ICLEI South Asia has signed the Memorandam of Understanding (MoU) with the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation in the city of Ludhiana under the project ‘Supporting Sustainable Urban Transport and Built Environment in Four Indian Smart Cities’.

The project aims to deliver city scale action plans under transport and built environment for four smart cities.

The primary intended outcome of the project is to build capacity of city level authorities for smart built environment approach. This majorly includes promoting sustainable transport and built environment principals in ongoing and planned city activities.

It further focused to provide handholding support and build state level preparedness to cities for benefit of smart city program.

Several meetings have been held with prominent stakeholders in the city, to understand the issues related to mobility sector, and to discuss the next steps for the city.

The city had a detailed discussion with ICLEI South Asia for the support they require. The city officials suggested working on areas beyond the scope of the existing Smart City PMC. Therefore, it was agreed that ICLEI South Asia will work on mobility issues in the city with a focus on core city areas, and finalised following few activities on which they would appreciate our support in:

1. Parking management plan for few roads and strategy document for the whole city.
2. Strategy document to reduce air pollution in the city.
3. E-rickshaw operational and deployment strategy plan and strategy for phasing out of diesel auto rickshaws.
4. Junction design improvements to be taken up on priority – Kochhar Market Chowk, Samrala Chowk, Montigomery Chowk – Model Town, Gulati Chowk – Model Town, Punjab Mata Nagar Chowk, Mata Rani Chowk, Ghanta Ghar Chowk, Puraani Sabzi Mandi Chowk, Daana Mandi Chowk, Master Taara Singh College Chowk and Salem Tabri Chowk.

The immediate action is to collect the relevant information from the city on the activities mentioned and get back to the city in 10 days’ time with an analysis on the network, and any two junctions from the above list. Recommendations should also be suggested for improving them.