Coimbatore: As part of the Smart City Mission project, the Coimbatore Corporation has proposed an idea to install 30 smart benches or solar trees in the city.

The corporation has floated the tender for this, said the official looking at the bids. Officials said the corporation had already installed a model tree with smart bench near the VOC Park at Rs 3.05 lakh as a model for bidders.

The objective was to make streets smarter and greener with the smart benches, said the officials.

The benches will be solar-powered with many provisions like an outlet for people to charge their phones and it will also have a running wifi hotspot. It will also have LED lighting and sensors to gather data on temperature and , vital information.

The seating will also be temperature-controlled ensuring that the benches will remain pleasant in all weather conditions. The benches will be made of material that will be resistant to vandalism.

The officials added that the corporation would not be incurring any cost as they were going to implement the benches across the city through public-private partnership model. In this model, the successful bidder, along with the corporation, will be able to recover their investments by way of advertisement fee.