Project Smart Cities is a visionary project of the Government of India for sustainable, high quality of life in terms of infrastructure, mobility and connectivity, technology, environment, availability of resources and overall living conditions and experience.

The government’s Smart City initiative is an urban renewal and retrofitting programme to develop 100 such cities in the country. The move envisages a major facelift of the existing inadequate infrastructure, including roads, flyovers, airports, residential areas, city sewage systems, community areas, including parks, shopping centres, hospitals and schools. For structures that are intended to have at least a 100-year life cycle with minimal maintenance but are quick to complete, the answer lies in steel, whether it is underground, above ground or in buildings.

....

There is a misconception steel works out to be expensive. The principle of life cycle cost has been included in Rule 136 (1) (iii) of the new General Financial Rules (GFR), 2017. 

In many government projects relating to roads, bridges, buildings, construction of railways, shipping and rural roads, the principle of life cycle cost will play a decisive role in the sanctioning of the project design.

The use of steel has a major bearing on the life of the project. In the long run, it will reduce life cycle costs. There might be several projects that are steel-intensive may see higher initial costs. But, in the long run, their overall cost comes down — determined by factors such as material, quality, repairs needed, the time for execution of the projects, etc. All such projects will add to the inventory of national assets.

....