Five Reasons Why Nava Raipur Has Redefined Smart Cities In India
Nava Raipur has gone from being an idea to India’s first greenfield smart city and a beacon for smart city planning.
*This is in partnership with BloombergQuint Brand Studio
As the sun rose on a pleasant autumn morning over central India on November 1, 2000, Chhattisgarh emerged from the shadow of Madhya Pradesh. A new state in a new century and millennium, with new aspirations and dreams, needed a brand-new capital. The seeds of the idea were planted. Rising out of the dream is a city that today shines over other Indian cities with green cover that rivals an emerald in the sunlight. Welcome to Nava Raipur.
Nava Raipur has gone from being an idea to India’s first greenfield smart city and a beacon for smart city planning and development. With state-of-the-art infrastructure along with a strong focus on sustainability, social cohesion and inclusiveness, the state government led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has overseen the growth of a high-tech, future-ready economic and cultural hub in central India.
Here are five reasons Nava Raipur has redefined what it means to be a modern Indian city:
1. Green at the heart—a sustainable city
With cities across the globe struggling to come to terms with climate change and global warming, Nava Raipur is a green haven with incredible tree cover. A greenfield smart city by design, India’s first of its kind, Nava Raipur’s concept from the ground up included 40% reserved green areas. The integrated wastewater management system means Nava Raipur is truly a zero-discharge city.
With the city’s push towards eco-development projects like the 500-metre-wide green belt around the Layer 1 boundary acting as a natural air purifier, the future looks even brighter. By 2035, the city aims to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint for a projected population of over half a million people.
2. Innovative infrastructure for progressive living
At the convergence of ambition and values, where state-of-the-art technologies meet vigilant use of natural resources, lies the hub of Nava Raipur. With an underground power distribution network for 24x7 supply, Nava Raipur also boasts well planned,100% piped water supply.
Six-lane roads stretching nearly 75 kms lit with LED lamps, an underground utility corridor across the city, and the 22.7-km ‘Narrow gauge Expressway’ that connects old and Nava Raipur has adorned the city with the coveted crown of being India’s first integrated city.
It is a testimony to the success of good planning that Nava Raipur offers world-class infrastructure that drives economic growth in a progressive and sustainable manner.
3. Powering knowledge for future generations
To achieve any degree of sustainable development in a city, the first and most important investment must be in human resources development. Only through quality education can a city overcome the sinister web of poverty, underdevelopment, and mediocrity.
Keeping this in mind, the state government has already set Nava Raipur on the path to becoming an advanced educational hub with plenty of reputed schools and universities in the new state capital. To further drive development of educational infrastructure, a 400-hectare university area has been designated for shifting old institutions to modern campuses, as well as building new learning centres from scratch.
4. Healthy city, happy people
The other side of the coin when it comes to sustainable development is high-quality healthcare. Besides ample green initiatives delivering a healthy environment, there is also a focus on world-class healthcare for citizens.
Healthcare often struggles for priority in Indian cities, but Nava Raipur is bringing healthcare to residents’ doorsteps with state-run medical vans equipped with high-tech medical equipment, and with appointment booking possible through an app. In addition, the city’s advanced medical facilities deliver the best possible healthcare to people from across the state and are also popular with visitors from neighbouring countries such as Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. It is no surprise that Chhattisgarh’s capital city Nava Raipur is holding steady as a role model in the healthcare sector.
5. High-tech to captivating culture
Building a new city from the ground up gives rise to major challenges, especially when the city is a state capital. While one priority must be rapid economic growth and infrastructure for new-age businesses, heed must be paid towards the conscious conservation of regional and cultural traditions.
Nava Raipur balances both aspects superbly.
The central business district of the city is the new economic hub of Chhattisgarh. Located in the heart of the city, it is the perfect amalgamation of commercial and office spaces with excellent amenities. The electronics manufacturing clusters and the IT park are a haven for IT-enabled sectors, creating a number of new job opportunities. At the pan-city level, a powerful captive fiber network of about 120 km has been laid to provide best-in-class connectivity.
On the flip side, Nava Raipur maintains immense pride in its heritage with Purkhouti Muktangan, a unique, cultural village spread across 170 acres, providing a glimpse of the rich history of Chhattisgarh with tribal art, statues, and sculptures. Nava Raipur is also home to one of the largest man-made jungle safaris, attracting tourists from all over the country to this marvel of human creation and development that showcases the region’s biodiversity.
While Indian cities are often called out negatively for being crowded, polluted and for their creaky infrastructure, the Chhattisgarh government has avoided these issues by planning and constructing a world-class greenfield metropolis from the ground up. That makes the foresight, planning, and execution of Nava Raipur stand out even more on the world stage, a shining beacon of hope for the bright future of India.