Japanese technology giant NEC has won a contract to help turn Thiruvananthapuram in India into a smart city.

Thiruvananthapuram is among the 100 smart cities selected in the third round of the smart cities challenge under the government’s Smart City Mission. Smart City Thiruvananthapuram Limited (SCTL) will plan, design, implement, coordinate and monitor the smart city projects in the city.

NEC will help SCTL create the city’s integrated command and control centre (ICCC) to bring various departments together to work as a single unit. It will also help SCTL use information technology to modernise key functions of city operations including traffic management, traffic control, traffic law enforcement, security and safety, e-governance, municipal operations, and information dissemination to build well-informed, connected, smart and smooth city-wide operations for its citizens.

“We look forward to a fruitful association with NEC India, which will help in scaling up and uplifting Thiruvananthapuram as a promising business and tourist destination,” said P Bala Kiran, CEO of SCTL.

NEC’s ICCC software will also integrate with the contact centre, mobile app, existing state and city helpline numbers, and e-governance services such as property tax and healthcare. It will serve as a decision support engine for city administrators in day-to-day operations as well as during emergencies.

NEC will work towards integrating all the smart components at the centralised command and control centre with the integrated operations and dashboard. This software will act as the central integration point for various departments under the smart city ambit. Some of the highlights of the project besides the ICCC include a one city mobile app, solar scada, e-governance application support, integrated transit management, smart parking management, environmental sensor monitoring and smart water management.

“As an organisation that has been at the helm of delivering turnkey projects for the central and state governments, NEC has had the opportunity to work with the state of Kerala in the public safety domain previously,” said Aalok Kumar, CEO of NEC in India. “This new project win reflects our commitment to co-creations of the future with the government who aims to create a seamless and robust city infrastructure. NEC, with our expertise in designing and implementing smart city projects around the world, will continue to innovate and deliver new solutions that benefit cities and their residents as we navigate the booming digital economy.”

As the master system integrator for the ICCC, NEC aims to complete the project sometime in 2022.

In India, NEC has implemented large and complex ICT projects as the master system integrator in cities such as Ahmedabad, Surat, Pune, Hubballi-Dharwad, Kalyan Dombivali and Gurugram. The Saharanpur smart city project, which was awarded in October 2020, is likely to be completed by September 2021.