The smart signal project is back into the port city with the main contractor being a Hyderabad-based Stanpower which served a letter of termination by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation. The letter has been put forth a couple of weeks ago and the contractor has approached the High Court to get it approved. However, the court’s hearing is on due early next week.
In case the court comes in favour of the authorities concerned, then the GVMC has to put forth a re-tender process which means beginning the project all over again. However, if the hearing goes the other way it might make the conflict more intense. This project has been initially started in the year 2013 in the port city of Vizag but couldn’t sustain when there was roadblock of 24 smart signal poles and CCTVs caused by the cyclone Hudhud in the year 2014. It is known that since then project has hardly moved forward and a letter of termination has been issued due to the delay of the vendor and due to the less corporation of the Police to fix the signals.
The project has been given to a vendor on tripartite agreement among the vendors on the basis of the GVMC and the Police Department on BOT (build, operate and transfer). The sources from the GVMC and the police department say that out 94 assigned junctions only 36 junctions have been installed with basic signals and about 50 CCTVs have been installed. The vendor says that though the signals installed are basic they can be well upgraded with the IOT (internet of things) app.
