Dear Students,
This morning we heard from the Executive Director of the most successful Metro Rail Corporation. Please discuss what contributes to the success of this organization and if you would recommend this model to future cities elsewhere and why?
This afternoon we had engaged with the Senior Executives of India’s Department of Telecommunications, the sole government agency, that implements policy for Telecommunications in the country. Please discuss their key challenges in building smart cities and why this department is critical to growth of smart cities in India.
Today, we had the wonderful opportunity of experiencing public transportation in Delhi through the metro system. I was amazed at the efficiency and cleanliness of the system, with buses coming every two minutes and huge plans for rapid expansion. We learned that the system had been rapidly completed in 2002, and transports about 2.6M people per day—very impressive! As we met with those in charge, it was clear that the metro corporation had close to perfected the systems and processes, and when the speaker was asked about his management strategy for the metro, he directed us to the typically religious text of the Bhagavad Gita. I was amazed at the way he related personal management and Hindu teachings to the frugality and success of the metro organization, and I agree that instilling these values and goal-oriented nature in employees is key to a business’s success. This will be important all areas of focus in smart cities, as efficiency cleanliness, and frugality should be the foundation of any city or organization.
Our next interaction was with the Department of Telecommunications, and we were given the unique opportunity to hear from policymakers in this space that will build the governing infrastructure for all cities. While our conversation was relatively short, I could see that one key issue for the department is helping to facilitate and moderate the Public-Private Partnerships that we have been hearing so much about from all of our speakers. Pleasing all constituents and working toward the best options for all is never an easy task, and I could see that these people were struggling to develop an encompassing strategy that would meet all needs. This is something that even my group had trouble with in simply developing a basic framework for smart cities, and I could see that the policymakers are grappling with how best to approach Modi’s vision to make it a successful and sustainable reality.
This morning we had a tour of the Delhi Metro Rail and later met with the Executive Director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). I was struck by the cleanliness of the metro and the efficiency with which it operates. Both of these were a stark contrast to what we experience in the U.S. Even more, the metro costs eight to sixty rupees per ride – making the longest ride less than one dollar for the 2.5 million rides it facilitates each day. Speaking to the Executive Director, we found that each phase of building the metro was completed on time and under budget. This raised questions for me regarding the inefficiency – in terms of cost and time – with which we operate in the United States. Of course part of the difference between India and U.S. is the different business and political environment. Regardless, the DMRC is managed with efficiency, frugality, innovation, and a user-centric mentality. What contributes most to their success, is the integration of lessons from the Bhagavad Gita into their management philosophy. This provides spiritual ownership in the project to workers of all levels. I plan to read the Bhagavad Gita this semester to better understand the described mechanisms for self-management.
Thereafter, we had the opportunity to engage with executives at the Department of Communications where we discussed the policy side of making cities “smarter.” Specifically, we discussed how initiatives to bring fiber optics to all villages will ultimately influence the development of smart cities. However, despite these efforts, the biggest challenge for the Department, may be the inadequacy of the electrical grid to allow consistent use of technology by all segments of society.
Today was interesting as we had the opportunity to hear the governmental perspective on the realization of the lofty goal of one hundred smart cities. In the end, it will take innovative and forward-thinking leaders to make smart cities a reality – across India and the world. I look forward to working with San Francisco as they move towards that vision.
I can say with confidence that Delhi’s metro is the most impressive metro system I have ever come in contact with in terms of cleanliness, coverage, frequency of trains, and most importantly its business model. When I learned that the metro was provisioned by law in 1995, planned, and completed by 2002, I was absolutely blown away because in the U.S. the same kind of project could take 15-20 years. When I asked the director why he thinks they were able to build out the system so rapidly, he was quick to point out that India is a democracy and that citizens may challenge the metro at any point. However, the supreme court often sides with the metro because it is a public good providing utility for a great amount of citizens (about 2.5 million per day to be exact). Therefore, he believes that the public-private partnership is the reason for the metro’s success. If the government had not passed down decision making power to the private corporation formed to build and maintain the metro, phase one would have probably finished this year rather than in 2002. I believe that the U.S. can benefit greatly from the public-private partnership and will make sure to consider its benefits as my group develops a smart city plan for Oakland.
Probably the most surprising thing we learned about the metro system is that it is PROFITABLE. Because it is a private corporation rather than a government-funded bureau (that receives a grant regardless of performance as in the U.S.), the main goal is to make a profit. Even with 60% of its revenue going to cleaning and maintenance of the system, the company is still able to use the remaining 40% to pay back its 1.5% interest rate loan from the Japanese government. In addition, to increase its revenue, the company has a diverse portfolio of investments in land and recreation that allow it to make an operating profit rather than just break even. By learning from successful metro systems in cities like Hong Kong and Tokyo, and taking lessons from the unprofitable systems elsewhere, the Delhi metro’s business model of private-public partnership, an investment portfolio, and partnerships with other countries will serve as a great resource for our smart city plans.
I loved visiting the metro! It was so clean, efficient, easy to use, and I knew exactly which stop I was at all times. Also, it was so much smoother than the Bart in the bay. The Executive Director of the most successful Metro Railway station spoke to us today and expanded my knowledge so much about how and why they are successful. The first key takeaway that allows for the DRC to be successful is their work culture. Their work culture really emphasizes making quick change through political mobility. The culture has deep roots in encouraging its employees to take ownership of their ideas by quickly implementing the changes they want to see occur. The Executive Director told us a stark example, the Phase 1 of the project was promised to be finished in ten years. However, because of the efficient work culture of the DRC, the phase one was finished in a little under 8 years. He said that the best way to prove people wrong that are considering investing in you is to just start building quickly. The investors and political leaders will have no reason to doubt you anymore and will want to invest in whatever it is that you are working towards. Lastly, and i personally find the most interesting fact was that the DRC has a very unique management style. Each employee is given a copy of the book Pirva Gita. This book goes into great detail about karma, living life in honesty, how much food to eat, and how to avoid being a demotivated warrior.
I believe in terms of recommending this model to future smart cities, I agree fully with creating change quickly. One of the biggest blockages for innovation in companies or in any sector is the slow pace of change. Science proves that after an idea is sparked, if it is not acted upon in due time, it will be quickly replaced or forgotten. Because of this, to keep growing as Professor Darwin suggested, it is important to allow for innovation to occur in a future city. Due to this, making change occur quickly is definitely viable for future cities. The requirement of every citizen to read the Pirva Gita may not be a good solution for all places or culture in the world because it is an Indian text and the translation could be misunderstood or other problems could arise for future cities.
This afternoon we had engaged with the Senior Executives of India’s Department of Telecommunications, the sole government agency, that implements policy for Telecommunications in the country. Please discuss their key challenges in building smart cities and why this department is critical to growth of smart cities in India.
The senior executives of India’s Department of Telecommunications were so helpful in allowing us to understand how telecommunications will play a role in building smart cities. In essence, what they are doing is bringing digital connectivity to everybody through broadband. Their goal is to do this by creating ecosystems in which there can will be access to information for people and businesses across all social levels. Some of their key challenges in building smart cities is finding the finances to pay for all of the fiber optic cables into villages, new cities, and old cities. Additionally, the government does not capture data because it is private property which means that although there could be so much data utilized for the building of smart cities, it won’t matter because of privacy.
I find privacy to be such an interesting aspect of smart cities because so many businesses and the government want to capture as much data as possible to ensure the efficiency and purpose of a city, but since people want their privacies respected, the government’s hands are completely tied.
This department is vital in smart cities growth in India because it will establish the policies that are needed to set the parameters of this growing industry. For example, with the growth of smart cities in India, there will be an increasingly large amount of telecommunication companies. With these, the government must regulate this industry so that there are no monopolies started by these companies and that the citizens of India can receive telecommunications services for free
Today we took the DRMC and went to visit the various museums and exhibits they had in place at the main metro station. The museum had a variety of interactive displays like the tunnel boring mechanism and mannequins displaying what materials the uniforms are made out of. The placement of the exhibits were placed all through out the main station, it allowed busy onlookers on their normal commutes a chance to take a quick a glance. I think the key to their success is their defined leadership and management role. The DRMC has first set down core values such as punctuality, integrity, and professionalism that they adhere to on a day-to-day basis. The highlight on punctuality is apparent when we were at the boardroom, and the executive director had a clear focus on the various phases of the plan of covering the whole of Delhi by 2021. He said that they were on schedule, and then pointed to the right where there was a reverse countdown clock. The clock tells the group how much time they have left to complete the various phases of the project. Moreover, the focus on integrity was apparent as well. At the corporate office, they had reminders to avoid certain corrupt behaviors; I think making something so implicit says a lot about a company. Finally for professionalism, you can see this ideal manifest at the many levels of the organization. The service clerks, operators, and custodial staff all have to adhere to specific uniform rules that have a certain blend of polyester/cotton/wool (depending on the season) created by the fashion institute. The attention to detail even at this level is really impressive. Overall, I think DRMC excels because they have key core values that they live and breathe throughout their entire operations.
Next, we went to the Department of Telecommunications. I think that the department has some great and forward thinking plans. However, one of the biggest challenges would be setting up the basic infrastructure before all of the higher-level optical fiber, coaxial cable, broadband networks, and etc. I remember Heather asked a question about her village and how sometimes they don’t even get electricity, let alone WiFi. Or another example would be, Nicole’s comment about using an uber-like app but when driving out towards the rural area, the drivers can’t charge because there is no coverage. So again, I think it’s going back to the concept of providing the basic needs, and then making things smart. (I wish I can comment further on this area, but my knowledge is really limited in telecommunications)
The Metro Rail Corporation is by far one of the most successful metro systems in the world and provides an ideal model that other cities should emulate. There are many factors that contribute to the Metro’s success:
1) It is managed by a profit driven private corporation that strives to maximize profits through operational efficiency and high ridership, and it is overseen by the government in a public-private partnership model. The government ensures that safety standards and other mandated regulations are met.
2) The corporation has created a culture that emphasizes accountability, transparency, teamwork, and time-bound commitments.
3) Fast decision-making: A single man can clear any decision, unlike in bureaucratic agencies that typically have many layers before decisions can be approved. This fast decision-making allowed the company to finish phase 2 five months ahead of schedule.
4) 50-60% of the financing each phase came from a low interest loan from the Japanese government and the rest by the Indian government. This reduced the costs of financing and ensured that the project was financially sustainable.
5) Community interaction: The corporation included the community in the decision-making process by providing contact information for people to speak with leading engineers and managers on the project.
6) Local knowledge sharing: Initially, the chips were made in Japan, but now they are made for one-fifth the cost locally as a result of local knowledge sharing and a commitment to working with local companies.
I would recommend this model to future cities since this model leverages the strengths of both private corporations and government agencies. Government agencies can act inefficiently and be hindered by politics, but they have the interests of all stakeholders in mind and protect citizens. On the other hand, private corporations may prioritize profits over meeting the needs of all stakeholders, but they are able to maximize operational and decision-making efficiency.
The Department of Telecommunications faces key challenges in the area of data coverage and availability. Smart cities that are being built from the ground up, such as GIFT city, do not pose a significant challenge to the Department of Telecommunications, but rural villages have many issues that are currently being addressed. 60% of the population in India lives within villages, and there are 47 phones per 100 people in these areas. However, the 3G and 4G coverage is relatively low and even covered areas suffer from low speed and capabilities. To solve this challenge, the government is investing $5 billion to provide connectivity in villages via fiber optics. This initiative will enable people in poor villages to access resources such as eEducation, eHealth, eCommerce, and a variety of financial and government resources. This example illustrates how the Department of Telecommunications serves an important role in addressing basic needs and converting existing villages into “smarter” villages to improve the quality of life. Without this Department, private corporations may not recognize value in investing in this technology and the needs of millions of people would go unmet.
During this India trip, I have discovered an avid interest towards the area of smart city planning and development with regards to transportation. I realized this ever since our visit to the BRTS system in Ahmedabad, as I found the complex strategy involved in the planning and implementation of the system to be such an interesting process. Thus, I was looking forward to our meeting with the Metro Rail Corporation in Delhi (DMRC), and my hopes were not disappointed! I think this MRTS was implemented in such an organized and modern public transportation system, and the way DMRC shaped his system around the society in the most optimal and efficient way possible is definitely an approach companies should keep in mind as they attempt to deliver smart city solutions. Similar to the present BRTS, DMRC initially faced the issue of convincing people to utilize this system compared to their own private transportations methods. However, what ultimately contributed to the success of this organization was their efficiency of listing the main priorities and tackling them accordingly. For example, delivering the most comfortable, hygienic, and fast trains with regular maintenance (to reduce the potential for delays or other issues), promoting a safe environment through selective female-only train cars and tight security throughout the stations, and more. They are also continuously trying to deliver a better quality of customer experience using technology, such as the present use of plastic data coins as tickets, and their future plans of introducing smart ‘entry debit cards’. This model emphasizes on smart technology to build on its existing new infrastructure to deliver convenience and comfort for their users, and this is why it has comfortably integrated to become a regular part of the people’s lives today.
Meeting with the Senior Executives of India’s Department of Telecommunications was an extremely different conversation, as the government of India would require a more streamlined process in its approach to shift India towards a smart city. The main policy goals that they hope to achieve in the coming years is to take fiber through every village (out of 600 village, 700 thousand kilometers of fiber within 3 years), as well as 600 million broadband connections by the year 2020. They reflect the mindset of most of the forward-looking executives that we have met during our trip that a smart city is all about collaboration. Thus, telecommunications similarly needs to play its role in interoperability.
However, they are facing multiple issues such as the spectrum availability and lack of coverage within India (3G and 4G networks have not covered India entirely). I found it interesting that while I (from a first world country’s perspective) have only viewed the rise in the state of mobile to be beneficial, it has also caused fixed wire line broadband penetration to be very low. This has caused the Indian government’s initial focus to shift in its investment towards different areas. Regardless of all of this, I can see why the Department of Telecommunications is crucial to the growth of smart cities in India, as they ultimately will determine the future of connectivity within the many areas of India. Especially with the stark income disparity that we have observed, this department will be a pioneer in reducing this development gap in the society, through their efforts and investment in eEducation and collaboration of resources with other departments as well.
The Delhi Metro Rail is an incredible infrastructure and organization. We started the day by riding the metro, getting to experience it firsthand before meeting the leadership behind it. My first impressions were that the metro was extremely clean, organized, and timely. We also got to see the careful planning that went into the metro- the future of transportation juxtaposed with the historical buildings of Delhi. After meeting with the Executive Director, I learned some key takeaways that went into the success of this organization. For one, the corporate culture emphasizes accountability, transparency, and punctuality. The DMRC was able to be under budget and ahead of schedule because of the strong connections amongst employees. The DMRC organization also runs on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. In fact, each employee is given a copy of this scripture to learn from. Furthermore, the DMRC take extensive measures to make sure that they were working with the community. Before extending the metro into certain communities, DMRC engages citizens via community interaction programs. Given the success of the DMRC, I would recommend this model to future cities. It is extremely important to keep all members of a community accountable, and the external source of the Bhagavad Gita shows that leadership wants its employees to know it is not exempt from the bylaws of an organization. Employees can see that it is not a vertical distribution of rules; rather, it is horizontal as all members are held to the same standards. Additionally, we have been talking a lot about the social, ethical, political impacts of decisions behind the smart city development, and it was great to see that organizations are taking that very seriously as well via these community engagements.
We then got the chance to meet the Government of India’s Department of Telecommunications, where we discussed key issues in digital service. Right now, the department wants to build out a national optic fiber network to bring fiber to every cluster of villages. This is an important step in looking at digital service as a right, one of the department’s visions. However, there are also some challenges that the department shared with us. For instance, the governmental departments operate in silos, so each department have different approaches, which can make collaboration difficult. Thus, communication will be key in facilitating resource allocation. This department is critical to the growth of smart cities because it is what will help smart cities gain traction. By connecting even the most remote villages, this department can collect massive amounts of data that can be utilized to optimize how smart cities are developed.
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation facilitates the operations of the Delhi Metro. We took a short ride on the train, walked through their in-house museum and lastly, met in the DMRC office with the Executive Director. A portion of the success of this organization stems from the pure density of the city. There is a demand to mobilize people in a quick and safe manner. Additionally the rail provides a solution to provide a transportation that requires less energy and congestion than automobiles. With Japan’s financial backing and the good performance of the metro, the continued expansion becomes a sustainable endeavor. Integrating ICT technologies becomes seamless
Meeting with the Department of telecommunications was an interesting experience where we got to speak with the senior policy makers in this field. What we discovered is that the departments within the government are still largely silo-ed despite the unifying goal to improve the country. However, with the motivation from above to push an agenda forward, policy makers are in partnership to set the gears in motion. My concern is whether or not these individuals have to compromise the representative interests of the people with economic/technological progress.
The cleanliness, frequency, and affordability of the Delhi MRTS almost made many aspects of our Bay Area Rapid Transit system pale in comparison. There are several success factors that contributed to the success of this organization, 8 of which I have identified below:
1) MRTS utilizes additional revenue sources to offset its dependence on federal funding—in both foreign investment from Japan and from its own additional business lines with building shopping malls, selling commercial advertising, and managing real estate. This has been the downfall of many transportation systems around the world, including going severely in debt with high installation, maintenance, and agency costs.
2) MRTS employs an advanced energy management system that transfers 33% of energy emitted by the metro train into energy that can be reused to operate the same train. This mechanism ensures that less energy resources is needed to operate the metro, because energy is not wasted.
3) MRTS has comparably low fares to buses, and yet still offers a cleaner and faster system. These services, along with the highly affordable cost (shortest distance requires only 7 rupees), incentivizes city residents to travel via metro.
4) MRTS management structure is highly centralized and agile. Rather than being managed by a large bureaucrat through which many layers of decision-makers are required to make a project happen, this organization is headed by 1 technocrat that has government approval to make decisions without consulting the ministry or departments. The resulting ripple effect creates positive societal benefits as customer grievances can be addressed more quickly.
5) MRTS hosts open communities in which city residents can communicate face-to-face with the engineers of the metro and speak directly on their concerns about the system. This once again ensures a leaner system and quicker response rates to customer grievances.
6) MRTS strongly believes in open information sharing with other metro systems around the world. This contributes to its credibility as one of the most intelligent transportation systems in the world, and also increases innovation within the MRTS through new ideas from other cities.
7) The cleanliness of the MRTS stems from dedicated cleaners who continuously work around the clock and the significant investment by the organization into having police regulating food and drink, spitting, and smoking on the train. This may be a differentiating factor between the metro and the bus, which residents typically view as less clean and are held less accountable.
8) With the government’s emphasis on protecting women on trains, CCTV surveillance cameras are installed in nearly every corner to make all residents feel safe. This increases customer willingness to travel via metro.
I believe that this advanced system may be difficult to implement in other cities, especially with its fixed fares and its privatization model. For instance, there is a heavy emphasis in the United States on the welfare of children, seniors, and the physically disabled, which is why they receive subsidized rates for public transportation. On the other hand, all residents pay the same fare on the MRTS, a rate determined by the MRTS and not by the government, which may create large sociopolitical concerns if implemented in the U.S. Secondly, the MRTS is a privately managed system, which differs from many countries where public transportation is a publicly managed good. In publicly managed transportation systems, the organization structure may be more bureaucratic and result in less efficient decision-making to improve the system and respond to customer grievances. However, the Delhi MRTS should still be held as a golden standard for many cities to achieve.
Similarly, the Department of Telecommunications has its own set of challenges to address in the building of smart cities. DoT’s priority is to increase mobile connectivity in rural regions and elevate the rural communities’ quality of life as a measure of “smartness.” This topic was also mentioned by HCL in their presentation on Day 6, in which they emphasized the importance of increasing financial inclusion through mobile banking and access to cloud-based hospital solutions, public food distribution, and identity management systems through Internet of Things technology. On this note, DoT shared a few ways in which their involvement will be critical to the growth of Indian smart cities. Almost the entire country of India has Internet coverage, but there are still around 50,000 villages without any mobile access, and thereby cannot benefit from Internet coverage. Therefore, the first action step of DoT is to address the issue of access by making government step in in areas where operators do not have business incentive. The second plan of action is to make mobile phones more affordable, which DoT predicts will occur organically with the growth of mobile device manufacturing in India. Thirdly, DoT plans on installing more high-speed broadband fiber optics through metro cities and the government has invested almost $5 billion in taking that connectivity to the rural villages. Finally, DoT will try to increase data sharing between government departments, as they cannot only leave it to the private operators to use big data to make better decisions for city residents.
However, I also believe that it will be very challenging for DoT to implement these solutions at maximum effectiveness, because they are a 100% policymaking body after all. It seems as though the private sector has now overtaken the government in its involvement in establishing fiber optics, so the DoT’s new objective should be to bring about collaboration between businesses and policymakers, especially since they manage private bandwidth licenses so closely. In the future, DoT will also play a critical role in mediating competing interests in how resources get channelized, and will invest heavily in telecommunications regulations for smart cities and rural cities to ensure that both develop and prosper simultaneously.
Delhi Metro
Delhi Metro’s success is owed to its 1) high quality and integrity, 2) productivity achieved by lean structure, 3) sharp focus on retaining aesthetic features of Delhi, and 4) strive for continual improvement in health and safety policies. The benefits of the metro include fewer accidents, time savings, and reduction of carbon emission in the city. I would recommend adopting a metro system in population-dense and heavily traffic-congested cities, since transporting hundreds of people in per vehicle is more efficient and productive than transporting 1-5 people per vehicle. However, in a sub-urban city where there is light traffic congestion, I would recommend developing smarter traffic light signals and real-time GPS systems (internal or external devices) so vehicles can efficiently move through traffic and people can be redirected to less congested routes.
Department of Telecommunications
The main challenge of India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is reducing the cost of bringing digital connectivity to all members of the country by encouraging more private partnerships. Data connectivity is still very expensive today, and for that reason, only 40% of India is covered. If the DoT encourages private and public partnerships by reducing the level of regulation on trade and startups, then covering the remaining 60% will come at a lower price and a faster rate.
Bringing Internet connection to the rest of the country is necessary for the development of smart cities because it creates an ecosystem where businesses and consumers can access information 24/7. In the 21st century, Internet is what enables manufacturing, services, and information industries to thrive. For example, Internet connection enables 1) distributors and retailers to exchange order information quickly via online chat or email, 2) restaurants to take orders via their websites or mobile applications, and 3) customers to check availability of items from various stores. I believe India’s DoT, in partnership with various private enterprises, has the potential to power India’s economy through digital connectivity, and build smarter cities more quickly.
Consisting of 193 operational kilometers with more than 140 stations, the Delhi Metro has ushered in a new era in the sphere of mass urban transportation in India. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) successfully introduced comfortable, accessible, and eco-friendly services for the first time in India, revolutionizing mass transportation systems throughout the entire country. The DMRC represents a remarkable organization that other organizations should emulate.
To fund the project, the DMRC partnered with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and also worked with the governments of India and the National Capital Territory of Delhi. This Indo-Japanese venture in addition to national funding has resulted in the Delhi Metro being one of the few transportation systems in the world to make an operating profit while still maintaining affordable travel costs for passengers. Additionally, the Delhi Metro has contributed on the environmental front by becoming the first ever railway project in the world to claim carbon credits for regenerative braking. In fact, the United Nations has certified the DMRC as the first Metro Rail and Rail-based system to reduce Green House gas emissions as it has helped to reduce pollution levels in the city by 630,000 tons every year. Altogether, it is not surprising that the DMRC is being sought after by many to provide consultancy services for other Metro projects.
Following our visit with the DMRC, we met with the Department of Telecommunications. The department in relation to the building of smart cities is working towards providing connectivity to individuals in all parts of the country, from cities to villages. The senior executives discussed their initiatives to bring in fiber optics and broadband networks to villages, claiming these digital services as a right to their constituents. However, the silo-ed nature of the initiatives still presents challenges for the government to push forward these actions. As a governmental body, it is also challenging to balance the well-being of constituents and policymaking. Therefore in moving forward, it is imperative for mediation and communication to take place between the different parties involved as more and more public-private partnerships are formed.
Our morning with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was brief yet very informative. After taking a ride on the metro ourselves, we were given a tour through the metro museum, located inside of one of the metro stations. We learned how the tunnels were made and how the system facilitates and supports more than 2.5 million rides per day. Part of what contributes to the success of this organization is its scientific manpower planning and the fact that the metro carries such massive quantities of people. In addition, the DMRC follows traffic movement in order to identify areas of high congestion for metro recommendations. Furthermore, the DMRC attributes some of its success to its corporate culture of accountability, transparency, teamwork, and time-bound commitments. The DMRC has a self-proclaimed “high priority on quality, integrity, and transparency in work.” As one of the only metros to never make a loss, it is an inspiring model that provides an optimistic outlook for implementation in future cities elsewhere.
We spent the afternoon with the Senior Executives of India’s Department of Telecommunications. During this meeting, we were able to learn more about telecommunications policy throughout the country. Their key challenges in building smart cities appears to be the accessibility to technology and electricity for all individuals in society. Providing villages with the appropriate infrastructure will be the basic challenge for this department. The Department of Telecommunications will be critical to the growth of smart cities as we have learned that telecommunications is essential for the implementation of smarter technologies within cities and that policy-making can lead to greater progress in this area.
On our second to last day, the UGBA 193i class made a trip to visit the Metro Rail Corporation. At the headquarters, The Metro Rail Corporation has created a transportation system that has grown to be known as an example of a success story. In just a couple short years, the company has managed to create a public transportation system that is efficient, highly utilized, and accessible throughout the city of Delhi. The success of DMRC can be attributed to several strategic major factors. First of all, the DMRC has struck a good balance between the corporation and the government and assigned roles to each of the parties. This private-public partnership has allowed the DMRC to develop rapidly and maintain its high-quality performance. While the DMRC is ultimately a profit-making entity, it has a lot of accountability when it comes to safety and service because the government has taken on the role of overseeing those aspects. While the private corporation runs the metro on a day-to-day basis, the government plays in role in establishing standards the system must follow. At the end of the day, it is a win-win situation as both parties achieve what they are looking to achieve. Another factor that plays into the success of the DMRC is its sound financial structure. Needless to say, building something as grand as the Delhi Metro System could not have been accomplished without sources of financing. The DMRC is actually funded not only by the Indian government but also by an investment made by the Japanese government. The Japanese government, for each phase of the project, has provided the DMRC with low-interest loans that have made it cheaper to borrow money. This, in turn, has given the corporation the resources to fund the project without having extreme financial burdens such as high interest rates. The next factor of success is the actual metro system itself and its efficiency and cleanliness. When I visited the metro station, I was surprised by how clean and efficient the entire location was. Unlike the BART, the Delhi metro comes every two minutes and its interior is much cleaner. I believe that this has played a major factor in the metro’s success because these factors have made more people comfortable in using the system. In addition, the metro has managed to play. Today, the number of people using the metro is only increasing and the metro has proven to have substantial potential to improve the congestion problem in India. Finally, the last factor of success is the fundamental culture of the DMRC. When we sat in on the meeting with executives of the corporation, I was surprised to learn how much emphasis was placed on accountability, trust, and overall integrity. It is obvious that the company is very interested in providing a public service and creating a system that benefits society as a whole. This sort of culture will allow the company to place the public’s interest as a priority.
The next half of the day, we visited the Department of Telecommunications. The Department of Telecommunications is a governmental entity in charge of communication throughout India that has plans to participate in the Smart Cities initiatives. The Department inevitably face many challenges when building smart cities. One of the main challenges will be prioritization. As the members of government said in our meeting, their hope is to increase overall connectivity throughout India. As of right now, even in relatively developed cities, 3G and 4G connectivity is limited. Subsequently, the government has attempted to address that issue by investing more funds into the project to increase accessibility to the Internet. However, on the other hand, much if India is still relatively undeveloped. Some villages lack proper electricity, let alone 3G or 4G connectivity. I believe that the challenge will be for the Department of Telecommunications to prioritize what sort of initiatives they will take to address the needs to different groups. Although investing in 3G and 4G is obviously a worthy cause, the Department also needs to be wary of other groups who lack basic communication infrastructure. It will be a challenge for the department to figure out how to allocate their resources into which projects they want to pursue.
An important factor to the success of Delhi’s Metro Rail Corporation is the tremendous support that the Government of India has blessed the organization with:
Funding: The majority of the funds for Delhi’s metro comes from a special loan with a very low interest rate from the government of Japan that the Indian national government negotiated for. It is regarded as a symbol of friendly relations between the two countries. This is a stark contrast to the additional hurdles that transit agencies have to overcome in the US, where a bill has to pass the local legislature and then the electorate votes on whether to authorize the issuance of municipal bonds to fund the construction of new public transit. This model of funding is unlikely to change in the US because of the historical relationships between federal and state governments over shared sovereignty.
Legal: The courts in India have a broader interpretation of eminent domain than their American counterparts. Both Indian and American courts have allowed their governments to take private property to build stations and rail lines, but Delhi metro, as with other metros such as Hong Kong’s profitable MTR, is allowed to develop the land around its stations for commercial areas such as malls, which provides about 20% of its revenues. This rarely happens in the US because few states allow metros to use eminent domain to develop the area around stations for commercial purposes. California is one such state that prohibits the use of eminent domain for transit-oriented development.
In order to quickly develop and build an efficient metro that turns an operational profit, the smart of cities of the future need a legal framework and the level of support from the national government that Delhi’s metro has enjoyed.
India’s Department of Telecommunications faces immense challenges in internet penetration. The majority of Indians live in villages, but connectivity is poor in these areas, if there is even an internet connection. Few private companies are willing to connect these rural areas because they are spread out too much and cannot charge the poor villagers much in subscription fees. As a result, the government stepped in to invest $5 billion to connect villages by fiber optics, which will also provide villagers with many other basic services such as education, health, and commercial services so that these villages will become “smarter.” However, no one can use the internet without electricity. Many utilities in India are notorious for power outages and some villages lack reliable access to electricity. This will hinder the DoT’s efforts to connect villages.
As more cities become smarter and become more connected, demand for bandwidth will rise precipitously. It is up to the DoT role as a policy maker and regulator to create a legal framework that governs the distribution of bandwidth resources in a fair manner.
New Delhi is home to the most successful Metro Rail Corporation in the world. Built in phases, each phase surpassed the precious in terms of time and distance completed. Phase I of 65 kilometer was completed in 7 years, and Phase II of 120km was completed in half the time of Phase II. Phase III will surpass both in terms of distance and be completed by 2016. The Metro Rail Corporation has been successful because according to their Executive Director, the secret lies in their corporate culture of “accountability, transparency, teamwork, and time bound commitments” The organization highly prioritizes “quality, integrity, and quick decision making.” In fact, every employee of the New Delhi Metro Corporation is given a copy of the Parva Gita, a sacred Indian text that provides guidance on how to live life. The Metro Rail Corporation clearly invests in employees that have high moral character in and outside the workplace. Interestingly, the metro is financed by a soft 30-year loan by the Japanese government at a 1.8% interest rate. Japan is world-renowned for their advanced metro system and technologies, so it made sense for New Delhi to be under the wing of a country that is so knowledgeable. The financial structure of this project is 50% equity from Indian government, and 60% loan from Japanese government. 20% of their revenue is from non-passenger revenue, i.e.: exploiting stores, hotels, and advertisements around the metro system. In the California Bay Area, the BART system is still unprofitable and struggling to stay alive. With constant bouts of worker strikes, labor union negotiations, and crime around the BART—there is clearly a need for improvement of our metro system. I think the BART committee should consider business investments around stations to increase non-passenger revenue. The rider experience could be improved if there were convenience stores, newspaper stands, and vending machines in the systems.
Later that afternoon, we had the honor of meeting with members of India’s Department of Telecommunications. They are the sole government agency that implements telecommunications related policy for the entire country. A key challenge that they face is the multitude of requests they receive. With a population of around 1.2 billion people, India is the 2nd largest country in the world by population. Thus, this agency bears heavy responsibility to respond to the needs of so many people. Additionally, they also need to make sure that all improvements they fund benefit the majority of the population, not just the wealthy or just the poor. Another challenge they touched upon is the fact that India is largely underdeveloped. Unlike the U.S. where cities have gone through generations of improvement, India is still being built from the ground up. This poses as both an advantage and a disadvantage. A project the Indian Department of Telecommunications is currently working on is building a national optic fiber network. This network is the structural base that brings fiber network to every village (around 250,000). This project plans to bring 700,000 km of fiber in 3 years. A fiber network will enable everyone in India to have access to Internet. This project meets the requirements of benefiting the majority and is the building block/base for future improvements to be added on.