- Chandigarh awarded Best UT award for under Indian Smart City Award for two years in continuation ISAC 2021, ISAC 2022
- Public Bike Sharing Project got best Project award under Mobility category ISAC
- E-Governance project got best project award under ISAC under IT/ E-Governance category
- Monitoring of Solid Waste vehicle got 3rd best project award under SWM category
- ICCC building designed by Egis was awarded outstanding concrete structure 2023
Chandigarh Smart City – Building a Future-Ready City.
Chandigarh, India
Chandigarh was originally designed for a population of approx. 250,000. However, the city has grown more than five times since then. Egis supported Chandigarh in adopting modern technology and upgrading its infrastructure to meet the new demands.
Client
Chandigarh Smart City Limited
Timeline
June 2017 – March 2025
Environmental benefit
The Manimajra projects have greatly cut pollution by reducing harmful CO2 gases. One project cut over 4,000 tonnes of emissions—like removing hundreds of cars off the road. The bike-sharing program saves pollution by replacing short car trips. Smart traffic lights reduce 25,000 tonnes annually by easing traffic flow. Waste management efforts also help keep the environment clean.
Outcomes:
- Waste collection increased from four days a week to daily.
- Waste segregation rose to 90%.
- Treated wastewater quality improved to tertiary level for all city wastewater.
- Junction throughput increased by 11%.
- Solid waste management vehicles saved 200,00 vehicle kilometers.
- Electricity saving of 15,000 units per day cut carbon emissions by 150 MT per year from treatment plants.
- Electricity cost for water supply dropped by Rs 7 million annually.
- Water pressure rose from 12m to 22m, and supply hours doubled from 7 to 14 hours.
- Water billed increased 1.5 times, while electricity billed dropped using the same water amount.
Awards.
Community impact.
Environmental Benefits
Energy-efficient machinery at Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) cut power bills by 50%. Using Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) in water supply, along with better system design, improved water use efficiency and reduced groundwater dependence. Cleaning 0.5 million metric tonnes (MT) of legacy waste improved the environment, with residents noticing fewer flies and mosquitoes nearby.
Social Benefits
The Adaptive Traffic Control System and Vehicle Actuated Controls cut waiting times at junctions by nearly 25%. Nighttime fatal cases fell by 18%, and surveillance helped solve over 330 criminal cases in the first year. Continuous water supply reduced waiting for water-related tasks. E-Governance cut citizen-government interaction time by about 67%. The Integrated Command and Control Centre identified 10 disabled children through the education department and helped them receive disability pensions.
Industry Benefits
The use of technology has demonstrated its advantages across a wide range of infrastructure and governance areas.
Economic Benefits
The projects created more than 210,000 man-days of employment during construction and about 1,200 full-time jobs during operations. Mining 500,000 tonnes of legacy waste freed land worth over INR 4,000 million.
The challenge: Bridging the Capacity Gap.
Chandigarh, designed by French architect Le Corbusier, is known as “The City Beautiful.” A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) named Chandigarh Smart City Limited was created to implement Smart City Mission projects, which are multidisciplinary. However, the SPV and its shareholders lacked the capacity to handle large multidisciplinary projects involving technology.
Sectors 1 to 30, designed by Le Corbusier, have heritage status according to the Chandigarh Master Plan. Therefore, any changes must get approvals from multiple departments and committees. This need for multiple approvals and limited capacity is a common challenge for many clients.
Due to limited expert staff, the client chose a Project Management Consultant (PMC) following Government of India guidelines. The selection used the Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) process, and Egis won the bid for its technical expertise and strong proposal. Egis managed everything from project planning to obtaining all necessary clearances.
Imagine: Innovative, Inclusive and Integrated Infrastructure.
The client initially viewed the projects as individual tasks rather than a comprehensive solution to the city’s problems. Egis helped city officials create a multi-sector solution benefiting the most citizens within the budget.
- Project changes had to be approved by the client’s Board of Directors and line departments, which was challenging.
- The CEO and senior leaders were kept informed through detailed discussions at each stage.
- In consultation with the client and departments, Egis revised the Smart City plan to meet the city’s updated needs and Government of India guidelines.
- Water, sanitation, information and communication technology, and mobility projects reduced CO2 emissions, while governance and education projects generated social benefits.
- All projects prioritized city and citizen benefits and were planned with oversight from the Integrated Command and Control Center.
Create: Helping Chandigarh Live its Dream.
Project milestones included:
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Inception report: Created an overview of client and team expectations to meet client and citizen aspirations.
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Feasibility report: Analyzed technical feasibility, broad costs, options, block cost estimates, and benchmarking.
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Detailed project reports: Finalized option with client, developed detailed designs, drawings, itemized Bill of Quantities, and conducted financial and economic analysis as needed.
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Bid Process Management: Prepared Request for Proposal (RfP), obtained technical committee approval, and managed the bidding process. Innovative bidding approaches saved costs, such as offering power generation options and power guarantees for Sewage Treatment Plants, granting advertising rights in exchange for fees from bike-sharing companies, and using Public-Private Partnership models for legacy waste mining.
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Construction Supervision: Daily inspections were conducted, and deviations reported to client and contractors via mail and letters.
Key features of the approach:
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Citizen-Centric: Projects and components were designed with citizens in mind.
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Cost Economy: Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis was done to minimize operation and maintenance costs.
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Innovative Thinking: IT components were integrated on a single platform for monitoring by officials. First-time initiatives included generation of Class A sludge from Sewage Treatment Plants. Detailed Project Reports for 24x7 water supply planned phasing out groundwater from 240 tubewells, replacing most water needs with recycled water, reducing fresh water demand for 2055 to current surface water supply levels.
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Improved Citizen Interface and Governance: E-Governance enabled citizen charter services via single sign-on and improved internal file movement, leading to better and faster citizen services.
Achieve: Multi Sectoral Projects with Multi-Dimensional Output.
Projects designed by Egis helped improve the city's livability index and Swachh Bharat ranking. Key outcomes include:
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Intelligent Traffic Management System reduced traffic violations by about 40% and fatal crashes by 28%. Over 3.3 million violations were recorded in 17 months, leading to more than 1.2 million challans (traffic violations) issued and expected revenue of around INR 130 million for the traffic police.
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Improved surveillance aided in resolving around 650 criminal cases in the last 18 months.
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Analytics optimized routes to deploy 42 solid waste management (SWM) vehicles in new areas.
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SWM vehicle monitoring cut missed waste collections by 90%.
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Solid waste collection time was reduced by 3 hours.
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The e-Governance app ImChandigarh and website shortened grievance redressal time by 70% and dropped building plan approval time from 90 to 15 days.
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Fuel savings of INR 160 million were achieved via garbage transfer stations, while material recovery facilities began generating revenue.
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Use of the Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS) saved over INR 1500 million in fuel for private vehicles.
Chandigarh is fully covered with sewerage facilities and has 100% sewage treatment. As of 2020, the city's sewage treatment capacity is 25% higher than the sewage generated. Chandigarh began tertiary treatment of wastewater at the Diggian Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in 1991, initially treating 45 million litres per day (MLD) and supplying treated water for non-potable uses like irrigation, gardening, and car washing. Currently, Diggian STP has a capacity of 90 MLD but treats 45 MLD on average.
The Tertiary Treated (TT) Water Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) project is being implemented to monitor the quantity and quality of recycled water to conserve water resources used for irrigation. Presently, TT water is supplied to all sectors without automatic monitoring, causing unequal distribution. The proposed SCADA system will monitor parameters such as Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), residual chlorine, flow, and pressure through sensors and analyzing equipment (NIUA, 2023).
New public spaces created under the 75-hour challenge celebrating 75 years of freedom.
135 MLD STP with power generation ^ Class A sludge. first of kind in India will feed Tertiary water network (90 MLD)
Bike sharing has created modal shift and encouraged youngsters to adopt cycling.
The 135 million litres per day (MLD) Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) with power generation and Class A sludge production is the first of its kind in India. It will supply tertiary treated water to the city's tertiary water network, which has a capacity of 90 MLD.
Smart classrooms improved the learning environment.
Integrated command center providing real time data analysis for better governance.