eGovWatch: Cisco Systems picks Visakhapatnam as first ‘Smart City’

Visakhapatnam will be the first city to be taken up for development as a ‘smart city’ by Cisco Systems, the global IT networking major and the implementing company.

By Sreenivas Janyala

Cisco informed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday that its development model for Visakhapatnam would be adopted in the other ‘smart cities’ — Allahabad and Ajmer.

Cisco chief technology officer Padma Warrier and president (globalisation and smart+ connected communities) Anil Menon said the company would focus on setting up a skill development centre and providing training through its global talent tracker. The company is also keen on working with the state government to digitise education and healthcare.

Cisco is mulling setting up an incubation centre, either at Tirupati or Visakhapatnam, and living labs on the lines of those in Barcelona. Naidu said a task force would be set up for the purpose.

Cisco has also evinced interest in working on disaster management technologies as the state is hit by at least two cyclones every year.

Stating that Visakhapatnam has great potential to transform into a financial, IT powerhouse and a logistics hub, Naidu said the Centre has recently sanctioned the Sagar Mala project which envisages development and modernisation of all existing seaports including Vizag Port — one of the biggest in the country.

Naidu said the issues identified by the parliamentary standing committee like pollution and violation of Coastal Regulation Zone Act would be addressed shortly.

Following the India-US business conclave on smart cities held in New Delhi last November, an American delegation visited and interacted with officials of the Vizag Urban Development Authority to discuss the issue.

Having learnt its lesson from cyclone ‘Hudhud’, which affected all power and communication lines, the state government has gone in for massive underground wiring and cabling network. This is to be extended to all coastal towns over the coming years.

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