Not a new news to us Vizagites that our city has been chosen to be developed as one of the smart cities of India, confirming from the visit made by our Prime Minister, Narendra Modi from his first visit to US.
Yet, what we all do not know is that the government has been benchmarking Vizag to San Francisco as both the cities have geographical similarities. Sure, we never thought that the city of dreams and the city of destiny have a lot of common things to share, did we?
Visakhapatnam is the biggest city of Coastal Andhra, home to over 2.2 million people, with a population density of about 3,800 people per sq. km and a working population of about 55.42%. This port city plays home to over 1 crore tourists per year due to its cosmopolitan culture. A lot of observers say that this city is going to be among the international cities with a lot of world class amenities. Apparently, the goal is to see Vizag as the San Francisco of India. If that’s the goal to be achieved, there are a lot of changes to be seen with no doubts in it.
The commissioner of GVMC says, there are a lot of significant changes that will occur in Visakhapatnam in the upcoming 3 years. There will major changes in the quality of living, the infrastructure, there will be a 24 hour supply of water, a perfect drainage system, cycling tracks, complete Wi-Fi connectivity, pollution monitoring, smart meter usage for electric consumption, transforming the slums into normal neighborhoods, intelligent transportation system are the proposals made and a special officer has been appointed to check the quality of undergoing work and taking care of the biases.
Under this project, about 1700 acres in the city, from coastal battery to Kurupam junction, from the latter to Jagadamba junction and from Jagadamba to coastal battery will be developed. An amount of 2000 crores has been proposed to spend on these projects. It is said that 200 crores is expected from the private sector in the public-private partnership investments.
In the February of this year, the US government has signed an agreement with the state of Andhra Pradesh for the development of Visakhapatnam.
The USTDA is contributing around 30 crores for preparing the master plan. The trio of three US based companies- IBM, AECOM, KPMG- has been made for the developing of the master plan and the detailed reports of disaster management, water supply, sanitation, sewage treatment, safety & security and a non-motorized transport system are to be made compulsorily.
The implementation will be faced no delay after the finish of the master plan. For pacing up the work, many US based firms have opened their offices in Vizag lately to provide us the services they can.
Officials from the public administration, GVMC, Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority and the city police held a meeting with the trio companies to develop the road plan.
With the implementations of the various smart city solutions in different walks of our lives, with the liveliness of the people of the city and their willingness to come forward to make their city better, the results of the developments made to the traffic management and the urban development, the liveliness and happiness index is sure to increase on an attractive pace.
Coming back to the comparison with San Francisco, it is on the tip of a peninsula in northern California, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and a bay. The city is also known for its hilly landscape, among other picturesque places. Vizag, too, has a hilly terrain, several big ones such as Kailasagiri and Rishikonda overlooking the Bay of Bengal.
Who knows where all the changes would lead Vizag to in the upcoming 5 years?
We’re excited. Are you?
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