Political wrangling slows down Belagavi Smart City project

The Smart City project in Belagavi has failed to take off even two years after it was announced.

Belagavi, located on the Karnataka and Maharashtra border, was part of the Union Minister of Urban Development’s first list of 20 cities announced on January 28, 2016 for the smart city project.

However, the project has been stalled due to the clash of egos among various political parties.

“Belagavi faces a strange problem as Congress party rules the State, belligerent Maratha speaking population hold power in the civic body, and in between is the principal opposition party in the State BJP that has a strong political base in the city and district. This is creating confusion and ego clashes,” said Basavaraj Javali, Vice-President Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (Kassia) and founder of Belagavi-based Beejay Enterprises — a manufacturer of hydraulic products for industrial, automotive, mobile, agriculture and process industries.

As the border row between Karnataka and Maharashtra has waned, the city now is on the global map and investment has been flowing into metal casting, hydraulics and machining. This has made the city a ‘foundry hub’, where over 250 foundries produce automotive and industrial castings of ferrous base and also is supporting ancillaries like CNC and conventional machine shops which finish their castings here.

The city is also home to a 300-acre special economic zone — Private Aerospace SEZ — on the Pune-Bengaluru National Highway (NH-4) to cater to the precision engineering requirements of the global aerospace, automotive and industrial needs.

Aerospace SEZ managed by Aequs SEZ has successfully built an aerospace manufacturing ecosystem in Belagavi.

Thanks to these industrial initiatives, work on the smart city project is getting some traction, said a senior district administration official.

“Belagavi Smart City Ltd Company has been created to implement the concepts and proposals. A project management consultant is in place. A few tenders for works have been called and detailed project reports (DPRs) on key projects are being prepared,” he added.

However, local businessmen dispute the district administration and Belagavi Smart City Ltd Company’s claims.

“Now after opening Smart City office to deal with city’s project works at Tilakwadi, progress has been very slow. After the smart city project CEO’s transfer, it has become headless. Now BCC Commissioner is handling both. Decision making has slowed down,” said Javali.

Jaideep Siddannavar, a commodities trader and who once headed the Belgaum Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, “For slow pace of project works, frequently changing district administration has impacted the pace of smart city works.”

Despite the political differences some projects have taken off.

These include the city gas distribution network — a ₹272.80-crore project to be completed in five years, a ₹156-crore sewage treatment plant to be completed in three years, a ₹1.5-crore public toilets project and a ₹7-crore tree plantation project which includes medicinal plants.

Under the smart city proposals, projects worth ₹1,878.8 crore have been planned.

The major components are to create ICT backbone for better e-governance, smart metering of water and energy resources and solid waste management, with 100 per cent segregation at source.

An intelligent traffic management system to provide for priority bus lanes and other non-motorized transport is also proposed.

Under the area-based proposals, city has a plans and projects for ₹1,655.7 crore. These include plans to decongest and decentralise the inner city area and create a commercial corridor with new growth centres using mixed land use provisions.

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