with high hopes and aspirations of the people for a better and higher living standards having all basic infrastructure facilities which are in place. As days are passing, people are more and more educated with higher learning and knowledge on smart city development with positive hope & curiosity. Higher the hopes, higher the expectation and it will be a real challenge for any government to handle. Most of the people have started dreaming and looking for a good day to come soon.

Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal is one of the natural and beautiful city in the world and due to the rich in nature, the city will definitely upgraded to the sustainable living standards if and when the basic infrastructure requirements are met from the government using its natural resources.

To continue in this direction, there is a strong need to understand the terms related to smart, sustainable, livable, etc; and tools to measure the existing state and the parameters to be considered for morphing the existing city in to a smart city. Smart city does not refer to tall structures with modern & upgraded road infrastructure. It is an overall development required, not only for the day but also number of years to come with sustainable & robust ICT technology on a socio-economic standards. But on the other hand developing towns, villages and temple towns, hand in hand with the cities are very important. It is not a miracle for a change until & unless the beneficiaries i.e. people also to be morphed to be smart.

The existing infrastructure facilities are clearly brought-out so that any further development or up-gradation if necessary can be identified. The various existing facilities are presented in the plots.

The growth in area over the years, what next for 2021??

The famous Pashupatinath Temple near Utilization of Solar and wind mill as an  Thrubhuvan Airport alternate source of energy  Traffic jam during morning peak one way road   Water crisis in the urban area .

This requires to form the parameters with their definition, their measurement, their relative weightages and mainly their aggregation to a composite index to know where does Kathmandu city stands on a smart scale and also to work out on the gap assessment and filling the same to match to a reasonable & expected level to qualify for a sustainable and livable smart city.

Based on the experience, exposure & expertise of the authors, various issues stated above raised are addressed leading to the development of Kathmandu as Smart City. More than the smart city, the city must be sustainable for a good standard of living with comfortable quality of life without people asking for any basic requirements.

Development of Smart City Parameters

Identification of various influencing parameters for a smart city is a complex task and challenge followed by their definition and the exact correlation with the development. The parameters vary with location, area, place to place and city to city which will be altogether different. Certain parameters which are commonly related to basic infrastructure and hence common to all cities, towns and villages as most of the habitats living will suffer from inadequate basic infrastructure facilities like water, power, housing, education, health, good roads etc. to mention a few.

So, the basic exercise should be to work on these infrastructure parameters to reach the first level of satisfaction which is termed as datum. Later on, other factors which are qualitative in nature for better living standards must be taken up and considered for the next stage of development.

The final stage will be to take all the parameters for sustainability as most of the projects are worked for yesterday's requirement, due to delays, finance and other related hidden issues. Hand in hand, while taking forward the various infrastructure related parameters development and their relative importance for the development of sustainable cities, the main stigma attached are the beneficiaries i.e. the people.  Unless and until they become smart, no city can never become smart. So, smart people require smart cities and smart cities require smart people.

Citizen Involvement and participation

It is clearly understood that every local civic body has its own way of carrying out the developments based on the available financial resources and the manifesto in line with the agenda prepared for the  development. The involvement and participation of every citizen are very vital as they are the ultimate beneficiaries. Government or authorities should not identify and develop the requirements based on their priorities which varies to a great extent from the actual requirement leading to dissatisfaction amongst people.

Identification of Parameters & their aggregation to a composite Index namely Sustainable Smarty City Index (SCI)P

Parameters are identified considering the basic requirements to qualify for Smart City tag for livability & Sustainability for future. Generally the developed city must be sustainable for at least next fifty years. While planning, next fifty year's requirement must be taken into consideration. Presently there may not be any yard stick to measure and quantify all the parameters scientifically to a composite index, which directly refers to the existing state and the degree of development to be required to qualify as smart & sustainable city. In the absence of any methodology, developments may take place haphazardly leading to in-equilibrium.

Parameters are identified for the development based on the priority & weightages of each one along with the development of value scores for each parameters. Value scored of each parameter  will be measured based on the existing facilities. In order to quantify the level of development or growth required, the existing level and its weightage to overall growth is a must. Certain parameters are qualitative in nature and others are quantitative which can be measured easily. All these parameters are to be compounded or aggregated to obtain a relative composite index to know whether the city or town requires development and its extent. There is a need to obtain value scores on a scale and the product of weightage assigned value scored which is taken as the numerator. The denominator will be for a standard or a maximum set of score expected for a fully developed smart town or city.

A simple and lucid mathematical model is developed for the purpose to aggregate the parameters which are quantitative and quantitative in nature. This obtained result will reflect the level at which the existing city or town is towards smartness and the parameters which require to improve the Smart City Index.

Parameters Identification for Smart & Sustainable Cities, towns, Villages & Temple Towns in India Parameters for Cities

1. Affordable housing and housing to all including poor.
2. 24×7 waters supply and its effective management.
3. 24×7 power supply and its effective management.
4. Application of Solar & other non-conventional & renewable energy sources
5. Solid & sewage waste management with zero net discharge by 100 % recycling and reuse
6. Good motarable roads, mobility, last mile connectivity,
7. Traffic and transportation management through ITS. Electric buses, electric rickshaws, bus bays, bus shelters,
8. Road safety, security, surveillance.
9. Heritage, tourism development.
10. IT, digitization & e-governance.
11. energy efficient smart buildings & green buildings close to nature.
12. Ecology and environment.
13. Smart materials for construction.
14. Safe pedestrianisation & NMT in Residential areas.
15. Decongestion of core areas.
16. Multimodal transportation systems for sustainability.
17. ICT and PAN India enabled infrastructure.
18. Development of parks, shopping areas, introducing wash rooms, solar maintained & e-toilets.
19. Standardization of all construction activities and specifications.
20. Land use planning by transit oriented development.
21. Walk to work with adequate accessible & safe walkways.
22. Public infrastructure with good accessibility for disabled & aged.
23. Smart cities should be flood proof with effective drainage plans.
24. Safe from fire, natural disasters on one hand & crime from other hand.

The methodology involves various steps to perform for the development of SCI

Step 1

After identifying various parameters, their relative weightages are developed by the data obtained from beneficiaries, promoters, RWA's, administrators & experts involved for the development. For a total of 100 marks put together, for all parameters, the relative weightages are obtained by calculating the weighted average from the data obtained from all the interviewed persons such that summation of all will be 100 or unity.

Step 2

The measured value of each parameter in terms of the existing facilities (as & where status) is obtained by interviewing the same persons & again the weighted average is obtained which is termed as Value Scored for each parameter.

Step 3

A pie chart is obtained taking several radials and concentric circles & each circle representing 10% and 25% interval and each radial line indicates one identified  parameter. The periphery of the circle, indicate 100% development whereas focal point represents zero development.

Step 4

Along the radial lines, the obtained value of each parameter in percent based on as & where condition  is marked & joined to obtain the existing condition of the city, town or village under consideration for sustainable development. This will be the starting point for the development required or expected to reach 100 percent  which is nothing but reaching periphery or to any other percent to reach satisfactory levels.

Step 5

If each parameter is required to reach 100% level for complete development, the necessary improvements required must be addressed and transferred to field. After this, the second pie chart is drawn.

Step 6

The sustainability or Smart City Index (SCI) is obtained for the existing status as well as for the desired level using the simple & lucid mathematical model developed for the purpose.  This will help to understand the present status of the infrastructure as well as to propose developments to reach a sustainable and smart tag. This will also help to transfer the parameters for the development on to the field.

SCI = Where ‘n' is number of groups that define the overall factors to contribute to Smart City. ‘Wi' is the relative weightage allocated with ith service characteristics.  ‘Vei' is the value score for ith service characteristics of the existing situation. ‘Vsi' is the value scores for ith service characteristics.

Step 7

Various measurements must be worked out for the development in the context of sustainability along with economic implications & various impediments that may arise. All these must be fore- closured  with proactive measures under foolproof interventions.

Discussions

While implementing the evaluated parameters in the field for the development, it is essential that the executors to practice 3 A's, i.e., Accessibility, Assessment continuously & Auditing at each stage of work. In addition to this, transparency in the executed work is essential.

Citizens participation & their progressive co-operation and involvement must be available at all times. Two important issues to be considered during the execution are: Regulation & Control of all activities, starting from quality assurance & quality control. A systematic procedure under the umbrella of ISDO together with BIS must be in place before taking up of any works. Timely availability & proper utilization of finance to execute various works are very important to prevent delays, escalation of cost, arbitration etc,. Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) must be created for smart cities development.

While retrofitting the old cities for the developing as a smart city, special care must be executed during rehabilitation, demolition & implementation of various works. A purely democratic set up for the people, by the people & to the people must be practiced for the successful implementation.

Conclusion

Development of strong parameters & their assessment as well as aggregating to a composite Smart City Index by a simple mathematic
modeling will help to classify a city.  This SCI is very important before taking up any development & allocation of funds for various activities for the city in the name of developing Kathmandu as a smart city.

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