Schneider Electric' survey upholds the importance of ICT for Smart Cities

Schneider Electric has cited a November 2014 India Infrastructure Research report titled, “ICT in Urban Governance – Survey”, to take real-time stock of ICT adoption in various cities, its importance as perceived by city administrations and as reflected in allocated budgets and actual spends. If the NDA Government’s vision of 100 Smart Cities is to become a reality, the relevant data will be invaluable for the Central and State Governments. Schneider Electric believes ICT deployment is crucial to convert existing cities into Smart Cities.

From hundreds of eligible cities, the first most likely 53 have been surveyed initially. The report said the scope and scale for ICT varies across cities, depending upon their size, needs, financial resources and approach to ICT by the city’s top management, which included Municipal Commissioners and IT heads. Presently, most civic agencies have implemented IT modules in E-governance.
Anil Chaudhry, President & Country Head, Schneider Electric India, said, “The major benefits from ICT adoption would be efficiency and transparency, with about 94% of civic agencies mentioning this. Around 84% of survey respondents believe costs savings and promoting citizen participation would be the other benefits. Moreover, ease of monitoring, better accessibility and standardization of services are cited as additional benefits by 78%, 74% and 71%, respectively.”
Presently, about 80% civic agencies allocate less than 1% of their budgets to ICT. A majority expect less than 10% increase in IT budgets over the next two years, leaving immense scope for expansion.”

Only 28% have adopted electronic services for smart water and waste management. Amongst core services, water and sewage management systems have been adopted by more than 30%. SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) is the most preferred smart grid solution, deployed by more than 40%. Around 60% of cities have either implemented or are considering SCADA and rooftop solar integration.

It is clear the major demand for ICT solutions will arise from the creation of smart grids and smart public services. Top ICT solutions to be implemented in future will be: integrated healthcare; GPS-enabled handsets for grid inspection; GPS-based load management and outage management; education management; street light management; water management; passenger information systems; rooftop solar integration; GPS-based billing; and power quality monitoring.

The report, however, says capacity constraints and integration of legacy data are major challenges in ICT implementation. Limited capacity at the city level was one of the biggest management concerns, as per about 70% of civic agencies. Other major hurdles are lack of technical knowhow and change management, while some cities say coordination among various departments and delay in administrative approvals would be a challenge. Low IT outlays, lack of customization, limited IT personnel as well as lack of administrative and political will would be the other challenges.