Surat is one step closer to becoming a Smart City with the partnership of SMC (Surat Municipal Corporation) and Microsoft. Microsoft, with its CityNext Smart City initiative will build smart digital solutions for the city. Microsoft had selected Surat for development as India’s first smart city under its City Next Initiative in 2013 due to its high growth potential and availability of maximum number of computer literate people.
The aim of partnership is to provide the people of city with the real time information about the services provide by the SMC. This will make the city administration more efficient, responsive, and productive. The residents of city will soon be able to access real time information on their mobile on energy, sanitation, water, health, education and other services being provided by the Surat Municipal Corporation.
The smart city initiative will also help the administration connect with the people of city in an innovative manner, increase transparency and expand the digital inclusion with access to online services and digital literacy training. Apart from providing the real time data, Microsoft will also help the city tackle the natural disasters more efficiently and effectively.
According to Mr. Milind Torawane, IAS, Surat Municipal Commissioner, with a population of 50 lakhs, Surat is the 4th fastest growing city in the world ans is a vibrant business hub – 80 percent of the world’s diamonds processing. Surat cater to the 40% of textile demands in India while serving as economical hub for many industries. So, leveraging the technology for constant modernization, sustainability and competitiveness becomes very important.
Surat already has adopted several such technologies which are helping the city in a big way including the increased internal efficiency. City Civic Center, Virtual Civic Center (Online services through website) and Mobile App are a few to count.
The city plans to work on solutions related to water management and urban planning including building plan approvals for over the course of the next few months with Microsoft and its partners, Iconics and SoftTech. The SMC will provide office space in Surat to Microsoft and bear all the expenditure.
Img Source: Microsoft