Jaipur, December 05, 2015: Pink City Jaipur is all set to welcome over 1,000 delegates from all over India and abroad as the Host City of Municipalika 2015, the 13th International Conference & Exhibition on Sustainable Habitat & Smart Cities. Delegates from over 300 cities are expected to assemble in the Jaipur Exhibition & Convention Centre, the state-of–the-art venue of Municipalika 2015. Ministries of Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, New and Renewable Energy, Communications and Information Technology, Government of India, and the Host State Government of Rajasthan, have pledged their participation and full support for the Jaipur edition of Municipalika from 9th to 11th December.
Municipalika 2015 will be inaugurated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje on 9th December at 10 am, in the presence of Rajpal Singh Shekhawat, Hon’ble Minister of Urban Development, Housing and Local Self Government, Government of Rajasthan. Also present will be a large number of urban and housing sector officials and ULBs from 300 cities, international delegates from 7 countries, private industry and professionals.
Along with national and state level government participation, has come active international support from UN-Habitat, UNDP as well as many other national and international urban stakeholder institutions.
The three day event will have a strong Conference, and an equally robust Exhibition segment. The Conference will have 10 thematic sessions, 4 technical sessions, one Vision Address and one Open House Citizen’s Interface. The Exhibition will host over 125 participants, government as well private, from India and from abroad.
Canada, which was a Partner Country of Municipalika 2014 with 17 participating companies, has again signed up to be Partner Country of Municipalika 2015 and is bringing over 20 companies in its delegation. Key areas of focus for Canadian companies include: water and waste water, urban planning, architecture and design, and transportation infrastructure including, intelligent transport systems. “Canadian companies are excited about the emerging opportunities in India’s urban infrastructure and built environment space. Canadian companies have innovative, quality technologies and solutions and are keen to engage with India. They will be looking for the right projects to apply their skills as well as good Indian partners to help them modernise Indian urban spaces. Infrastructure products and services are one of Canada’s most important industries and Canadian engineers, architects, designers and project managers are known for their ability to carry-out world class projects,” commented Brian Parrott, Minister Commercial for Canada.
The Building and Construction Authority (BCA), Government of Singapore is actively taking part in Municipalika 2015 as Participating Country. BCA is an agency under the Ministry of National Development (MND), championing the development of an excellent built environment for Singapore. On Day 1, the Vision Address on Future Cities will be given by Koh Lin Ji, Group Director, Building and Construction Authority, Government of Singapore.
The mega urban missions like the 100 Smart Cities, 500 cities under AMRUT, Swachh Bharat Mission, Housing for All – PMAY, Digital India and HRIDAY will feature prominently in the academic sessions.
From a half day session in earlier editions, the Solid Waste Management session has been expanded into a full-day affair with exclusive focus on the Swachh Bharat Mission, with the support of the SBM Mission Directorate in the Ministry of Urban Development, which invited all states and top 75 cities to showcase their SBM initiatives at Municipalika 2015.
Along with the government departments, private industry will also play a key role, in projecting the current scenario and future potential. Industry bodies like FICCI and NASSCOM will give a different perspective and specialist input of the real estate, built environment, construction sectors and role of ICT, etc. There will be two NASSCOM tracks – one on Day 1 and the other on Day 3.
The Local Self Government (LSG) Department of Government of Rajasthan, the nodal agency for coordinating all activities and participation as Host State, has played a pivotal role in inviting urban, municipal and housing departments in states and UTs across the country; as well as foreign missions and trade representatives of countries active in the smart cities sector and allied areas like water, waste, energy etc; and to leading global technology providers from the private sector. While doing this, the LSG Department, through the Directorate of Local Bodies (DLB) has ensured maximum participation from all its ULBs, from the nagar nigams, nagar parishads, and nagar palikas. The Host City, Jaipur Municipal Corporation has taken keen interest in ensuring good participation by sending out communications to leading Municipal Corporations across the country, inviting their participation in the Conference and Exhibition.
Municipalika 2015 will observe participation from World Toilet Organisation, World Water Council, Global Observatory linking Research to Action (GORA), World Council on City Data (WCCD), UDP International (Hong Kong), Passive House Institute (Germany), C40 Cities, ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability South Asia and many more international organisations.
Besides Canada, Trade Commissions of Australia and Netherlands will also take active part in Municipalika 2015.
Among important national organisations supporting Municipalika 2015 are : Smart Cities Council of India, National Institute of Urban Affairs, Central Ground Water Board, National Water Mission, Central Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Centre for Green Mobility, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), Rajasthan State Real Estate Development Council (RAJ REDCO), HUDCO, Rajasthan Avas Vikas And Infrastructure Limited (RAVIL), National Remote Sensing Centre of ISRO, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), EMBARQ India, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA), Sulabh International, Indian Heritage Cities Network (IHCN), Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO), Centre for Environment and Development Studies, Centre for Study of Regional Development (JNU), Institute of Urban Transport, CEPT University and many more.
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has joined this year as the Associate Partner.
It is important to note that, Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has always been a strong partner of Municipalika over the years and a top-level delegation is participating this year too in various segments of the event.
The winners of Urban Innovation Challenge (UIC) 2015 will be awarded for their innovative solutions to systemic challenges in the urban areas, by under-graduate, post-graduate students and young professionals from different disciplines. The theme of the competition this year is Smart Cities and Green Buildings. Over 150 entries from top engineering, technology, architecture, and urban planning institutions from all over India registered for the contest.
Besides the presence of a large number of senior government officials, ULBs, urban parastatals, utilities, etc. which have been the USP of Municipalika, this year there is also a strong focus on private sector stakeholders like real estate developers and builders, technology providers, consultants, EPC contractors, and professionals like architects, engineers, and urban planners, who are showing keen interest to be part of Municipalika 2015. They will find specific interest in co-located show CAPEx focussed on Construction, Architecture, Planning and Engineering.
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