Urban Update March 2016

ISSN 2349-6266 RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

UrbanUpdate Volume III, Issue III

Rs 100

March 2016

The new age of urban governance Governing growing cities in a country like India is a matter of serious concern. Efficient urban governance and ‘healthy’ municipalities will be the key to the sustenance of our evolving and existing urban spaces

Competitiveness drives innovation: Supriyo An interview with Babul Supriyo, Union Minister of State for Urban Development

The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

Union Ministry of Urban Development has empanelled AIILSG on the list of consultants qualified to work for Smart City Mission.

AIILSG has been selected to work for Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.

Community Based Interventions

Professional Empowerment Project Management

Advisory Services Customised Training

Knowledge Management Capacity Building Information, Education and Communication (IEC)

Policy Research

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: +91-22-26572286, Email: contact@aiilsg.org

UrbanUpdate A monthly magazine published by the AIILSG — a project funded by European Union’s ‘Equi-City’ programme for India.

Ranjit Chavan President-AIILSG Capt. Anant Modi Editor-In-Chief Director General-AIILSG, dg@aiilsg.org Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor Abhishek Pandey Editor Ravi Ranjan Guru Executive Editor

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Printed at Utkarsh Enterprises, 1893, 1st Floor, Uday Chand Marg Kotla Mubarak Pur, New Delhi-110003 Published at Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area D-Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-110058 Despite careful selection of sources, no responsibility can be taken for accuracy of the contents. The magazine assumes no liability or responsibility of any kind in connection with the information thereof. The views expressed in the articles are the personal opinions of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the All India Institute of Local Self-Government. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

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The project is funded by the European Union.

The project is implemented by the AIILSG.

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission.

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March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

EDITORIAL

Smart Cities Challenge Turning point in Municipal Governance

W

e have come a long way since the Corporation of Madras (now Chennai) was established in 1687. It is the second oldest corporation in the world after London. While there have been many developments in local governance since then, the Smart Cities Challenge of the Ministry of Urban Development is a unique experiment in more ways than one. Firstly, cities competed against each other on a set of pre-announced parameters to become eligible for central and state funding. Secondly, rather than on lofty dreams, cities were shortlisted based on their performance during the last three years on key areas like mobility, water supply, solid waste management and financial management of the city. And most importantly, the proposal of each city was required to outline the citizen consultation process that was deployed in order to ensure that the Smart City Plans were indeed reflecting the wishes of various sections of the city population including the underprivileged and vulnerable, elderly, children and differently abled.

This possibly marks a new era in the management of our cities. City managements are being urged to listen to the voice of the citizen and to ensure that higher level of citizen participation happens when preparing plans for the city. City administrations have reached out to vast numbers of residents through various measures including technology enabled modes to seek and document their voices. This is likely to become the norm in future rather than a one-time effort for the Smart Cities Challenge. In other words the citizen is moving centre stage where city development is concerned. This surely is welcome. While on the one hand, this signifies the strengthening and deepening of democratic processes,

it also places enhanced responsibility on city residents to work towards shaping the future of their cities. They will need to participate actively while addressing the issues facing their city on an ongoing basis.

One can no more just complain about the piled up garbage in the city; one will be required to reduce waste generation, promote waste segregation, participate in community programmes to encourage reuse and recycling, and build awareness in general. Water conservation is another crying need in our cities. Without corrective measures at the consumer end, no administration would be able to meet the needs fully and reliably.

Both waste and water management have significant implications for environmental sustainability and call for urgent concerted actions by all. The challenge of urban mobility is overwhelming in larger cities and seems to get more demanding with each passing day. Most smart city plans recognize the gravity and among others, are looking to actively promote nonmotorized transport modes like walking and cycling. These will be possible only with wide, clean, un-encroached footpaths and designated bicycle tracks respected by motorists. Public hygiene and sanitation are other areas where no success can be achieved without citizen participation. As the Father of the Nation exhorted us, each one of us needs to adopt the philosophy “I am the change I want to see”.

With the experience of the Smart Cities Challenge, city administrations must constantly devise innovative methods to engage the citizen and to seek his participation in the process of local governance. John and Doris Naisbitt in an interview in Delhi while discussing their new book remarked “The Feasibility of good governing not only depends on reliable politicians, but also on how responsible people act.”

Capt. Anant Modi Editor-In-Chief

Smart Cities Challenge possibly marks a new era in the management of our cities. City managements are being urged to listen to the voice of the citizen and to ensure that higher level of citizen participation happens when preparing plans for the city.

City administrations have reached out to vast numbers of residents through various measures

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2016

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Quotes

PIN POINT

In the MDGs urbanization was approached from the problem space, looking at sectoral deficiencies such as the lack of water and sanitation. Now, for the first time, discussion has moved from why our model of urbanization is not delivering the quality and quantity of prosperity we expect to how it should. This more strategic approach will be the focus of Habitat III.

BUZZ

Government’s mission is to achieve one nation, one grid, and one price. People everywhere should be able to find out if power is available through the mobile application ‘Vidyut Pravah’. Bringing power to all is not just a target but a mission and commitment.

Piyush Goyal Power Minister

Prakash Javadekar @PrakashJavdekar Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change

We are bringing rules to ensure ‘Sustainable Development’ & check Indiscriminate Development’. #TransformingIndia

Bibek Debroy @bibekdebroy Member, NITI Aayog

Only six of 21 Indian cities are financially independent.

Joan Clos Executive Director of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme

Adrien Licha @UCLG_MEWA_Licha Project Coordinator, UCLG-MEWA

Braouezec: we need to ensure financial autonomy of LAs if we want a sustainable urban development #HabitatIII

Cities are central to innovate, for ideas to collide and for that collision of ideas to drive a better world, a world that is able to do more with less and deliver more prosperity for all of us Angus Taylor Assistant Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation (Australia)

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Smart Cities in India have a big potential to attract private investment from contracting companies if the government formulates a clear legal and jurisdictional framework Eckwart Wuerzner Mayor of Heidelberg (Germany)

Pilar Balbuena @Pilar_Balbuena Media Specialist

Urban development without people in mind does not work.

Inside

Volume 3, Issue 3

Inside March 2016

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AIILSG, UCLG to hold SAC Summit in Delhi

Cover story

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The new age of urban governance

Governing growing cities in a country like India is a matter of serious concern. Efficient urban governance and ‘healthy’ municipalities will be the key to the sustenance of our evolving and existing urban spaces

Article

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Rurban Mission A game changer?

Increasing influx of people in cities cannot be solved only by focusing on development in cities. There is a need to provide better living conditions and employment opportunities in villages and small towns to tackle urban problems holistically

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Competitivenes drives innovation: Supriyo An interview with Babul Supriyo, Union Minister of State for Urban Development

Smart City Pune ‘Pune-The Most Livable City in India’.

That is the Vision of Puneites for their City. Citizens were indeed overwhelmed with joy as their city was ranked second out of 97 contestants in the Stage II of the smart cities challenge

RegularS

6 10 15 46

ONE ON ONE

Pin Point Newscan City Images Urban Agenda

LeaderSpeak

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Empower municipalities for better cities

The enactment of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA) in 1992 was a watershed event in the history of urban governance in India. As the Act was not implemented in letter and spirit, municipal bodies are craving for enough executive, administrative and financial powers to run cities efficiently

COLUMN

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What does Budget 2016-17 bring for cities?

Many components of

the recent Union

Budget would

influence the social

and economic

framework of the

urban areas significantly

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AIILSG, UCLG to hold 3 SAC Summit in Delhi rd

♦♦ South Asia’s urban population grew by

130 million between

2001 and 2011 – more than the A scene of day-to-day life in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The city that is home to around 15 million people will house around 25 million people by 2025. Dhaka, like any other growing South Asian city, needs to improve its city system to provide better civic amenities to its citizens

All India Institute of Local-Self Government (AIILSG) in collaboration with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is organising a two-day Summit on May 6-7, 2016 in New Delhi to explore the new avenues of urban development in evolving urban agglomerations in the South Asian Region. The theme of the Summit is ‘Smart Cities—Aspirations and Challenges’. The European Union has also partnered with the AIILSG to envision a better urban future for all Team Urban Update

S

outh Asian Countries are developing new Smart Cities to rejuvenate their urban settlements.

The increasing population in cities is demanding better civic amenities, employment

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March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

entire population of Japan – and is poised to rise by almost

250 million more by 2030.

♦♦ South Asia is currently home to more than

23% of the

world’s population and at least

14% of its

urban population ♦♦ South Asia boasts of

6 mega

cities—Bangalore, Delhi, Dhaka, Karachi, Kolkata, and Mumbai.

opportunities, novel public transport systems, improved physical and IT infrastructure, efficient waste and water management, affordable housing, etc. The third edition of South Asian Cities Summit-2016 aims at addressing all these issues and to come out with a

set of solutions to solve urban problems in emerging smart cities.

India and other South Asian countries can better utilize opportunities that urbanization provides them to transform their economies to join the ranks of richer nations. The

3rd SAC Summit 2016 | feature

Over 350 experts in urban development, energy efficiency, infrastructure development, finance and in other allied sectors will attend.

Mayors and commissioners from various South Asian cities will also participate to raise their concerns about urban development in their respective cities

Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change at the SAC Summit 2015

launch of three mega urban schemes in India, i.e., Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), and Housing for All in urban areas, will set in motion the process of urban transformation to enable better living.

The missions are new, innovative and focused on pressing needs to improve the quality of life for citizens today, and in the future.

The Summit will convene a high profile gathering of international, national, state and local government officials, policy makers, financiers, technologists, non-profit organisations, business leaders, academicians, researchers and community organisations – all with a common goal of working together to develop and build a better future for cities.

The recently released World Bank Report ‘Leveraging Urbanisation in South Asia’ says that the region’s urban population grew by 130 million people between 2001 and 2011, and it is forecast to rise by almost 250 million more in the next 15 years. The region has already started to see the economic growth and poverty-reduction benefits associated with urbanisation; if managed properly, further urbanisation offers the potential for more prosperous and livable cities. Despite strong growth since the beginning of the century, South Asia’s share of the global economy remains strikingly low relative to its share of the world’s urban population. In 2011, the East Asia and the Pacific region generated 29 per cent of the world’s GDP with a share of the global urban population of 32 per cent (a ratio of 0.91); South Asia produced 8 per cent of global GDP with a share of the global urban population of 14 per cent (a ratio of 0.57). This comparison suggests that South Asia has been much less successful than East Asia in leveraging its urbanisation for gains in productivity and prosperity.

The different sessions at the summit will discuss the issues of South Asian Cities and will come forward with measures to accelerate the sustainable prosperity and productivity of its cities.

The main sessions during the summit

will be: ‘Accelerating the Pace of Urban Rejuvenation - Building Efficient Urban Infrastructure’, ‘Leveraging Technology for Smart Cities’, ‘Innovative Urban Governance and Empowered City Leadership - A Requisite for Urban Transformation’, ‘Moving in Cities with Ease and Comfort’, ‘Rural Urban Continuum – The Inclusive Future’, ‘Sustainable Urban Management’, and Clean Cities.

SACS-2015

The second edition of the SAC Summit that was organised at India Habitat Centre was a success and saw participation of over 300 national and international delegates from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Korea, Japan, Singapore, United Kingdom and the United States of America. Union Minister of State for Environment and Forest, Prakash Javadekar was the chief guest. The major topics discussed during the SAC Summit-2015 included empowerment of local bodies, smart mobility, solid waste management, water and sanitation, financial viability of smart cities, smart energy solutions, safe cities, climate resilient cities and green buildings. On the basis of deliberations during different sessions at the two-day conference, city leaders from South Asian cities along with dignitaries from national and International development agencies, donor organisations, civil society organizations and representatives of wider urban development fraternity signed a fifteen-point declaration to make cities inclusive, better governed, smart and sustainable.

The declaration read: “…We will create policies and implement initiatives which are socially, culturally and economically inclusive by inter-alia, specifically addressing gender equality, safety, security, creating investment opportunities and conserving heritage of the built environment… We would like AIILSG to be the focal point for knowledge sharing, sharing of best practices and deliberations on various innovative ideas to improve service delivery and enhance quality of life of city residents.”

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China to regulate urban growth The State Council released a new set of urban development guidelines to produce a framework which will revamp and revitalise China’s cities

Beijing: In a bid to tackle the problems associated with increasing urbanization and the explosion of city sizes, China recently released a set of guidelines on urban planning.

Cities will no longer be allowed to grow beyond what their natural resources can support, and odd-shaped buildings will be forbidden, according to the guideline from the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, China’s Cabinet.

Revamping urban spaces

The document comes on the heels of December’s Central Urban Work Conference, the first such meeting to address the issue since 1978, when only 18 percent of China’s population lived in cities. By the end of last year, the figure had reached above 50 percent.

The new guidelines prioritize walking and public transit options over car use, preserve historical and cultural characteristics, and grow cities only within the means of their natural resources.

Increased urbanization has brought with it several problems, including pollution, severe traffic congestion and compromised public safety. Poor urban planning has also led to issues such as overtaxed power distribution networks.

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Highlights The comprehensive principles included in China’s new guidelines range widely in scale, covering a city’s entire geographic boundary down to its streets, blocks, and buildings.

Here are the key principles: Narrow roads, dense street networks ♦♦ Enforcing urban growth boundaries ♦♦ Expanding public (and green) space ♦♦ Increasing use of public transit ♦♦ Focusing on historical preservation and city character To combat such problems, the document calls for greater oversight from city legislative bodies and harsher punishments for anyone contravening urban planning regulations. Any modification or revision of local urban planning policy should also be approved

by legislators first, the document says.

Bizarre architecture that is not economical, functional, aesthetically pleasing or environmentally friendly will be forbidden, while construction techniques that generate less waste and use fewer resources, such as the use of prefabricated buildings, will be encouraged, according to the document.

It projected that in 10 years, 30 percent of new buildings will be prefabricated.To further monitor urban sprawl, governments should use a variety of methods including remote satellite sensing to locate buildings that violate existing urban planning policies.

Within five years, a map of all such illegal buildings across China’s cities will have been drawn up and action taken against violators, the document said. By 2020, the transformation and renovation of existing shantytowns, urban villages and dilapidated houses in cities will be complete.

Improved mobility

New open residential communities will be established with links to public roads that can become part of the urban road system, leading to better utilization of urban land and optimization of the urban road network.

Cities will have more green belts and urban parks that are free to the public, putting residents closer to greenery. The buildings occupying public green land should also be phased out within a set time period. Cities should exert more effort to protect their historical sites through regular repair and renovation plans. Cities will further increase the development of public transportation systems, including buses and metros.

By 2020, mega cities with a population greater than 5 million will have at least 40 percent of journeys completed via public transport, while that figure will be 30 percent in cities with a population greater than 1 million. In other cities it will stand at 20 percent.

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Rajasthan to Promote Green Building Concept: Raje Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has said that the green building concept (greenery and cleanliness) should be promoted and incentives be given to those who adopt it for greenery and rain water harvesting structures in houses and buildings.

In order to add new dimension to urban development Raje said incentives for green buildings and rainwater harvesting structures be given to promote green building.

Chairing the meeting of Urban Development & Housing and Localself Governance departments here, she directed the officials to focus on cleanliness & sanitation and designing master plans of towns as per GIS pattern.

She further asked the officials for simplification of land use change regulations for benefit of the common man and suggested for drafting rules for conservation of heritage buildings to ensure better protection of our historical legacy. She directed the officials to follow Amrut Yojna guidelines while

preparing Master Plans of four cities by consulting expert firms for this. She said that the pace of development works of the Ring Road project be expedited and early decision be taken on project for beautification of Dravyavati River.

Raje asked for cleanliness drive in urban areas under the Swachh Bharat Mission and demanded for effective ban on use of polythene bags.She also emphasized on meeting the target of construction of toilets in urban body regions. She said that all development works in the cities selected under the Smart Cities and Amrut Yojna be completed in time bound manner.

Vacation of unauthorized occupants improved in last 2 years Delhi: Law enforcement in respect of vacation of government houses in Delhi which were under unauthorized occupation has substantially improved over the last two years. This was revealed from the information furnished to Lok Sabha by the Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo in a written reply to a question on illegal occupation of government houses.

Supriyo informed the Lok Sabha that a total of 1,531 houses were got vacated under the provisions of Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act during the last three years. These included 246 evictions in 2013, 539 in 2014 and 746 in 2015. He also stated that

while only 10 houses of higher type (Type VB to Type VIII) were got vacated in 2013, it has increased to 69 in 2014 and 20 in 2015.

Supriyo said that 1,207 government houses of different types are under unauthorized occupation which account for about 2% of the total houses under General Pool Residential Accommodation (GPRA) in Delhi. These included 299 houses in the lowest categories of Type1 and Type-1 S, 472 Type-2 houses, 202 Type-III houses, 189 Type-IV and TypeIV S, 20 Type-V (A and B), 5 in hostel accommodation category, 16 Type-6 (A and B) besides only 4 Type-VII houses and one Type-VIII house.

BRIEFS

PMC to launch e-book to give info on its services Pune Municipal Corporation would launch an e-book of the civic body for the convenience of citizens to avail the civic services. “We would be launching the e-book of PMC. It would act as a guide to citizens to avail civic services and facilities,” said Rahul Jagtap, incharge of the PMC’s department of information technology.

Greater Warangal gets its first mayor Senior TRS leader Nannapuneni Narender assumed charge as the first Mayor of Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC). He said he would dedicate his total time for the development of the city beginning with a review of drinking water shortage soon.

He said that unlike in the past, there was no dearth of funds and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao himself was committed to the development of Warangal district. Keeping his word, the Chief Minister has announced Rs 300 crore for the development, he said.

BMC to use modern tech to check water leakage Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will use modern technology to detect and plug leakages in water pipelines in the city, Minister of State for Urban Development Dr Ranjit Patil informed the legislative council. “The BMC is using latest technology like Helium gas technology, sound rod technology to detect vacuum in the pipe lines, leakage locator, digital sound stitch and valve locator in case valves are buried under debris to detect leakages and repair them,” he added.

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Ludhiana to beautify entry points to the city Ludhiana Municipal Corporation has decided to beautify various entry points to the city. According to sources, the MC will take up the beautification process at Jalandhar Bypass, Sherpur Chowk and Malerkotla Road. The officials said the department had also got some structures designed from the architects and the same would be put up at the entry points.

MC chief GK Singh said the designs were ready and the department was working to prepare the estimates for these structures. He added that the project to beautify the entry points was not part of the smart city project, but it came under the other developmental projects that were to be taken by the state or the municipal corporation.

VMC proposes tax rebate for disabled

Vadodara Municipal Corporation has moved a proposal to give rebate in property tax to disabled persons.

The suggestion to give 25 per cent rebate in property tax to persons who had 50 per cent or more disability was made during the discussions on the 2016-17 VMC budget. The suggestion was passed by a majority in a general board.

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Good News: CO2 emissions didn’t go up second year in a row A recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) shows energyrelated emissions of CO2 stalled for the second year in a row as renewable energy surged

Paris: Global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) – the largest source of man-made greenhouse gas emissions–stayed flat for the second year in a row, according to analysis of preliminary data for 2015 released by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

“The new figures confirm last year’s surprising but welcome news: we now have seen two straight years of greenhouse gas emissions decoupling from economic growth,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “Coming just a few months after the landmark COP21 agreement in Paris, this is yet another boost to the global fight against climate change.”

Global emissions of carbon dioxide stood at 32.1 billion tonnes in 2015, having remained essentially flat since 2013. The IEA preliminary data suggest that electricity generated by renewables played a critical role, having accounted for around 90% of new electricity generation in 2015; wind alone produced more than half of new electricity generation. In parallel, the global economy continued to grow by more than 3%, offering further evidence that the link between economic growth and emissions growth is weakening.

In the more than 40 years in which

the IEA has been providing information on CO2 emissions, there have been only four periods in which emissions stood still or fell compared to the previous year.

Three of those – the early 1980s, 1992 and 2009 – were associated with global economic weakness. But the recent stall in emissions comes amid economic expansion: according to the International Monetary Fund, global GDP grew by 3.4% in 2014 and 3.1% in 2015.

The two largest emitters, China and the United States, both registered a decline in energy-related CO2 in 2015. In China, emissions declined by 1.5%, as coal use dropped for the second year in a row.

In 2015, coal generated less than 70% of Chinese electricity, ten percentage points less than four years ago (in 2011).

Over the same period low-carbon sources jumped from 19% to 28%, with hydro and wind accounting for most of the increase.

In the United States, emissions declined by 2%, as a large switch from coal to natural gas use in electricity generation took place.

The decline observed in the two major emitters was offset by increasing emissions in most other Asian developing economies and the Middle East, and also a moderate increase in Europe.

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HDMC plans to spend 88cr to refurbish MG Market Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) will spend Rs 88 cr for facelift of MG Market, one of the oldest markets in Hubballi-Dharwad.

With private partnership, the Corporation has prepared a detailed project report, in which it has planned the building on 1.35 acres of land. It will have adequate space in the basement and ground floor for two-wheeler and four-wheeler parking. The first and second floors will have platforms and stalls for vendors and others.

The third floor will have a two-screen multiplex, hotel and amusement zone for children.

Escalators will be placed at four sides.

Chandigarh to decide on parking tax for online cabs

Operators of cabs that are registered with online taxi aggregators may have to shell out a parking tax soon.

Councillor Saurabh Joshi had raised the issue at a meeting. He claimed that many online cab drivers had occupied MC land for parking their vehicles and that they should be charged for the same. “I will be taking up the agenda in the next meeting.

In their case, we won’t auction the parking lots but will impose parking tax. Also, we want that particular area to be allotted to them like sector 34 ground, Manimajra or other vacant areas so that they are not scattered in all the sectors,”said Joshi.

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Germany to assist Kochi, Bhubaneswar and Coimbatore in Smart City project Delhi: “Germany would contribute to India’s smart city programme and will help develop the cities of Kochi (Kerala), Bhubaneswar (Odisha) and Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu) as smart cities,” State Secretary in Germany’s Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, Gunther Adler, said recently.

The three cities are among the 20 cities which are to be developed as smart cities, announced by Urban Development Ministry in January this year. Germany had earlier set up a sixmember joint committee with India to identify the cities which it could develop as smart cities. The committee had two representatives of Urban Development Ministry, one from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, and three from Germany. German Ambassador to India Martin Ney, addressing the press conference, said Germany is an ideal partner in India’s

mission to create smarter cities as the country is “very strong at smart planning for urban centres”.

“We have developed the technologies to make life in cities easier. We have developed the processes to bring on board the stakeholders to make cities thrive and German companies have developed smart solutions to make smart cities,” he said. Germany had already been engaged in various fields related to smart cities-such as sustainable urban mobility, water and waste-water management, renewable energies and energy efficiency, the Ambassador said.

“We have been supporting important Indian initiatives such as ‘Swachh Bharat’, National Mission for Clean Ganga and Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Transformation,” he added. Germany is India’s second largest bilateral donor with a record commitment of 1.5 billion Euros (Rs 11,0000 crore) agreed last year, Ney said.

Govt mulling PPP model for urban water supply sector New Delhi: The government is considering a public-private-partnership (PPP) model for urban water supply to enhance coverage and efficiency of service delivery, Rajya Sabha was informed recently.

“Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is being explored as one of the options to bridge the demand-supply gap in urban water supply sector with a view to improving coverage and efficiency of service delivery,” Minister of State for Urban Development Babul Supriyo said in a written reply.

He said, “PPP experience in urban water supply the world over has been mixed.” In case of Manila (Philippines), he said the PPP in water supply has “improved coverage and reduced nonrevenue water, suggesting that PPPs can produce benign outcomes if structured well.” Responding to a separate question on fine for littering in public places, Supriyo said, “The government proposes to amend the Environment Protection Act 1986 to provide for civil monetary penalty for violation of Municipal Solid Waste Rules, 2000.

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City Images

City on Tracks

At present, India has about 300 kms of operational metro track in its eight major cities—Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chennai, Bengaluru, Noida and Gurgaon.

Of this, Delhi has over 200 kms.

However, metro network in Indian cities is smaller than the size of London’s Tube network (402 kms).

Union Government recently said it would boost the budget to expand the Delhi metro by almost a third

over the previous year, as well as provide more funding for other state authorities. The work of laying metro tracks in 8 cities has already begun and it is in the planning stage in 20 cities.

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Penalty for urinating on Varanasi ghats now Varanasi Municipal Corporation (VMC) has decided that anybody caught relieving at ghats on the Ganga in the city would be fined Rs 500.

A similar penalty would be imposed on those using soap while bathing in the river. The drive has become operational.

Municipal Commissioner Shrihari Pratap Shahi said a directive in this regard has been issued to the officials concerned and penal action will be initiated against the offenders.

GHMC to set up 33 health care centres The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation is all set to start 33 health centres under National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) in the city. GHMC Commissioner B Janardhan Reddy announced this on Thursday after holding a review meeting with NUHM project director, Dr. Jyothi Budda Prakash. Janardhan Reddy said the project aimed to provide better medical facilities to the citizens.

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BRICS Friendship Cities Conclave to be held in Mumbai Mumbai: Mumbai First, one of the organisations working to find solutions for the city’s development, with Government of India and Government of Maharashtra, will hold a three-day BRICS Partner Cities Conclave 2016 in Mumbai from April 14 to April 16.

The global conclave will be driven by a robust development agenda, to meet the challenges of Urbanization.

The event assumes significance given the megapolis’s aspiration to become a global financial centre and is inspired

by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of promoting greater cooperation and people-to-people contact among BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations, a press release issued from the organisers said.

The programme - BRICS Friendship Cities Conclave - is being organised jointly by the Maharashtra government and the External Affairs Ministry between April 14 and 16. Prime Minister Modi will inaugurate the conference, which will be attended by representatives of at least two cities from each of the BRICS nations. At least two governorlevel delegations from Russia and three ministerial-level delegations from China

have confirmed their participation, the release said. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will attend the opening ceremony.

Lord Jim O’ Neill, the UK commercial secretary, who coined the term BRICS will also address the inaugural session.

This is the second major international summit hosted by Mumbai in 2016 after the ‘Make In India Week’.National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) will be the venue for the inauguration on April 14, followed by deliberations at Hotel Trident on April 15-16, it said.”Considering the fact that Mumbai is the financial, commercial, and entertainment capital of India, there could not have been a more suitable venue to hold this first friendship conference of cities from BRICS countries,” the release quoted Fadnavis as saying.

KMC rapped for fouling river Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) was rapped for pleading paucity of funds to seal the untreated sewage points in Adi Ganga while there were no dearth of funds for “further lighting up” the streets by the Kolkata bench of National Green Tribunal (NGT) comprising Justice (retired) Pratap Roy and PC Mishra.

Passing a clutch of directions for cleaning up Adi Ganga, the tribunal asked how much by way of electricity bill the civic body has to cough up for “unnecessary lighting of the streets”.

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JUSCO to supply drinking water to urban slums: CM Ranchi: Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das announced recently that the State Government will sign a formal agreement with Tata Steel under which urban slums in eastern areas of the city located outside Tata Steel lease area will be getting drinking water from JUSCO (Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company,) a Tata Steel subsidiary. “We are aware of the situation and want to ensure that every citizen gets better civic amenities. We have already held talks with Tata Steel who have agreed to supply drinking water to the urban slums which has been facing water crisis during summer. It will be in the form of a cost sharing basis between Government and Tata Steel on the ratio of 60:40,” said Raghubar Das. The project is expected to provide piped drinking water to around 1.5 lakh people residing in Bagunhatu, Bagunnagar, Baridih, Birsanagar, Moharda and Hurlung. “Soon, Tata Steel subsidiary JUSCO will also be supplying electricity in these urban slums and an agreement in this connection will also be reached soon between Government and Tata Steel.

However, for either electricity or water the people of urban slums should be ready to pay their bills to enjoy better facilities,” said Das.

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Special Purpose Vehicles formed for implementation of Smart City Plans; MP, Rajasthan take lead 23 ‘runners up’ contestants to meet 20 winners for peer learning Delhi: Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have taken the lead in setting up Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) for the implementation of Smart City Plans of the cities who have won in the first round of competition. Ministry of Urban Development has been informed that SPVs have been set up for Jabalpur, Indore and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh and Jaipur and Udaipur in Rajasthan.

These cities are among the first batch of 20 winners of Smart City Challenge Competition announced on January 29, 2016.

Ministry has also been informed that SPVs for the remaining 15 cities will be formed in the next two weeks. Ministry of Urban Development will release Rs200 cr for each of the 20 selected cities only after SPVs are set up.

The SPVs to be registered under the Companies Act, 2013 will have 50:50 equity by the states and respective urban local bodies. Private equity is also allowed but the management control will rest with the Governments only. Madhya Pradesh has set up a 12 member SPV for each of the three cities. Respective District Collector will be the Chairman of the Board and respective Municipal Commissioner the Executive Director. Other members include representatives of central and state governments, nominee of the Mayor, 2 independent directors, representatives of DISCOMs, Public Health Engineering Department, etc.

Rajasthan has set up a 11 Member SPV for Jaipur and a 13 Member body for Udaipur. Principal Secretary (Local Self Government) is the Chairman in both the cases. Mayor will be the Vice-Chairman and Municipal Commissioner will be the Chief Executive Officer till a regular CEO is appointed. Representatives of central and state governments and two independent directors will also be

A city mosaic view of Udaipur. The Lake City is among the first few winning smart cities, which have setup SPV for implementing Smart City Mission. It will have a 13 Member body. Principal Secretary (Local Self Government) is the Chairman. Mayor will be the Vice-Chairman and Municipal Commissioner will be the Chief Executive Officer till a regular CEO is appointed.

on the Board. Meanwhile, Ministry of Urban Development organized a day long workshop on February 22, 2016 where in 23 cities participating in the ‘Fast Track Competition’ interacted with first batch of 20 smart city winners for ‘peer learning’ about making winning proposals. One top ranked city from each of the 23 States and UTs that could not win in the first round is participating in this accelerated round of competition, under which these 23 cities have to submit revised proposals to the Ministry of Urban Development

by April 15 this year.

These 23 cities are to work out how to bridge the identified gaps in their Smart City Plans earlier submitted and evaluated in the first round of competition. Experts and representatives of mentoring institutions like Centre for Science and Environment, Institute of Spatial Planning and Environment Research, Indian Institute of Human Settlements, All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment, Administrative Staff College of India and hand holding

institutions like world Bank, AFD, DFID, GIZ and Asian Development Bank will guide the winners and other participants on the next steps.

The 23 cities participating in the ‘Fast Track Competition’ are : Warangal (Telangana) ranked 23 in the first round of competition, Chandigarh(24), Lucknow, UP (29), New Town Kolkata (30), Panaji (32), Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh(39), Dharamshala, HP(59), Raipur(62), Bhagalpur, Bihar(65), Karnal, Haryana(66), Shillong(70), Namchi, Sikkim(71), Port Blair(72), Diu (74), Oulgaret, Puducherry (75), Silvassa (78), Imphal (83), Ranchi (84), Agartala (85), Kohima (90), Aizawl (93), Kavaratti (95) and Dehradun, Uttarakhand (97).

Among the first batch of winners, Bhopal which was ranked 20 scored 55.47% marks in the first round of competition. Warangal scored 54.79 marks to lose in the competition by just 0.68 marks while Dehradun which was ranked at the bottom of 97 scored 38.13% losing in the competition by a margin of 17.34 marks.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2015

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Child friendly smart city centre opened in Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar: As a first step towards the Smart City programme in the state capital, a Child Friendly Smart City Centre (CFSCC) was opened here at a city hotel by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) in association with National Institute of Urban Affairs and Bernard van Leer Foundation.

The Foundation is working with the city government to build the capacity of urban planners to reflect young children’s needs as the city regenerates and grows.

The BDA signed the MoU with the foundation at the state secretariat in the presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Speaking on the occasion Urban Development Minister Pushpendra Singh Deo said ‘’rapid urbanisation has given rise to development of slums and limited scope of the development of children, but with the CFSCC the situation will definitely change and we can provide a better urban infrastructure for them.’’

BDA vice-chairman Krishan Kumar said ‘’the journey of our city from an ancient one to become the top-ranking aspiring Smart City has seen a paradigm shift, but now we are going to provide more for the future citizens as they are our inheritors of the legacy.’’

Kumar informed that every month the city will have urban lecture series by eminent speakers from various fields of urban development like technology, heritage and conservation, planning, designing, landscaping, architecture, mobility, solid waste management and citizen centric activities of participatory approach. The lecture series will also include topics and developments relating to models on sustainable living, ease of doing business, tourism and development handicrafts.

According to the media release, the centre will provide technical

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According to the 2011 census, 75,237 children aged under six lived in Bhubaneswar – but the city is growing quickly, like many in India, leading to chaotic growth concentrated on informal, slum settlements with inadequate infrastructure.

Problems faced by young children in the city of Bhubaneswar include parks not being accessible; lack of footpaths, streetlights, and safe places to cross roads; and children in some neighbourhoods needing to use public transport, which is not child-friendly, to get to the nearest school.

The Foundation is investing 790,000 Euros over three years, with the Bhubaneswar Development Authority – which is responsible for the city’s development – committing a further 5.1 million Euros.

and capacity building support, with training for 100 city planners. It will create guidelines, regulations and best practices to inform the processes of planning and approving of new projects, by government agencies and private developers.It will link to a national Child-Friendly Smart City Hub in New Delhi.

The work will help to transform urban slums into planned settlements with the necessary public facilities to be liveable and healthy for children: improved housing; safe playgrounds,

parks and open public spaces; local school and healthcare facilities; convenient access to public transport; and child-friendly provisions for traffic management and safety, with clear rights of way and improved traffic crossings, especially in front of schools.

Executive director, Bernard van Leer Foundation Michael Feigelson in his speech said how the planners and city designers should view the city in the eyes of a small child so that the effectiveness is transformed in action in the urban settings.

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Competitive cities to add 7 mn jobs in East Asia annually

Over 7 million more jobs can be created each year in East Asia if the cities improved their competitiveness, says the World Bank’s report Competitive Cities for Jobs and Growth: What, Who, and How Singapore: Of the largest 750 cities in the world, three-quarters like Bucaramanga, Coimbatore, Kiga¬li, Changsha, Gaziantep and Tang¬ier, have grown faster than their national economies since the early 2000s. The primary source of job creation in these cities has been the growth of private sector firms. An analysis of these 750 cities around the world, the World Bank report outlines the factors that make cities competitive and prosper, providing a catalog of best practices and data that city leaders can use to benchmark their performance.

With urbanization in East Asia expected to accelerate in coming decades, these tools can help the region’s cities potentially stimulate economic growth in the region if their growth is accompanied by increasing competitiveness, which would include boosting infrastructure, skills sets, and regulatory reforms that would strengthen the investment climate.

The report finds that competitive cities did not always overhaul their existing economies in order to advance. Often they simply became better at what they already did, leveraging their comparative advantage, especially when exporting

A bird’s eye view of Tangier-Port in Tangier City of Morocco.

The city is among the largest 750 cities in the world which have grown faster than their national economies since the early 2000s

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The private sector accounts for almost 75 percent of jobs created worldwide. To spur growth and become successful, cities must focus on expanding existing firms, creating new ones, and attracting investors in order to create more jobs, increase incomes of citizens, and grow” Anabel Gonzalez Senior Director of the World Bank Group’s Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice

tradable goods and services to other cities and countries.

The report also highlights how competitive cities focused their growth strategies on institutions and regulations, infrastructure and land, skills and innovation, and enterprise support and finance. The most successful cities carefully adapted their interventions to their political economy and their respective comparative advantage, as well as to the needs of their domestic firms.

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AMC to fund students for innovative ideas Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation will extend a financial assistance of upto Rs 5 lakh if any student comes with an idea to solve traffic and other local problems.

Municipal Commissioner D Thara announced it while speaking on the first of a twoday “Central Techfest-2016” at Vishwakarma Government Engineering College in Ahmedabad.

SDMC to install over 500 CCTV cameras in schools South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has initiated a plan to install CCTV cameras in all the 579 municipal schools run by it with a budgetary provision of Rs five crore in the current year.” We have installed CCTV cameras in 20 schools so far to fulfill our commitment to provide fool proof security to students. All schools will have CCTV cameras for the purpose,” said South Delhi Municipal Corporation Mayor Subhash Arya.

NDMC to digitise property records North Delhi Municipal Corporation will soon launch digitisation of records of about 3.5 lakh properties under its jurisdiction in a move aimed at scientific management of data and boosting revenue. “The digitisation project capable of maintaining 4 lakh property tax records will be launched soon and relevant paper work in this regard is on. Initially only the records of 3.5 lakh properties will be digitised which would be expanded as per increase in the numbers,” said a senior NDMC official.

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SMC to revamp Polo market like ‘Times Square’ Chief Minister Mukul Sangma had expressed the State government’s intention of building a ‘Times Square like’ structure at the proposed shopping complex at Polo market. Shillong Municipal Board (SMB) and the East Khasi Hills district administration demolished several shops in Polo market in accordance with the High Court of Meghalaya verdict passed in favour of the State government on April 24 last year paving way for the construction of the shopping complex. Construction work for the Polo market project has begun. Government officials informed that the National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC) is the implementing agency for the project. The Union Ministry of Urban Development & Poverty Alleviation has earmarked Rs 23 crore for the project.

Chennai to get new complexes, 7 parking lots Greater Chennai Corporation is looking to raise revenue by developing commercial complexes, including a 16-storey high-rise and a 10-storey structure and at the same time cut congestion by setting up seven multilevel parking lots in the city’s busiest localities. The city council said the complexes would offset stagnant revenue owing to its move to not include any new taxes in this year’s budget. The corporation depends on property tax for a large part of its income but, stymied by political compunctions, has not revised the tax structure since 1998 even though a law stipulates that it review and amend it every five years.

20 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

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Himachal to promote renewable energy

Shimla: Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Virbhadra Singh said that as Himachal was having increased solar radiation level, it had the potential of becoming a model State in terms of promotion and development of Solar Energy and the state Government has notified the revised Solar Power Policy in January, 2016, which is valid up to March 2022. Singh was speaking at a workshop organised on Promotion of Solar Technologies in Himachal Pradesh under Solar City programme. The Chief Minister said the Ministry has conveyed the sanction of 15 kWp Solar Power Plant at Panchayat Bhawan, Shimla, 20 kWp Solar Plants each at Ridge Shimla and at Old Bus Stand.

He said that with recent developments in the field, solar energy systems are

easily available for industrial and domestic use with the added advantage of minimum maintenance.Time has come to adopt renewable sources of energy instead of polluting fossil fuels as such resources are in abundance in the country, he said, adding that state government has been working for development of renewable energy resources. As small hydro-power sector also plays a vital role in producing power at cheaper rates, five small hydro projects at Juthed, Kothi, Lingti, Sural and Purthi of 900 Kilo Watt capacity had been commissioned by HIMURJA, besides four projects with 1470 KW capacity had been commissioned under State sector funding at Sarahan, Gharola, Saach, Billing and Bara Bangal, Chief Minister said.

50% women’s reservation in ULBs proposed NEW DELHI: A proposal for increasing representation of women in urban local bodies from the present 33 per cent to 50 per cent is under consideration, government said today. “Ministry of Urban Development has informed that the Government is considering a proposal for increasing representation of women in urban local bodies from the present 33 per cent to 50 per cent through an amendment to article 243T of the Constitution,” Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi informed the Rajya Sabha. Replying to a question on Women Reservation Bill, Gandhi said it has been endeavour of the government to provide for reservation of one-third of seats for women in Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies. “The issue needs careful consideration on the basis of consensus among all the political parties before a Bill for amendment in the Constitution is brought before Parliament,” she said.

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Second phase of Odd-even rule in Delhi from April 15

New Delhi: Odd-even scheme in Delhi: The scheme for cars in its second phase will again be implemented from April 15 to April 30, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said. He said the scheme cannot be implemented on a permanent basis in Delhi — home to nearly 90 lakh vehicles — till public transport was in a position to cope with all those who would take to it.

The odd-even scheme is aimed at curbing pollution in Delhi as it has soared to extremely high, even toxic, levels. However, according to certain studies, cars are not very high contributors to overall pollution levels in the city. Kejriwal said the Delhi government was discussing whether the scheme — under which cars with odd registration numbers would ply on odd dates and those with even numbers on even dates — should be enforced every 15 days a month. “This is only under discussion now,” he said, flanked

by Transport Minister Gopal Rai. The timings of the scheme are from 8 in the morning to 8 in the night and this is in force only 6 days a week.

“If the people of Delhi cooperate, if they can bear with the difficulties for six days a month, then we can think of this.” Arvind Kejriwal told a news conference that this was decided following feedback from the people of Delhi in the wake of the January 1-15 experiment which he and his ministers said had proved to be a hit.

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Vehicles with school children are exempt and hence bringing them back from school is not a problem, for men or women. The question was how men would go to pick up these children in the afternoon. The problem is with fathers or male guardians. In the nine working days during this phase of odd and even, an individual will be affected for only four-five days. We, therefore, request them to carpool” Arvind Kejriwal Delhi CM

“The next phase of the odd-even scheme will start from April 15,” he said, adding that two-wheelers and women motorists would continue to be exempted. “If we implement the scheme on the nearly 30 lakh two-wheelers, there will be chaos,” Kejriwal said. According to Kejriwal, when traffic curbs are implemented for two weeks, each category of car owners is affected only for a maximum of six days as the scheme is not applicable on Sundays. The Aam Aadmi Party leader added that about 500 retired military personnel would be recruited to enforce the odd-even curbs in April.

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Rajiv Gauba takes charge as UD Secretary

New Delhi: Former Jharkhand Chief Secretary Rajiv Gauba took charge as the Secretary of Urban Development Ministry. A Jharkhand-cadre IAS officer of 1982 batch, Gauba joins the Ministry on superannuation of Madhusudhan Prasad, an official release said. Gauba, who is a Physics graduate from Patna University, has wide-ranging experience in senior positions in policy-making and programme implementation in central and state governments and in international organisations, it added. Prior to his current assignment, he was the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand for 15 months. Gauba has also served in International Monetary Fund Board for four years representing the country, besides serving as Collector and District Magistrate for seven years in districts of Gaya, Nalanda and Muzaffarpur in Bihar.

After assuming charge, he said, “With the launch of urban development initiatives like Smart City Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, Heritage City Development Mission and Swachh Bharat Mission, the focus of the Ministry now shifts to effective and timely implementation of the schemes by the states and urban local bodies through effective coordination with them. The government is attaching priority to urban agenda and best efforts need to be made for successful implementation of the new initiatives.”

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The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill

Bill to regulate real estate sector passed in Parliament The proposed law makes it mandatory for all residential and commercial projects to register with the Regulator and will apply to new and ongoing projects. Naidu says the bill aims to protect the interests of buyers and bring more transparency in the sector

New Delhi: A bill seeking to regulate the real estate sector, bring in transparency and help protect consumer interests was passed by

22 March 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

the Lok Sabha on March 15, five days after its passage by Rajya Sabha.

Moving ‘The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015’ for

consideration and passage, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said it aims to protect the interests of buyers and bring more

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transparency in the sector.

Moving ‘The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2015’ for consideration and passage, Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said it aims to protect the interests of buyers and bring more transparency in the sector.

It is touted as a major reform measure to regulate the vast real estate sector and bring order in it.”The Bill is need of the hour,” Naidu said, responding to clarifications by members saying it can see further changes in the coming times. He said the bill would prohibit unaccounted money from being pumped into the sector and as now 70 per cent of the money has to be deposited in bank accounts through cheques.

“There will be no discrimination of any kind on basis of religion, region, caste, creed or sex and gender and we will include that in the rules,” Naidu said, responding to members’ clarification, adding “there has to be single-window clearance for all approvals.” The Bill also provides for imprisonment of up to three years in case of promoters and up to one year in case of real estate agents and buyers for any violation of orders of Appellate Tribunals or monetary penalties or both.

Naidu said it proposed that a minimum of 70 per cent collections from buyers should be deposited in separate escrow account to cover cost of construction and land. It will help establish state-level Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERAs) to regulate transactions related to both residential and commercial projects and ensure their timely completion and handover, the Minister said.

Appellate Tribunals will now be required to adjudicate cases in 60 days as against the earlier provision of 90 days and Regulatory Authorities to dispose of complaints in 60 days while no time frame was indicated in earlier Bill, he said.

“It brings in only a regulation and not strangulation. This Bill is not against anyone...Real Estate Bill will renew investors’ confidence and ensure timely

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Real Estate sector is the second largest employer in the country, next only to agriculture and accounts for about 9 per cent of GDP and the construction sector supports 250 ancillary industries The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act regulates transactions between buyers and promoters of real estate projects and sets up state-level regulatory authorities to oversee the sector, according to PRS Legislative.

It makes registration of real estate projects and real estate agents with the authority mandatory The Act makes it mandatory for the builders to park 70% of the amount collected from buyers for a project in a separate bank account.

completion of projects and create more opportunities. In this way, it will help in achieving the target of ‘Housing for All’,” he said.

“Government has done its best to accommodate the views and suggestions of various stakeholders and different political parties in the matter.

It is our collective responsibility to protect the consumer, encourage the developer and ensure orderly growth of the sector,” Naidu said as he sought support of all sections for passage of the bill in the Upper House.

He said the objective of ‘housing for all’ can only be achieved if construction sector is supported to grow orderly in an atmosphere of mutual trust and confidence, credibility, efficiency, accountability and transparency and timely execution of projects. Real Estate sector is the second largest employer in the country, next only to agriculture and accounts for about 9 per cent of GDP and the construction sector supports 250 ancillary industries.

“Such an important sector, over decades has been marked by lack of trust and confidence between the consumers and project developers. In the process, this sector has acquired certain notoriety, adversely impacting investment climate and hurting the interests of lakhs of home buyers every year,” he said.

Naidu said about 10 lakh people buy houses every year with an investment of about Rs 3.5 lakh crore. As per

available information for 27 major cities including 15 capitals, 2,349 to 4,488 new housing projects were launched every year between 2011 and 2015.

“Thus in these 27 cities during these last five years, a total of 17,526 projects were launched with a total investment value of Rs 13,69,820 crore.

“Delay in implementation of housing projects due to lack of transparency and accountability has been the bane of real estate sector in our country. This results in huge cost and time overruns, resulting in increased cost of houses.

This is a matter of serious concern in the context of every citizen aspiring to own a house of his or her own,” he said.

But for reasons like lack of regulation in this sector, the consumer has been reduced to a state of helplessness, he said, adding “the consumer shall be the king as had happened in sectors like telecom after a regulatory mechanism was put in place. There is an imperative need for consumer to be the king in real estate sector also”.

“When there is a king, there has got to be a queen also. The queen obviously is the developer. And there shall be a happy marriage between the king and the queen, for both to live happily ever after”. Naidu said a total of 76,044 companies were involved in the real estate sector, which has unfortunately been seen in poor light on account of unscrupulous activities of some developers.

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COVER STORY | Municipal Governance

COVER STORY | Municipal Governance

24 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

The new age of Urban Governance Governing growing cities in a country like India is a matter of serious concern as the problems in our cities have grown multi-fold but the mechanism that is dealing with them is age-old and inefficient.

Most of the corporations are inept to handle the emerging urban problems; efficient urban governance and ‘healthy’ municipalities will be the key to the sustenance of our evolving and existing urban spaces

Abhishek Pandey Editor, ap.urbanupdate@gmail.com

H

ow should Urban Local Bodies run cities?

What should be their priorities? Is there a tried and tested formula that fits all cities? What authority

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2016

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COVER STORY | Municipal Governance

Better coordination between state and local bodies required Kumar Dhananjay kumardhan@hotmail.com

Urbanization in India is proceeding at a rapid pace as a result of economic development that has made phenomenal progress over the last two decades. Cities and towns contribute more than 60% of the GDP, so the strong co-relation between urbanisation and economic development is understandable.

Therefore it is imperative to develop efficient urban local bodies or municipal government.

The purpose of municipal governance and strategic urban planning in any country is to create effective, responsive, democratic, transparent, accountable local governance framework. It is organized according to a rational structure that promotes responsiveness and accountability. The whole idea is to strengthen the legal, fiscal, economic and service delivery functions of municipalities; and to foster greater citizen participation in the governance of local bodies.

As an institution, municipality enjoys a greater measure of autonomy than other forms of local government.

It is set up under a special statute passed by the respective state’s legislature. However, as an exception, in Delhi (due to it being the National Capital Territory), the power to set up a Municipal Corporation lies with the Parliament. The Delhi Municipal Corporation was recently trifurcated citing better administration as the reason, into North Delhi Municipal Corporation, South Delhi Municipal Corporation and the East Delhi Municipal Corporation.

Delhi is the classic case of how a non functional municipal government can

26 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

leave the citizens of a city fending for themselves for the services. Municipal governance in the national capital has been in a complete mess in recent times. The State government and the three municipalities have been at loggerheads and as a result, effective rendering of services to the citizens has grievously suffered. When asked what is the problem with municipal governance in Delhi, Mayor of South Delhi, Subhash Arya admits that things have gone from bad to worse.

He says “people are living in a very bad condition. It is like living in hell.

There are no basic amenities for the urban poor. But we don’t have power to do anything in unauthorized colonies.

We said we don’t want money from the government but let us do the basic work and provide services. But we are not legally allowed”.

The 74th Constitutional Amendment was enacted envisioning democratic decentralization and power to the people. But over the years successive

governments of all colors have corroded the powers of Delhi’s municipal corporation. Even the obligatory work of the municipal corporation envisioned in the 74th amendment has been taken away from it. As a result, though elections take place and people vote too, their participation in decision making has suffered a massive blow. Subhash Arya claims that the power of the corporation has been minimized and it is even less than that of a committee. He says “previous governments have taken away the control over power, transport, sewage and roads from the corporation though the basic Act of Indian Constitution provides these rights to municipalities.”

He also agrees that “the local population is increasingly getting frustrated for not being able to participate in the decision making process”. He laments the fact that successive governments have taken away the powers of local bodies. When quizzed further on why municipal

corporation and state government are at loggerheads he said “municipal corporations are the lowest unit in governance structure and the state government must not get into confrontational mode with them”. He rues the fact that the state government is not sharing the revenue with corporation as mandated by the Constitution.

Delhi is a classical example of how three bodies that is the Centre, State and Municipal Corporation, when not in tune with each other can create havoc for the citizens. This even though central government agrees that to make a city smart all three bodies have to work in a synchronized manner. MoS in urban development ministry Babul Supriyo says that smart cities cannot be air dropped.

He said “all the bodies have to work in an orchestrated manner. There is rapid urbanisation and there is huge influx of people from rural to urban areas. So we need to have a holistic approach”. He further says that as central government “our job is to ensure that right policies are in place.

To ensure that urban local bodies have the power to take decision and take it forward. Urban local bodies have to be much more responsible and we are advising state governments to keep a close monitoring on these institutions”.

There lies the problem. Do we want to solve the problem globally or locally? It is an ongoing debate. The very concept of local government is based on the idea of immediateness and relevance. It gains currency as schemes developed locally gain higher acceptance and are more visible. The competitiveness that is being envisaged to make our cities smart must not get marred by political upmanship. Three tiers of political structure that is Centre, State and Urban Local Body must come together to realize that vision otherwise Delhi will become a live example of municipal misgovernance.

state and central government should give to the ULBs? These are questions that have emerged, and have been discussed and debated at length by urbanists and policy makers over the years. As expected, many solutions have come up; they differ in approach, in methodology, and in implementing mechanism.

Urban Local Bodies cater to the requirements of citizens on a dayto-day basis. They have an immense responsibility to meet public expectations while working within the limitations of state and union governments’ authority on several fronts. The important aspects on which all the three tiers of governments have to work together is improving financial health of local bodies, capacity building of their staff and better coordination among all local agencies engaged in executing urban development projects and running cities on an everyday basis.

Financial health of local bodies

A recent report by UN Habitat ‘The Challenge of Local Government Financing in Developing Countries’ highlights the poor financial health and resource scarcity of municipal bodies in developing countries across the globe.

The report says, “Local governments in developing countries often face the difficult task of funding the infrastructure and services required to meet the basic needs of growing urban population.

Local governments suffer from lacking technological infrastructure and capacity, and opportunities for revenue generation are often restricted by inadequate regulatory frameworks or disadvantageous political structures. This affects urban efficiency and local economic activity, creating a vicious cycle of budgetary shortfalls, choking urban conditions, and economic stagnation.”

This is true for India too as most of the local bodies still depend on the state or national governments to fund their infrastructure projects. Barring a few, local bodies in India are unable to generate sufficient revenue to pay for their bills and salaries of their staff.

The recent spar between municipal

The structure and composition of Urban Local Bodies varied, with wide differences in definition and structure between states. Hence, the Act attempted to instil some uniformity in the constitution of the municipal bodies by classifying them as Municipal Corporations for large urban areas, Municipal Councils for smaller urban areas and what are termed Nagar Panchayats, suburban government bodies.

But it was not implemented in all the cities uniformly employees and state government in Delhi is a case in point.

This report also talks about solutions by suggesting that strategic governance and financing systems can provide hope for struggling local governments.

Appropriate financial management can tap into strategies that improve efficiency of revenue collection, win public support, capitalize on urban and regional economies of scale, curb land speculation and sprawl, incentivise economic activity, and improve urban affordability for the poor.

Urban Local Bodies in India also lack the capacity to plan for spatial, social and economic development because of unstable revenue streams, and having no tried and tested expertise to generate more revenue for meeting their expenditure, mobilise resources and implement projects. There is a need for strengthening of ULBs to play a pivotal role in national economic growth. Municipalities will not be able to address their huge service delivery backlogs and meet the growing needs and expectations of their communities and other stakeholders if they do not upgrade themselves. Hence there is a burning need to be innovative, effective and efficient with regard to revenue generation and collection which will

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2016

27

COVER STORY | Municipal Governance

Mayoral Term in Different States After the implementation of the 74th Costitutional Amendment Act, all the states were mandated to hold municipal elections. The state governments began conducting elections but the terms of mayors vary in different states. There are many cities where mayors hold the reins of city only for one year. If we need to empower city leaders and improve local governance, the state governments need to embed more administrative and decision making powers in mayors and uniform the mayoral term to five years to enable local leaders to make long term plans for their cities

Jammu & Kashmir Himachal Pradesh Punjab Uttarakhand Haryana

Arunachal Pradesh

Delhi Uttar Pradesh Assam

Rajasthan

Bihar Jharkhand

arh

Madhya Pradesh

Chha ttisg

Gujarat

Maharashtra

Meghalaya West Bengal

Tripura

Nagaland

Manipur Mizoram

Odisha

Telangana

Goa Karnataka

Andhra Pradesh

5 yEARS 2.5 yEARS 1 yEAR

Kera

Tamil Nadu

la 28 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

* pUNE HAS MAYORAL TERM OF ONE YEAR AND THREE MONTHS

ensure the sustainability of its projects.

Technology plays a crucial role in minimising the need for staff, cutting costs and enhancing the satisfaction of citizens. Application of remote sensing, satellite imagery, Geographic Information System (GIS), and computerisation of basic records and processes have greatly improved the planning capabilities at the municipal, metropolitan and district levels in many cities. Digitisation of property tax and water charge information coupled with scientific door numbering and billing can raise the efficiency of revenue collection substantially and the many corporations have shown the way in this regard. There are many municipal corporations such as Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, municipal corporations in Delhi, Nagpur Municipal Corporation and Surat Municipal Corporation which have started providing e-services and improved their operational efficiency and financial conditions.

The High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure chaired by Dr Isher Ahluwalia had estimated investment requirement for urban services in the country over 2012–31 at Rs 39.2 lakh crore (US$ 871.11 billion) at 2009–10 prices. The operation and maintenance of old and new assets will account for half of total costs.

The report argues that the challenge of managing urbanization will have to be addressed through a combination of increased investment, strengthening the framework of governance, and comprehensive capacity building program at all levels.

Municipal elections

Strengthening of local bodies can happen only when our city leaders are empowered. After the 74thConstitutional Amendment Act (1992), municipal elections were made mandatory in all urban agglomerations. However, municipal election provisions in different states vary. In some of the states, state government conducts the municipal elections while in others, municipal commissioners take up the responsibility of holding the local bodies’ elec-

Highlights ♦♦ ULBs have poor financial health. In order to make cities better, local bodies need to focus on increasing their revenues by using innovative models for collection of taxes and looking at new sources. ♦♦ Capacity building of municipal employees and the staff crunch in specialized sectors need to be taken care of. ♦♦ A refined mechanism for better coordination between parastatal and other local agencies for implementing development projects. ♦♦ Elected representatives like mayors and councilors need to be empowered for taking required administrative decisions of their respective territories.

tions. Prior to the 74th CAA, urban local government was defined generally by the Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils, Town Area Committees and Notified Area Committees.

The structure and composition of Urban Local Bodies varied, with wide differences in definition and structure between states. Hence, the Act attempted to instil some uniformity in the constitution of the municipal bodies by classifying them as Municipal Corporations for large urban areas, Municipal Councils for smaller urban areas and what are termed Nagar Panchayats, suburban government bodies. But it was not implemented in all the cities uniformly.

It is ironical that Mayoral term in all the urban local bodies is not uniform.

Mayoral term varies between one year and five years. There are many states where mayors hold the reins of cities only for a year. It becomes unfeasible for a city leader to make long term plans and projects for cities.

If the country is to have empowered local bodies and leaders, they have to streamline and have uniform municipal governance systems. It has been observed that Mayoral candidates contesting elections in Indian cities do not come forward with a vision for

their cities.

According to various studies, India’s urban population is expected to rise to 590 million by 2030, more than doubling from 290 million in 2001.

Indian cities have to brace themselves up to handle the burden on municipal services; it would require large investments in building infrastructure that is able to handle such pressure. This requires holistic planning and intense government focus at national, state and city level. Given the importance of functions and responsibilities entrusted to the local self-governments, the issues relating to institutional structure of ULBs gain tremendous significance.

These structures are not uniform across states or even metropolitan (or district) areas, and are plagued with political and administrative problems. These shortcomings make the successful execution of devolved functions a tough task for the ULBs. A report by Centre of Good Governance authored by PK Mohanty says that the effective management of cities requires multi-pronged partnerships and the involvement of many stakeholders.

The key stakeholders in the urban context include: elected municipal representatives and non-officials, council and committees, employees and their trade unions, para-statals, government departments, ratepayers’ associations, resident welfare groups, trade and business associations, NGOs, neighbourhood committees, self-help groups, professional organisations, the media and the like. Thus effectiveness of municipal governance depends on how the interactions between various stakeholders are managed to produce the desired goals of providing civic infrastructure and services to the citizens in a transparent and accountable manner.

Follow the writer on Twitter @abhishekpandey

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2016

29

Leaderspeak | Municipal Governance

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

Empower municipalities for better cities The enactment of the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA) in 1992 was a watershed event in the history of urban governance in India. The Act brought about certain corrective changes in functioning of local bodies despite it not being implemented in letter and spirit across the country. The Municipal bodies are still craving for enough administrative, executive and financial powers to run cities efficiently

T

he genesis of local governance in India dates back to the British rule. The first local body came up in Madras (now Chennai) in 1688 and it was followed by the setting up of urban local bodies in Bombay (now Mumbai) and Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1762.

Lord Ripon, who is considered the founding father of urban local government,developed the concept of municipal authorities as units of self-government and brought forward a resolution in May, 1882 which dealt with the constitution of local bodies, their functions, finances and powers and laid the foundation of local self-government in India.

Since then, there have been several events of administrative and functional overhauling of city and town management systems. After Independence, the major reform in the arena of city management was the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA). The Act recognized urban local bodies (ULBs) as the third tier of urban government by assigning them specific civic functions.

One of the major provisions in the CAA was constitution of three types of municipalities based on the population of urban agglomerations and setting up of Wards

30 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

Committees, District Planning Committees, Metropolitan Planning Committees and State Finance Commissions.

Provisions in 74th CAA

It also focused on adequate representation of weaker sections and women, regular and fair conduct of municipal elections, devolution of greater functional responsibilities and financial powers to municipalities. However, the Act was not enforced in letter and spirit and local bodies in most of our cities remained powerless. It is evident that most of the municipalities in India are cash-strapped and confront a number of problems despite the amendments in the State Municipal Acts and the implementation of the 74th CAA provisions.

It is a matter of concern that there has been no assessment study by the government to find out how the local bodies are doing after the implementation of the Act. Many studies by social organizations have observed that there has been full compliance in respect of select provisions, such as constitution of three types of local bodies, reservation of seats, and constitution of SFCs while WCs, DPCs, and MPCs have not been adopted to the fullest extent.

Salient Features of 74th Amendment Act

♦♦ Urban local bodies, to be known as Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Nagar Panchayats depending on the population, shall be constituted through universal adult franchise in each notified urban area of the country. ♦♦ These shall be constituted for a period of five years and if dissolved earlier, an election to reconstitute it shall be completed before the expiration of a period of six months from the date of its dissolution. ♦♦ Not less than one-third of total number of seats in each urban local body shall be reserved for women. ♦♦ The Legislature of a State may by law entrust on these bodies such power and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as institution of local self government, including those listed in the Twelfth Schedule.

♦♦ The Twelfth Schedule of the Constitution has listed the following functions of the urban local bodies: • Urban Planning including town planning.

• Regulation of land-use and construction of buildings.

• Planning for economic and social development.

• Roads and bridges.

• Water supply for domestic, industrial and commercial purposes.

• Public health, sanitation, conservancy and solid waste management.

• Fire services.

• Urban forestry, protection of the environment and promotion of ecological aspects.

• Safeguarding the interests of weaker sections of society, including the handicapped and mentally retarded.

• Slum improvement and upgradation.

• Urban poverty alleviation.

• Provision of Urban amenities and facilities such as parks, gardens, playgrounds.

• Promotion of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects.

• Burials and burial grounds; cremations, cremation grounds and electric crematoriums.

• Cattle pounds; prevention of cruelty to animals.

• Vital statistics including registration of births and deaths.

• Public amenities including street lighting, parking lots, bus stops and public conveniences.

• Regulation of slaughter houses and tanneries.

Source: Ministry of Urban Development

Financial powers

City leaders also believe that State Finance Commissions are not functioning satisfactorily in most of the states, and that’s why local bodies, which are not able to generate enough financial resources to run their cities on their own, always have to depend on the state or central government for starting any project.

The functional devolution to local

bodies hasn’t been supported by adequate transfer of revenue sources.

Further, the financial autonomy of local bodies has been undermined as they have to seek state government approval for any revisions in tax rates and user charges and have limited powers to institute new taxes.

The functioning of local bodies also gets affected because of an influence of a mixture of social, economic and

political factors. Such problems at the local level make it important for the national government to look into the adequate devolution of powers to local bodies. It is required that state governments begin to extend the freedom and authority through providing local bodies with enough executive decision making powers so that the functioning and operation mechanism of cities can be improved.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2016

31

one on one | Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Urban Development

“Competitiveness drives innovation” In an interview with Urban Update, Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Urban Development speaks on Smart Cities Mission, urban challenges and the newly passed Real Estate Bill. He says, every city has its own USP. It’s important for the cities to come up with their own ideas about how they want to develop themselves. That’s a great way of making smart city endeavour even better

Kumar Dhananjay kumardhan@hotmail.com

32 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

Both the houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, recently passed the Real Estate Bill. It’s dubbed as major relief for consumers and growing urban population. It’s also seen as a big reform to regulate real estate sector.

The law is enacted but we also know that implementing it is a big problem in India. How do you propose to deal with that?

See, when we decide to lose weight, the first change needs to happen in your brain. You just decide that I want to be healthy and I need to lose weight.

But for that process to happen and for your body to show what you have thought in your mind that will take six months. Similarly the real estate bill was an eagerly anticipated bill in the right direction. We have tried to maintain a balance between consumers and developers. At the same time safeguard the interest of millions of consumers across the country. Not only in existing projects but also in terms of future projects. Now even commercial projects have been brought under the ambit of the bill. This is an effort to bring about housing for all. There has to be harmonious relation between developers and consumers. This is exactly what this bill is all about.

UD Ministry has taken many steps recently. One of them is smart city project. You have selected 98 cities in the first step. What are the major challenges you are going to face

in implementing it?

Basic objective of smart city mission is to provide infrastructure. We want to improve the quality of life, we want a sustainable environment which is clean and is connected to Swachh Bharat Mission. We want to bring smart solutions. Mission’s strategy is to develop areas step by step.

There are three models of area based development. One is redevelopment, green field and retro city. We have chosen the cities in a transparent manner. The biggest proof is that neither mine nor my senior minister Venkaiah Naidu’s constituency figures in the list. Prime minister has ensured that there is no nepotism or corruption in choosing the smart cities. So the cities who have given us a clear road map about what they are trying to do for their cities they have been chosen.

India is a big country. Every city has its own USP. It’s important for the cities to come up with their own ideas about how they want to develop themselves.

Competitive spirit can drive their innovations. It can make their plan better than others. That’s a great way of making smart city endeavour even better.

PM has often said that cities are major engines of economic growth, employment opportunities and prosperity. They have to be sustained to become locomotives of our economy and havens of healthy

Smart city endeavour is a tool where the centre, state and urban local bodies will have to work in tandem to address the problems of that particular city. Lot of people think that Smart city can be air dropped in certain areas of the country. That is not true.

In order to meet the goals that a city has set for itself it is important that sanitation, water, fuel systems, roads, ring roads have to be coordinated

Babul Supriyo Minister of State for Urban Development

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2016

33

one on one | Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Urban Development

living. Smart cities would make the cities networked to become efficient, safe and better in delivery of services.

What are all the steps your ministry has taken to make this vision a reality?

Smart city endeavour is a tool where the centre, state and urban local bodies will have to work in tandem to address the problems of that particular city.

Lot of people think that Smart city can be air dropped in certain areas of the country. That is not true. The cities will have to ensure that in order to create the sustainable environment that we are trying to build, they will need to develop their own revenue structure.

A lot of urban local bodies do not have that organised a revenue structure. In order to meet the goals that a city has set for itself it is important that sanitation, water, fuel systems, roads, ring roads have to be coordinated. All the stake holders, all the agencies have to work in an orchestrated manner. The centre is looking at investing fifty thousand crores over the next five years. The rest of the money will have to be mobilised by the urban local bodies.

that they require, rapid urbanisation problem can also be averted. If we can build the cities smart and make them smarter that will make life easier in urban and rural areas both.

Prime Minister has launched three flagship missions for urban revamping namely AMRUT, Smart City Mission and Housing for All. In your interaction with the PM what sense do you get?

What is he trying to achieve?

We need to build two crore houses by 2022. India is a young country.

Rural areas have not been made self sufficient. They can’t generate the kind of revenue and employment that is required. The rate of urbanisation in India is alarming. People just after finishing their studies are not able to find jobs in their place. So what they do is to come to urban areas. That is creating a lot of problem.

Our cities are not smart enough to support this influx of population coming to urban areas. This is also resulting in slums getting bigger and bigger. People do not have a place to stay. They do not want to stay far from the places they work. It’s a compounding problem.

PM has tried to target the problem in a holistic manner. Once the rural population is fed with the employment

One of the criticisms by urban town planners and others has been that there is too much of involvement of consultants in smart city projects and local institutions are not being involved by the government. Do you think this criticism is justified?

That is absolutely the prerogative of the state government and urban local bodies. One has to hope that state government and urban local bodies are going to use everyone’s expertise, be it local or national. That should be used to advantage.

34 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

What specific steps are you taking to help the urban poor? That is one section in crying need of help. From housing to civic amenities they have absolutely nothing.

Under the Pradhan Mantri AawasYojna 632 towns have been selected in 18 states. There are several things government of India is doing. Basically we are looking at four ways to support the Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna.

Policy making and funding is crucial.

There are several ways in which we are addressing that. Rehabilitation of existing slum dwellers using the land as resource. People do not want to be removed from the area where they are working. It has to happen in that place. State government has to take a decision. We will pay one lakh rupee per dwelling unit but decision has to be taken by the state government.

How important do you see the role of urban local bodies in managing the most critical problems of the city? That is municipal governance.

Just take the example of Delhi. We have seen in the recent past that it’s in a complete mess. How to fix this problem?

As central government our job is to see that right policies are in place. Urban local bodies must have the power to take decisions and take it forward.

Many urban bodies in the country are not equipped and have not upgraded themselves to address the increasing demand and the need of people residing in one particular area. Urban local bodies have to be more responsive and we are advising the state governments to keep a much closer monitoring.

In the AMRUT mission, urban local bodies will have to create a program SLIP. Based on these SLIPs the states will make their annual state plan. AMRUT mission is to provide flexibility to the states to devise their own plan Many urban bodies in the country are not equipped and have not upgraded themselves to address the increasing demand and the need of people residing in one particular area. Urban local bodies have to be more responsive and we are advising the state governments to keep a much closer monitoring.

In the AMRUT mission, urban local bodies will have to create a program SLIP. Based on these SLIPs the states will make their annual state plan.

AMRUT mission is to provide flexibility to the states to devise their own plan.

But let me add a rider, just making policy will not change India. Everyone

has to be a part of it. Change has to take place mentally. In more ways than one we are formulating policy to put more power in the hands of states and urban local bodies. you have been interacting with countries across the globe to understand their model of development and smart cities. In the West we have seen that they improved their functioning over a period. There has been a constant overhauling of functioning. We failed to do that. Do you think we need to learn from them how to make our cities smart and efficient according to our local situation?

There is no denying the fact that we need to study their model of development.

My music and profession have taken me across the globe. I went to Dubai in 1993. When I went there for the first time and now when I see Dubai today, it has completely transformed. What they have managed to achieve in the last 23 years and what we have done in 23 years is completely different. If they can do it in Dubai, why can’t we do it in India!

What should be the future strategy of the government for urban development and issues confronting the cities? Experts believe that it has got to be an integrated approach at local, state and national levels.

As the minister of Urban Development, my job is to create the right infrastructure and frame rules and regulations which are within the limits of the local urban bodies and state governments. Also not just help them financially but ensure that it works on the ground. We are doing that in an aggressive manner. Everyone should try and make good use of the reforms that we are bringing in.

The writer can be reached at kumardhan@hotmail.com

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2016

35

Article | Budget 2016-17

What does Budget 2016-17 bring for cities?

Many components of the recent Union Budget would influence the social and economic framework of the urban areas significantly

W Dr Sudhir Krishna Former Secretary (Urban Development), GOI and currently, Chairman, BIS Committee on Standards for Smart Cities and Adviser, AIILSG

36 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

hile the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was presenting his Budget for 201617 on February 29, 2016, many protagonists of urban development were expecting big announcements for coverage of many more cities under the Smart Cities Mission, Swachh City Mission and other similar programmes.

But they were in for a shock as no such announcement came, while the speech made repeated reference to rural development.

Many felt that the framework for development had taken a U-turn, with cities in for neglect once again, as they were during the six decades post

Independence.

However, a closer scrutiny of the Budget details would give a picture that would not appear to be so ‘unfriendly’ for the cities and towns.

Jaitley announced the nine pillars of his Budget — Agriculture and farmers’ welfare, rural sector, social sector including healthcare, education, skills and job creation, infrastructure, financial sector reforms, ease of doing business, fiscal discipline and tax reforms to reduce compliance burden. Many of these pillars, as also several of the specific items of the Budget, would influence the social and economic framework of the urban areas significantly. We may see the details as follows.

The Budget announcement moots additional exemption of Rs 50,000 for housing loans up to Rs 35 lakh for smaller units costing up to Rs 50 lakh. It has also proposed to enhance the deduction from income tax in respect of house rent allowance from Rs 24,000 to Rs 60,000 per annum. Both these announcements should benefit the middle and lower income housing considerably

Infrastructure Development

The Budget has laid the right emphasis on infrastructure development and for the road sector alone it has proposed an investment as high as Rs 97,000 crore, including for the Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

Most of the cities are located along the national and other highways and should benefit greatly from the more efficient regional and inter-regional connectivity that the improved highways would offer. Including the roads, the total outlay for infrastructure for the year 2016-17 has been projected as Rs 2,21,246 crore. This is very large, by all standards and augurs well for the cities as well.

However, to get the optimal benefits from the development of the highways

and railways development, it would be necessary to conjunctively prepare master plans for planned development of the influence zone. Failure to prepare such master plans could lead to ribbon development and growth slums, as has been the experience in the past.

On the other hand, proper planning for land use of the transit corridors, in the framework of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), could unlock the economic potential of the lands and the people covered in the influence region of such corridors, not only to bring about accelerated economic growth, but also provide better quality of life to the people.

Airports Development

The Budget Speech has noted that as many as 160 airports and airstrips in the

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Article | Budget 2016-17

country are suitable for revival. Gone are the days when the air connectivity was associated with affluence alone. In a way, however, that impression was not wrong, because it has been realized that air connectivity is a cause, and not the effect, of affluence. Ever since, the private players were permitted significant participation in the goods and passenger traffic.

A report by the global management consultancy firmAT Kearney, titled “Regional Aircraft in India poised for take-off’, has, while analysing the scope for business for the manufacturers and vendors of smaller aircrafts, has also analysed the potential for growth of smaller airports in India during 20122030 period.

The report has concluded that increased urbanization and prosperity in tier 2 and 3 towns will spur demand for regional air travel in India during the coming two decades or so.

Revival and development of the 160 airports and airstrips in the smaller towns and cities would bring about enhanced regional connectivity

The Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill 2015, which was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 10th March 2016 and the Lok Sabha on 15th March 2016, should bring in greater discipline in the housing sector and, coupled with the financial schema announced in the Budget for this sector, one could expect a boost in urban housing activities.

The year 2016-17 is expected to catapult the AMRUT into a prominent trajectory and get the Service Level Improvement Plans (SLIPs) and Annual Action Plans (AAPs) not only approved by the respective State Apex Committees.

38 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

for such towns and spur economic activities.

This, in turn, would need to be dovetailed with appropriate local and regional planning, in the framework of the URDPFI Guidelines notified by MoUD in 2015.

Push for the Urban Housing Sector

The Budget announcement moots additional exemption of Rs 50,000 for housing loans up to Rs 35 lakh for smaller units costing up to Rs 50 lakh.

It has also proposed to enhance the deduction from income tax in respect of house rent allowance from Rs 24,000 to Rs 60,000 per annum. Both these announcements should benefit the middle and lower income housing considerably.

For the EWS category, the additional benefit is expected to come from the proposal to exempt affordable houses up to 60 sq metres from service tax, which should make the EWS housing more affordable to the lowest segment of the urban economy.

Ongoing Programmes

These specific announcements come in addition to the substantial allocations made for the ongoing programmes.

The Mission on Smart Cities (MSC) and the Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Transformation (AMRUT) would get Rs 7205 crore, while the Metro rail projects have been allocated Rs 10,000 crore. For both these programmes, states’ contribution would come in matching levels, so that the actual investment under these three programmes would be around Rs 35,000 crore during the ensuing FY.

Mission on Smart Cities

During 2015-16, 20 cities were selected for release of the first tranche of Central grants of Rs 100 crore out of the total Central commitment of Rs 500 crore. During the ensuing FY, the MSC is expected to motivate and equip the remaining 80cities to also secure approval for their respective Smart City plans and partake the Central and State shares of Rs 100 crore each. The Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for

each of the 100 Smart Cities should commence their activities and put on ground specific activities and projects on ground during the coming FY. Care needs to be taken by the states to ensure that the SPVs work in tandem, and non conflict, with the respective Municipalities.

could be of the order of Rs 12,000 crore, which will be in addition to the allocations for the other Missions including the MSC. This is a pragmatic approach and should ensure continuity in programme implementation during the coming years.

Atal Mission for Urban Rejuvenation and Transformation

The Namami Gange, with an allocation of Rs 2,250 crore, too would benefit the cities located on the banks of the Holy River Ganga. States would have to ensure that agencies handling the development and regulatory functions along the Ganga align their acts to secure best results from Namami Gange.

Though AMRUT did not get as much public attention as did the MSC, but the year 2016-17 is expected to catapult the AMRUT into a prominent trajectory and get the Service Level Improvement Plans (SLIPs) and Annual Action Plans (AAPs)not only approved by the respective State Apex Committees.

In fact, AMRUT expects states to prepare AAPs up to three times the Central Assistance earmarked for the respective states, because the projects are expected to take, on an average, three years for completion.

The allocation mooted for AMRUT being Rs 4,091 core, the State AAPs

Namami Gange

Urban Housing

The flagship programme for Urban Housing, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, has been assigned an impressive allocation of Rs 5,075 crore.

Additionally, the Housing & Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) is targeted to mobilise as much as Rs 16,416.24 crore through internal and extra budgetary resources (IEBR), which includes market borrowings.

Attractive Instruments such as tax-free bonds should enable HUDCO garner adequate resources to push the housing activities into accelerated mode of development.

The private sector commands a very major role in urban housing sector. However, it has been beset with many ills and controversies over time. The Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Bill 2015, which was passed by the Rajya Sabha on 10th March 2016 and the Lok Sabha on 15th March 2016, should bring in greater discipline in the housing sector and, coupled with the financial schema announced in the Budget for this sector, one could expect a boost in urban housing activities.

Local and Regional Planning& Governance

The various programmes for urban development need to be knitted together in a harmonious framework and steered in a sustainable framework.

No city can move forward in sustainable way, unless it is placed in a cohesive framework of planning and governance.

The planning framework has to have an effective local grounding as well as an overarching regional dimension.

The planning framework for both, the local as well as the regional levels, has been very well articulated in the Urban & Regional Development Plan Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines, launched in 2015. States need to align their respective Town & Country Planning Acts and related Guidelines and Regulations with the URDPFI and also launch a series of training and capacity building activities to strengthen the municipalities and regional planning bodies to ensure that the local and regional plans are notified (or revised, as the case may be) within the coming FY. It would be also necessary to undertake a comprehensive activity mapping of the municipalities in each state to ensure that these local bodies are equipped with necessary staff, funds and decision making authority, to prepare the local and regional plans, put the same into implementation and also become accountable for achievement of the expected outcomes.

In conclusion

The Budget 2016-17, on the first look, does not seem to make any major announcement for the urban sector.

However, a closer look at the details of the various schemes that are included for the city areas would encourage one to think positively. In fact, any new scheme takes a few years to take off in real terms.

Therefore, the schemes notified in the earlier years and continued for 2016-17, should be viewed as the drivers of urban development in a realistic and well-groomed framework.

The challenge would be to have effective and accountable municipalities armed with effective plans and capacities to take planned urban development forward in an effective, efficient, inclusive and sustainable manner.

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article | Rurban Mission

Rurban Mission A game changer Increasing influx of people in cities and associated problems cannot be solved only by focusing on infrastructural development in urban areas. There is a need to provide better living conditions and employment opportunities in villages and small towns to tackle urban problems holistically

I

Abhilash Khandekar National Political Editor, Dainik Bhaskar kabhilash59@gmail.com

40 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

ndia, since its birth as an independent nation in 1947, has been predominantly rural with the economy largely dependent on agriculture and allied activities. While some big leaps of development have been taken in the past seven decades, India continues to have large rural population (close to 833-835 million) which is about 6870% of the total population.

Policy formulations and financial outlays as prepared in successive five year plans of the then Planning Commission of India (now NITI Aayog), and annual budgets presented

in Parliament provide us a good idea how the country looked at the rural landscape and its people who lived in abject poverty and deprivation for decades. The idea of sanctioning huge budgets was to alleviate poverty but that remained a distant dream. The Indian village continued to suffer due to lack of electricity, education, water and healthcare services in countless number of villagers. India was thus (dis) credited with having 1/3rd of global poor residing in the country, Many years of central planning and efforts could not bring about any perceptible change in the living

patterns of the rural folks. While large budgets were allocated and spent on rural development schemes, the fate of the people living away from Delhi or Lucknow, Mumbai or Kolkata, Chennai or Bangalore did not improve significantly. People dying due to lack of healthcare infrastructure, farmers committing suicides due to absence of a proper marketing chain for selling their products at competitive prices or sustained illiteracy due to inadequate educational facilities have been the old and saddening stories of India.

There are now new schemes framed to revive the rural sector which ignite fresh hopes among rural folks and political observers and urban demographers. The new schemes will also impact urban India in many ways

because it is urban India which suffers due to unending migration of rural folks into cities putting immense pressure on all city infrastructure. We should also not forget that these migrations are forced migrations and not willingly undertaken.

SPMRM and rural India

The Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Rurban Mission, started with an initial outlay of Rupees 100 crores at three places-Warangal in Andhra Pradesh and Sangli and Buldhana in Maharashtra, hopes to turn the tide. This year’s budget is making substantial provisions for the rural sector.

Announced in August 2014 by the then Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari, SPMRM with an increased

Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM) Narendra Modi describes the Rurban Mission as one which would enable cluster based development – with a “rural soul and urban amenities.” He said this scheme would complement the Smart Cities initiative by creating Smart Villages. The Prime Minister described Rurban clusters as centres of economic activity, which would spur growth, and improve the quality of life in nearby villages. The Prime Minister said the country is taking a new direction of development. He said one example of this was that the important Rurban mission was being launched not from New Delhi, but from Kurubhat, in Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh. He said that Government was now being brought to the doorstep of the villages and the tribal communities.

This scheme aims at transforming rural areas as growth engines for development to provide sustainable development and urban facilities in rural areas with an outlay of Rs 5142.08 cr. This scheme will be administered by the Rural Development Ministry.

The scheme aims at developing 300 clusters at village level till 2020. The funding for these clusters come by converging of various schemes at village level into these clusters and additional funding for these clusters will be provided by Central Government. For selection of clusters in various states, ministry of rural development will adopt a scientific method of cluster selection involving an objective analysis at the District, Sub District and Village level, of the demography, economy, tourism and pilgrimage significance and transportation corridor impact.

Based on this ministry will provide suggestive list to State Government, based on set principles State Government will than select clusters in District and Sub-district.

To ensure optimum level development of these clusters and also to integrate it in village economy, this scheme will focus on 14 mandatory components—Skill development training linked to economic activities, Agro Processing/Agri Services/ Storage and Warehousing, Digital Literacy, Sanitation, Provision of piped water supply, Solid and liquid waste management, Village streets and drains, Street lights, Fully equipped mobile health unit, Upgrading school /higher education facilities, Inter-village road connectivity, Electronic delivery of citizen centric services, Public transport, and LPG gas connections.

budgetary allocation of Rs 5142 cr aims at arresting the rural-urban migration, developing clusters of villages with almost the similar amenities that a citizen gets in India and helping Agro economy sustain. Once implemented on the ground in the next few years, it would be nothing less than a miracle as the entire world is now witnessing unprecedented migration into its urban areas.

The question, however, arises now is how effective is this scheme going to be and fulfil hopes of our village brethren? It is not that rural welfare schemes or loan waivers for farmers or rural cooperative movements or rural roads and healthcare schemes were not tried earlier. If these had really helped change the rural scenario, international agencies would not have looked down upon India for its weak social indicators. Also the urban problems of pollution, congestion, water scarcity, pressure on civic amenities would not have been around.

But the final test lies in the implementation of the various schemes. It is only with painstaking rigour in implementation, evaluation and monitoring that the results will be evident. As per some reports, since the scheme was announced in August 2014, not much has happened in the villages taken on pilot basis, people, from Buldhanasay. If this scheme is really going to be a game changer, rural development ministry has to seriously focus its attention and money on proper utilisation of resources. It will have to put in place proper monitoring and implementation machinery. Only in that case the rural to urban migration would slow down as intended. Scholars in this field would keep watch on this.

Like in case of United Nations’ MDGs, poverty reduction was an important goal and the then Indian Government claimed to have brought down poverty to a certain extent.

Today cities are suffering due to villages and villages are suffering due to cities. It’s a typical paradox! Both will start living off their own, provided schemes like Smart Cities and Smart Villages become a reality.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2016

41

Feature | Smart City Pune

Pune to revamp navigability, civic amenities under Smart City Mission

‘Pune-The Most Livable City in India’. That is the Vision of Puneites for their City. Citizens were indeed overwhelmed with joy as their city was ranked second out of 97 contestants in the Stage II of the smart cities challenge

V. Vijaykumar Sr. Advisor, AIILSG v.vijaykumar@aiilsg.org

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une is known for its remarkable strengths as a city with a thriving art, cultural and historical base, an excellent hub for primary, secondary and higher education, strong scientific human capital, and a vibrant manufacturing sector. It is one of the most preferred destinations for the IT and BPO sectors among both Indian and foreign investors. The city is blessed with a salubrious climate almost round the year. The Pune Municipal Corporation has enviable figures in most service delivery areas, be it population covered by tap water connection, per capita

Savitribai Phule Pune University 42 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

water supply, solid waste segregation and collection, or per capita expenditure on service provision.

With all these strengths, the City always appeared to stand a good chance in the smart cities challenge. The Corporation submitted its proposal to the MoUD, Government of India after intense citizen engagement using what it called the ‘5S’ approach, signifying speed, scale, structure, solutioning and social audit. The effort reached out to over three lac households in the Visioning phase, the first of nine phases.

The above citizen engagement process as well as desk research brought out the most pressing issue faced by the city, namely mobility. The Local body has proposed a combination of solutions to address this issue including new options of public transport like BRT and Metro, augmenting existing options namely buses, and enhanced use of non-motorised transport (NMT) namely walking and bicycling. These measures are expected to increase the average commute speeds of puneites from the current 18 Kmph to 30 Kmph.

In order to make the existing public transport system more reliable and citizen friendly, the City proposes 100% real time tracking of all buses with the aid of GPS and a central control room to monitor service levels. Inbus CCTV cameras and Wi-Fi enabled entertainment, on-line vehicle health monitoring system and more friendly bus stops are some other measures that will go towards building a more efficient public bus transportation option. Since traffic congestion hinders mobility and increases commute time, the administration has proposed a slew of measures including intelligent signaling systems, multi-level parking and mobile apps for traffic information and forecasting.

Among other parameters, the challenge mandates addressing public utilities service delivery. Here the City has set a target of providing 150 litres per capita per day of treated water to each citizen on a 24x7 basis.

While Pune is blessed with adequate water resources, meeting the above

target will require some effort. The Smart City Plan has proposed among others, augmentation of the dams’ storage, reduction in leakages and nonrevenue water from 30% to 15%, 100% recycling and 100% smart metering across commercial establishments.

While the above are all part of the Pan-City initiatives, the administration has chosen Aundh-Baner-Balewadi (ABB) for Local Area development.

In close proximity to the Hinjawadi IT Park, this bustling upmarket neighbourhood lends itself well to technology based solutions. Being among the newer parts of the city only makes things better. The authorities propose to deploy all the 24 smart city features to make ABB ‘Future Ready’ in order to meet the dramatic four fold growth expected in the population by the year 2030 from the current 40,000.

To leapfrog the mobility challenges of this area, the city plans to press into service 100 e-buses, e-rickshaws, and build an elevated BRT extension.

These measures are targeted to jack up the share of public transport to 50% from a measly 18% now. 27 Kms of dedicated bicycle tracks and 60 Kms of redesigned footpaths will help improve NMT share to 8% from a negligible 1%.

While the above address many of the physical infrastructure needs, attention has also been given to the social infrastructure by proposing 3 new international schools, several hospitals and public toilets. Specially designed pathways for the differently abled and socio-economic transformation of slumdwellers will make the whole initiative socially inclusive. Some innovations on the livability front aim to change the landscape of ABB dramatically; riverfront promenade with entertainment, large open spaces, open air vegetable markets and so on.

Extensive use of ICT is proposed in local service delivery, governance and grievance redressal measures.

While many more measures are proposed by the authorities, one aspect that requires special focus in all smart city plans is Citizen Engagement.

Inspite of all the infrastructure and ICT use, no smart city plan can succeed

Pune Municipal Corporation submitted its proposal to the MoUD, Government of India after intense citizen engagement using what it called the ‘5S’ approach, signifying speed, scale, structure, solutioning and social audit. The effort reached out to over three lakh households in the Visioning phase

without the active participation of and a sense of pride among the citizens for their City and Area. Traffic discipline is an area which needs urgent and concerted participation.

Public cleanliness and sanitation is another area. Smart cities need to engage citizens in a variety of ways and on all aspects of the smart cities mission to ensure that they achieve success in their efforts.

Active participation of the student community can help in large measure in promoting traffic discipline, public cleanliness and on measures like water conservation and waste management.

Small meetings in community settings and housing societies with the participation of prominent personalities, screening of short films in movie halls and city TV channels will all help in building awareness and pride among citizens and create a strong urge in them to contribute in their own way towards making their city and area smart. While many smart city proposals address the issues of local government effectiveness and efficient service delivery, i.e. the top-down aspect, there is need for greater focus on citizen participation and ‘smart’ behaviour, i.e. the bottom-up aspect. Then and only then can we see cities that are truly ‘smart’ and sustainable. And Pune too can realize its vision of becoming ‘the most livable city in India’.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2016

43

Article | Sanitation

AIILSG plays a key role in making Rajkot open defecation free AIILSG and Rajkot Municipal Corporation joined hands to spread awareness on sanitation to make Rajkot open defecation free. A total of 100 students of SI course participated in the awareness drive Team Urban Update

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ne of the key projects of Narendra Modi government is to clean India by 2019 to realise the vision of Mahatma Gandhi when we celebrate his 150th birth anniversary. The Government of India has launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) to achieve that vision.

Following the footsteps of the Central Government, the Government of Gujarat has announced the Mahatma Gandhi Swachhata Mission with the view of achieving “Open defecation free cities and villages”. The objective is to realise the dream of Mahatma Gandhi that all cities, towns and villages should become clean, have fully functional sewerage system leading to improved health. The people living in cities, towns and villages should get clean living environment.

Open defecation refers to the practice whereby people go out in fields, bushes, forests, open bodies of water, or other open spaces rather than using the toilet to defecate. The practice is rampant in India and the country is home to the world’s largest population of people who defecate in the open and excrete close to 65,000 tons of faeces into the environment each day.

Open defecation poses a serious threat to the health of children in India. The practice is the main reason India reports the highest number of diarrheal deaths among children under-five in the world. Every year, diarrhoea kills 188,000 children under

44 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

five in India. Children weakened by frequent diarrhoea episodes are more vulnerable to malnutrition, stunting, and opportunistic infections such as pneumonia.

As part of the project, Rajkot Municipal Corporation has taken a major initiative to achieve the target. The Corporation approached AIILSG Rajkot for providing Sanitary Inspector (SI) Course students for various activities related to open defecation free city. A meeting was held in September 2015 at RMC under the chairmanship of PP Vyas (Deputy Commissioner-RMC) for the same. Dr Chandan P Karkare (Regional Director, AIILSG Rajkot) and Nilesh Parmar (Env. Engg.- RMC) among others, participated in the meeting. AIILSG agreed to depute approximately 100 SI students as Interns. The work of SI students was appreciated not only

by the RMC officials but other local organisations as well. It has begun to show results among the slum dwellers.

Even the people who live in tenements with attached toilets do not mind using mobile toilet vans. Hetal Jadav, a 20-year-old college student from Rajkot, lives in such a tenement. She, however, does not mind using the mobile toilet vans parked kilometres away at the Laxminagar slums.

She says “I try to set an example for slum dwellers to stop open defecation”.

Hetal is not alone in doing this.

About 50 young volunteers, all students of a sanitation course at the All India Institute of Local Self-Government, fan out across various parts of the city every day on an important quest — spotting people heading to the railway tracks or neighbourhood fields for answering nature’s call. Before they can reach their destination, these volunteers approach

Aspiring Sanitary Inspectors studying at AIILSG, Rajkot interacting with residents of Rajkot to make them aware about importance of community sanitation and benefits of using toilets

them and gently attempt convincing them to use the nearest public toilet.

Their task is not an easy one as they at times are confronted with the ire of the locals. They have to face abuses, at times even physical assault. Nipurn Arya, a volunteer, says “We know that’s usually not the right time for a chat.

Some of them get angry and abuse us.

At times, they even physically assault us. But, in the end, they agree”.

On many occasions, these volunteers, accompanied by supportive religious and community leaders, also hold overnight meetings with slum dwellers to sell the idea of using toilets. The work of these volunteers has started showing results. Now, the city of Rajkot, the fourth-largest city in Gujarat with over 100 slums, is 99.7% open defecationfree. It ranked seventh in a recent survey on clean cities conducted by the ministry of urban development — a jump of nearly 25 positions from the last study.

As many as 11,716 individual and 30 community toilet units were constructed with funds made available

under the Swachh Bharat Mission. At sites where construction work was not feasible, 30 mobile toilets with 130 seats and 95 portable toilets were installed. These included 20 western toilets that could be used by senior and physically-challenged citizens.

Rajkot municipal commissioner Vijay Nehra says that effective implementation and public awareness coupled with interpersonal communication are the key factors of our success. He adds that in Rajkot “defecating in the open, especially in an area with toilets, could even attract a penalty of Rs 50. The penalty will be strictly implemented once toilets are constructed at all the sites, and the awareness campaign is thoroughly conducted”.

Even the slum dwellers who were initially reluctant to use these toilets have now started doing so. “We started using a public toilet after these young students made us swear by our deity to do so,” says Radha Rapcha, a 55-yearold slum dweller. “Till now, answering nature’s call meant sitting next to

the railway tracks, with friends and relatives forming a circular human chain to provide cover. Using the toilet was uncomfortable in the beginning, but we are getting used to it. Of course, we also understand that it’s more hygienic.”

Open defecation also puts at risk the dignity of women in India. Women feel constrained to relieve themselves only under the cover of dark for reasons of privacy to protect their dignity.

Open defecation exposes women to the danger of physical attacks and encounters such as snake bites. Poor sanitation also cripples national development: workers produce less, live shorter lives, save and invest less, and are less able to send their children to school.

As it turns out, with the help of AIILSG and its volunteers, the Rajkot Municipal Corporation has been able to achieve considerable success. But it still has miles to go before Rajkot could become a completely open defecation free city and set an example for other cities to follow.

www.urbanupdate.in | March 2016

45

URBAN AGENDA | City Management

Power to cities India is in a transitional phase of urban development and it needs a new perspective on cities to meet the aspirations and demands of its growing urban population

T

he NDA government has focused on improving the living conditions of our cities and infuse new life in our urban spaces. There have been many announcements to make cities clean, smart, sustainable and so on and so forth. It is quite strange that the government has not made much effort in empowering our municipal bodies which run cities and towns. There are many innovative ways through which the government can intervene to give more powers to Urban Local Bodies and in turn, improve the governance in all spheres of urban management.

Every city is unique and has its own set of resources—intellectual, environmental and others. Cities must be encouraged and provided with a suitable environment in which local bodies can use their resources for the benefit of citizens and build a foundation for a bright future of their respective cities. According to a PwC report, every city has intellectual capital which can be utilised for improving liveability and efficiency if city leaders take the right initiatives.

The skills, capabilities and knowledge of the local populace can make a critical difference to a city’s ability to compete successfully with other cities.

In a growing trend, many organizations and even government agencies have started giving awards to cities on the basis of their performance on different indicators.

It has encouraged them to take

46 March 2016 | www.urbanupdate.in

innovative steps and stay ahead of their competitors. It is healthy competition which should be encouraged by all state governments.

Cities need to develop new partnerships with the different stakeholders they serve. Citizens are not merely consumers of their services but they can be involved as a proactive player in the development of their cities.

Many Resident Welfare Associations (RWA)s across the country have shown the path and have improved their locality by taking baby steps like giving importance to cleanliness, maintaining local parks and following up with local bodies for ensuring timely delivery of efficient civic amenities in their localities. Many lessons can be learned and can be replicated in nearby localities or on a larger scale. Citizens can also contribute in developing the policies that will shape the city’s future.

The government needs to develop a mechanism by which their concerns and requirements are heard and given due importance.Such initiatives will surely improve the quality of life that a city offers. Offering citizens a clean, green, safe and attractive environment should be a top priority of city leaders.

Another challenge that cities are facing worldwide is striking a balancing between economicdevelopment and environmental sustainability. All kinds of pollution in cities need to be handled with care and local governments have to develop policies that incorporate economic and environmental

Ashok Wankhade Managing Editor bhau@urbanupdate.in

considerations.

Urban planning, design, mobility plans, and economic development should be planned in ways that address the environmental concerns of urban spaces. Local bodies can explore the new avenues in which they can trade their expertise or resources with other municipalities which can make economic and environmental sense.

For instance, if a city has a wellestablished and state-of-the-art waste management system with more capacity than it requires then it can offer its services to other nearby cities for a fee. It will not only help the municipal corporation in generating more revenue but also other municipal corporations who need not spend money on infrastructural development.

Such steps can kick-off a trend of resource sharing among local bodies.

This will be beneficial especially for small cities which can take advantage of resources available with big cities near them.

Many city authorities are discovering the benefits of working with the private sector to fund the provision of services and infrastructure in innovative ways.

Take the example of Ranchi where local bodies have tied up with a technology provider which has offered free CCTV cameras to the municipal corporation in exchange of advertising space.

Such arrangements in various aspects of local governance including public healthcare and waste management can bring quick, meaningful benefits to citizens and all concerned.

All India Institute of Local Self-Government AIILSG conducts Online Assessment Testing and Training Programmes. * Online centres are equipped with state-of-the-art AC Labs with requisite support infrastructure facilities to conduct Online Programmes. * Centres are CAT certified Testing Centres and presently conducting many prestigious Online Programmes with reputed clients like Prometric, MeritTrac, TCS, SIFY, IIBF, JNU, Satvat Infosol Pvt Ltd, Manipal University, Staff Selection Commission (SSC) and others. * Regional Centres - Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Cochin, Delhi and Trivandrum are presently having facility for Online Testing Programme.

A I I L SG ON L I N E CE N T RE S

For specific requirement, please contact AIILSG HO Mumbai E-mail: onlinemumbai@aiilsg.org | Phone: 022-26571713/14/15

All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG)

United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific (UCLG ASPAC)

South Asian Cities Summit-2016 Smart Cities - Aspirations and Challenges May 6-7, 2016, The Ashok, New Delhi