In reply to a question by Guwahati Lok Sabha MP Queen Oja on Thursday regarding the status of bridge over the Brahmaputra river connecting Narengi and Kuruwa, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said that there is no project undertaken by the Guwahati Smart City Limited (GSCL) for construction of the bridge.
Further, the minister provided a detailed report on the projects implemented or to-be-implemented that would turn Guwahati into a Smart City.
Speaking on optical fibre communication, Puri said that GSCL does not have any project to set up an optical fibre communication system in the city.
"However, GSCL's master system integrator (MSI) project envisages using the existing optical fibre system of various service providers available in the city," Puri added.
It may be mentioned here that the proposed MSI project has components such as city surveillance systems, smart pole, ICT-based solid waste management, smart parking, environmental sensors, flood water sensors, an app for smart governance and citizen's services, etc.
"These solutions and services will be made available across the city, and centralised monitoring and management of the services will be done from the ICCC (integrated command and control centre) where the representatives of the stakeholder agencies will be stationed for emergency response," said Puri.
The minister also informed that the water of Borsola Beel would be purified under the Guwahati Smart City project.
"Moreover, efforts would be made to revive and protect the Bharalu, Mora Bharalu and Deepor Beel," he added.
It was also informed by the minister that under the smart city project, no schemes have been thought as of now to mitigate the erosion faced by the hilltops in Guwahati.
It may be mentioned here that Guwahati was declared a Smart City on January 16, 2016.
The projects taken up for implementation by Smart City are the installation of high mast National Flag at Gandhi Mandap, redevelopment and improvement of Gandhi Mandap, installation of water ATMs, installation of smart bio-toilets and installation of LED street-lights, among others. The Guwahati Smart City Ltd also has proposals for an intelligent street-lighting system, Brahmaputra riverfront development and MSI among others.
