Smart City News: Gurgaon Signals, Jammu Ducts and HCMC
Gurgaon has 141 junctions on adaptive traffic signals, yet many still run on fixed timings, and the city is now adding 15 more. That gap between installing smart systems and actually running them is the thread through this week’s smart city news, from Jammu’s plan to bury its tangled cables to Jammu and Kashmir’s slow-moving master plans.
We picked six stories: three from India and three from Ho Chi Minh City and Jakarta, where the focus is on long-range planning and on letting the people who run public services shape the tools they use. For the control room side of signals and city systems, see our complete guide to control rooms.
Smart city news from India
Gurgaon adds 15 smart signals while adaptive timing lags
The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) plans 15 more signals with an Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS), at about Rs 3 crore, after requests from the traffic police; eight sites have been picked so far, including Sikanderpur Bada and Almeda Chowk on Southern Peripheral Road. The city already has 141 ATCS junctions, built for more than Rs 24 crore, but the Times of India reports that several still run preset timings because heavy daytime traffic limits how well the system adjusts.[1]
Read the original: 15 more smart signals for Gurgaon but adaptive timing promise uneven (Times of India)
The next test: Adaptive signals earn their cost only when the control room actually lets them adapt. Our control rooms guide covers how operators, data and remote control should work together.
Jammu plans a shared underground duct for telecom cables
Jammu will get an underground communication corridor between Purani Mandi Chowk and Bharat Mata Chowk, next to Raghunath Bazaar, at an estimated Rs 1.19 crore under the Centre’s Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI). Daily Excelsior reports that two concrete-encased 200 mm ducts will run on both sides of the road, one for current cables and one spare, with manholes every 25 to 30 metres, so operators such as BSNL, Airtel, Jio and Vodafone Idea can share the space while keeping their own networks.[2]
Read the original: Jammu to get underground communication corridor at Rs 1.19 crore under SASCI (Daily Excelsior)
Fewer dug-up roads: A common duct means one excavation instead of many, and fewer hanging wires near streetlights. Jammu Smart City Limited also has other work under way, such as the multi-level car park in our recent SPV tenders post.
Jammu and Kashmir’s master plans fall behind its own targets
An analysis in Kashmir Life argues that recent building-rule changes may work against the government’s own goals of decongestion and resilient cities. It notes that the target is to finish GIS-based master plans for 25 cities and towns this financial year, but a report dated 17 October showed only the Anantnag–Bijbehara–Mattan plan at draft stage, with Bandipora’s preliminary draft under scrutiny.[3]
Read the original: Is Jammu and Kashmir Undermining Its Own Urban Planning Goals? (Kashmir Life)
Plans need capacity: A GIS master plan depends on reliable spatial data and staff to maintain it. We looked at Srinagar’s focus on maintaining finished Smart City assets in our last news roundup.
Smart city news from Asia
Ho Chi Minh City drafts a 2050 master plan with a 100-year vision
Ho Chi Minh City’s People’s Council reviewed a draft master plan for 2025–2050 on 26 October, covering about 6,772 sq km and built around five growth poles and five satellite centres, VnEconomy reports. Targets include 18 urban rail lines of around 961 km by 2050, about 450 km of light rail and trams, a 55–65% public transport share and at least 90% wastewater treatment.[4]
Read the original: HCM City envisions multi-polar, polycentric megacity with 100-year vision (VnEconomy)
Rail first: The plan makes urban rail the backbone of mobility and pairs it with flood management and protection of the Can Gio mangrove reserve against rising sea levels.
Ho Chi Minh City seeks AI and semiconductor ties with India
At a Vietnam–India Future Technology Forum on 26 October, Ho Chi Minh City proposed cooperation with India on high-tech training, research and technology transfer in AI, semiconductors and digital infrastructure, including tools for urban governance and logistics, SGGP reports. The plan includes a training model for 20–30 trainees a year and one or two pilot projects over the next 12 to 24 months.[5]
Read the original: HCMC proposes cooperation with India in AI, semiconductors, high-tech talent (Saigon Giai Phong (SGGP))
An opening for Indian firms: The forum also discussed using remote sensing, geospatial data and AI in urban planning, the same building blocks behind the digital twins Indian cities are adopting.
Jakarta Smart City asks civil servants to design the tools
Jakarta Smart City’s first GovTechAthon invites local government staff to name real public service problems backed by data and design digital fixes, without needing to code them, GovInsider reports. Registration closes on 28 October, and JSC’s own developers will build the winning ideas into products handed over to the winning local governments by February 2027.[6]
Read the original: Jakarta Smart City’s GovTechAthon drives digital solutions to local challenges (GovInsider)
Starting from the problem: Teams must explain root causes and what has already been tried, which keeps the focus on public services rather than on a demo.
Trisim’s view: count the systems that run, not the ones installed
Gurgaon’s signals, Jammu’s cables and the delayed master plans all point the same way. A city gets value from smart infrastructure only when someone runs it every day, maintains it and uses the data it produces, so the number of systems in daily use is a better measure of progress than the number of systems installed.
Planning or upgrading a command and control centre? Talk to Trisim Global Solutions.
Sources
- Times of India, 15 more smart signals for Gurgaon but adaptive timing promise uneven, accessed 27 October 2026
- Daily Excelsior, Jammu to get underground communication corridor at Rs 1.19 crore under SASCI, accessed 27 October 2026
- Kashmir Life, Is Jammu and Kashmir Undermining Its Own Urban Planning Goals?, accessed 27 October 2026
- VnEconomy, HCM City envisions multi-polar, polycentric megacity with 100-year vision, accessed 27 October 2026
- Saigon Giai Phong (SGGP), HCMC proposes cooperation with India in AI, semiconductors, high-tech talent, accessed 27 October 2026
- GovInsider, Jakarta Smart City’s GovTechAthon drives digital solutions to local challenges, accessed 27 October 2026