Urban Update March 2015

All India Institute of Local Self Government

RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

UrbanUpdate Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

Cities Craving For more land Cities require more land to accomodate massive influx of people, and provide its residents with adequate public infrastructure. This demands for major policy reforms in land domain

Volume I - Issue XI

March 2015

Rs 100

ISSN 2349-6266

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All India Institute of Local Self Government No. 6, F-Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, TPS Road-12, Bandra-East Mumbai-400051, Maharashtra Tel.No.: +91-22-26571713, 26571714, 26571715, Fax: +91-22-2657 2286, Email : contact@aiilsg.org

Inside

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Inside ONE on ONE

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Leading cities towards excellence An interview with Zachary Tofias of C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group

Cover story

22 Cities craving for more land

Cities require more land to provide adequate facilities to its people 24 The key to planned urbanisation

Effective land management can solve many urban problems 26 Land locked or landlocked

Land acquisiton policies need to focus on rehabilitation too 30 Land pooling policy to help smart city development

Metro cities like Delhi require a effective policy framework for land pooling City Life

32 Delhi Metro: A veritable cupid land

Metro stations and compartments are becoming safe havens for couples Urban Dialogues

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Energising cities Cities must adopt measures to handle their energy generation, distribution

Designing Indian cities Urban design needs to be at the heart of city planning for better public convenience

vox pop

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Wealth in trash Waste to wealth is fast catching up among municipalities in India

Urban Agenda

46 Solutions, not just technology, matter

Smart cities to provide solutions based on technological inventions RegularS

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7 Pin Point 15 City Images

EDITORIAL

Dr Jatin Modi President-AIILSG Ranjit Chavan Editor-In-Chief & Publisher Director General-AIILSG, dgaiilsg@gmail.com Apresh C Mishra

Land wanting new lease of life

Managing Editor, apresh@urbanupdate.in Ashok Wankhade Consulting Editor, bhau@urbanupdate.in Lojy Thomas, Aiilsg Associate Editor, lojy@urbanupdate.in Prathiba Raju Assistant Editor, prathiba@urbanupdate.in Abhishek Pandey Principal Correspondent, abhishek@urbanupdate.in Jessy Iype Desk Editor & Reporter, jessy@urbanupdate.in Meenakshi Rajput Graphic Designer, meenakshi@urbanupdate.in Volume I - Issue XI For Feedback & Information Write at info@urbanupdate.in Printed and published by Ranjit Chavan on behalf of All India Institute of Local Self Government. Printed at Cirrus Graphics Pvt Ltd B-61, Sector-67, Noida – 201301 Uttar Pradesh. Published at Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-58 Phone No. 011-2852 1783 / 5473 Despite careful selection of sources, no responsibility can be taken for accuracy. The magazine assumes no liability or responsibility of any kind in connection with the information thereof. All right reserved. Reproduction in

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neven distribution of land among segments of society is a result of multiple layers of central, state and municipal regulations that contribute to an artificial urban land shortage.

Urban land prices are abnormally high in relation to India’s household income. The regulatory environment need to be put in place to correct the situation on ground.

Rising prices of urban land marginalises a large segment of the population out of land market. The result of such situation is encroachment on public land by the poor, and mushrooming of unauthorised colonies.

Land is the base for the super built environment and platform for all human activities.

Estimates show that about 2.5 percent of total reporting area of the country is under urban settlements. Change in urban land use is more and critical which determines the environmental quality. Hence appropriate land use for effective planning, development and management of land resources assumes greater importance.

The experience shows that the growth of cities has outpaced the planning and development efforts. Consequently, haphazard development is taking place thereby leading to sub-optimal use of urban land resource Even if there is no Master Plan, Urban Development does take place in terms of utilities, services, social infrastructure, roads, etc. On one hand un-developed lands within the city limits are not fully utilised while peripheral agricultural lands are brought within the ambit of urbanisable limits.

Thus time has come where land must be treated as a resource and land use planning is required to be converted into resource planning rather than being taken merely as a zoning exercise.

Master Plan should not be an exercise just to match land needs to demographic projections. Land based financing is now becoming an important source of urban infrastructure financing in developing countries; especially where cities are growing rapidly. Land based financing can generate revenue upfront reducing dependence on debt.

This issue discusses ‘nitty gritty’ of land management involving land acquisition, land use, and land pooling among others. It tries to touch upon different aspects in the land domain and stir a debate around the issues concerning land for better urban future.

whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

Ranjit Chavan dgaiilsg@gmail.com

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NEWSCAN

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NEWSCAN

‘Promote citizen participation in urban development’ Naidu asks the states and urban local bodies to identify urban development needs and priorities through ‘citizen participation’ in decision making NEW DELHI: The Top-down approch for urban development schemes till date have not yielded desired results and hence, Urban Development Ministry has undertaken bottom-up approach, that is extensive consultations with states, urban local bodies in designing of urban development schemes right from conceptualisation onwards, said M Venkaiah Naidu, Urban Development Minister.

Seeking a paradigm shift in urban development planning, Naidu informed that the states and urban local bodies should identify urban development needs and priorities through ‘citizen participation’ in decision making.

“The new urban planning guidelines seek to promote local and area level planning, investment planning, special purpose planning like in the case of city sanitation and mobility plans,” Naidu said, adding that states should set up City Infrastructure Funds exclusively for promotion of infrastructure.

He released the guidelines for ‘Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation Guidelines’ which was finalised after six months consultations with states and other stakeholders by the UD Ministry and its Town and Country Planning Organisation. “We need to promote citizen participation in taking forward new urban initiatives like building Smart Cities, New Mission for 500 Cities, Housing for All,” he added.

Ease construction activities

Expressing concern over construction activities being delayed, UD Minister said that steps are taken to ease construction business in urban areas, the states should enable approvals for construction projects in a maximum

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The new urban planning guidelines seek to promote local and area level planning, investment planning, special purpose planning like in the case of city sanitation and mobility plans M Venkaiah Naidu Minister of Urban Development

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period of 30 days. Stating that at present it takes 90 to 600 days for obtaining such approvals, Naidu said, “It has been agreed in an inter-ministerial meeting held recently, to simplify and rationalise the number of clearances required to sanction approvals in a maximum period of 30 days.”

Modify building bye-laws

In order to enable effective use of diminishing land resource, MoUD has urged to modify building bye-laws. The Ministry further said that the modified bye-laws would enable to promote ease of doing business, encourage green construction practices, use of solar power, rainwater harvesting, zero waste discharge and enable cities to mitigate and effectively tackle natural disasters.

“Simplified Delhi Building ByeLaws will soon be notified which will address the obstacles being faced in the context of rapid urbanisation,” he said. He mentioned the importance of the GIS and remote sensing based Master Plans and urged the states to ensure development of such plans for all urban areas.

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PIN POINT People’s participation is central to planned development. There is a haphazard urban development going on in our urban sector. I don’t blame any party or individual. We have to collectively address the problem

I have at least learnt one thing in the 49 days of my governance, that there is no dearth of money in the government. There is enough money, there is a lack of intention

M Venkaiah Naidu Urban Development Minister

Arvind Kejriwal Delhi Chief Minister

Cities are the engines of economic growth.

The Government is committed to building modern amenities and infrastructure in our urban areas.

The National Urban Development Mission is being finalized, particularly focusing on water and solid waste management infrastructure

The ancient Indian plea of mutual respect for all faiths is now beginning to manifest in global discourse Narendra Modi Prime Minister

Pranab Mukherjee President of India

BUZZ

Digital profile of India is very skewed today. It’s confined to a few cities. We have to take it to smaller towns of east and north east-India Ravi Shankar Prasad @rsprasad Communications and Information Technology Minister

It is not just Delhi, most big Indian cities have a #pollution problem that needs to be tackled Kiran Mazumdar Shaw @kiranshaw Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon

Delhi’s electricity price cut reveals how energy is overpriced in Indian cities

Samar Halarnkar @samar Veteran Journalist

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The safest cities in d world are Tokyo, Singapore & Osaka. All in d eastern part of d world - latest study by Economic Intelligence Unit Amitabh Kant @amitabhk87 Secretary- Industrial Policy & Promotion, GOI

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BRIEFS

Maharashtra to get Rs 135 crore for Swachh Bharat

Union Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu allotted Rs 135 crore as a first instalment for Maharashtra towards individual and community toilet and solid waste management under the Swachh Bharat Mission.

Naidu called for people, public, private partnerships (PPPP) to develop Indian cities.

Yadgir Urban Development Authority inaugurated Minister for Urban Development (Karnataka) Vinay Kumar Sorake inaugurated the newlydeclared Yadgir Urban Development Authority recently. The Town Planning Authority, working since 1996, will now be recast as Yadgir Urban Development Authority.

Civic bodies to get 4K for every toilet built Urban local bodies will get central assistance of Rs 4,000 per toilet under the Swachh Bharat Mission which can be enhanced through other sources like the share of states and urban local bodies, contribution from corporates under CSR, NGOs and private organizations for the construction of household toilets.

NEWSCAN

Hyderabad airport gets third rank globally

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) has been ranked third best airport in the world in five to 15 Million Passengers Per Annum (MPPA) category. The airport has been ranked in the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Awards announced by the Airports Council International (ACI), the global body of airports, for 2014. RGIA has retained its position among the top three airports in its category for the sixth consecutive year, said a statement by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), the operators of the airport. It has consistently been rated amongst the top three airports in the world, since its inception. The ASQ survey has become the world’s leading airport passenger satisfaction benchmarking survey with over 300 airports participating. SGK Kishore, CEO, GHIAL, said,” It reflects our commitment for delivering a high quality passenger experience on a consistent basis.” The ACI which carries out surveys at 300 airports around the world ranks the airports on the basis of airport service quality surveys which represent passenger feedback on 34 key service indicators.

Mumbai skyscraper sold in London MUMBAI: World’s tallest luxury apartments in a Mumbai skyscraper are selling like hot cakes in London, the British capital, with a starting price tag of 1.4 million pounds. The apartment designed by Giorgio Armani is said to be completed next year and are primarily aimed at high net worth Indians or Indian-origin millionaires based in London who often visit India. “Since the London economy has recovered, developers are now starting to launch overseas projects in the capital in order to tap into the wealthy expatriate and other international people who are based in London either part or full time,” said

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Peter Wetherell, chief executive of highend London estate agents Wetherell which has started selling the flats in the exclusive property. When completed in 2016, World One Tower will have 117 storeys, making it the world’s tallest residential skyscraper.

A swimming pool, gym and health club come as standard with most of the luxury apartment blocks and the complex is also expected to have cricket pitches and a pavilion. The 442-metre high tower is built at a cost of more than 205 million pounds and will have more than 300 luxury apartments, many of them overlooking the Arabian Sea.

NEWSCAN

AIILSG wins 2015 RISK Award Mumbai: All India Institute of Local Self Government won the 2015 RISK Award for carrying out projects to reduce disaster risks faced especially by women and children in slums. The 2015 RISK Award honours and funds an innovative and sustainable project. Innovation, sustainability and people-centred approaches were important selection criteria when choosing the 2015 RISK Award winner.

With its project ‘Community self assessment and planning with women’s participation for disaster risk’, the AIILSG aims to reduce the disaster risk of the urban vulnerable communities in slums with a special focus on children and women. The project is being carried out in Pune, which is among the most multihazard-prone districts in the country. For the poorest of the poor the risks increase multi-folds as they have hardly any means and resources for disaster risk reduction or disaster preparedness. Approximately 21 percent of Pune’s population (690,000 people) resides in the city’s 477 slums

in uninhabitable conditions. Many of those slums are densely populated, lack basic services and infrastructure and, moreover, are located on hills as well as in high flood zones. Consequently, people are highly vulnerable to natural disasters (landslides, floods, heavy rains, earthquakes or cyclones) and manmade disasters (like fires and collapsing buildings). Women and children are the weakest and most heavily affected.

Activities for risk reduction must integrate the people at risk and make use of their traditional coping techniques and knowledge. The project is aimed at empowering vulnerable slum communities so that they can assess their own disaster preparedness and plan disaster risk reduction, and mobilize proactive participation of women who are among the most vulnerable to disaster impacts. It is also aimed at developing a cadre of community volunteers as master trainers, and child-friendly information, education and communication including visual tools.

AMC opens cancer screening centre AURANGABAD: Under central government’s National Urban Health Mission (NUHM), the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation recently opened two new urban primary health centres (UPHC) and started construction of another centre at Kabra Nagar. Besides, the civic body also launched a cancer screening centre at its existing hospital at Bansilal Nagar. With these two new UPHCs at Vijay Ngar and Jaibhawani Nagar, the number of PHCs in the city has gone up to 24. In addition to this, the Kabra Nagar UPHC will be the 25th centre. Khaire said that the civic body’s medical health service has improved manifold due to the NUHM. “We will also see noticeable changes in it in the coming days as the civic body has recently filled 323 posts in the medical department,” he said.

BRIEFS

Gujarat govt to give land for housing Gujarat government’s Urban Development department has decided to handover 5,19,157 sq m of land, rendered surplus as per the Urban Land Ceiling (ULC) Act in six municipal corporation areas, to build over 35,000 residential units with basic amenities for the urban poor under affordable housing scheme.

UP unveils development agenda for 2015-16 Uttar Pradesh government unveiled the ‘development agenda’ a document which guides the policies, priority areas and welfare schemes of the state government.

CM Akhilesh Yadav said that the development agenda, like previous years, would focus on key areas for comprehensive development of the state with added attention on prompt, inclusive and transparent governance.

Draft proposal ready for Greater Rourkela The CDP draft proposal, prepared by the Town and Country Planning Organisation of the Union Ministry of Urban Development and Rourkela Development Authority (RDA), is ready for approval of the Odisha government.

Civic body installs GPS in its vehicles

Vadodara, Surat in top 20 Indian cities

GAYA: Installation of GPS fittings in all the 104 municipal corporation vehicles, including dumpers, JCB machines and three wheelers have begun in the Gaya Municipal Corporation (GMC).

The new gadgets have been initiated in improving the efficiency of the town`s sanitary mechanism. Besides providing

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel announced recently that Vadodara and Surat have been included in the list of 20 best cities in the country and will be awarded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

data about the garbage collection points, the GPS system will ensure that the garbage collection vehicles at any particular collection point do not stay for more than 15 minutes. The GPS installation is also likely to cut on the fuel cost as bogus fuel claims can now be easily identified.

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BRIEFS

Unspent central funds with civic bodies to go for Metro projects Based on feedback from the States, the Urban Development Ministry is likely to spend the remaining central funds with municipal bodies on Metro projects.

Around Rs. 2800 cr rupees are lying with the local bodies across the country.

NEWSCAN

Smart, earthquake proof city in Japan FUJISAWA: Tables which can be transformed into stoves, solar panels, which can provide electricity during emergencies, electric vehicles are some of the features of smart cities in Japan,

Odisha to transfer Rs 12,792 cr to local bodies Odisha government has budgeted to transfer Rs 12,792.77 crore from its own resources to the local bodies during 2015-20. State Finance Commission has pegged the total transfer of funds to ULBs and PRIs for the five year period at Rs 25,325.03 crore.

PCMC to set aside Rs 120 cr for PMPML The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has made a onetime provision of Rs 120 crore in its annual draft budget for Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) in response to a request made

by Shrikar Pardeshi, the chairman and managing director of the transport undertaking.

BMC opens FSI floodgates The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has recently proposed an increase in the amount of development allowed on a plot of land in different parts of the city.

The increased Floor Space Index will go up to eight in the areas situated near railway stations.

a country always on the alert against natural disasters. Fujisawa, 51 km south of Tokyo, which was industrial complex of Panasonic is turning into a residential zone with prototype houses fitted with solar cells and electric vehicles roaming the streets. Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town (SST) is incorporating the

emerging concept of “smart city” to save energy, make maximum use of sunlight.

They are taking in account certain conditions in Japan like the earthquakes.

The houses are built in earthquakeresistant materials, they are totally equipped to consume less energy, making them between 10 and 20 percent more expensive than conventional houses.

Prices range from 50 million yen ($ 422,000) for a basic house to 110 million yen for a much bigger one. Its energysaving potential is guaranteed by solar panels on the roof and complementary cells that generate electricity for lighting and heating water. This would mean that the families residing in Fujisawa SST need not pay electric companies, as they themselves would be producing their energy. Residents can access data regarding their energy consumption and production through their own website, and their houses incorporate “Smart TVs” and security cameras throughout the complex. It also provides services for renting motorcycles, bicycles and electric cars with their corresponding refilling stations. The SST is one of the 18 smart-city initiatives undertaken by Japan’s private sector, while the country’s government has conceived another 14 such projects in Yokohama, Toyota, Keihanna and Kitakyushu.

Mumbai to be 24x7 city soon MUMBAI: With a view to give a boost to food & beverage and hospitality industries, the Maharashtra government is planning to allow a select number of restaurants, eateries and hotels in Mumbai to work throughout the night in city limits. Since the city is known as business capital of the country and records huge number of visitors, Mumbai needs a night life by keeping its eateries open, according to the traders. An official from Urban Development department, Maharashtra government, explained, “Mumbai will soon be a 24x7 city, though conditions are yet to be discussed and confirmed.

Mumbai police also cleared the path for such a proposal. Though not confirmed yet, night life will be available only in limited areas like non-residential and commercial locations. Certain amendments to laws are also required. The move is expected to help hospitality, tourism and food industries.”

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City Brand

What’s in a name?

The names of several cities in India and abroad have changed over the time due to a range of reasons. Still the elderly generation relates themselves with the earlier nomenclature of cities

Mumbai has changed its name and culture over a period of time. Once known as Mumba changed it to Boa Baia then Bombay and now Mumbai

Major Cities Changed Their Names Abhishek Pandey, Principal Correspondent Abhishek@urbanupdate.in

T

he names of many Indian cities have been changed formally by the government in the last twenty years.

Bombay became Mumbai, Bangalore was changed to Bengaluru, Madras was renamed as Chennai, Calcutta and Calicut were renamed as Kolkata, Kozhikode respectively; and the list goes on.

But why do the cities change their names? The most common reason given by the government for changing cities’ names is to better reflect their inhabitants’ heritage.

After independence, the names of many cities, which got romanised during the British rein, were renamed by the government. Some of the cities whose names were changed then include Jabalpur (from Jubbulpore), Kanpur (from Cawnpore), and, Jajmau (from Jajesmow). It was an attempt to free these cities from the remanants of their colonial past.

In later years, the names of many major Indian cities were changed. Baroda was renamed as Vadodra in 1974, Trivandrum as Thiruvananthapuram in 1991, Bombay as Mumbai in 1995, Madras as Chennai in 1996, Cochin as Kochi in 1996, Calcutta as Kolkata in 2001,

Bangalore g Bengaluru Madras g Chennai Jubbulpore g Jabalpur Fort William g Calcutta g Kolkata Mumba g Boa Baia g Bombay g Mumbai New Bombay g Navi Mumbai Mangalore g Mangaluru Mysore g Mysuru Kanhiyapur g Cawnpore g Kanpur Baroda g Vadodra Pataliputra g Patna Pondicherry g Puducherry Poona g Pune Pondicherry as Puducherry in 2006, and Bangalore as Bengaluru in 2007. Some names were not changed completely but they were respelled, as it is believed that British had romanised the spelling of cities for their convenience. However, the names of many cities in India were changed because of political reasons and to reflect the legacy of the ruling party.

Recently, Karnataka government has changed the names of 12 of its cities.

Similarly, other states too have seen the change in the names of cities with the change in the political party.

Many proposals to change the name of cities are hanging in the balance owing to controversies involved. The Bharatiya Janata Party has proposed to rename Ahmedabad to Karnavati and Allahabad to Prayag. Other demands for changing the name of the cities are from Patna (rename as Pataliputra), Aurangabad (Sambhajinagar), Bhopal (Bhojpal), Hyderabad (Bhagya Nagaram), and

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Qila Rai Pithora g Siri-Tughluqabad g Jahanpanah g Kotla Firoz Shah g Purana Qila g Shahjahanabad g Delhi Trivandrum g Thiruvananthapuram Quilon g Kollam Aleppey g Alappuzha Cochin g Kochi Calicut g Kozhikode Chirayinkil g Chirayinkeezhu Kattachakonam g Kesavadasapuram Palghat g Palakkad Thrishivaperur g Trichur g Thrissur Cannanore g Kannur Mughalsarai (Deen Dayal Nagar).

Strange names

The trend of changing the names of the cities in some countries has been driven by bizarre reasons. For example: the town of Hot Springs in New Mexico changed its name to Truth or Consequences in 1950. Reason: a popular radio host Ralph Edwards of NBC Radio announced that he would broadcast his show Truth or Consequences from the first city to rename itself after his program.

In 2005, the small town of Clark, Texas, officially changed its name to DISH, as part of an agreement with the DISH Network. As per the deal, the town’s residents received ten years of free satellite TV service, along with a free digital video recorder.

Similarly, as part of a deal with a Web site called Half.com, the city of Halfway, Oregon, changed its name to Half.com in 1999.

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BRIEFS

Municipal Corporation to light up memorials Bareilly Municipal Corporation is all set to light up the memorials of 257 freedom fighters who laid down their lives during the country’s first war of independence in 1857.

Raipur to introduce slab rates for water Raipur Municipal Corporation has decided to introduce water tarriff at slab rates that are much higher than the national capital, particularly from low and medium consumers.

RMC to launch its own housing project Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) would launch its own housing project, ‘Smart Ghar’. It is first initiative by any corporation in Gujarat. The corporation has decided to construct a housing colony on the land owned by the corporation.

MCGM launches campaign to curb TB Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has launched a comprehensive TB awareness campaign with Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims at addressing the key challenges impediment to TB control.

HMDA notifies 23 more lakes for conservation The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA)’s Lake Protection Committee initiated steps for protection and conservation of 23 water bodies in and around Hyderabad.

NEWSCAN

Indian cities need better taxation for smart urbanisation Raising infrastructure will be an enormous task given the impending massive addition to India’s urban population. Optimum use of technology, finances, smart governance and smart behaviour is required to help combat the ticking bomb NEW DELHI: India’s plan to 40 years (1971— 2008) for India’s urban establish 100 smart cities, if properly population to rise by 230 million. It could implemented, could set a trend in the take only half that time to add [another] developing world for innovative and 250 million,” the report says. sustainable infrastructure development, The MGI report, a point of reference an international meet held recently at the DSDS meet, cautions that the concluded. challenge of raising infrastructure will be “This is an opportunity for India enormous given the impending massive to use technology to leapfrog across addition to India’s urban population. At the world,” Amitabh Kant, secretary the current rate of investment, the report in Indian government’s department of says, the average citizen would get an industrial policy average 65 litres of and production, water a day and cities said at a session would release 70— India’s urbanisation will be during the 15th 80 percent of their Delhi Sustainable rapid. It took nearly 40 years sewage untreated.

Development Kant said that (1971— 2008) for India’s Summit (DSDS), smart solutions urban population to rise by organised by are needed for 230 million. It could take The Energy and challenging goals Resources Institute like ensuring carbononly half that time to add (TERI). free and congestion[another] 250 million.

India’s plan free transportation, as announced by clean energy supply, the government waste and water would make use management. “For of geographic this, we have to information systems for town planning embed technology, finances, smart and use the latest technology for utilities, governance and smart public behaviour,” waste management and transport he said. Mili Majumdar, Director of the systems.

Sustainable Habitat Division of TERI, said Kant said India does not need to that infrastructure efficiency has to be replicate western models of urbanisation met through better public participation such as the one in Atlanta, US, where 98 in revenue generation. If the concept of percent of people travel using cars that smart cities is to be implemented people guzzle fuel. “It is advisable and [also] would need to pay for services, she said. easy for us to avoid such urbanisation,” According to the MGI report, cities he said. generate the lion’s share of India’s tax According to a McKinsey Global revenue (80 — 85 percent). Against that Institute (MGI) report, India’s only 37 percent of city dwellers pay tax, urbanisation will be rapid. “It took nearly Majumdar said.

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BRIEFS

VMC to raze illegal statues Vijaywada Municipal Corporation identified a total of 164 illegal statues in the city. The civic authorities have already issued notices to the organisations, political parties and institutions, who have installed them.

Smart parking plan for Indore A mobility plan for Indore has been proposed under which civic body and traffic police will identify parking spots. It has already been implemented on a stretch on pilot basis.

BMC frames guidelines for helipads in Mumbai Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has framed a policy on it in its new development plan. So far there has been no policy for constructing helipads.

TMC organizes fest for tree conservation To spread awareness on tree conservation, Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) organised Vrukshavalli 2015. The exhibition saw various plants, fruits, flowers and green vegetables put on display at Gaondevi ground.

IIT to make urban life easy Indian Institute of Technology (Kharagpur) recently bagged a massive project that could transform life and lifestyle in urban areas across the country, starting with Kolkata. IITKgp professors are already working on traffic and drinking water solutions for Kolkata.

NEWSCAN

‘Smart cities to promote harmony with nature’ NEW DELHI: Expressing concerns over the rising air pollution and deteriorating sanitation in cities, Union Urban Development Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu, assured that Smart Cities project will promote living in harmony with nature. Urging for promotion of new forms of energy, public transport, sanitation, Naidu said that “reorientation” of urban designing and planning approaches that promote clean energy is need of the hour. He informed that climate change concerns need to be factored in urban development strategies and action plans.” In my view, more than resource constraint, what is more important and challenging is the efficient management of available limited resources like land and harmonising our developmental aspirations with ecological concerns,” he said. Referring to the air pollution

Final consultation with states on Smart Cities held NEW DELHI: The proposed flagship scheme on developing ‘100 smart cities’ will roll out in a phased manner. The states and urban local bodies will play a key role in the Smart City project, and centre will play be an enabler, informed Union Urban Development Minister M VenkaiahNaidu.

Are you ready for smart cities? It is a daunting task but doable,” Naidu said while addressing the state government and stakeholders in the two-day consultation workshop for Smart Cities. Informing that this was the last consultation with the state governments and stakeholders, Naidu said, “States will be giving their suggestions and they will be sharing their experiences with others. After that the matter will be taken to Cabinet and a final view will be taken.” In order to select the most willing, able cities for making them smart, a ‘City Challenge’ competition would be held to assess the proven ability in terms of reforms.

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level in the capital, he said, “With the introduction of CNG-based public transport, things have improved somewhat, but much more is still to be done. “Most of our urban local bodies are inadequate to the challenges of spatial and technical planning and execution.

In the context of our contemporary initiatives for urban sector, we intend to address the issue of capacity building of our urban local bodies in a very focused manner.” However, he assured the gathering that climate issues are central to the UD Ministry’s initiatives.” Our objective is to minimise adverse impact on climate through building efficient transport infrastructure that promotes increased use of urban transport, scientific management of municipal solid waste and sewerage targeting zero discharge,” he added.

Govt to encourage latest tech in road construction NEW DELHI: Aiming to adopt global best practices in road building, the government will encourage use of modern technology as it plans to improve road designing and bring down construction cost, Road Secretary Vijay Chibber said. “We want to encourage use of modern technology for road construction.

There is a technology lag between us and other geographies. We are looking at encouraging new technology,” Chibber said. He said that the idea behind bringing in modern technology for road construction is mainly to decrease the cost of construction and improve the quality of roads.

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City Images

Bleeding Blue

Rajasthan’s Jodhpur city is known for the origins of its sobriquet ‘Blue City’.

The city is a wonderful example of vivid colours providing a photogenic backdrop to day-to-day life. To understand, why Jodhpur is known as ‘Blue city’, one should head into the older quarters under the centuriesold protection of Mehrangarh Fort, whose foundations were laid in 1459.

On the orders of the city’s founder, Rao Jodha, many of the houses are painted blue. The underlying reason as to why blue was chosen, some say the colour is associated closely with the Brahmins, India’s priestly caste, and the blue houses of the old city belong to families of that caste. There is also an argument that termites are the real reason. Historically, termites caused significant structural damage to a large number of the buildings in Jodhpur. The insects are said to have munched their way into the walls of dwellings and businesses. Residents struggled to get rid of the unwelcome guests, repelled them and discouraged their return and further damage by adding chemicals, including copper sulphate, to their standard whitewash.

Some even rubbish the theory that chemical compounds are added to the colourwash, and nothing but indigo, a natural dye, is the cause of the blue tint. Be whatsoever, the bluey feel of the city and the cultural richness fills your soul as you walk past the lanes of Jodhpur.

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Coin operated ‘She Toilets’ in Mumbai

‘India is fighting against climate change’

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) Solid Waste Management (SWM) department officials are planning to soon start ‘She-Toilets’ in Mumbai for women. They consist of stainless steel toilet booths which have a coinoperated door, a sanitary napkin vending machine, an incinerator to burn the napkins and automatic flush.

New Delhi: India was already demonstrating leadership in the fight against climate change, said Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Environment, Forests and Climate Change. Javadekar was speaking at a climate conference organised by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), focusing on the road to the Paris climate negotiations scheduled for later this year.

He elaborated, “Since the last half century, emissions across the world have only been increasing. In India’s case, we have already started implementing some of the actions that will form of the core of India’s contributions. My government has already begun work on achieving India’s 100 GW solar target. We are committed to make our earth liveable and business doable, where every citizen will have access to fresh air and water. But we can’t have supernormal profits built into technology costs. India can do more if finance and technology were available.”

He also released CEEW’s report on ‘India’s INDCs: Renewable Energy and the Pathway to Paris’.

Building plans in KA to get online approval Mysuru City Corporation is taking technological assistance to curtail the trend of violation of building bylaws. The civic body plans to introduce online facility for submission of applications.

Esri India launches ‘Geodesign’ tool Esri India, a provider of Geographic Information System (GIS) Software & Solutions, have come out with offerings for planning ‘Smart Cities’ in India.

Esri India has introduced Geodesign, a key framework for conceptualising and planning for Smart Cities and associated tools.

20 cities to be modernised in 2015 NEW DELHI: Urban Development Ministry informed that 20 cities will be taken up for modernisation this year for Smart Cities. The next year will see 40 more cities and the remaining 40 cities are expected to enter the list by 2017.

“In the first year, starting from 2015, we may think of 20 cities. In the next year, we will go for 40 cities and then 40 cities in the year after that,” UD Minsiter, M Venkaiah Naidu informed.

The Central government has plans to conduct a city challenge programme under which different cities will be competing with each other on various parameters, including self-financing ability, institutional capacities, existing service levels and past track record in implementing reforms. Several state

NGO supports resilient plan for Chennai

governments are pitching their cities to be part of the 100 cities. Naidu, however, says that there will be a ceiling of two cities per state initially. “Everybody wants a smart city. Every MP wants a smart city, every state government wants a smart city and every city wants to be a smart city,” says Naidu.

According to the government’s Smart City concept note released last year, the estimated investment requirements for water supply, sewerage, sanitation and transportation-related infrastructure will be Rs seven lakh crore for 100 cities. The minister said that the rough estimates show that it will require around Rs 40 lakh crore in 20 years to ensure basic infrastructure in all urban areas, including 500 cities and Smart Cities.

Green chemistry boosts Swachh Bharat Mission

Transport, Waste and Water management are three vital aspects the 100 Resilient Cities programme decides to tackle in Chennai for making the city resilient.

It is to be noted that the Rockefeller Foundation has set aside $100 million that for its 100 cities programme to catalyze and facilitate these solutions.

MUMBAI: Green chemistry, which aims to produce eco-friendly chemicals through sustainable means with minimal waste & optimum output, has the potential to give a big push to the Government’s Swachh Bharat Mission and other sustainable development goals. “Several trends are combining to push green principles to the fore of business strategy; advances in biotechnology are bringing new scientific horizons within reach. At a national level, green chemistry has a role to play in making India globally competitive and execution of the Make in India and Swachh Bharat (Clean India) campaigns,” said Nadir Godrej, Chairman CII National Committee Chemicals and Managing Director, Godrej Industries Ltd, during a conference on ‘New trends in green chemistry’ organised by CII recently in the business capital.

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Govt allocates Rs22,407 crore for housing, UD MUMBAI: Giving the housing for all by 2022 target a push, finance minister Arun Jaitley said the country needs to build 20 million more homes in cities and 40 million in villages. His budget presented recently proposed to allocate

France to invest in solar power, urban development sectors in Jharkhand JAMSHEDPUR: To augment investment in India, France is scouting for ideal locations in the eastern part of the country that lacks effective presence of the French companies. The country is keen to enhance its presence across sectors in the eastern and northeastern states. “We are keen to invest in solar power generation, urban development and automobile sector,” said Fabrice Etienne, Consul General of France. He said that Jharkhand holds enough potential for the French companies vis-a-vis investment. He said that banned extremist outfit, CPI (Maoist) threat to investment proposals and security scenario in general is an issue for the potential French investors.

Rs.22,407 crore for housing and urban development. “Each house in the country should have basic facilities of 24-hour power supply, clean drinking water, a toilet, and be connected to a road,” Jaitley said.

“This will help to fill the huge demand supply gap in the housing sector and will make housing the next booming sector in India.

As the economy will expand and more jobs will be created in our cities, there is a need to not only plug the existing gap but also a need to cater to the newer demand,” said Surabhi Arora, associate director at Research Colliers International, a property consultancy firm.

ADB loan to expand low cost housing finance to more Indian families MANILA: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is extending a $125 million loan to Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL), one of India’s leading housing finance companies, to fund the expansion of its lending for low cost affordable homes and to broaden its reach into some of the country’s least developed states. “Limited access to long term capital remains a significant hurdle in India and undermines the ability of housing finance companies to help millions of lower and middle income Indian families own their own homes,” said Todd Freeland, Director General of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department.

“ADB is proud to be partnering again with DHFL to expand its business and reach out to more customers, particularly in areas which have been neglected by the market in the past.” Mortgages with longer payback periods and lower monthly installments allow more low-income to own homes.

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NIO to install wave rider buoy to study beach erosion National Institute of Oceanography-Vizag is procuring a wave rider buoy from its headquarters in Goa to study the beach eroison phenomenon in Vizag.

CMC’s new building to be disabled friendly Chennai Corporation has decided to include facilities for the disabled in its newlyconstructed five storey annexe building called Amma Maaligai. Two ramps have been provided at the entrance and spacious toilets for people in wheelchairs have been made available.

GMC to fine owners of stray pigs Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon banned stray pigs in the areas falling under its limit from February 22. Now, stray pigs would be caught and expenses incurred in the process would be recovered from the pig owners.

Govt to ease curbs on urban construction To promote construction activities in urban areas, the Union Government recently decided to substantially reduce the number of approvals and ‘No Objection Certificates’ required for taking up such projects in cities.

Naidu to review urban development programs M Venkaiah Naidu will review progress of schemes pertaining to his ministries in the North-Eastern states for effective implementation of various central initiatives.

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TN to get four mega food parks soon The proposed mega food parks project in Tamil Nadu, which has been stalled due to problems related to land acquisition and paucity of funds, is all set to take off soon with the Union Ministry of Food Processing clearing the proposal.

Govt to use latest tech in road construction Central government has decided to encourage use of modern technology to improve road designing and reduce construction cost.

Cement makers to roll back price hikes Cement makers have reversed price increases as demand for the building material didn’t rise as anticipated. Not just North India, cement manufacturers in eastern, central and western markets have also rolled back price hikes announced in January.

Additional FAR for green buildings The Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation in West Bengal has decided to grant 10 percent additional Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for green buildings over the usual FAR for constructing residential buildings.

Telangana seeks smart city status for six cities Telangana government has sought “smart city” status for Warangal, Karimnagar, Nizambad, Khammam, Mahbubnagar and Ramagundam. The Government has submitted the shortlisted cities to the Centre for approval.

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Bloomberg Foundation, UD Ministry partner for Smart City Bloomberg Philanthropies will also assist the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to reduce accidents on the city roads. The foundation inked an MoU with the Maharashtra government in this regard NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Michael Bloomberg announced a partnership of Urban Development Ministry with the Bloomberg Foundation to advance the government’s ambitious Smart Cities initiative. Under the partnership, the foundation will assist in selection of cities, focusing on people’s involvement both in design and execution of city development plans.

A meeting between the delegates and senior urban development ministry officials was held recently. It was focused on the criteria for selection of cities to be developed under the scheme, its components, essential reforms required to be implemented, capacity building of urban local bodies and the road map with emphasis on citizen participation in development of smart cities.

Michael Bloomberg, Founder of Bloomberg Foudation and New York mayor, was in India to attend the Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet and Expo and also record his due submissions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his ‘confronting climate change’ initiatives. Bloomberg is working to build the support base for climate talks that have been gaining precedence recently. While PM Modi reiterated his commitment to expanding India’s clean energy production, by way of setting larger goal in terms of boosting the share of solar power in India’s energy production from 1 percent to 10 percent by 2022.

Road safety is another aspect that excites Bloomberg. His foundation has been working towards reducing deaths that are caused by various reasons including drunken driving, efficient monitoring of traffic and better solutions to congestion problems in cities.

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Bloomberg Philanthropies will also assist the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to reduce accidents on the city roads. The foundation inked an MoU with the Maharashtra government in this regard. The charitable arm of Bloomberg has chosen Mumbai, along with nine other cities across the globe, for its road safety initiative, which is aimed at reducing fatalities and injuries resulting from road accidents.

“We will also run a media campaign in the city, spreading awareness about fastening seat belts and safe driving,” said Kelly Larson, Director of the foundation’s Road Safety Dept. She said that Mumbai had been chosen for the project because the number of road accident deaths was disturbingly high in the city.

Bloomberg has committed $125 million over five years for the programme to be implemented in 10 cities. It will work at both the national level, to strengthen road safety legislation, and the city level implementing proven road safety interventions. The other cities chosen for the programme include Accra (Ghana), Addis Ababa and Bandung (Indonesia).

ONE ON ONE

Leading cities towards excellence Zachary Tofias, Head of Sustainable Communities Initiative, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, in an interview with Urban Update talks about the initiatives of his organization in expediting sustainable urban development. He suggests that the situation in urban India was only going to get worse unless the government at all levels addressed the challenges of urbanisation Team Urban Update

India is facing dual challenge of rapid urbanisation and climate change.

What are the immediate steps we should take? What are the priorities of C40 Cities Group?

C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group is a non-profit organization with a mission: “Created by cities, for Cities and led by Cities�. C40 is therefore not in the business of telling cities

what they should do, rather we work hard to make the cities, we work with, aware of what other cities are doing in terms of best practices for addressing the challenges associated with rapid urbanisation and climate change.

India is currently close to 32 percent urban, around 320 Million people live in cities. India is expected to be 50 percent urbanised by 2050. The impact

of rapid urbanisation is staggering; with close to 500 million people living in cities. The situation in urban India is only going to get worse unless the government at all levels address the challenge of urbanisation. One of the most critical impacts of climate change is deterioration of quality of life in cities. The government needs to look at those problems holistically.

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What can India learn from other cities?

Indian cities can learn a lot from other cities, which have gone through the process of solving some of the problems that Indian cities are facing today. Sharing of knowledge among cities can solve many urban probles. As India urbanizes, there is also a need to look at how the governance structure of cities in India is currently laid out. The current lack of capacity, and capability of cities in India is a direct result of the lack of devolution of power from the state governments to cities. The 73rd CAA, which talks about devolution of power to the urban local bodies, has been in force since 1992, but only on paper.

Rapid urbanisation is leading to a construction boom, massive increase in personal mobility and energy consumption of household appliances.

All of the above require energy either in an embodied or direct form. As India is an energy importer, the urgency to reduce import bills is a high priority of the government. Actions to promote energy efficiency and enhance renewable energy role are twin goals of the government. Suggestions on how to plan cities better, construct using less embodied energy and reduce air pollution are areas where advice would be well regarded and acted upon.

Compared to other developing countries like China, Bangladesh and Pakistan, how is India’s approach in climate change on reducing green house gas emissions, adaptation various green technologies and others?

India is showing global leadership when it comes addressing the challenges resulting from unplanned and unsustainable urbanisation and its impact on climate change. Good examples of this leadership role are cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Jaipur who have signed up as members of C40.

India is on a different trajectory in terms of its current development model. The country still lags behind on several fronts in terms of providing basic amenities such as 24x7 water,

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Zachary Tofias Head of Sustainable Communities Initiative C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group

Indian cities can learn a lot from other cities, which have gone through the process of solving some of the problems that Indian cities are facing today. Sharing of knowledge among cities can solve many urban problems uninterrupted power, integrated solid waste, integrated mobility systems etc. However, a lot of work is already happening in cities in each of the above areas, although the initiatives which are currently being implemented do not have the critical understanding of the interconnectedness of urban systems.

Given that India faces unique challenges that are not often seen in other countries, the country needs to craft its own narrative to address climate change based on the principles of economic development, environmental sustainability and social equity. This triple bottom-line approach needs to be the guiding framework for national policymakers.

While India constructs its own framework for addressing global climate change, it does not take away the responsibility or the obligation to provide better living standards and quality of life for its citizens.

What would be the few important initiatives taken by C40 for climate change. Will you be taking locally relevant solutions to find replicable models for sustainable city growth?

We fully understand the need to help cities identify solutions that are locally relevant to these most intractable issues surrounding sustainable urban development. We work with cities

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helping them identify challenges what they must address, however, using the close connections we have with officials who are participating in our network, we work to guide cities to examples that are most applicable and are an immediate value addition to the local needs of their city.

The 21st century will be a century of cities and city centric development is said to be high, do you think all the city mayors, globally, should collaborate and actively participate in a dialogue on improving climate change?

Cities have a front row seat in shaping the nature of discourse on sustainable urban development and its impact on climate change. Look to the COP21 Paris discussions to see cities taking a leading role.

This year, C40 and other leading partners are launching the Global Compact of Mayor’s, which provides an opportunity for cities to sign up to collectively report on their emissions performance annually, increasing the transparency of cities emissions data, helping encourage capitol flow into cities to address areas of high emissions and establish a consistent reporting framework used by cities globally.

Cities are extremely well positioned to take action. Through C40’s networks, we see strong commitment from cities

ONE ON ONE

to take action. The need for mayors to collaborate globally is all about local priorities.

India is the world’s third biggest emitter of polluting greenhouse gases.

What are the few workable targets to reduce carbon emissions?

There is a lot of work that is already happening on the ground in Indian cities. For example, Metro transit systems are currently being built across six cities in India. The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), which was first launched in Ahmedabad, is now seen as a viable public transit option.

Additionally, cities are now looking at Waste to Energy as a solution to address the Solid Waste Management challenge. Mumbai and Ahmedabad are good examples of cities in India taking the lead for integrating the planning process for envisioning Transit Oriented Development at a citywide scale. The workable targets can be derived from the various Government of India initiatives aimed at promoting sustainable cities. The 100 GW Energy goal from renewable sources laid out by the national government is one such example.

Do you think creating new smart city can change or create more sustainable cities? If yes please, elaborate?

Cities are first and foremost about people. Smart cities therefore has to be envisioned keeping in mind the goal of using technology to provide better services, making the government more accessible and promoting economic development in cities.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Chairman of C40’s Board, was in India recently and made a big announcement with Prime Minister Modi around India’s Smart Cities Mission.

C40 is excited to be working closely with Mayor Bloomberg’s team which is partnering with Government of India on an important issue that many of our other member cities are interested in. We are looking forward to finding opportunities to connect Indian cities with their peers to globally advance India’s Smart Cities Mission. The

discussion is still at an early stage, but looks promising, notably because the Prime Minister himself has accepted the idea of a competitive framework in which Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) will be developed jointly by the national government with a credible external partner (Bloomberg Philanthropies).

The central government is welcoming more private participation in various urban development and management programmes. Will C40 Initiative help private sector developers and city partners around the world on developing locally relevant solutions to find replicable models for sustainable city growth?

The private sector is a source of great innovation, and is a vital partner in many city solutions. There is also a realization at all levels of government that financing on the scale required cannot be obtained unless there is more private participation.

For example, in the recent Railway Budget speech, the Minister talked about attracting global pension funds to finance rail expansion. Such talk would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

The challenge, however, is in creating an enabling environment where flows start to happen. Today, real estate developers are financing gated communities but none is willing to step up to finance public infrastructure.

This is where the central government needs a lot of support with ideas.

C40’s Climate Positive Program is one example where we work with private sector partners, through a structured framework emphasizing the journey towards achieving a net-carbon negative outcome.

Climate Positive is explicitly nonprescriptive as we recognize and appreciate the local conditions that the projects are operating in.

Mahindra World City in Jaipur is the sixth project to have completed their Climate Positive Roadmap – and has it approved. The roadmap will be shared widely, so that everyone can learn from their experiences.

What kind of partnerships is C40 planning to have with the local governments in various Indian cities?

Will there be pilot projects, how it is going to work?

C40 works directly with the member city governments. Currently, we are working with Mumbai, Delhi and Jaipur. We feel confident as cities on Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata are in the process of signing up as member cities.

We also have a Regional Director in India, who works directly with Mayors and State Governments to support city priorities. In addition, C40’s global initiatives team maintains relationships with operational officials in each city, helping them perform their job better, faster and more effectively.

C40 supports its member cities to implement projects by tapping into the expertise of member cities around the world. While C40 does not directly fund projects, we facilitate our global networks to help city officials identify best practices from around the world, tap into leading research from other peer cities and thereby help deliver great projects!

Will C40 partner with various local governments to identify policies and replicate some best practices to build large-scale urban communities and manifest the highest standards of sustainability and climate resilience?

Absolutely, C40’s networks are excited to increase our work together with various local governments. Just last week, C40 convened a workshop on Transit Oriented Development in Addis Ababa, which was attended by 10 cities from around the world. All of these cities – ranging from Los Angeles, Jakarta and Buenos Aires to Seoul and Johannesburg are all working to deliver more equitable, well connected urban development. They are all different cities, but in our workshop they came together to share their best practices and offer guidance to allow successes to be replicated and pitfalls to be avoided.

The practice will also allow other cities to take inspiration from the experience of these cities.

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COVER STORY

COVER STORY | 74th Amendment

Cities craving for more land Prathiba Raju, Assistant Editor

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and has always been a moot and politically sensitive subject in our country. The increasing scarcity of land for development projects is resulting in skyrocketing prices of land, particularly in urban areas. It leaves less scope for the underprivileged to get space. A proper land-policy framework is necessary that provides solutions to the land issues without affecting land owners or the development process.

Land reforms in India have seen several transformations since preindependence era. We had various acts and systems, which varied significantly from region to region.

Even after 68 years of independence, the central governments have been struggling in formulating an effective land policy.

Land reform, which has remained a burning issue needs to be looked into from various angles like equity, justice, gender sensitivity, etc. It should be such that it does not affect the small and marginal landowners.

According to experts, the central government needs to be more proactive on the process of acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation. The Right to Fair Compenstation and Transperancy in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013, has been tagged as a complex piece of legislation, which talks about the multiple aspects of land acquisition process including higher realization for the farmers, adherence to stricter social impact assessment, differential consent norms for public and private projects, and comprehensive resettlement and rehabilitation clauses. The recent proposed amendment has exempted five areas, like defence and security of India, rural infrastructure, affordable housing and housing for poor, industrial corridors, and infrastructure and

social infrastructure projects, including those under Public Private Partnership (PPP).

It is yet to be cleared by the Parliament. Commenting on this Arun Jaitley, the Finance Minister said: “The needs of a modern growing and developing India needs a balanced approach. Development and justice to the land owner must coexist. One cannot be done at the cost of the other.

“The amendment ordinance is based on extensive consultations where State Governments of the most political parties supported these changes. Those who are opposed to it can certainly mandate their party’s State Governments not to use the provisions of the ordinance.

History will judge how these States will lose out in the era of competitive federalism.”

Land Pooling or the Town Planning Scheme is a method of assembling land for urban planning and development, where there is a joint venture between the owners of the land, local planning authorities and metropolitan development authorities who develop commonly pooled land, redistribute it as plots among themselves after the planning process and share the development cost. Land pooling is seen as a viable option, as many opine that the development will take place on the outskirts areas of cities. Land pooling will also result in infrastructure development taking place for the upcoming projects, resulting in rationalisation of property prices.

Apart from focusing on policies, legislation and land pooling, the government should also focus on issues like land grabbing, mafiapolitical-bureaucratic nexus and corruption.

A holistic new legal and institutional architecture to ensure land acquisition to become fair, equitable and transparent is the need of the hour.

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COVER STORY | Land Management

the key to planned Land management is the answer to many urban conundrums. An effective land usage policy can ensure better urban management when the prices of land are going up consistently

Raj Liberhan Former Director India Habitat Centre

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and is the most vital resource in the momentum and pace of urbanisation and we need to realize that there is absolutely no alternative but to use this precious resource sensibly.

But, to do that, the civic authorities at least need to know the location, usage and the ownership profiles. The law says that the state owns all land and its resources below it, but the best part is that the owner does not know and does nothing to protect its possession and regulate its usage. Ignorance and neglect of ones assets is unforgivable as in the case of an individual, so also in the case of the state. And in our country, the sad reality is that the state has neglected its land and its asset value hence remains largely under utilised. In city after city of any state, the story is no different.

In these times of technology of GIS mapping, not having control of the entire geography in a country is a sin and this has really led to a disastrous consequence for our urbanisation story. In city after city, it is a builder led expansion that is happening with scant regard for planning or design or aesthetics. Build houses, malls and commercial complexes and sell and forget the kind of life that will have to be borne by those who are compelled

to inhabit these settlements. The story of our urbanisation has been the outcome of the builder-politician and bureaucratic nexus with nary a thought for the city dweller.

We need to begin now if at all we are serious about improving our cities, the way they are governed, the way they are managed and the way they are growing.

The volumes migrating into city life are beating the inadequate city managements in existence and the lack of governance compounds it all into chaos that we are witnessing everyday. The place to begin is getting the city governments to know the length and breadth of their territory and who are the residents in what and which area. These are the basics from which all further governance unfolds. Every inch has to be mapped and documented.

In this day and age of satellite graphics and information technology, it’s a crying shame that majority of our city governments have not done this. The cost of compliance with laws should never be onerous and if it does become onerous then clearly either the law is bad or we have degenerated into an anarchy.

After the mapping has been done, the State must lay down a land use policy in its entire geographical stretch. What are the agricultural zones, the forests, the rivers, the coastal zones and what

urbaniSation laws govern these must be simple and compliable and above all enforceable.

Indeed, they must then be enforced.

No city has defined the kind of urban envelopes it wants to create in a city area and worse of all the FAR; i.e., the floor area ratio or in some places it is called the FSI (Floor Space Index) has been an instrument of manipulation for gains of those who have the purchase and the leverage to do so.

A simple design centre in every city needs to be established with powers to guide the city’s design and aesthetic ethos and clear all construction plans.

The current capacity of the urban local bodies is abysmal in this regard and sooner we create empowered and transparent mechanisms to navigate urban development, our lament will not cease.

Next step to regulate city life is the need to articulate and enforce a public spaces usage policy. The kind of chaos we witness in all major cities and less said about the smaller cities is leading serious threats to safety of all users. Why are colony roads in Delhi the preserve of the residents who put their guards and employees to guard their parking space as if they are the owners or lessees? The kind of revenue loss the city government

incurs by not regulating these spaces runs into crores, much needed money for development and maintenance of the civic infrastructure. Political representatives need to shed this mindset of free charge for use of public space just because they perceive that this endears them to the voter. It is time to change this. Certainly, car owners do not need to be supported by state subsidised parking spaces. There is an urgent need to get this policy in place, both from the revenue dimension as well as the need to curb the growth of automobiles before we all get squeezed from open spaces.

The other important aspect of the usage of public spaces has to be the reclamation of pavements for pedestrians. How on earth our civic agencies allow arcades to be built in front of shops, allow shopkeepers to spread their wares on to the pavements and even have motorcars and motorcycles ply on them? This is nothing but rank dishonesty in regulating public spaces.

The city can be no place for human beings if they cannot walk or go on their cycles. In fact they risk their lives if they at all venture to walk on our pavements or go on a bicycle. Why, oh God, have we allowed our city life to come to such an abdominal pass! Now

is the time to redeem our cities or they will become rat holes and human lives will be unlivable.

Cycle tracks in a city are a vital dimension of life. If we take ourselves back into the 50s and the 60s, the bulk of the working force is to cycle to office. It is not a show piece reason that we need to restore the freedom and the safety of the cyclists. It is to bring glory and happiness to the lives of the young of the city. It recognises their rights of usage of public space which should be inviolable. It is a great weekend adventure and people would love to engage in it but for the risk it involves at present. A city must give joy to its citizens. We need to remember that urban development is not about building houses. While it is true that it is an important dimension, we need to map our cultural choices and create an ambience in a city that breeds joy and equity and not hierarchies of stakeholders with the richest paying the least costs with maximum benefits and the poor getting marginalized because the law of the land gets indifferently enforced so it to make the prices unaffordable. Therefore, let us take our eyes to priorities of governance of a city that begin with land management and its smart uses.

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COVER STORY | Land Acquisition

Land locked

or landlocked

Land has become a precious commodity in most of our cities. The prices have gone through the roof in almost every urban centre in the last twenty years. Land acquisition has remained a problem for the government for several reasons. The new ordinance introduced by the NDA government aims to end the deadlock by making land acquisition easier and swift, but at what cost Abhishek Pandey, Principal Correspondent abhishek@urbanupdate.in

Development under progress: The new ordinance to amend the existing Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 allow government to do away with social impact assessment study and seeking consent of land owners if the project falls under the exempted category that has been expanded.

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and is the main connect for proliferation of economy in any city.

It concerns every sector; whether it is housing, industrial or infrastructural development, opening up of educational institutes, hospitals, factories, or temples. Everything requires land.

Land has remained an issue of conflict from time immemorial.

Nothing has changed in modern times.

Conflicts between the government and land owners have erupted in cities, villages and even in tribal areas where tribal people are demanding rights on forest land. India had been dealing with the land disputes using the colonial law—Land Acquisition Act 1894.

It did not allow land owners to have major say in land acquisition process.

The result: millions of people were affected in last sixty years since there was no effective clause in the act for fair compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement. The Act enabled displaced people to get only monetary compensation. Around 50 million people can be categorized under the ‘development related displacement’ category since Independence. These projects included large-scale projects like dams, canals, thermal plants,

sanctuaries, industrial facilities, and mining.

To repeal the obsolete Act, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) introduced the Amendment Bill in 2007 and the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill.

However, both the bills lapsed in 2009.

With an aim to increase compensation for land owners and their say over land, the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, was brought in 2011 by the UPA government and was passed in the Parliament in 2013. However, it was criticised by the industry for making land acquisition tedious. Recently in December last year, the NDA government, which seems to have development as its first and foremost agenda, came up with the new ordinance to amend the existing act.

The ordinance expands the list of projects that would be exempted from requirements of consent and Social Impact Assessment. The present amendment carves out five exceptions for which this ‘complicated’ process of acquisition will not apply. The five exempted purposes are: the defence and security of India, Rural infrastructure including electrification, affordable housing and housing for poor, industrial corridors, infrastructure and

Development & Displacement

60-65 million Total number of people displaced because of Development Induced Displacement since Independence

40 % More than 40 percent of the development induced displaced are tribal peoples

75 % Of the displaced people since 1951 are still awaiting rehabilitation

The lack of opportunities in rural India and inadequate land acquisition are leading to migration, the proliferation of urban slums, and violence.

There should be a proper mechanism that ensures the people’s concerns are adequately addressed PV Rajgopal, Founder of Ekta Parishad and Land Rights Activist

“

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2015

27

COVER STORY | Land Acquisition

1894 Land Acquisition Act was introduced in 1894 to acquire land in India. It was repealed in 2013

2014

2007

NDA government brought an ordinance to amend the 2013 Act. It is yet to be passed in the Parliament

UPA brought an amendment bill to update Land Acquisition Act 1894 but it lapsed

2013

2009

The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 was passed

social infrastructure projects, including those under public private partnership, where ownership of the land vests with the Governments. However, the compensation provisions remain untouched.

Arun Jaitely, Finance Minister, explained while introducing the ordinance last year, “Through the provisions the present ordinance provides that the farmers would get higher compensation if land is acquired under any of the exempted laws. A larger public interest will prevail over

28 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

UPA brought the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill 2009. This bill also lapsed in the Parliament

private interests.”

PV Rajagopal, the founder of Ekta Parishad, is convinced that the land and lack of opportunities in rural India are leading to migration, the proliferation of urban slums, and violence. He said that there should be a proper mechanism that ensures the people’s concerns are adequately addressed.

Rajgopal has been actively vocal on land rights. He led over 50,000 people to national capital to demand land rights in 2012. He adds that natural resources like land, water, forests and minerals

that provide sustenance livelihood to any group cannot be appropriated for other purposes without prior consent.

The recent amendment proposed by the NDA government has created a furore in the political and civil society circles. The political parties including Congres, Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena, Left parties and many others are up in arms and have termed the amendments ‘anti-farmer’. It will be interesting to see the NDA government, riding on the full majority, can get it passed in the Parliament or not!

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COVER STORY | Land Pooling

Land pooling Policy to help Smart City development More than 70 percent of the world population would be living in cities. The influx will put enormous pressure on urban infrastructure and services. Indian cities especially Metropolitan and two-tier and three-tier cities are drawing large migration of people owing mainly to the economic growth, employment opportunities and quality of life they offer. Cities require more land to provide facilities to its people Vijay Garg, Architect

30 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

D

elhi, like any other metro, is facing huge influx of people. It has caused significant constraints on the developed areas despite reasonable construction activities happening in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Existing legislations in Delhi are unable to provide land for housing and development purposes. DDA in a well thought-out plan has adopted a policy of assembling and pooling of land at the state level under Master Plan Delhi 2021 to meet burgeoning demand and balance the land and housing distribution.

MoUD had also announced Land Pooling Policy (LPP) to augment the availability of land for the creation of necessary real estate; especially the housing for general public, including the Economically Weaker Section.

Broadly, the scheme aims at the vision of Prime Minister and provides a mechanism for land owners and developers owning certain size of land in specific, notified areas to hand over the land to DDA and in return get certain percentage of developed land having infrastructure like road network, markets, parks, schools,

hospitals, commercial and institutional areas and other allied facilities such as electricity, water supply and sewage as per Delhi Master Plan 2021.

This Policy addresses the acute housing shortage of Delhi providing housing for all and empowering people by providing them the opportunity doing away with tedious and time consuming process of land acquisition to bring in a world class city. Similar polices have been experimented before in many states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab and Tamil Nadu and also overseas. Now it is Delhi’s turn to follow the path.

However, there are few questions that we have to address before getting into the action.

They include: is Delhi ready for such a makeover?

Will a common man get a house at affordable price? How will land owners in different Zones of Delhi, developers, infrastructure providers, service providers and DDA to deliver a workable solution under the Policy to create the Smart Delhi?

The main objectives of the redefined policies are to ensure planned development of the Capital City as World class smart city and make landowners as partners in development.

It will also have the role of private

Salient features of Delhi Land Pooling Policy ♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦ ♦♦

♦♦

♦♦ ♦♦

Voluntary assembly of land.

Reconstitution of land by DDA (as facilitator) as per approved MPD & ZDP. DDA shall return 48 percent for land <20 Ha and 60 percent for Land >20 Ha DDA shares (40percent or 52percent), for mandatory city level facilities (National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) validates the figure).

Declaration of development area and urban villages.

Actual development work on ground; coordination and service providing agencies; International level service consultants & (DJB, NDPL, PWD, NDMC, MCD etc.)

Residential FAR of 400 for Group Housing on net residential land with additional 15 percent FAR reserved for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) Housing.

FAR for city level commercial and city level PSP is 250.

Maximum ground coverage has been enhanced to 40 percent.

sector in the process of development. It also claims to provide fair and equitable return to all the land owners/farmers.

Efficient, smooth and fast mechanism will avoid delays. It also has provisions for community participation, and inclusion of economically weaker sections and lower income groups.

Social amenities, parks & infrastructure services will also get significant place to ensure an optimum and efficient use of land. A more participative policy like Land Pooling Policy may also be useful to discourage land speculation, in equitable property holdings and widen the base of ownership of land and its development.

It also suggests a paradigm shift from large scale land acquisition and cash compensation based regime to land barter and development rights regime.

In this pursuit, there is a need to adopt a multipronged approach, together with simultaneous simple mention of various policy options. In the proposed urban extensions about 50 percent of the land is required for facility corridors/city level facilities/services/ utilities, etc; which is to be pooled/ acquired mainly through proportionate land return. In certain cases or for small holdings below 0.4 hactare, where land return is not feasible, compulsory land acquisition as per prevailing policy may be necessary.

For development of residential neighborhood ( 20 ha.), the main mode of development shall be through Land Assembly by the developer/owners, who will surrender proportionate land for city/zonal level infrastructure, parks, facilities and EWS/LIG Housing to the DDA/Government. In certain cases, the options of land acquisition through land return and compulsory land acquisition may have to be applied simultaneously.

While embarking upon the new policy of land assembly and development, it is necessary to keep in view the overall planning needs of the city and social responsibility for reservations of EWS/LIG housing, Greens, social infrastructure/facilities and transport/ parking infrastructure. This should be the backbone of the new policy.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2015

31

CITY LIFE | Life in Metro

Delhi Metro

A veritable cupid land Romance is in the air at Metro stations as many youngsters say cupids strike them while they travel on the Metro at a time when they are bored of commuting alone and eager to find a match or make friends Prathiba Raju, Assitant Editor prathiba@urbanupdate.in

M

etro stations in mega cities like Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata have

32 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

become the haven for youngsters and hot date spots to for convenient hideouts. As per a survey by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), 80

percent of the people who travelled by the Metro were between 18 and 34 years old. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I travel from Noida Sector 16 to

It’s not just one among many networking portals available on the net; it has its own set of users that is Metro commuters. While signing up on the portal, we seek specific details like the route taken by a person, the time usually a person boards and alights Sameer Suri, Founder, Metromates

Vishwa Vidhyalaya every day. I used to see one girl at Yamuna Bank station everyday around 8:30 am after a couple of weeks she too noticed me.

But she used to always get into ladies coach. Then one day, she hopped into the same compartment where I was. I gathered courage to speak to her. We liked each other and for the past six months we have been dating,” Manjeet Singh, a student from north campus, Delhi university said.

It is not just Manjeet, many youngsters like him say that the Metro stations are their cupid land. The congested confines of a Metro train are the perfect hide outs, say many youngsters who traverse the length and breadth of the national capital and its suburbs in the trains.

“Metro stations are the best comfort zones for youngsters like me, as I could spend an intimate time with my boyfriend without the fear of moral police, as there is crowd and nobody looks at us. It is a clean place and we have air conditioned facility in hot summer days. Moreover, the small restaurants are economical and suit our pockets,” Ruchita Sachdev said.

She also informed that Kashmere Gate, Rajiv Chowk (two busiest Metro stations), and Central Secretariat are some of the Metro stations which most of the couples prefer.

“About 3000 people, most of them young college going couples, visit every day, most of them behave decently,” Yash Raj, an employee at Nirula’s restaurant at Kashmere Gate Metro station, told Urban Update.

To help lone travellers of the Metro in Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore who

are desperate to find a match or make friends, a social networking site helps to find friends during Metro travel.

A brainchild of Sameer Suri, the portal, www.metromates.in, is popular among young commuters of the Delhi Metro.

“I got inspired by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. When I decided to create a portal, I wanted it to be unique and the very thought struck me when I was travelling in Metro,” Suri told Urban Update.

Suri said that idea of creating exclusive portals for Metro commuters came to his mind when he found that no fellow passengers were conversing with him during his usual one-hour travel from Janakpuri East to Saket in Metro trains.

The portal was launched in January 2011, and within five years around 8,000 people have registered and 10,000 people liked the community on Facebook.

“It’s not just one among many networking portals available on the net; it has its own set of users, the Metro commuters. While signing up on the portal, we seek specific details like the route taken by a person, the time usually a person boards and alights,” he said.

The portal also asks for details such as your sexual orientation (if you’re straight or a gay), personality traits, height and waist size, and if you’re signing up for dating or friendship.

“All you need is a GPRS enabling phone. Soon after a person signs up, he or she is given a unique bluetooth code. While travelling, they have to turn on the bluetooth

“

device, and set a phone name to metromates.in/your username.

After you do that other metromates users will be visible on your phone,” Suri said.

Besides these, one can view available persons’ profiles, note down their profile names and type ‘metromates. in/the other persons profile name’ in the browser. With this, one can connect with other metromates and exchange bluetooth messages. For easy identification, the portal asks its users to travel in the last compartments.

Most of the users are between 2030 years and majority prefer dating to making friends.

“Metromates has got me new friends. Usually, I used to get bored travelling from Jahangirpuri to Nehru Place. Initially I got three friends who travel the same time to same destination. Now we are six, it’s fun travelling,” said Lokesh Yadav, a software engineer, who has been using Metromates since December 2013.

As per the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI), there are nearly 52 million internet users in India. Meanwhile, mobile internet users who surf the internet on their mobiles, currently hovers around the 10-million mark and most of them use it for social networking. “Delhi Metro is the lifeline of the Delhiites, we want to provide safe environment while commuting. Though there is no set rules or moral policing, in case any commuter crossing their decency limit, immediate action will be taken as we have security personnel’s and CCTV coverage,” a Metro official told Urban Update.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2015

33

Urban Dialogues | Smart Energy for Smart City Development

Energising cities

A city is smartly equipped if it has resource to meet its energy demands. Urban Dialogue on Smart Energy for Smart City Development organised, at India Habitat Centre, Delhirecommended solutions to conserve and generate more energy through unconventional methods. The conference also addressed the challenges faced by distribution companies and other stakeholders in the sector Jessy Iype, Desk Editor & Reporter jessy@urbanupdate.in

I

n the backdrop of limited energy resources amidst a fast multiplying population, the concept of energy efficiency has been embraced globally as a step towards meeting the ever-rising power demands.

In the Indian sub-continent, meeting the energy requirements of an overflowing population is a Herculean task in itself. The demand-supply gap has been widening over the years with the migration of people to cities in search of better opportunities.

That is where the industries and the government felt the need to exploit the untapped potential of energy efficiency as a measure to curtail the energy deficit of about 10 percent.

The All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG) in association with National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and Civic Mediaworks organised one-day long Round Table conference ‘Smart Energy for Smart City Development’ on Februrary 3, at the Indian Habitat Centre in New Delhi.

The main objective was to set the next-gen urban agenda, with a focus on transforming and repositioning the energy sector and engage energy managers, bureaucrats, representatives of discoms, activists from civil society, and corporate leaders to proactively build a consensus on sustainable energy consumption and generation of energy from new and renewable energy sources.

Padma Bhushan awardee Dr Kirit

34 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

Parikh, Chairman of IRADe, was the chief guest. Many other urban experts including M Ramchandran, Former UD Secretary, Dr Sudhir Krishna, former UD Secretary, Raj Librehan, former Director (India Habitat Center), PD Sudhakar, Chairman, DERC, Anurag Mishra, Senior Clean Energy Specialist, USAID, Sanjay Seth, Energy Economist, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, GoI and other fellow dignitaries spoke on the various issues that hinder in procurement and supply of energy and suggested ways for energy conservation, minimising energy costs, and smart energy management in cities.

Integration of Smart Energy

The country has more than 21,000 MW installed capacity of renewable energy sources as of now. It has an estimated potential of generating about 189,000 MW. It is really a challenge to integrate the same into the smart grids in a country like India. Some deliberations on several issues concerning energy sector were: ♦♦ The energy requirement of urban areas should be studied carefully.

Such study should be taken into consideration while planning energy management of Smart Cities. It will help the cities in drafting energy plan for future. ♦♦ A city needs to be organically adaptive in case of its structure, design, transportation and IT systems, so that it can absorb the needs that are evolving in the areas using energy.

The energy requirement of urban areas should be studied carefully. Such study should be taken into consideration while planning energy management for Smart Cities

Kirit Parekh Chairman, IRADe

Optimum use and management

“

Unlike most of the overheads, energy is controllable cost & therefore energy management is also an integral part of decision making needed for profitability and business success. Much of the importance of energy saving stems from the global need to save energy. It affects energy prices, emissions targets, and legislation, all of which lead to several compelling reasons why one should save energy at their organisation level. The suggestions presented in this regard were: ♦♦ There is a need to optimise the energy use as cities are not able to handle energy management efficiently except Mumbai. ♦♦ A Strategic Energy Management Plan should be proposed. It should be integrated with the Master Plan of a city. ♦♦ There is a need to bring optimal solutions for energy mix

mechanism. Solar, wind and waste are the possible renewable energy sources which can be utilised for energy generation. ♦♦ In industrial and commercial sector, renewable energy sources should be popularised. ♦♦ Green Building Code is essential in urban planning as lighting, water heating, refrigeration etc. are consuming most of the energy in domestic sector.

Reduce energy use

♦♦ Introduction of LED Street lights with automated operation. ♦♦ Pumping of sewerage and water consume enormous energy.

Making a mechanism to generate bio-gas, which can be used to pump sewerage and water, can save electricity. ♦♦ Sensors can be installed to check the leakages in water supply. ♦♦ Using renewable energy solutions by adopting solar roof top plants in households should be promoted.

Though, subsidy for the same should end. Low interest loans can be a viable alternative. ♦♦ Using intelligent traffic smart systems can ensure zero failure chances and save energy too.

Transport planning

♦♦ Transport sector is one of the highest energy consuming sectors.

There is a need for effective planning to optimise the use of energy sources like oil and gas. ♦♦ For Smart City, there is a need to maintain the density of the residential areas so that transport planning can be done efficiently.

People should be able to walk to work. ♦♦ Public transportation system should be enhanced and efficiently planned by making it economical, convenient and less time consuming.

Integrated approach

♦♦ The involvement of urban local bodies in addressing energy issue is paramount. They should be empowered to address energy related issues too. They can play an

People can make small changes in their life style to initiate energy conservation. Like in Australia, children are taught to have one-minute shower to save water and energy

“

Ravi Singh Secretary General & CEO, WWF-India

important role in studying urban energy consumption that will help in making an effective energy management plan. ♦♦ There is a need to integrate community participation efficiently to conserve energy and promote the use of renewable energy sources.

can be given subsidy for electric usage during off-peak hours and the surcharge can be put for the energy usage during peak hours. ♦♦ There is a need to link the energy with the affordable housing so that people can get better quality of power at affordable rates.

Energy demand and supply

Clean Energy

♦♦ Since the National Grid is available, the problem of demand and supply gap can be dealt in better way.

The major challenge is whether to generate electricity at pit heads or at the load centre. ♦♦ There is no electricity shortage in the national capital. The city requires 6000MW and has excess 8000MW electricity supply. However, it is wise to deliberate on to focus on generating energy for city’s future needs. It should be at the pit head, for the city like Delhi, as cost will be higher if new generating center will be established in Delhi. ♦♦ Load Curve has to be flattened. For this, energy consumption during peak hours and the off-peak hours should be planned optimally. Users

♦♦ For Clean Energy, the usage of renewable sources such as solar, wind and waste-to-energy should be promoted over fossil fuels and other conventional alternatives. ♦♦ Urban Local Bodies should establish waste to energy plants to meet their energy needs by utilising generated solid waste. NDMC has established such Waste to Energy plant. ♦♦ MoUD and MNRE should encourage and accelerate the installation of solar plants by providing loans at attractive interest rates. ♦♦ Concerned authorities should encourage renewable sources ♦♦ Net metering need to be rolled out for all states. ♦♦ Open access regime for even common man can be boon for

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2015

35

Urban Dialogues | Smart Energy for Smart City Development

Around 1980 crore needed to retrofit 5,27,066 street lights into LED or solar lights in Delhi. Rs 330 crore are avaialble for this but it needs political will to implement

Dr Shyamala Mani Professor, NIUA

“

smart cities. ♦♦ Removal of subsidy for the roof top solar system. ♦♦ Introduction of electric vehicles in cities. ♦♦ There is a need for better mix of renewable sources such as solar and wind energy. ♦♦ Smart Green Building concept should be promoted at larger scale and buildings like Indian Habitat Centre, Indira Paryavaran Bhawan etc. can be used as benchmark models.

New government schemes

♦♦ Government of India has introduced scheme for distribution of LED street lights and replacement of the old street lights in Delhi.

36 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

♦♦ Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission has taken few initiatives to deal with the issue of energy in Delhi. ♦♦ Net Metering Renewable EnergyNet metering allows residential and commercial customers, who generate their own electricity from solar power, to feed the electricity they do not use back into the grid. ♦♦ Demand response system- Demand Side Management has been initiated with the aim to flatten the load curve. ♦♦ Time of day tariff- TOD is a tariff structure in which different rates are applicable for use of electricity at different time of the day for industrial and commercial sectors.

In Delhi, 24 hour framework is divided into three parts i.e. Peak, Off Peak and Normal. Usage of electricity above 50 KW in peak hour will be surcharged. ♦♦ Home Energy Management SystemAn automatic interface is provided to consumers for management of their energy needs such as automatic metering, maintenance of user profile etc. ♦♦ Smart Energy Management in Cities-Street lighting, transportation, water and sewerage supply, Building facility, industrial, commercial set ups, residential housing are major consumers of

energy in cities. ♦♦ Estimation of energy required in next ten years is necessary to plan for the future. It will provide a clear picture on urban energy demand.

Emission inventory is needed. ♦♦ Lack of data on energy consumption by different sector is a challenge. Data collection must be strengthened. ♦♦ Standardised setting up of street lights. Equitable distribution of resources is needed in this regard.

Surveys shows some areas are well off than the other parts of Delhi. ♦♦ Change in municipal bye-laws is required. Energy audits should be made mandatory. ♦♦ Resource assessment of cities for clean energy power sources like small hydro, wind, wasteto-energy electricity, etc. should be considered according to the viability in a particular city. ♦♦ Promotion of star rated appliances is needed. ♦♦ At city level, creation of a separate cell for the proper implementation of energy conservation projects is required.

Community participation

♦♦ Need for better coordination and information sharing between different government agencies and non-government organizations to strengthen action and improve policy making. ♦♦ Sharing of best practices and building partnerships with different stakeholders. ♦♦ More research on cities and climate change globally and locally is required. ♦♦ Development projects should be planned keeping in the mind their impact on environment. ♦♦ Role of CSR can be thought of so that money can be generated for implementing energy conservation projects. ♦♦ There is a need for awareness generation and capacity building of city authorities on significance of energy conservation. ♦♦ Promoting public dialogue, fairs,

events on renewable energy amongst citizens, students and renewable energy vendors, banks, policy makers and media.

Compendium of innovative RE technologies with successful case studies should be brought out. ♦♦ People can make small changes in their life style to initiate energy conservation. Like in Australia, children are taught to have oneminute, two-minute, and threeminute shower to save water and energy. And, three-minute shower is considered luxury.

Smart Streetlight Management

♦♦ Devise proper methodology/ road map to address the street lighting issue. ♦♦ After Nirbhaya incident, Delhi police collected information on dark spots in Delhi on a high court order. From 11 districts of Delhi, according to a survey by the NIUA, there are around 700 dark spots.

However, minister in his statement in the Parliament said there are more than 1500 dark spots. There is no anomaly. ♦♦ The survey found out that one third of street lights are not working at one point of time. ♦♦ LED and Solar powered street light with automatic management system can solve the problem. ♦♦ Batteries of solar street lights are often stolen. There is a need to find ways to safe guard the storage. ♦♦ There is no criterion for deciding the dark spots. NIUA in its research categorized the places as dark spots which had 50 sq meter unlit area.

There should be official criterion for this. ♦♦ Minimum 1998 street lights are required to eliminate dark spots in Delhi. ♦♦ Operational maintenance for street lights should be monitored via smart city control room and sensor enabled technology with less human intervention. Entire data of street lights should be available on real time basis.

♦♦ Active participation of people, Resident Welfare Associations (RWA) to address the issue of street light issue.

Energy efficient homes/ ashops/commercial centres

♦♦ Focus on building a mechanism for Net zero energy buildings/ campuses via ultra-modern housing design ♦♦ India needs more than 300 percent more electricity by 2030. There is a need to take concrete steps for energy conservation and energy efficiency. ♦♦ There are many models available for households, multistory buildings, road side eateries, shops, commercial centres that can ensure energy efficiency. Use of LED and usage of solar energy are the few options. ♦♦ An Orphanage at Sohana Road Gurgaon, and, a Dhaba near Gajrolla are the examples of Net Zero energy buildings. The building is designed to have natural lighting and ventilation. The eatery discharge zero waste by reusing the gas generated by waste. It also uses manure from bio gas plant to grow organic vegetables.

Policy framework

♦♦ The policy framework for energy management especially buildings is an element of entire smart city concept. Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has developed Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) which drives the agenda of energy efficiency in buildings. ♦♦ Large scale implementation should start at the state and Urban Local Body Level, as it is a State subject.

The centre is just a facilitator be it capacity building, putting an enforcement mechanism or developing and supporting demonstration projects. ♦♦ Much of the 11th plan went in developing these frameworks and the 12th plan focuses on wide and large scale implementation of ECBC.

BEE is planning to train state governments and ULBs on energy conservation. Eight states have been given notification on mandating the Energy Conservation Building Codes Sanjay Seth Energy Economist, BEE

“

♦♦ In the large scale implementation, the states, ULB, state UD departments, PWD and other concerned departments have little knowledge or they don’t have the wherewithal to really take it forward. ♦♦ BEE is planning how state governments and ULBs can be trained. Already eight states have been given notification on mandating the implementation of these codes. Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Punjab haven taken it ahead, 15 other states are working on it. ♦♦ If India could have ECBC coverage in at least 23 states out of 36 states and union territories. We could by and large make a greater impact in energy efficiency. ♦♦ Discoms have a key role in cities, so BEE has created DSM cells to make them more efficient ♦♦ Most of the energy service companies are reluctant to come forward to implement a project on performance guarantee because they are not sure whether payments from the government sector will come in. ♦♦ A standard operating procedure in form of a manual on energy efficiency has been created for public buildings; it will be circulated to all state governments. ♦♦ For monitoring and verification of buildings for energy efficiency, procedures have to be simple.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2015

37

Urban Dialogues | Urban Design for Urban Development

Designing Indian cities Urban design is not just a process of beautifying a city, it is about giving form and character to it and provide directions for its future. The recent conference on ‘Urban Design for Urban Development’ organised in Delhi as part of Urban Dialogues series recommended that urban design should be at the heart of city development processes to make cities liveable Team Urban Update

D

esigning a city is a complex task which draws together many strands like architectural design, landscape, development economics, social sciences, engineering and aesthetics.

The profession of Urban Design which takes responsibility of achieving wholeness of the built environment at all scales needs due attention in the coming years, said various experts who participated in the recently held Urban Dialogues conference on Urban Design.

All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG) in association with School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) Delhi, Institute of Urban Designers-India (IUDI) and Civic Mediaworks organised a day-long conference ‘Urban Design for Urban Development’ on February 14 in New Delhi. The main objective was to set the next-gen urban agenda, with a focus on the role of urban design for Indian cities and bring together all those who are interested and involved in shaping the quality of the built environment of cities. The outcome report of this dialogue will be submitted to various ministries and stakeholders.

Professor KT Ravindran, Dean Emeritus RICS and former Chairman, DUAC delivered the keynote address.

Many other urban experts including Professor Chetan Vaidya, Director-SPA, Raj Librehan, former Director-India Habitat Centre, Terri Wills, Director of Global Initiatives-C40 Cities, Arunava

38 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

(Left to Right) Prof KT Ravindran, Dean Emeritus-RICS School of Built Environment, Prof Chetan Vaidya, Director, SPA Delhi, Raj Liberhan, former Director, India Habitat Centre at the inaugural session of the conference

Dasgupta, Head-Department of Urban Design, SPA, Rajiv Kathpalia, DirectorVastu Shilpa Foundation, Ujan Ghosh, President, IUDI and other senior professionals and academicians spoke on a plethora of urban design issues like convergence with planning, designing cities for climate change, public space design and development policy. Here are some points discussed during deliberations:

We talk about smart, word-class cities but we should talk about livable cities. The primacy of design for city planning needs to be articulated

“

KT Ravindran Dean Emeritus RICS School of Built Environment

Significance of Urban Design

♦♦ Urban design is a necessary complement of city planning.

Widely accepted and practiced all over the world, the concept has not received proper attention so far in India. ♦♦ Design is not only about aesthetics.

It is about human convenience, need and experience which is paramount for everyday living in our cities. ♦♦ Prioritising ecological considerations and a development ethos that consistently thinks of human convenience is the need of the hour. Human dimensions should be put on the forefront of our cities to improve their liveability index. ♦♦ The idea of urban design in not new.

It existed in pre-planning days. In the early twentieth century, the idea of three-dimensional development of cities was eclipsed by land management principles of planning. ♦♦ Urban design is the bridge between

architecture and planning. Beyond individual buildings, urban design promotes the creation of a collective built environment in consonance with city/community demands and aspirations. ♦♦ Urban design concepts deal with three dimensional qualities of cities. Of late, the discipline has embraced other professions to form inter-disciplinary approaches like landscape urbanism, environmental design, urban heritage design, transit-oriented design, etc. to address contemporary issues of our cities. ♦♦ In today’s cities, the relation between urban form and transportation is of vital importance. It is also needed for compact development in response to climate change. One cannot achieve sensitive urban form without considering these aspects. ♦♦ The relevance of Urban Design lies most in its contribution to create a sustainable model for cities since the environmental impacts of cities are far higher than any other agglomeration. Some examples of good urban design for climate change are: the Melbourne Victoria harbour project for energy efficiency and waste water treatment; Elephanta Castle, a place rebuilt after World War-2 where the precinct was transformed into a walk-able and cycle-able area; the Mahindra World City, Jaipur and the Godrej Garden City as two projects in India.

Indian trends

♦♦ The planning of Indian cities so far has yet to deliver adequate results

In many developed countries, the convenience of citizens is given prime importance. Elderly people can find places to sit and sling their walking stick. Urban Design is about improving the convenience of living in a city

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Raj Librehan Former Director, India Habitat Center

at ground level. There is a clear necessity to develop a combined design and planning vision for the future of Indian cities. The erstwhile two-dimensional approach to the planning of Indian cities has to be supplemented by the threedimensional conceptualization of our cities. ♦♦ Indian cities are a milieu of different settings and conditions. They reflect complexities. Our cities of the past had strong qualitative attributes and robust design with characteristics of absorbing and catering to a diverse range of social groups. ♦♦ Indian cities were climate responsive, compact, multi layered, dense, pedestrian-oriented, and heterogeneous. These are qualities we seek for in modern cities today.

It is necessary to re-visit some of the principles of our earlier cities and re-apply them appropriately given our changed situation. ♦♦ From the pre-industrial to the colonial and then to the industrial

Urban experts and other dignitaries during the plenary session

and now, global – our cities have absorbed all layers of urban development and resulted into complex, multi-layered entities.

Urban design accepts this complexity as a rich, vibrant characteristic of our urban condition and creates corresponding visions in tune to the same. ♦♦ Designers play a key role in envisioning the city and give them physical form. For example, in Himachal Pradesh, Manali, urban designers revisited the city to restore its inner identity and asset base for future development of the hill city.

A vision document was prepared for the city incorporating some of the most important directions for the city. ♦♦ Vision anchors for the city of Manali include ideas of regional equity, functional base, multi-nodal urban structure, imageability and identity and environmental protection.

All this was translated through a series of urban design strategies and recommendations for the town as a whole while sample guidelines for the core area as well as conceptual designs for new civic nodes in the city were included.. ♦♦ The way an urban design vision for an existing town could be articulated, in correspondence with the existing development plan of the city and demonstrate its final outcome through physical form, is what the Manali case highlighted. The Vision Document is now a legally accepted framework of the state, guiding all future development of Manali.

Urban Design for local areas

♦♦ Local area planning (LAP) is a tool that addresses this fundamental gap in the planning process which revolves around ground realities and stakeholder engagement at the local level. Due to its versatility in handling existing and potential form-space relations in association with user demands, urban design provides the most appropriate and comprehensive way to take care of all existing issues of localities

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Urban Dialogues | Urban Design for Urban Development

♦♦

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and multiple aspirations of their stakeholders.

The urban design approach to local area development relies on an intensive mapping of each ward (as the designated local area) in which specific characteristics of the locality like social structure, residential neighbourhoods, market networks, building types, spatial hierarchies, infrastructure, mobility and activity patterns are mapped and assessed with respect to present and future needs.

The central aspect of this approach is community participation and stakeholder engagement. With the ward councillor, local MLA and the MP as accountable elected representatives of the stakeholder group, this multi-layered engagement occurs at various stages of the development agenda and forms the foundation of such a process.

Both quantitative deficiencies as well as qualitative improvement needs are identified with the community to create the urban design framework for development proposals.

In this, local councillors and/or the MLA should play a catalytic role.

Simultaneously the interaction between urban planners, designers and engineers to resolve local issues need to be strengthened. Finally, local bodies themselves need capacity enhancement for such an exercise and professional bodies like IUDI and institutions like SPA and AIILSG could join hands towards promoting the same.

People have now realized that apart from having master plans and land use plans, there is a need to focus on improving the quality of life in cities. We need to look at the state of public spaces closely Arunava Dasgupta, Head Department of Urban Design, SPA

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City building & place making

♦♦ Traditional Indian cities were people centric, they acknowledged available resource constraints, and were definitely liveable. With the influence of western planning models, we seem to have alienated ourselves from some of these fundamental qualities. ♦♦ The idea that cities cannot only be seen as functional entities is getting stronger day by day. People also need to enjoy their life in the city and collectively form positive attachments through association and everyday experiences. The design of public spaces plays a huge role in this regard. This is one of the central areas of contribution by an urban designer. ♦♦ Manek Chowk in Ahmedabad is a classic example of a robust, public, urban space. Cattle ground by morning, busy gold bazaar during the day, happening food destination in the night – it is a perfect

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Audience was all ears during the speeches delivered by urban designers

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40 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

example of how the same space is appropriated for multiple uses in Indian cities.

A city’s social health is measured by the success of its urban spaces and the level of belongingness and association that these spaces enjoy among its citizens. Through three different case examples of community level as well as cityscale projects in Ahmedabad, Delhi and Patna, the idea of urban design contribution to existing and potential spaces of these cities were highlighted.

Ahmedabad has adopted a mechanism to grow sustainably by adopting the TP (Town Planning) scheme as a basic idea. The TCPO facilitates pooling of village land in the city periphery and plans them according to needed physical and social infrastructure including provision of roads and pathways, water and sanitation, health and education facilities, parks and recreational functions, etc. while accommodating an increased density to house a larger number of beneficiaries.

As a part of an affordable housing scheme in the periphery of Ahmedabad, creative urban design strategies were used to reclaim greens where there was a crunch in available open land. The land under high tension wires running across our landscapes which could not be used for anything else was designed to become a continuous trail of public open spaces.

In the case of Delhi, the process of redeveloping Chandni Chowk first involved looking at how this historic space has evolved. After the British removed the canal from Chandni Chowk it seized to be a public space and became a thoroughfare as it is today. The essential dynamics of Chandini Chowk was understood by looking at it layer by layer—layers of commerce and everyday activities.

The re-development design scheme for Chandni Chowk was finalised after extensive consultations with the Heritage committee, mercantile

associations, residents, political parties and other stakeholder representatives. Features of the design proposal included provision of an underground trunk system for all services, re-routing of motorized vehicles away from the corridor, seamless Non Motorised Vehicle movement, re-introduction of the East-West connection along this space by tram and reinforcing the North-South movement by cycle rickshaws. The idea of reviving the tram was also for its visual integrity of this place with the past. ♦♦ The riverfront development at Patna showcased the presence of 27 old Ghats along the river edge, but the city had turned its back to the river due to its flooding nature.

The urban design intent was to create punctures and networks to the riverfront for both access as well as evacuation of the lakhs of people who come to the riverfront during various festivities like Chatt, etc.

Through urban design insertions and systemic changes, the entire rive edge was re-imagined as a renewed public place for the city of Patna.

Urban Design as public policy

♦♦ Good Urban Design requires robust delivery and maintenance. For this, policy plays a critical role. ♦♦ The Master Plan of Delhi although dedicating a chapter for Urban Design mentions the word Urban Design four times only! Although it is accepted that urban design is an important component for the future of the city, its application still remains ambiguous. ♦♦ Every city will have a vision and will have its own priorities. The city can be understood through the Urban Design lens of scale and process. At the top, the process could involve attracting investors and correspond to the defined role/s of the urban centre whereas at the bottom, the process could involve public participation and so on. ♦♦ Working within an existing

We need specific answers from urban design specialists and academicians so that they can be taken to policy makers for implementation Chetan Vaidya Director, SPA

“

framework (say e.g UDPFI) as a step forward, an elaborate urban design policy framework was presented and discussed.

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Immediate needs

A round table at the closing session of the conference brought out critical dimensions of the problems of Indian cities as discussed through the conference and deliberated on the way forward. Inputs from panellists and members of the audience generated a rich set of views and ideas for our cities. Some of the identified needs that require immediate attention are as follows: ♦♦ The foremost requirement for the holistic development of cities in India is of Urban Designers working within government bodies—which means a formalisation of the profession within the government. Urban Design must be then recognized as a service within the government and a cadre of urban designers needs to be set up within urban development organizations at all levels. ♦♦ Urban Design needs to be included as part of procurement of permission for development as a legal requirement for projects beyond a certain size of site, an Urban design scheme must be made mandatory. ♦♦ Unfortunately, even after 20 years of the 74th Amendment, local bodies are yet to actively engage in preparing physical schemes for their cities. It is time now for urban designers to actively collaborate with urban local bodies. ♦♦ The other critical dimension of

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♦♦

today’s cities is the need to address the requirements of the low income population that constitutes almost 50-60 percent of every city’s population. Through sensitive urban design, one could achieve the balance between glass towers and monumental buildings on one side and the long neglected needs of the less privileged groups on the other.

Urban designers, town planners, transport planners, environmentalists, etc. are yet to talk to each other adequately.

Additionally, there should be synergy between various departments/ disciplines of governments.

Academic institutions need to be formally engaged with the development discourses of the city as well as collaborate in the new experiments.

City governments and development agencies need to use the growing network of urban designers within the country through professional bodies like IUDI as advisors for spatial planning and design at all levels, but especially at the local level. This network needs to be recognized formally as an available human resource of specialized expertise. The Khandeshwar Railway Station precinct Development by IUDI, in partnership with CIDCO, Navi Mumbai is an example of this collaboration.

Formulating an urban design compendium (in the lines of CABE, UK) is required to provide a much needed framework of design for reference to practitioners, city authorities, builders, citizens, etc. A formal review panel like the DUAC (which could be renamed as Delhi Urban Art and Design Commission) needs to be set up in all cities in the country with at least one full time member from the urban design profession. A concerted program for public awareness and capacity building needs to be set in motion.

IUDI and academic institutions, with support from central, state and local governments could play the lead role in this regard.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2015

41

VOX - POP | Waste to Weath

The towering rancid heaps of waste can be found in land fill sites of every megacity.

They canbe churned into wealth if a proper waste management plan and competent garbage paradigm with advanced technology are put in place Prathiba Raju, Assistant Editor Prathiba@urbanupdate.in

Wealth in trash

42 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

I

t is high time that cities see waste as a resource to get economic benefits. As per experts the exponentially growing urban waste (municipal, electronic, household and other solid waste), industrial waste, biomass waste and biomedical waste can be an opportunity to generate energy or a natural byproducts.

Urban India will generate 160.5 million tons per year or 440 tons per day by 2041. In the next ten years, India will generate a total of 920 million tons of MSW; almost 91 percent of it will be landfilled or driven to dumpsites.

“Currently all cities put together globally generate 1.3 billion tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) every year. This is expected to increase 2.25 billion tonnes by 2025. India generates about 68.8 million tonnes of MSW every year and it’s increasing more than the world average, which is a major concern,” said Anil K. Agarwal, former President, ASSOCHAM.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) states that at a global scale, the waste-management sector is in a unique position to move from being a minor source of global emissions to becoming a major saver of emissions.

Discern waste as resource

The philosophy of waste management has further evolved from focusing on public health by collecting waste and environmental aspects by proper disposal of waste, said Union Urban Development Minister, M Venkaiah Naidu.

Talking about Municipal Solid Waste, Naidu said that it is a state subject and the centre is the nodal agency.

“Soon there will be a Mayors conference at national level to rejuvenate the urban governance.

Urban development ministry is also in the process of empanelling list of companies that can help in SWM solutions to ULBs, the process will be over in next three months,” Naidu said.

The minister also informed that Solid Waste Management (SWM) was a critical factor in advancement of our

country as it connects with sanitation and water. “Growth of waste generation is outpacing the population growth.

If we have proper SWM systems then we can generate 440mw of power through waste to energy plants. It is a great opportunity. The government is open to PPP model. Switching over to compost can reduce the use of chemical fertiliser by 30 percent. We are spending huge money on chemical fertiliser,” Naidu said.

Holistic approach required

Generation of waste is inevitable by household or by industries, but one should know how this unique waste generation spectrum can be utilised. In

the background of rising energy costs, scarcity of resources and deterioration of ecological systems, innovative mechanisms, to shape waste into useful ingredients (energy and other useful products) requires an appealing solution to several pressing problems.

“We need wider collateral segregation whether it is urban, industrial, bio mass and bio medical waste. Efficient, scientific and cost effective waste management is necessary and it should be approached holistically.

Waste should be considered as an expensive resource. It should be seen as an opportunity. National, local government need to work together and bring a strategy on separation of waste

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2015

43

VOX - POP | Waste to Weath

Currently, all cities put together globally generate 1.3 billion tonnes of MSW every year and this is expected to increase 2.25 billion tonnes by 2025. India generates about 68.8 million tonnes of MSW every year and it’s increasing more than the world average

Urban development ministry is also in the process of empanelling list of companies that can help in Solid Waste Management (SWM) solutions to municipal corporations and councils across the country. It is expected that the process will be over in next three months

Waste should be considered as an expensive resource, it should be seen as an opportunity. National, local government need to work together and bring a strategy on separation of waste right from the source level and achieve higher percentage of reuse and recycle.

Anil K Agarwal Past President, ASSOCHAM

Venkaiah Naidu Union UD minister

Rakesh Chitkara, Chairman, ASSOCHAM Council on Environment & Safety

right from the source level and achieve higher percentage of reuse and recycle.

Indian policy makers and municipal officials need to see waste management as an opportunity and make adjustment in existing laws,” Rakesh Chitkara, Chairman, ASSOCHAM Council on Environment & Safety.

Germany, Sweden, and Belgium are leading the rankings in waste management.

“In waste management, Japan has good technology and they see India as an opportunity. After the World War, Japan had waste management issues, but it has become one of the cleanest countries using vibrant technology.

Japanese companies are invited in India to see how their technology can be used in India,” Rahul Sharma, Chairman, ASSOCHAM Council on India- Japan Business Promotion told Urban Update.

A report on waste, compiled by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), states that at a

global scale, the waste management sector makes a relatively minor contribution to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Waste sector is in a unique position to move from being a minor source of global emissions to becoming a major saver of emissions. It will make out cities self sustainable and environment friendly.

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Lessons on technology

Globally, waste is seen as a resource.

Using cutting edge technologies, wastes can be converted into energy and fuels. There is a huge amount of stake in waste management, economically and environmentally. Many countries like Japan, Netherlands, Denmark,

44 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

“

“

Value out of trash

India has miles to go before it could meet the zero waste strategies. As per industry experts, right from households, urban local bodies, industries, hospitals should find ways to fulfil the equation ‘waste = resource’ within our industrial

In waste management, Japan has good technology and they see India as an opportunity.

Japanese companies are invited in India to see how their technology can be used here. Japan faced waste management issue after the WW II but it is one of the cleanest countries today

Given the limited financial and operational capacities of the municipalities, Public Private Partnerships (PPP) can play a key role in developing solid waste management systems in urban areas.

The government should engage all stakeholders in the process

Municipal authorities should also think about green bonds, municipal bonds. Such bonds can raise funds, investment capacities. This will certainly help the Urban Local Bodies in achieving their target by generating funds and making them sulf sufficient to carry out such projects

Rahul Sharma, Chairman, ASSOCHAM Council on India- Japan Business Promotion

Upendra Bhatt Managing Director, CKinetics

Rana Kapoor President ASSOCHAM

and societal systems.

“Given the limited financial and operational capacities of the municipalities, Public Private Partnerships (PPP) can play a key role in developing solid waste management systems in urban areas,” Upendra Bhatt, Managing Director, CKinetics said.

He also informed that service contract for waste collection at source (both residential and commercial customers) can be done and there could be a proper collection of recyclable materials for sale in local market.

enabling municipalities to choose the correct waste processing options based on the composition and quantum of waste. “Amendment of MSW rules can be used to incorporate waste reducing, reusing and recycling methods,” Bhatt said.

“There is enough intelligence which is available. As a country we need take tangible steps across the board in all the verticals, which are relevant to waste management, we are defining action steps putting some guidelines.

We tabulate and disseminate the various strategies used for waste management. Though, there is high level awareness but people don’t know

how to implement it. We will get down to implementation issues, and how this can be made profitable business.

Municipal authorities should also think about green bonds, municipal bonds.

Such bonds can raise funds, investment capacities. This will certainly help the Urban Local Bodies in achieving their target by generating funds and making them sulf sufficient to carry out such projects,” Rana Kapoor, President ASSOCHAM told Urban Update. After the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission, the government of India has taken many initiatives to make sure the ULBs in the country manage their waste effciently and keep cities clean.

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Way forward

India can create technical guidelines for

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www.urbanupdate.in | March 2015

45

URBAN AGENDA | Swachh Bharat

Solutions, not just technology, matter

A

fter the flourishing telecom age and Internet age, the time of Internet of Things has come. This will allow sensor-enabled physical objects—home appliances, factory products, infrastructure assets and cars— to talk to one another. This change has manifested in a new kind of city— Smart City.

The basic recipe for smart cities is to collect data, analyse it and put it to use to improve the quality of city life — to make traffic flow more smoothly, to help police be more efficient, to ensure that water supply meets demand, and more. Smart City strategies seek to leverage ICT to pursue economic, social and environmental sustainability. It also provides new ways for governments, municipal authorities and private sector companies to design and build more efficient infrastructure and services.

Well, the idea of smart cities thus creates an urban utopia where technology comes to the rescue of every challenge. What could not be solved through decentralisation and a series of urban sector reforms, can now be solved by inculcating ‘smartness’ into our cities. Most of the existing imagery

46 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

of smart cities is being propagated by industry-led consortiums. The imagery focuses on highly technical and specialised solutions like smart-grid; GPS based land record-monitoring, intelligent transportation systems, and so on. The dialogue focuses on use of available solutions, rather than assessment or articulation of needs by urban planners and managers.

The government intends to create 100 Smart Cities. The outcome will broadly hinge on devising new, innovative solutions based on the knowledge gained through the processes and a knowledge bank of proof of concepts of the new solutions.

A smart city vision for India thus needs to acknowledge the roles, and address the needs, of all the stakeholders in order to gain wider acceptability as well as have a better chance of becoming a reality.

A well-articulated smart city vision has a potential to transform city making and urban citizenship paradigms to ones that involve greater use of technology for gathering, visualising, analysing and patterning data for informed urban planning and making relevant data available in a consumable format to the citizens for greater transparency and informed decision-making.

Apresh Chandra Mishra Managing Editor apresh@urbanupdate.in

The 2nd Annual

South Asian Cities Summit 2015 22-23 May, New Delhi

** ** ** ** ** **

Honâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ble Ministers from India, Sri Lanka Honâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ble Mayors across South Asia Delegates and participants from across the world Participants from International and National Organisations Estimated number of participants - 300 Technology companies/ businesses

5

For speakers and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Anuradha Das + 91 98185 72546, anuradha.das@citiesnetworkcampaign.org Ravi Guru + 91 98180 98411, raavi.guru@gmail.com

All India Institute of Local Self Government Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block, Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058, Ph No. 011-2852 1783 / 5465, Email. delhi@aiilsg.org

Dr. Jatin Modi President AIILSG

Ranjit Chavan Director General AIILSG

Raj Liberhan Former Director IHC

M Ramachandran Former Secretary-UD GoI

Dr Sudhir Krishna Former Secretary-UD GoI