L&T to help convert Nagpur into country’s first major Smart City

The Maharashtra government has selected engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro as implementation partner to convert 'Orange City' Nagpur into the country's first large-scale integrated smart city.

State chief minister Devendra Fadnavis handed over a letter of intent to representatives of the company at an auspicious function in Mumbai today.

This is in line with the government's vision to use vanguard technology for creating smart solutions to improve quality of life of citizens, an official release stated today.

The scope of work in Phase 1 for L&T's Smart World Communications business vertical, which is a part of L&T Construction, will cover laying of 1,200 km of optical fiber network backbone, creating 136 City WiFi hotspots at key locations, establishing 100 digital interactive kiosks and developing city surveillance systems with 3,800 IP based cameras.

Further, as an avant-garde endeavour, the city has identified a strip of approximately 6 km (from Japanese Garden Square to Orange City Hospital Square) to be developed as a 'Smart Strip' with state-of-the-art systems powered by smart ICT interventions like smart transport, solid waste management. Smart lighting, etc, which can be leveraged in a phased manner to ultimately cover the entire city.

''After Jaipur, this is the most significant step in the country's journey towards establishing smart cities and we are delighted to be participating in transforming Nagpur into one,'' said SN Subrahmanyan, deputy managing director and President, Larsen & Toubro.

''As a Master Systems Integrator, we will provide leading edge technology solutions, including high-end analytics, mobile surveillance and high-tech tools like drones,'' he elaborated.

''The Nagpur Smart City project is a major milestone for the government of Maharashtra,'' said Vijay Kumar Gautam, principal secretary to the state government, describing the initiative that will be driven by the government's Department of Information & Technology. ''We envisage it as a very structured programme replete with several digital technology elements,'' he said, adding that the 'Smart Strip' will be a new and exciting concept attempted for the first time in the country.

L&T's Smart World business has been making its presence felt across some of the major Indian cities by creating smart solutions.

Beginning with the development of surveillance and intelligent traffic management systems for the government of Gujarat in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar and Vadodara and a surveillance and management system of critical infrastructure at the Sabarmati Jail, the business has since executed the smart city project in Jaipur and is executing India's largest city surveillance project comprising 6,000 cameras across 1,500+ locations in Mumbai for the government of Maharashtra. Projects are also underway in Delhi, Lucknow and Hyderabad.

L&T's Smart World & Communication offers end-to-end solutions comprising security solutions, communication network and telecom infrastructure and smart infrastructure as a master systems integrator in collaboration with other businesses within the L&T Group, which include L&T Infotech, L&T Electrical & Automation IC and L&T Technology Services.

Larsen & Toubro is an Indian multinational engaged in technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services with $16 billion in revenue. It operates in over 30 countries worldwide.