Urban Update October 2015

All India Institute of Local Self-Government

RNI No DELENG/2014/57384

UrbanUpdate Setting The Agenda For Tomorrow’s Cities

Volume II - Issue VI

OCTOber 2015

AIILSG bags mandate from five leading cities under Smart Cities Mission AIILSG is assisting five leading contestants in preparing their proposals for the nationwide ‘City Challenge’ being contested by 100 potential Smart Cities

Smartening coastal cities for sustainability An interview with Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, and Shipping

Sea, cities

& beyond Indian coastal cities need to expedite formal processes for enhancing climate resilience and facilitating sustainable urban development

Rs 100

ISSN 2349-6266

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

Inside | Volume II, Issue VI

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Inside Cover story

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Sea, cities and beyond

Indian coastal cities need to expedite formal processes for enhancing climate resilience and facilitating sustainable urban development

formulating and implementing adaptation and mitigation plans to ensure safe urban future

26 Building urban resilience is must

City leaders in coastal cities should take a pro-active leadership role in

One on one

28 Smartening coastal cities for sustainability

An interview with Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and

Highways, and Shipping

article

32 Fostering climate resilience in coastal cities

One of the key action points for building resilience of coastal cities is

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mainstreaming climate change considerations into the planning framework of city and state governments

The history of port cities The reference of sea ports in India dates back to the 3rd millennium BCE when residents of the Indus valley initiated trading with Mesopotamia via the sea

Smart cities mission

38 AIILSG bags mandate from five leading cities under

Smart Cities Mission All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) is assisting five leading contestants in preparing their proposals for the nationwide ‘City Challenge’ being contested by 100 potential Smart Cities

Urban Agenda

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Vulnerability of coastal cities Around 58.6 per cent of the Indian population is prone to earthquakes and 12 per cent to river floods. That brings us to a major issue: are we prepared enough to tackle natural disasters?

RegularS

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October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

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City Brand Events

EDITORIAL

Ranjit Chavan President-AIILSG Ramanath Jha Editor-In-Chief Director General-AIILSG, dg@aiilsg.org Apresh C Mishra Managing Editor, apresh@urbanupdate.in Ashok Wankhade Consulting Editor, bhau@urbanupdate.in Lojy Thomas, Aiilsg Associate Editor, lojy@urbanupdate.in Abhishek Pandey Principal Correspondent, abhishek@urbanupdate.in Meenakshi Rajput Graphic Designer, meenakshi@urbanupdate.in Volume II - Issue VI For Feedback & Information Write at info@urbanupdate.in Printed and published by Ranjit Chavan on behalf of All India Institute of Local Self Government. Printed at Cirrus Graphics Pvt Ltd B-61, Sector-67, Noida – 201301 Uttar Pradesh. Published at Sardar Patel Bhavan, 22-23, Institutional Area, D Block Pankha Road, Janakpuri, Delhi-58 Phone No. 011-2852 1783 / 5473 Despite careful selection of sources, no responsibility can be taken for accuracy 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 SelfGovernment. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.

Coastal Cities- Waves of Fortune

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f the fifty richest nations in the world only two are landlocked ones. Switzerland and Austria make it to the top fifty in IMF’s 2014 ranking of nations with the highest GDP, though they do not have sea coasts. Every other nation in this top fifty does. Evidently, access to the sea is one of the factors aiding the prosperity of nations. On the other hand, countries without a sea coast are at a severe disadvantage-politically, militarily and in terms of economic performance. A country’s coastline opens up vast opportunities and is an important enabler for the well-being of its people. Little wonder then, that 44 per cent of the world population lives within 150 Kms from the sea, and over two-thirds of all large cities are located on the coast. Coastal cities offer significant benefits in terms of access to ocean navigation, industry, international trade & commerce, fishing, tourism and so on. Therefore populations tend to be concentrated in coastal locations rather than elsewhere.

The above serves to highlight two aspects-one the growing pressure that this population density exerts on an increasingly fragile marine ecosystem and two, the increasing vulnerability of larger population masses to natural and manmade disastersthat approach us from the sea.

While coastal cities have the powerful levers of trade, industry and tourism to exploit, they are also subject to over-exploitation and abuse more significantly from the environment aspect. Severe overcrowding as in the popular beach resorts is having undesirable effects on marine ecology. The coastal bio-diversity is under constant threat, not just from the coastal inhabitants but from the hinterland as well. Rivers carrying untreated industrial pollutants and other contaminants enter the sea and causedamage to the coastal ecosystem.

Further, coastal cities around the globe face a growing threat from climate change and natural disasters. In our own country, the City of Chennai (and other locations nearby) was subjected to the fury of the Tsunami in 2004. Heartrending accounts of the event are still narrated. In 2014, the cyclone HudHud was predicted to strike the coast of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha with great intensity.

However, unlike other disasters, adequate advance warning enabled an alert administration and citizens take adequate measures to mitigate its effects. These experiences provide chilling insights into the magnitude of coastal hazards and of the vulnerability of the population in such areas. Another natural phenomenon hurting coastal regions is land erosion. The Ministry of Environment and Forests in a study over a period of 38 years between 1972 and 2010 found that 40 per cent of India’s coast is susceptible to erosion. The situation is more alarming elsewhere. Some very small island countries face the prospect of disappearing altogether in a few centuries due to rising ocean levels. However, on the flip side, coastal cities simultaneously have the opportunity of reclaiming land from the sea, especially for large infrastructure projects like airports and industrial parks.

Technology breakthroughs on the one hand and rising costs of onshore land on the other, are making reclamation possible and worthwhile.

Coastal cities call for careful, intelligent and meticulous planning processes as they are important growth centres and a gateway to the hinterland. The city level planning needs to be crafted with a view to build their resilience to such an environment. These plans must enable cities to anticipate, mitigate, withstand and recover from the ill-effects of shocks that they will invariably be subjected to.

This issue carries articles covering some relevant aspects. Hopefully these will provide further insights and add to the discussions to enable appropriate actions to preserve and advance the prospects of coastal cities.

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Smart National Common Mobility Card model issued To be used for travel by different transport systems across the country and for merchandise

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Urban Development has come out with a Smart National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) model to enable seamless travel by different metros and other transport systems across the country besides retail shopping and purchases.

Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu has approved the ‘EMV Open Loop Card with stored value’ in this regard.

Following the failure of an earlier effort to come out with such an interoperable mobility card, Venkaiah Naidu set up a Committee last year under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary (UD) to recommend a card which is inter-operable across

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different transport systems in the country and which can also be used as a credit/debit card. This Committee had representatives of National Informatics Centre (NIC), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) and the Ministry of Finance.

After extensive study of various models being followed across the world, the Committee has recommended the EMV Open Loop Card with stored value based model and was approved by Venkaiah Naidu. This Smart Common Mobility Payment Card addresses the deficiencies associated with other cards

being used in Singapore and other countries. This card meets travel needs based on stored value of money and can be used for travelling by any means of transport and also enables account based retail applications. Accordingly, this card does away with the need for carrying separate cards for banking and transit requirements.

Venkaiah Naidu has directed the Ministry officials to ensure time bound and coordinated progress in this regard by various agencies to ensure early introduction of Smart Mobility Cards and also to inform the States of this initiative for taking appropriate actions for integration of other systems with the new smart card.

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PIN POINT India will play a big part in driving technology forward in the future. I am not just excited because I grew up in India, I am excited because I deeply care about technology and know that India will play a big part in its future Sunder Pichai Google CEO

Digital India is an enterprise to transform India on a scale unmatched anywhere in the world and it has the potential to make development truly inclusive Narendra Modi Prime Minister

Money coming from the governments and ULB will act only as the seed money for each Smart City Plan and cities will have to be creative in raising the required finance

A huge amount of work is being done around ease of doing business and not in terms of what the World Bank wants, but simply because if India is to become an easy place, then India must become an extremely easy place to do business Amitabh Kant Secretary DIPP

M Venkaiah Naidu Minister for Urban Development, GoI

BUZZ

One-third of forest area in India is degraded. We will give degraded land to pvt industries on lease with revenue sharing.

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

India-US collaboration in the energy sector offers great potential, in view of India’s enormous energy needs and the US’s capabilities Piyush Goyal Minister of Power, GoI @PiyushGoyal

DERC appears to have kept the views of people of Delhi in mind in deciding tarrif petitions, though I feel tariffs should have been reduced.

Discussions with JICA will result in investment of 15,000 crore in MP’s infrastructure including metro rail at Bhopal and Indore

Satyendar Jain Minister of Power, Govt of Delhi @SatyendarJain

Shivraj Singh Chouhan CM, Madhya Pradesh @ChouhanShivraj

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‘Make Pavements Encroachment-Free’

Mumbai Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta has ordered the officials to remove encroachments on the footpaths across the city. In the order issued recently, Mehta has asked all the 24 ward offices in the city to make the footpaths free of encroachments by unauthorised hawkers, hotels, and furniture shops.

NGT furious over MSW in Gorakhpur The National Green Tribunal rapped the Uttar Pradesh government and the civic authorities for not submitting a complete action plan on collection and disposal of municipal solid waste in Gorakhpur. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed the state Chief Secretary to hold a meeting with the concerned authorities on the issue.

New apps for greater transparency: DDA Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is working on four new mobile applications, including one for receiving feedback from allottees for its new housing schemes, all of which would be launched soon.

“We want to increase accountability by leveraging technology and fixing timelines. ,” Vice-Chairman, DDA, Arun Goel said.

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President voices concern over poor hygiene in urban areas New Delhi: President Pranab Mukherjee expressed concern over poor sanitation conditions in Indian cities and called for immediate remedial measures through effective actions by all stakeholders. He addressed about 100 icons from different walks of life who have been designated as Swachh Bharat Ambassadors by Prime Minister, Urban Development Minister and state governments in the Durbar Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan recently.

The President said: “Long before Independence, Gandhiji said that sanitation is as important as political freedom. Even 68 years after Independence, statistics regarding sanitation speak otherwise. Now is the time for action. Ambassadors can influence public to adopt sanitation practices. Besides generating awareness, ambassadors can motivate public into effective actions through continuous involvement until each city is clean”.

Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said, “The country and

countrymen are in dire need of freedom from littering and dumping of waste, freedom from open defecation and urination and freedom from ill health caused by lack of hygiene”.

He complimented the icons for associating themselves with Swachh Bharat Mission and urged them to be more pro-active all through the mission period. Naidu noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Mission last year as part of several major initiatives to transform India.

Rajasthan first state to submit Annual Action Plan under AMRUT NEW DELHI: Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to submit State Annual Action Plan under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) targeting universal coverage in respect of water supply connections and sewerage connections to all urban households in the state. The State Government has proposed projects under these two categories worth Rs 1,087 cr for approval by the Union Urban Development Ministry during the current financial year.

Under the State Annual Action Plan, AMRUT projects are proposed to be taken up in 13 of the 28 AMRUT cities in

Rajasthan. These include Alwar, Beawar, and Nagaur in which both water supply and sewerage projects will be taken up while water supply projects will be taken up in seven other cities of Baran, Bhiwar, Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Dhaulpur, Ganganagar City and Sujangarh. In 3 cities of Bhiwadi, Sikar and Udaipur, only sewerage and septage management projects will be taken up. These cities have been identified by the state government in line with the principles of prioritization suggested in the Mission Guidelines after analyzing the gaps in coverage in respect of household water supply connections and sewerage network services.

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‘Delhi worst in air pollution among 381 cities’ The latest World Bank report on leveraging urbanisation in South Asia has identified “air pollution” as a big challenge for major cities in the region, including Delhi NEW DELHI: While Delhi is the worst among 381 cities from developing countries, 19 of the 20 most polluted cities are from South Asia, the report said quoting the recent findings of World Health Organisation report on ambient air pollution.

The report also mentions how for the “very poorest in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, under-five mortality is higher in urban areas than in rural settings”.

Referring to the WHO report with regard to the level of Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 in the ambient air in cities, the World Bank said that of all the sources of congestion associated with the growth of cities, one of the most serious for health and human welfare is ambient air pollution from vehicle emissions and the burning of fossil

fuels by industry.

High concentrations of fine particulate matter, especially that of 2.5 microns or less in diameter (PM

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Among a global sample of 381 developingcountry cities , 19 of the 20 most polluted cities are from South Asia Karachi, Dhaka, and Kabul also feature in the top 20 list

2.5), which can penetrate deep into the lungs, increases the likelihood of asthma, lung cancer, severe respiratory illness, and heart disease.

“Delhi is far from unique in South Asia in having dangerously high concentrations of PM 2.5. Among a global sample of 381 developingcountry cities, 19 of the 20 with the highest annual mean concentrations are in South Asia. And the issue is not just in India -Karachi, Dhaka, and Kabul all feature in the top 20,” the World Bank report said.

It said given the lack of availability of and access to clean public transport in India, one can speculate that, for any given increase in demand for mobility associated with a given increase in population density, more air pollution will occur there than elsewhere.

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Bollywood stars get notice The BMC has served notice to film stars Anil Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Jeetendra Kapoor and singer Amit Kumar. Officials said breeding sites in plastic sheets, decorative mud pots and other odd articles were found in the homes and in the vicinity of the homes of these four Bollywood personalities.

BMC to permit construction of private toilets in slums The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has begun removing administrative hurdles to pave the way for construction of private toilet blocks for slum dwellers, which is illegal presently, an official said. According to a BMC survey, almost 11 lakh people in municipal limits use public toilets, while over 30,000 citizens defecate in the open.

NHRC notice to Delhi Government, NDMC

The National Human Rights Commission, taking suo motu cognizance of media reports that about four lakh kids attending 746 primary schools run by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation are still waiting for their notebooks to arrive, has served a notice to the municipal body as well as to Delhi Government.

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Siemens offers integrated solutions for smart city New Delhi: New urban sector initiatives like the Smart Cities Mission and Housing for All Mission came in for extensive discussion between the Minister of Urban Development and Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and high level delegations from Siemens AG and the UNO and UNDP. A five member delegation led by Joe Kaeser, President and CEO of Siemens and Deepak Parekh of HDFC Bank met UD Minister Naidu and discussed possible areas of involvement in the Smart City Mission. Kaeser referred to the growing presence in India of Siemens over the last 45 years and evinced keen interest to further deepen partnership in India’s growth story in the context of new initiatives in urban sector.

The delegation said that given the experience and expertise of Siemens, the company is in a position to offer

Vitamin D Deficiency in urban men: Study New Delhi: Majority of Indian urban men have low levels of Vitamin D in their blood which is essential for maximising bone health, a survey has claimed.

Deficiency of Vitamin D is a major cause of Osteoporosis, a disease which is associated with women in general after menopause, but also affects men, the study conducted

by SRL Diagnostics said.

According to the three-year long panIndia data mining survey (2012-2014) on Vitamin D, 80.63 per cent of approximately 73 lakh men screened during this period had abnormal Vitamin D levels. “East Zone had highest percentage of abnormality with 86.6 per cent being detected with lower levels of Vitamin D while northern and southern zone had 81.3 per cent and 85.6 per cent respectively. “Among the four zones, western India showed the lowest percentage of abnormality with 69.8 per cent,” the survey report stated.

integrated solutions to potential smart cities covering the areas of urban infrastructure, energy, security, waste management and governance platforms and ranging from planning to execution. The delegation also referred to a Memorandum of Understanding signed with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for partnering in Smart Cities Mission based on a consortium approach. President of Siemens said that the company has the ideas, technologies and identified financing partners in Deutsche Bank and KFW to assist the potential smart cities.

Google bringing Wi-Fi to 100 rail stations MOUNTAIN VIEW: Google has announced plans to bring high-speed Wi-Fi to 100 of the country’s busiest stations by the end of 2016, and it hopes to eventually bring connectivity to 400 stations in total. Those 100 initial stations serve over 10 million riders a day, according to the search company.

The initiative, which will be accomplished together with Indian Railways and provider RailTel, was announced during an event at Google’s Mountain View campus with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has visited influential Silicon Valley companies, including Facebook during his recent trip to the USA.

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City Brand

A bird’s-eye view of the Guanjuato Town, Mexico

Cities soaked in colours Cities are much more than high-rise glass towers, wide roads and fast moving traffic. Cities and towns also nurture a culture of creativity, house public spaces to allow people to be creative and cheerful. The collage of such characteristics creates the unique identity of a city. Colour is an integral part of any unique identity whether it’s a brand logo or a city Abhishek Pandey, Principal Correspondent

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olours enable humans to instantly draw associations to a brand or sometimes, places. Cities in Rajasthan such as Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur and Jaisalmer draw their second names from the colour of the neighbourhoods they house.

According to historians, Maharaja Ram Singh decided to paint the city Pink to welcome the Prince of Wales (and future king of England Edward VII) in 1876. Later the wife of the Maharaja liked the colour scheme of the city so much that she convinced the Maharaja to pass a law making it illegal to paint buildings in any colour other than Pink. The law was passed in 1877.

And, the legacy still continues in the walled city of Jaipur.

Jodhpur is known as ‘Blue City’ because the shade that hits tourists here is Blue or say, Indigo. Most of the houses are painted blue. Though, there is no historical evidence as to how and when the trend began, according to local legends, it is believed that Brahmins began painting their houses Blue or Indigo to mark their residence apart from the rest of the population. Later, the rest of the population also followed.

Locals also believe that the blue colour keeps their houses cool and mosquito free in summers. Similar stories are narrated in the case of the Golden City or Yellow City, Jaisalmer, and the White City, Udaipur. Most of the buildings carry golden or yellow tinge in Jaisalmer as they are constructed using yellow sand and sandstone while a majority of

buildings in Udaipur use white marble.

Cities in Rajasthan are not the only ones which glitter in vibrant hues. There are many cities and towns worldwide which are known for their distinctive colourful opulence. Cities with other names associated with colours include Berlin (Grey City), Helsinki (The White City of the North), Salzburg (White City), Prague (Golden City), Petra (The Rose Red City), etc.

There are some other cities which may not have ‘coloured name’ but boast of neighbourhoods soaked in myriad shades of dazzling colours.

These include Barranco, Lima (Peru); Guanajuato, Mexico; Wroclaw, Poland; Chefchaouen, Morocco; Júzcar, Spain; Menton, France; Trinidad, Cuba and many more.

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Delhi High Court directs corporations on manual scavenging The Delhi High Court directed the municipal corporations to conduct a survey of persons engaged or employed in manual scavenging within their jurisdiction within two months. A division bench said even after the enactment of the law, the lives of those engaged in manual scavenging has not improved.

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States agree to comply with environmental guidelines

JDA ups land reserve prices six times The Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) hiked the land reserve prices in several areas by six times. An official informed that the last time the reserve price was increased was in 2009. After the increase in the reserve prices, the price of land in JDA schemes is likely to shoot up significantly.

NDMC seeks ideas

The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), which is vying for the Smart City project rolled out by Urban Development Ministry, is now seeking suggestions from public about possible upgradation and development in its areas as well as finalising the revenue model for it. NDMC has been selected by the Centre as one of the 100 smart cities to participate in the Smart City Challenge Stage-2.

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NEW DELHI: State governments have broadly agreed to comply with the proposed environmental guidelines for construction projects in urban areas.

This broad consensus on the subject emerged at a consultative workshop on ‘Climate Change Mitigation in Urban Sector’ organized by the ministry of urban development with all the stakeholders in New Delhi.

The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change made a detailed presentation on ‘Environmental Guidelines for Buildings’ containing about 30 parameters to be complied

with for efficient management of energy, water, land, solid waste, air quality and noise levels during preconstruction, construction and post construction period.

The workshop has been organized to sensitize states and other stakeholders on the need for green construction in view of the fact that the building sector consumes 40 per cent of electricity generated in the country, 30 per cent of raw materials and 20 per cent each of water and land resources besides generating 30 per cent of solid waste and 20 per cent of all effluents.

Affordable urban housing policies in Rajasthan JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje unveiled two policies pertaining to affordable housing and allotment of land in urban areas of the state. In the new policy, incentives have been given to developers so that they get motivated to construct EWS/LIG housing on both private and government land, an official statement said.

Raje noted that the government has reshaped the earlier policy launched in 2009, for providing affordable housing. She said that with the new policy, the process of allotment of land in urban areas will become faster and smoother for the investors.

“With the increasing land prices as well as those of the building materials, it was a challenge to provide housing to thousands of urban people in all cities at reasonable and affordable prices,” Raje said.

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‘India’s top cities have $179.8 bn GDP at risk’ This index presents an analysis of economic output at risk in 301 major cities from 18 man-made and natural threats over a ten-year period

NEW DELHI: India’s top 10 cities have $179.8 billion (Rs 11.9 lakh crore) GDP at risk, according to the Lloyd’s City Risk Index 2015-2025. This index presents an analysis of economic output at risk (GDP at risk) in 301 major cities from 18 man-made and natural threats over a ten-year period.

Catastrophes caused by natural events, such as extreme weather, pandemics and plant epidemics account for just over half ($98.1 billion) of GDP at risk in the 10 cities. Mumbai has the largest total GDP at risk with a $47.38 billion (Rs 3.13 lakh crore) risk exposure. Almost one quarter of the city’s potential losses are related to pandemic risk, followed by terrorism at 16.77 per cent, market crash at 12.94 per cent and flood at 12.89 per cent.

Globally, Mumbai has the largest GDP exposure to terrorism in the Index at almost $8 billion (Rs 52,960 crore) and the second highest exposure to

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power outage with $1.92 billion (Rs 12,710.4 crore) of GDP at risk.

Based on original research by the Cambridge Centre for Risk Studies at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, the index finds that a total of $4.6 trillion of projected GDP is at risk from man-made and natural disasters in these cities around the world. The index, which will be updated every two years, is aimed at stimulating further discussions between insurers, governments and businesses on the need to improve resilience mitigate risk and protect infrastructure.

In India, the index found the cities of Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kanpur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune and Surat together will generate an average annual GDP of $1.4 trillion in the coming decade. However, 12.6 per cent of this economic growth is at risk from the combination of 18 man-made and natural threats.

Across the ten cities combined, the largest economic exposure is to pandemic risk, which could put $39.65 billion of GDP at risk, followed by flood at $33.84 billion, market crash at $21.13 billion, oil price spike at $20.81 billion and terrorism at $16.07 billion. The immense density of populations in urban areas, large numbers of people commuting and access to health services are significant contributing factors in the vulnerability to a pandemic.

The Index identified that emerging economies will shoulder two-thirds of risk related financial losses as a result of their accelerating economic growth, with their cities often highly exposed to single natural catastrophes.

Further, it added that man-made risks such as market crash, power outages and nuclear accidents are becoming increasingly significant, associated with almost half the total GDP at risk.

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City Images

KumbhMela in Nashik

World’s largest city with no permanent address The largest city in the world has 100 million people, but no permanent location. Built by pilgrims in India for a religious gathering called the KumbhMela, it exists for just a

month and a half out of every 12 years. Three sister pilgrimages draw tens of millions of pilgrims. Prayag (Allahabad), Ujjain, and Nashik in India-all hold KumbhMelas, massive

religious gatherings of tens of millions of pilgrims. The KumbhMela in Nashik takes place every 12 years when Jupiter, the Sun and the Moon enter Leo constellation – which is now.

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Delhi civic bodies to continue sealing drive

All three municipal corporations in the capital have decided to continue their sealing drive against illegal mobile towers even as people grapple with the nagging problem of call drops and slow network services. According to senior municipal officials, there are around 8,500 mobile towers under the jurisdiction of the municipal corporations, and South Corporation (SDMC) has taken maximum action against illegal towers.

Aurangabad team visits Vadodara

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Microsoft to bring Broadband Technology to five lakh Indian villages NEW DELHI: Intending to become a partner in the ambitious Digital India programme, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said his company will take lowcost broadband technology to some five lakh villages across the country.

Speaking at a dinner hosted here in the honour of visiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nadella said that Microsoft wants to make things and make things happen. In his remarks, Nadella said Microsoft’s plan is to partner with the Indian Government to bring in lowcost broadband connectivity to 500,000 villages in India.

“We believe that low-cost broadband connectivity coupled with the scale of cloud computing intelligence that can be harnessed from data can help drive

creativity, efficiency and productivity across governments and businesses of all sizes,” the first Indian-American Microsoft CEO said.

This in turn, he argued, would drive more affordable products and services and access to opportunity to all of India.

To that end, next week Microsoft would announce availability of its cloud services operating out of India’s data centers. “This is a big milestone,” he said.

Celebrities hum the ‘Swachhata’ tune

A delegation from the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) visited the city. The delegation was in the city to get an insight into the steps being taken by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) towards the smart city mission.

Pre-audit system in Hubballi-Dharwad The Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation council resolved to introduce a pre-audit system managed by audit officers who function independently.

Under the current system, though one round of auditing is done before the clearing of bills for any civic work completed, it is done only by the officials of the accounts department of the municipality itself.

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Mumbai: Responding enthusiastically to the Prime Minister’s call for a ‘janandolan’ to make the Swachh Bharat Mission successful, celebrities have come together to create a Swachh Bharat Anthem aimed at enthusing and inspiring citizens to join hands in realizing the collective dream of a ‘Clean India’.

The anthem song, which has been

written by lyricist Prasoon Joshi, set to tune by musical trio Shankar-Ehsan-Loy, and sung by Shankar Mahadevan and other playback singers, will also feature a video being produced by Mukesh Bhatt.

Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar has contributed to this endeavour by reciting a few lines that will specially feature in the Anthem, as well as providing various musical suggestions for the recording.

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Google Street View to add 3D panoramic view of Indian cities Government to allow Google to cover indian cities, tourist spots, hills and rivers through its street level 3-D imagery application Street View

NEW DELHI: Indian cities, tourists spots, hills and rivers could be explored soon through 360-degree, panoramic and street-level imagery as the government plans to allow Google to cover such locations through the Google Street View with certain riders.

Except sensitive locations like defence installations, nuclear sites and some other high-valued spots, permission is expected to be given to the Internet services giant to cover most of the Indian territory through the Google Street View. A formal communication is likely to be conveyed to the Google after detailed deliberations by the top officials of the Ministries of Defence, Home, External officials and the Prime Minister’s Office, official sources said recently.

Google Street View explores places around the world through 360-degree, panoramic and street-level 3D imagery.

Everything taken under it posted online. It has been extensively used in the United States, Canada and many European countries, its applications in India have been limited so far. Google has launched Street View in some of the tourist sites like Taj Mahal,

OVERVIEW ♦♦ Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from positions along many streets in the world ♦♦ It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expanded to include cities and rural areas worldwide. ♦♦ Google Street View will blur houses for any user who makes a request, in addition to the automatic blurring of faces and licence plates

Red Fort, QutubMinar, Varanasi river bank, Nalanda University, Mysore Palace, Thanjavur temple Chinnaswamy stadium besides others in partnership with the Archaeological Society of India.

Indian security establishment is wary of allowing such image-capturing given that planning for the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai is believed to have involved photographic reconnaissance of targets by PakistaniAmerican David Coleman Headley.

Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides panoramic views from positions along many streets in the world.

It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expanded to include cities and rural areas worldwide. Streets with Street View imagery available are shown as blue lines on Google Maps.

Google Street View displays panoramas of stitched images. Most photography is done by car, but some is done by trekker, tricycle, walking, boat, snowmobile, camel, and underwater apparatus.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

17

BRIEFS

6 Gujarat bodies to come under administrator’s rule Six municipal corporations in Gujarat, including Ahmedabad, are likely to come under administrator’s rule. The state government, so far, has not filed its reply to a notice from the Supreme Court on the “one ward, multi-member” system, missing the September 20 deadline and further delaying the legal procedure.

Commissioner warns encroachers The Puducherry Municipal Commissioner made it clear that nobody has the right to either encroach or claim right over the public properties belonging to municipality. “All citizens in the city are well aware that the municipal administration has been removing illegal encroachments done on the canals, roadsides, pavements, shops on the illegally encroached space, advertisement boards, digital banners.

NEWSCAN

Centre’s LED Scheme gathers momentum NEW DELHI: The central government’s ambitious plan to replace conventional street lights with energy-efficient LED lamps in cities is gathering momentum as six urban local bodies, including Agartala and Vizag, have already completed the job.

As many as 90 municipalities have finalised agreements under the Street Light National Programme for the replacement.

“The installation of LED bulbs is completed in six ULBs, namely Vizag, Jhalawar, Mount Abu, Pushkar, Neelimarna and Agartala.

Some 2,07,000 street lights have been replaced in these places,” a senior official said.

The installation is in progress in 88 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Delhi, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh to replace 9.3 lakh lights.

As many as 302 ULBs have enrolled in the Street Light National Programme (SLNP) till September 7. The target is to install 15 lakh LEDs by March 2016, said officials.

Plan to privatise water supply in cities

Vijayawada begins canal cleaning works

The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has finally begun clearing trash from the canals and debris from the bunds. To begin with, VMC officials have commenced the trash cleaning exercise in Bandar canal, which they claimed was free of any encroachment.

18

October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

NEW DELHI: The Union government has started laying the groundwork for privatisation of water distribution in urban India, with the Ministry of Urban Development preparing a model concession agreement that would serve as the framework for public-private participation (PPP) in the water sector in all cities.

Special emphasis would be on implementing the model in the 100 Smart Cities and 500 cities chosen for

infrastructure augmentation under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

Ministry sources said the model is expected to be finalised over the next few months. It will address issues such as user fee, tariff indexation to inflation to mitigate risks for the private party, metering of water connections at the household-level and risk allocation between the public sector and the private entity.

NEWSCAN

‘Every household in ULBs to get sewerage connectivity’ Shimla: Every household in all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of Himachal Pradesh would get sewerage connectivity, Urban Development Minister Sudhir Sharma said. Presiding over a review meeting to monitor the progress of ongoing sewerage schemes, the Minister said the department was making all out efforts to provide sewerage connectivity to all households in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of the state.

Special emphasis was being laid on sewerage connectivity to each household and making these functional at the earliest, he said.

A departmental coordination committee would be set up under the

SDMC picks 102 buildings for cell towers South Delhi Municipal Corporation has identified 102 municipal buildings for installing mobile towers to address the issue of call drops. Officials have been told to float a tender.

Corporation officials had admitted that the major reason for poor connectivity is drive to seal illegal towers.

Summons Issued to TN Municipal Secretary chairmanship of deputy commissioners concerned to review and ensure the implementation of these schemes, he added.

Rajasthan gets $500 million loans from ADB NEW DELHI: Asian Development Bank (ADB) today signed two agreements for $500 million loans with the government for the management of urban services in Rajasthan.

“ADB and the Government of India today signed two loans worth $500 million to help the Government of Rajasthan better manage essential urban services and finance water supply and wastewater upgrades,” ADB said in a release.

The signing of Rajasthan Urban Sector Development Programme marks the first

BRIEFS

occasion for ADB to couple a policy loan to support urban sector reforms with a project loan to improve urban services over the long term, it said.

“Rajasthan is urbanising rapidly. The programme aims to strengthen urban institutions in Rajasthan to improve their governance, and better manage urban services. It also aims at boosting the water supply in five cities from two hours per day to 24-hour supply, and increasing collection and treatment of sewage and septage waste,” said M Teresa Kho, Country Director for ADB in India.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the State government’s failure to verify and pay compensation to families of persons who died while involved in manual scavenging, the Madras High Court directed the Secretary of Municipal Administration to appear before it. The court issued the order on a PIL, seeking a direction to authorities to implement all the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act.

NMC launches smart city app The Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) launched the Smart City application, an interactive mobile application for people to participate in the work of the corporation, give suggestions, register complaints and use the facility on online payment of bills, register births or deaths, seek building plan approval, all aimed at clean, efficient and transparent working of the corporation.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

19

COVER STORY | Coastal Cities

COVER STORY | Coastal Cities

Sea, cities

& beyond Coastal cities have been hubs of economic activity for centuries. These cities attracted the rich and the poor alike. The poor came for jobs and the rich for business and living a fulsome life along the seaside. However, climate change is affecting coastal urban settings like never before. It is likely to worsen access to basic urban services and quality of life in coastal regions. Indian coastal cities need to expedite formal processes for enhancing climate resilience and facilitating sustainable urban development for over 200 million people living in 96 coastal districts along the 7517 km long coastal line Abhishek Pandey Principal Correspondent, abhishek@urbanupdate.in

20 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

C

ities are front-runners of development in terms of economic growth, industrial transformation, quality of life, and lifestyle changes. Since time immemorial, urban agglomerations alongside the waterfronts, ocean or rivers, sprawled and prospered quicker than any other human settlement.

Wealth and prosperity of nations has tended to be concentrated in their coastal cities. Among the prominent trading centres of the thirteenth century were the coastal cities of Europe, along the Mediterranean, more notably those of Italy (Venice) and the Netherlands. These profited from the flourishing trade among their neighbours- England, Germany, France and others. The shipping channels served as the vehicle for the slave trade in the fifteenth century. Between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, man started using inland waterways and rivers, interlinking some of these to promote trade and commerce.

India’s maritime history stretches way back into the BC Era. The sea trade with Europe enabled Indian merchants capture the world demand for Indian spices and textiles. In later years, shipbuilding became a major craft along the vast coastline of the Country. Ships built at the Bombay Dockyard were considered to be vastly superior to those built elsewhere in the world. Kolkata, the erstwhile capital of the British Empire in India is well known for its industrial activity in various spheres including engineering, jute, paper and banking.

At present, 10 out of top 15 global mega cities--Tokyo, Shanghai, Jakarta, Sao Paulo, Karachi, Mumbai, New York

City, Lagos, and Manila--are coastal cities. Even in India, three out of four traditionally termed ‘metro cities’, except Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata are on the coast of the Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal.

Charm of coastal cities

Wealthy people love living on the water’s edge. So says Business Insider India drawing upon the findings of a study based on the US Census Survey 2007-2011. The Study which tried to find out where the richest Americans lived and looked at the concentration of high income households, found that coastal cities were, by far, the most preferred. The vast openness and refreshing breath of the sea seem to attract the well-healed. Even among other economic strata of society, beaches are the most powerful magnets attracting tourists the world over.

Coastal areas are among the most popular ones visited by tourists. The economies of many nations, states and cities are almost entirely dependent on tourism generated revenues. Many countries of the Mediterranean region are examples. Therefore tourism development offers a huge opportunity while at the same time putting onerous responsibilities on local administrators.

The high density floating populations presents formidable challenges in areas of sewage management, freshwater supplies and preservation of fragile marine ecosystems. But the upsides are many. Contribution to government revenues in the form of direct and indirect taxes, foreign exchange generation, and local employment are the more visible ones. Increased social, cultural and traditional engagement between peoples of various regions

and the resulting harmony among communities are less noticed benefits.

Coastal cities and climate change

In the times when the central government is focusing on rejuvenation of cities, urban development in coastal regions is of paramount importance.

In view of the negative impacts of climate change and sea level rise, it is necessary to prepare coastal cities for climate change adaptation and devise solutions to mitigate its negative impacts. In the last 270 years, 21 of the 23 major cyclones with casualty figures of about 10,000 lives or more worldwide occurred mostly in India and Bangladesh, over the area surrounding the Indian subcontinent.

Enhanced sea level rise and storm surges are affecting essential urban infrastructure, property, ecosystems, and inhabitants. If the urban areas are not prepared adequately then the situation can go out of hand. The floods in Mumbai in 2005 due to unprecedented rains is a case in point.

Apart from the immediate dangers of the floods, there were other related impacts that further complicated the situation and exacerbated the effects of the floods. The city’s storm-water and sewer systems collapsed, as the infrastructure was inadequate for the heavy loads experienced. Because of the drainage system failure, much of the city was left waterlogged, and the system was unable to pump out the large amounts of water that left much of the city under water for days.

Aromar Revi, Director, Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS) says in his report that a diagnosis of the malaise within urban governance

A diagnosis of the malaise within urban governance institutions is necessary. A political framework for long-range urban infrastructure development and risk unbundling will need to be constructed to tackle the negative impacts of climate change Aromar Revi, Director, Indian Institute of Human Settlements (IIHS)

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

21

COVER STORY | Coastal Cities

India’s coastal cities are particularly vulnerable on account of sea level rise as an impact of climate change, as well as the increase in frequency and intensity of climate related extreme events which in recent years have caused substantial damage to life and property Prabir Senupta, Director (Knowledge Management), TERI

institutions in a city like Mumbai is a necessary condition before a concrete set of solutions can be identified.

He added that a political framework for long-range urban infrastructure development and risk unbundling will need to be constructed to tackle the negative impacts of climate change.

According to the recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), sea levels in India are expected to rise at the rate of 2.4 mm a year. With this pace, it is expected that the total increase will be 38 cm by 2050; displacing tens of thousands of people. For nearly 25 per cent of India’s population living along the coast, global warming is a question of survival.

Adaptation plans and mitigation techniques should be at the centre of policy making and planning process. It is to be noted that the major reason of sea level rise is the significant increase in temperature of sea water and melting of glaciers. More than 90 per cent of the energy accumulating in the climate system between 1971 and 2010 has occurred in the ocean. That in turn has resulted in warming of water and its expansion.

The situation is not different in other coastal regions. A new study by the World Bank pinpoints cities around the world that will be most at risk and

finds the costs of flood damage to large coastal cities globally could rise to USD one trillion a year if cities don’t take steps to adapt. It also warns that some of the cities where flood risk will increase the most in the coming years are not the cities where the risk is particularly high today.

Recipe for resilience

Climate change is predicted to result in increases in mean sea level, as well as possible increases in the frequency and intensity of coastal surges and cyclones that already cause significant damage to coastal populations. Coastal regions in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh have witnessed such natural calamities in last two decades. These predicted changes threaten life, livelihoods and infrastructure. Therefore, policy making needs to take account of both physical measures to reduce impacts (such as sea walls) as well as policy measures such as disaster preparedness efforts to reduce vulnerability.

Indian coastal cities have a poor track record in displaying formal processes for enhancing climate change resilience. The sustainability of coastal cities will depend on how resilient these cities are to climate change.

Prabir Senupta, Director, Knowledge Management, TERI, says, “India’s

coastal cities are particularly vulnerable on account of sea level rise as an impact of climate change, as well as the increase in frequency and intensity of climate related extreme events which in recent years have caused substantial damage to life and property. However, preparedness can mitigate the adverse effects of cyclone disasters. We must try to prepare ourselves as much as possible in the context of the grim prognosis brought out in the various reports.”

Earth System Science Organization (ESSO)-India Meteorological Department (IMD) has recently conducted a survey on cyclone prone area in the country. Ninety six districts including 72 districts touching the coast and 24 districts not touching the coast, but lying within 100 km from the coast have been classified based on their proneness in terms of frequency of total cyclones and severe cyclones crossing the district; strength of actual/ estimated wind speed and wind strength affecting the district, probable maximum storm surge (PMSS) and daily probable maximum precipitation (PMP) over the district based on data for 1891-2010.

Out of these 96 districts, twelve are very highly prone, forty one are highly prone, thirty are moderately prone and remaining thirteen are less prone.

Surat is an example where tripartite cooperation between the government, the private sector and civil society helps to better foster resilience. Businesses have helped greatly in providing finance to overcome the resource gap governments in India have long struggled with Kamlesh Yagnik, Chief Resilience Officer, Surat

22 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

Climate change will exacerbate urban pressures of population growth, poverty and pollution. There will also be other knock-on effects because of cities’ concentrated economic activity, highly complex infrastructure systems and multilayered governance Shagun Mehrotra, Assistant Professor, Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy Twelve very highly prone districts include south and north 24 Praganas, Medinipur and Kolkata of West Bengal, Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts of Odisha, Nellore, Krishna and east Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh and Yanam of Puducherry.

Shagun Mehrotra, Assistant Professor, Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy, explains how urban environment is getting affected because of climate change. “Climate change will exacerbate urban pressures of rapid population growth and sprawl, poverty and pollution. There will also be other knock-on effects because of cities’ concentrated and integrated economic activity, highly complex infrastructure systems and social services, and multilayered governance.” He adds that there is a good sign that city leaders seem willing and able to take action to protect their cities against these threats and to help make a global difference. In recent years, several high-profile alliances such as the World Mayors Council on Climate Change and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group have been forged between the mayors of cities around the world.

The 100 Resilient Cities initiative

by The Rockefeller Foundation is also helping cities around the world become more resilient to social, economic, and physical challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. 100 RC provides this assistance through: funding for a Chief Resilience Officer in each of our cities who will lead the resilience efforts; resources for drafting a resilience strategy; access to private sector, public sector, academic, and

NGO resilience tools; and membership in a global network of peer cities to share best practices and challenges.

In August 2015, Surat Municipal Corporation appointed Kamlesh Yagnik as Chief Resilience Officer (CRO).

SMC has become the first Indian city to have such a position to lead city-wide resilience building efforts and help the city prepare for catastrophic events like floods and storms.

Yagnik says, “Surat is an example where tripartite cooperation between the government, the private sector and civil society is working for fostering resilience. The city’s public-private partnership model, in particular, has been vital. Businesses have helped greatly in providing finance to overcome the resource gap governments in India have long struggled with. Each property in Surat is now marked with coordinates, which will help in relief and rescue.”

‘Smart’ Port Cities

India has 12 major ports and around 200 non-major ports in 11 coastal states and UTs. The major ports handle approximately 61 per cent of cargo traffic. According to the data available with the Ministry of Shipping, ports in India handle more than 90 per cent of India’s total EXIM trade volume and the current proportion of merchandise trade in GDP is 42 per cent. The government is making efforts to improve the operational efficiency of ports for ease of doing business and focus on economic development of the country. The focus is also on improving basic urban services in coastal cities so that more business opportunities under the umbrella of various government

initiatives such as Make in India and the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor can work in tandem for the prosperity of the country. The government is planning to build 12 smart port cities to handle urban challenges efficiently.

The increasing trends of urbanization are putting high density clusters at risk in the newly-emerging coastal cities in the country. There is a need to assess the environmental and ecological implications of urban development in coastal areas. Mitigating negative port impacts is essential for the long-term survival of ports and port-cities. Even if ports generate large local economic benefits, building on competitive strengths in services, industrial development or consumer-driven portrelated waterfront development, they will not have a sustainable future if they do not mitigate negative impacts related to their development.

As in Vishakhapatnam, learning from the experiences during cyclone ‘Hudhud’, which affected all power and communication lines, the state government has gone in for a massive underground wiring and cabling network. This is to be extended to all coastal towns over the coming years. All the coastal cities, existing and upcoming ones, should engage themselves in a dialogue and should learn from the existing models of development to ensure sustainablity. Several corporates are pitching in to assist the Andhra Pradesh government. Cisco is setting up a skill development centre and providing training through its global talent tracker. The company has also evinced interest in working on disaster management technologies as the state is hit by at least two cyclones every year.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

23

Numerographs

Coastal cities

facts sheet

Coastal cities are prone to climate change induced natural disasters.

Greenhouse gas emission by industries and development activities are affecting the environment, and affecting global warming and sea level rise. For a safe future of coastal regions around the world, the countries need to cut down their emissions and build sustainable and resilient cities

Top 10 most At-risk countries (by population) Population Exposed to Disaster (in Thousands)

60000 50000 40000 30000 20000 10000

China

23 %

United States

15 %

European Union

r ma My an

ine s

s

Ph ilip p

erl an d

nd

Ne

th

ila

sia

Country

Th a

Ind

on e

es

h

ia Ind

ng lad

Ba

Jap an

m na Vie t

Ch

ina

0

India

Russia

11 % 6 % 5 % 3 %

Top 5 Green House Gas Emitters

24 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

Japan

Rest of the World

37 %

12 major and around 200 minor ports.

An estimated 320 million people in India India has

today live in coastal areas.

7517

Heat-trapping gases from human activity have increased

India has around km long coastline. The coast line encompasses more than

global average temperatures by

70 districts in 9 coastal states and 2 UTs.

1.4 F since the 1880s. °

The melting polar ice caps could result in the extinction of over

200 animals species, including polar bears and penguins.

Even if global warming emissions were to drop to zero by 2016, scientists project another

1.2 to 2.6 feet of global sea level rise by 2100.

15-20 centimeters (roughly 1.5 to 2.0 mm/year). However, the rate of increase has jumped to about 3.1 mm/year

During the 20th century, sea level rose about

147 to 216 million people globally live on land that will be below sea level or regular flood levels by

the end of the century, assuming emissions of heat-trapping gases continue on their current trend.

34

Polar ice caps have shrunk by % in the last 25 years. Scientists say that the polar ice caps may melt completetly in the next 50-70 years and could cause a major rise in sea level, causing devastation along coastlines and displacing millions of people.

Coastal india at a glance

Building Sector

6%

Coastal States and Union Territories

Island Territories

Coastal districts

Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal. Two Union Territories: Daman & Diu, Puducherry

Andaman and Nicobar Islands (Bay of Bengal), Lakshadeweep Islands (Arabian Sea)

69 coastal districts in mainland India; 3 in Andaman & Nicobar and 1 in Lakshadweep

Transport

14 %

Industry

21 %

Agriculture, Forest and other land uses

24 %

Energy

35 %

Source of GHG Emission

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

25

Leaderspeak | ULBs and Climate Change

Ranjit S Chavan President, AIILSG

Building urban resilience is must Coastal cities are the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. City leaders in these cities should take a pro-active leadership role in formulating and implementing adaptation and mitigation plans to ensure a safe urban future

C

limate change is one of the hottest topics of debates and discussions world over these days. Climate change resulting in sea level rise and storm surges has a varied range of impacts on the coastal ecosystem and urban centres. A worsening of the situation seems evident if not handled efficiently, and can amplify existing risks for natural and human systems, particularly in coastal regions of India.

According to Census 2011, nearly 48 per cent of India’s population from coastal regions is currently living in urban areas. More than fifty percent of towns, 2661, and 3827 villages are situated along the coast. The high degree of vulnerability of the Indian coast is due to extensive stretches of low-lying areas, high population density and rapid coastal environmental degradation.

Rising sea levels may play havoc with coastal cities, submerging some areas and making others far more vulnerable to storm surges, or adversely impacting key infrastructure.

Disadvantaged people and communities are at greater risk. Authorities governing coastal regions whether port trusts, state governments or local bodies need to have plans that incorporate the requirements of the poor

26 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

engaged in coastal industries or living in the atrisk regions. The solution to the problem may not be simple looking at the scale, scope, and complexity of the challenge but a concerted effort by the government in association with local communities and agencies could provide a solution by building an adequate defence mechanism for the people against the negative impacts of climate change.

Role of ULBs

Often, city managers look up to action plans formulated by the national and international leadership on climate change. Local leaders, in the absence of resources, data, administrative powers, and funds are unable to take the initiative for the welfare of the local populace.

The local bodies undertaking climate plans find themselves constrained by fiscal and policymaking limitations. The situation is changing gradually, though. Government schemes such as AMRUT, HRIDAY and Smart Cities Mission seek to empower urban local bodies to formulate their own plans for rejuvenation of their urban spaces. However, the opportunity throws up a major challenge for these local bodies to come up with a foolproof plan that is sustainable and capable enough to resolve the issues their cities are

Disadvantaged people and communities are at greater risk. Authorities governing coastal regions whether port trusts, state governments or local bodies need to have plans that incorporate the requirements of the poor engaged in coastal industries or living in the at-risk regions

grappling with.

City leadership need to play a proactive role in proposing or preparing action plans that can ensure the development of their cities while mitigating the negative impacts of climate change. Such measures also demand sorting out of operational difficulties. Jurisdictional conflicts over who can or must take action on a specific mitigation or adaptation initiative can make progress challenging. Smooth coordination across city, state, and national governments is vital.

We can also learn from the experience of models other cities around the globe have adopted to withstand the negative impacts of climate change.

For example, Barcelona has setup a new department “Barcelona Urban Resilience Board“ with eight

sub-departments: urban tunnels, electricity, water cycle, mobility and public transport, telecommunications, underground works / multi-utility tunnels and municipality services.

The work is organized in projects that are tracked by a monitoring protocol that contains detected risk, target, work processing, working group and project status. The working methodology is based on: detection of risks, evaluation of risks, evaluation of resilience and building resilience.

To apply the working methodology, creating a coordination team, identifying all stakeholders involved and engaging stakeholders / resilience board are essential steps.

While planning the resilience, adaptation and mitigation measures, ULBs must be ready with their specific requirements to be incorporated in the long-term planning for securing the safety of their citizens and public assets.

The plan should keep in mind the basic nature of the local urban system, potential direct and in-direct impacts of climate change in the regions at-risk, and mapping of the most vulnerable communities that have weak defence system to survive the extreme weather conditions.

Actions to build resilience should respond to the needs of the urban systems, direct and indirect impacts of climate change, and the defence mechanism against shocks and stresses for vulnerable groups. Many researchers suggest that citizen participation can help in development of inclusive local government decision-

making on climate change.

The way forward

As the urban development process is picking up pace in coastal regions, there is a need for knowledge and awareness on significant issues such as climate change mitigation and urban resilience. Make people understand how changes in climate will affect their environment, ecosystem and their dayto-day lives so that they understand the need for climate change adaptation plans initiated by the government and civil society organisations.

There is great need for a mechanism by which research and expert knowledge can contribute to the development and implementation of effective urban climate change policies and programs.

Universities, research organisations and non-government organisations working in the sector should be encouraged to work with the local bodies for carrying out research studies to assess the impending challenges and formulate a detailed action plan to handle the situation.

The collaboration between academia and local government would certainly enhance policy development in the area of urban resilience and climate change adaptation. Urban Local Bodies in India therefore need to engage all the regional stakeholders into dialogues for adaptation planning. It is well established that successful adaptation to climate change cannot happen without the whole-hearted engagement of all sections of society in the process of implementing actions.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

27

one on one | Environment and Climate Change

Smartening

coastal cities

for sustainability

28 August 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

Coastal or port cities are the centres of business and trade. To improve the basic infrastructure and promote sustainable development in these cities, the Ministry of Shipping has proposed to build 12 smart port cities. In an interview with Urban Update, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, and Shipping talks about his action plan for improving civic services and operational efficiency of port cities Abhishek Pandey Principal Correspondent, abhishek@urbanupdate.in

India has 12 major ports namely Kandla, Chennai, Nhava Sheva, Mormugao, Visakhapatnam, Kochi, Mumbai, New Mangalore, Ennore, Tuticorin, Paradip and Kolkata-having 260,000 acres of land between them.

The Ministry has decided to build smart cities in and around these ports.

How much money is the government allocating for the port city projects?

And, what is the action plan for building trans-shipment hub, reducing congestion and building state-ofthe-art infrastructure for improving operational efficiency of our ports?

The ‘Smart Port City’ projects have been proposed in two major ports i.e.

Kandla and Paradip to start with. The tendering process for these projects is in progress. These port cities would be developed as Green and Smart cities in the next 4-5 years. To develop all the Major Ports into smart cities, the estimated cost is around Rs 50,000

crore. Each major port will construct one smart city with an expenditure of Rs 3,000-4,000 crore.

The Ministry has taken many initiatives to improve the operational efficiency of the major ports. These include mechanization of existing berths, acquisition of state-of-theart cranes and conveyor systems, and deepening drafts at the ports.

The Ministry has engaged international consultants to study and suggest measures to improve the profitability.

The southernmost part of the country has been identified as the most suitable location for setting up a trans-shipment hub. A green field port near Colachel is proposed to be developed as Major Port in this region in addition to Vizhinjam, which is being developed by the Kerala Government. These Ports would cater to the trans-shipment requirement of the country.

What are the essential infrastructure imperatives for building smart port cities? How urban development at the port sites can generate more value?

How is it going to help in improving business opportunity and job creation in these cities?

There are five essential components for development of any smart city: uninterrupted clean power, quality infrastructure that includes smart buildings and offices, which will be sustainable in terms of power and reduce carbon foot prints, seamless eco-friendly public transport, a robust ICT system, and funds to develop and maintain the smart city and social capital.

We must strive to make sure that any physical infrastructure that comes up is self sustainable in terms of power and water. It means these cities should harness solar energy and harvest rain water which is in plenty in port cities.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2015

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one on one | Environment and Climate Change

Providing skilled human capital that can create, engage and sustain the future cities will be an integral element.

These smart cities will have SEZs and ship breaking and ship building centers besides allied things which will help in skill development and job creation for the people and also improve business opportunities.

What will be the role of civil society organizations and local community in expediting the development of habitats and business centres alongside the coastal line of the country?

The role of civil society organizations and local community will be of utmost importance while developing the smart cities. Cities are reflection of people that reside in them and it’s up to them to look after the welfare of the city. The government can at best develop the phys-

ical structure but it is the social capital that makes it habitable. It is the existing social capital in these cities which will work in the offices and business centers, smart cities will create jobs and opportunities but it will be the people who will make the smart city work.

Will these cities be financed under the smart city Mission or will there be different criteria and financing model for them?

Currently ‘Smart City Project’ is being financed by the Central Government which has allotted financial support to an extent of Rs 48,000 cr for a period of five years. If and when the government decides on a different financing model the same will be adopted.

The shipping sector is an important constituent

in securing movement of goods from one place to another across the globe, has it been recognized adequately?

Maritime Transport is a critical infrastructure for the economic development of a country. It influences the pace, structure and pattern of development. The Ministry of Shipping encompasses within its fold shipping and port sectors which also include shipbuilding and ship repair, major ports and inland water transport. Comprehensive policy framework is necessary to address the diverse issues facing the maritime transport sector. The capacity of the ports in terms of their berths and cargo handling equipment needs to keep pace with the growing requirements of the overseas trade. The shipping industry must be enabled to carry higher shares of the sea-borne trade in indigenous bottoms.

There are five essential components for development of any smart city: uninterrupted clean power, quality infrastructure that includes smart buildings and offices, which will be sustainable in terms of power and reduce carbon foot prints, seamless eco-friendly public transport, a robust ICT system, and funds to develop and maintain the smart city and social capital.

Historically, investments in the transport sector, particularly in the ports, have been made by the State, mainly because of the large resources required, long gestation period, uncertain returns and a number of externalities associated with this infrastructure sector.

However, the growing resource requirements and the concern for managerial efficiency and consumer responsiveness have led to the active involvement and participation of the private sector. The Ministry of Shipping has laid down comprehensive policy guidelines for private sector participation in major ports. The salient features of Indian shipping policy are the promotion of trade and protection of stakeholder’s

30 August 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

interest in EXIM trade. India’s national flag-ships provide an essential means of transport for crude oil and petroleum product imports. National shipping makes significant contribution to the foreign exchange earnings of the country.

Indian ports need to have international standards of operation for improving quality of services rendered to businesses dependent on ports. How are we going to provide service of international standards on the ports?

It is true that we need to improve our services if we intend to match the global ports in terms of services offered.

The Ministry of Shipping is trying its best to improve the services. We have initiated the ‘Sagarmala’ project which envisages transforming the existing ports into modern world class ports and developing new world class ports.

The government has emphasized on the infrastructural development of the ports. We are making sure that we get more skilled people on board to improve the situation.

Mckinsey and AECOM, project development consultants, have been engaged for preparing a National Perspective Plan (NPP) which includes mapping of origin-destination study of key cargo in Indian ports, study of traffic scenario for a period of 20 years, development of 2035 port master plan, identification of 5-6 mega port locations, identification of 2-3 suitable locations for development of maritime clusters, preparation of a master plan for two identified coastal economic clusters, etc.

Suggestions have been sought from Chief Ministers of the maritime States/ UTs and stakeholder ministries of central government. The Ministry is actively engaging itself with the states for getting their views and suggestions for implementing the concept of ‘Sagarmala’. So far, the Ministry has engaged with 10 States/UTs, namely, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, West Bengal, Odisha, Puducherry and Lakshadweep.

A port Rail Company has been incorporated on July 10, 2015, with equity participation of 11 major ports and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).

This company will take up last mile port connectivity projects. A list of 34 projects was identified in the first phase out of which seven are being tendered for execution.

Techno-economic feasibility report on development of Colachel in Tamil Nadu as a deep draught port has been completed. The port is proposed to be developed as major port through a special purpose vehicle (SPV). Support of state government has been sought in acquiring land and for rail-road connectivity and for getting other statutory clearances and also to join as equity partner (up to 26 per cent) if so desired by state government.

Action has been initiated for obtaining approval for Sagarmala Development Company (SDC) to take up projects under the Sagarmala initiative and act as funding window for projects which are critical for implementing the Sagarmala concept.

Non-major ports in the country are slowly but steadily catching up with the major ports. Is the Centre thinking of any synergy between major ports and non-major ports in the future?

The major ports being under the Central Government and the non-major Ports under the jurisdiction of the respective state governments flows from the Constitutional mandate. However, the tendency to view them as two distinct monoliths is somewhat out of sync with the reality. Being commercial entities, the ports, major or otherwise, compete amongst themselves. Hence, as far as business activities are concerned, they are competitors and the labels, major or non-major are incidental.

However, there are issues of common interest for the ports where efforts are made to develop synergy. These include pollution control, environmental issues, fiscal incentives, etc. Under a scheme formulated by the Central Government, assistance is given to both major and non-major ports for setting up facilities for controlling

oil pollution. Similarly as part of government’s endeavor to promote coastal shipping, financial assistance is given to both for exclusive coastal berths. At the institutional level, the Maritime States Development Council comprising of ministers and senior officials in charge of shipping and ports in the centre and the maritime states, meet at regular intervals and discuss matters of common interest.

Like the successful Golden Quadrilateral project, does your Ministry have any dedicated connectivity projects among the major ports?

A seaport is the interface between land and sea transport modes. It is the hinterland connectivity and evacuation infrastructure which are crucial to the efficient functioning of a port. The major ports are having double line rail connectivity and also road connectivity to national highways. Efforts are continuously underway to upgrade their capacities. To ensure last mile rail connectivity, an SPV, namely, Port Rail Company has been formed.

Seeing the negative impacts of climate change on the coastal areas, climate change and its mitigation has to be one of the major components of the planning for smart port cities.

How is the government planning to embed the mitigation and resilience in its plan?

Climate change is an important issue and we must preserve the flora and fauna of these port cities to maintain ecological balance. As mentioned above, all the smart cities that will be developed along the ports will be ‘Green Smart Cities’.

Special emphasis will be put on the use of green energy. Wind and solar energy will be harnessed to provide electricity to these smart cities, port water will be recycled for drinking and other purposes, port waste will be turned into bio gas and the vehicles will run on bio gas and electricity.

The government will try its best to maintain the ecological harmony of these port cities.

www.urbanupdate.in | August 2015

31

Article | Climate Resilience

Fostering Climate Resilience in Coastal Cities Raina Singh, Associate Fellow, TERI

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hen it comes to climate change impacts in urban areas, coastal cities with their low lying and densely populated pockets are some of the most vulnerable areas due to cumulative threats of periodic inundation, coastal erosion, land subsidence, water shortages and saline intrusion caused by increasing sealevel rise (SLR) and frequency and intensity of storms. Though coastal areas represent two per cent of the world’s land area, they contain 13 per cent of the urban population with more than a third of the world’s people living within 150 km of shoreline and making significant economic contribution. In India, a total of 130 towns and cities within 84 coastal districts are located along the 7,517 km long coastline with 260 million people living within 50 kms of the seacoast.

A number of large-scale infrastructure assets including transport and freight networks, road and rail corridors, industrial zones and parks, maritime and port facilities, petroleum industries, and refineries are also located in this region. It is estimated that the share of urban population in India will increase from 30 per cent in 2011 to 40 per cent in 2030 and contribution of urban areas to the national GDP will increase from 62-63 per cent in the year 2009-10 to about 75 per cent in 2030. Besides, a large amount of investment is bound to take place in the urban and infrastructure development sectors through various programs of the Government of India like Smart Cities, AMRUT and Make in India, with a substantial chunk going

32 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

to coastal areas for the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), tourism development, port, rail and road corridors and housing and urban services.

However, recent global natural calamities and the damage and loss that these events have caused calls for a deeper look at the preparedness and adaptive capacity of coastal cities to climate induced disasters and extreme events. Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans is said to have led to economic losses exceeding USD 200 billion.

Similarly about 800 lives were lost and 20,000 rendered homeless in the floods in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. In the same year, the cyclone Yasi caused loss of over USD 20 billion due to flooding which particularly

affected urban areas.

In India, between the year 2013 and 2014 three cyclones hit the east coast of India. Particularly, the cyclone Hudhud that struck the east coast of India on October 11, 2014 had a devastating impact on Visakhapatnam

The cyclone Hudhud that struck the east coast of India on October 11, 2014 had a devastating impact on Visakhapatnam city. While the early warning systems could save lives, this time the greatest impact was felt in terms of loss and damage to infrastructure assets. The damage assessment figures indicate a total loss of Rs 90,000 Crores (USD 20 billion)

city. While the early warning systems could save lives, this time the greatest impact was felt in terms of loss and damage to infrastructure assets. The damage assessment figures indicate a total loss of over Rs 90,000 Crores (USD 20 billion) due to the cyclone.

Earlier in the year 2005, the floods in Mumbai caused suspension of entire commercial, trading, and industrial activity for days.

The floods had caused a direct loss of about Rs 550 crores (approx. USD 100 million). Mumbai’s domestic and international airports were shut for more than 30 hours due to heavy flooding of the runways and submerged instrument landing systems equipment. Rail links were disrupted, and the Mumbai-Pune expressway was shut for 24 hours for the first time in history since it was built. There is, therefore, a greater urgency and need to build in climate resilience features in the way cities are planned particularly infrastructure planning to equip cities to withstand the impacts of extreme events like floods, cyclones and storm surges. Planning and building resilience of coastal cities comes with its own challenges that need to be dealt with.

Some of the challenges are existing

stresses on coastal ecosystems and city infrastructure and services, lack of data on climate change, inadequate technical know-how and tools and techniques for climate change vulnerability assessments and decision-making, lack of integration of climate change and disaster risk concerns in land use and project planning, lack of multisectoral coordination and governance frameworks for formulation, financing and implementation of resilience measures among others.

There is a need to address these barriers in a systematic manner by creating clear roadmaps and action plans; creating mandates and enabling mechanisms, and institutional arrangements. Besides, the considerations of cost and investments both short and long term and also detailed design features and interventions that would need expert engineering solutions are critical to planning for new infrastructure or retrofitting/climate proofing of existing ones. Climate resilience can be accommodated within the urban development framework in all mechanisms and processes through specific overarching measures.

One of the key action points for building resilience of coastal cities is mainstreaming climate change considerations into the planning framework of city and state governments. For instance, accounting for climate change impacts in coastal land use zoning and master planning efforts; adopting measures in building bye-laws, siting norms and regulations, etc. can help in increasing the resilience of city systems.

Most of the structural measures can be implemented as part of the infrastructure projects that are designed within the City Development Plans (CDPs) and subsequent project planning through Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) that are formulated and submitted to the higher Governments (state or national) for financial support and investments. While structural measures can be adopted as per their economic feasibility, it becomes essential to adopt incremental policy

measures or soft measures that have the potential of delivering long term positive impacts.

For instance, for the electricity sector, policies should focus on timely expansion of renewables and energy efficiency. This can be introduced by adopting mechanisms such as energy efficiency standards, tax incentives, financing mechanisms, and funding for research and development. Many measures are also not implemented because of the lack of enabling legislations or because of the absence of institutional frameworks present to support action at the city level.

For example, the violation of coastal regulations has destructive effect on the coastal ecosystems and at the same time, the infrastructure that is being built on these zones are highly vulnerable to extreme climate events like storm surges. While there is a need to spell out design and locational considerations of infrastructure, it is also required that these measures are integrated either in the CRZ regulations or within the tourism development plans and master plans of the cities taking cognizance of CRZ notifications and restrictions imposed thereof. There is also a strong need for implementation and monitoring of the coastal regulations considering the rampant violations of the notifications.

A state level mandate/policy would go a long way in supporting actions for the conservation of coastal ecosystems as well as implementing resilience and adaptation measures in the city.

Another important measure that can go a long way in resilience building of coastal areas both for slower onset of climate change impacts and extreme events is sensitization and capacity building at all levels of state and city level decision makers, community and key stakeholders in the city. Such kind of comprehensive capacity building and sensitization will not only be useful for policy making and decision making for city resilience planning and risk reduction but also enable inter-departmental coordination, local championing, and ownership and community action.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

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Article | Port Cities

The History of Port Cities Ashok Wankhade, Consulting Editor

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orts and port cities played an important role in the development of the country. The history of ports in India dates back to the Hindu Epic Mahabharata that is in the Dwapar period, when Lord Krishna migrated from Mathura (now in UP) to the sea coast in Gujarat to build a safe port city named Dwaraka.

India is blessed with a large coastline with the Arabian Sea in the west, the Bay of Bengal in the east, and the Indian Ocean in the south. The length of India’s coastline including the coastlines of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshwadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea is 7517 km.

The length of the coastline of mainland India from Gujarat in the west to West Bengal in the east is 6100 km.

If one looks deep into history, the reference of sea ports in India dates back to the 3rd millennium BCE when residents of the Indus valley initiated trading with Mesopotamia via the sea.

According to Roman historian Strabo, the trade between Romans and India grew multifold following the Roman annexation of Egypt. It is stated that by the time of Augustus more than 100 ships were sailing between Myos Hormos and India every year. Spices became the main import from India bypassing silk and other commodities.

There are evidences of Indians being present in Alexandria while Jews and Christians from Rome continued to live in India long after the fall of the Roman Empire. During the 7th and 8th centuries, Indian trade with South East Asia proved vital to the merchants of

34 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

Arabia and Persia. It is also claimed that nearly 4200 years ago, Indians sailed to Australia.

A Portugal navigator Vasco da Gama with four ships under his command sailed to Cape of Good Hope and then to the eastern coast of Africa, crossed the Indian ocean and reached Calicut.

And thus the Indian gates were opened for Europeans buyers.

When we look at the established port cities in ancient history, Lothal is one of the prominent names we come across.

In 2350 BCE, floods destroyed large sections of village foundations and settlements in Harappa. The Harappans based around Lothal and some from Sindh region took this opportunity to expand their settlement and create a planned township on the lines of greater cities in the Indus valley.

The main challenge before the Lothal planners was to plan the town so as to protect it from constant floods. The town was divided into blocks of one to two meter high platforms of sun-dried bricks, each having 20–30 houses of thick mud and brick walls. The city was divided into a citadel or acropolis and a lower town. The rulers of the town lived in the acropolis, which featured paved baths, potable water wells, and underground and surface drains built of kiln-fired bricks. The lower town was subdivided into two sectors. A northsouth arterial street was the main commercial area. It was flanked by shops of rich and ordinary merchants and craftsmen. The residential area was located to either side of the market place. The expansion of the lower town was a continuous process coupled with

the growth in trade and prosperity.

Lothal engineers accorded high priority to the creation of a dockyard and a warehouse to serve the purposes of naval trade. The dock was built on the eastern flank of the town, (see box) and archaeologists rate it as an engineering feat of the highest order. It was located away from the main current of the river to avoid silting, while at the same time providing access to ships in high tide. The warehouse was built close to the acropolis on a 3.5 meter

The world’s first dock at Lothal (2400 BCE) was also the earliest known dock found in the world, equipped to berth and service ships. It was located away from the main current to avoid deposition of silt. It is evident that the Harappans had great knowledge relating to tides as well as exemplary hydrography and maritime engineering capabilities which enabled them to build such a dock on the evershifting course of the river Sabarmati.

Apparently, Lothal engineers studied tidal movements, and their effects on brick-built structures, since the walls are of kiln-burnt bricks. This knowledge also enabled them to select Lothal’s location in the first place, as the Gulf of Khambhat has the highest tidal amplitude and ships can be moved through flow tides in the river estuary.

The engineers built a trapezoidal structure, with north-south arms of average 21.8 meters, and east-west arms of 37 meters.

high podium of mud bricks. The rulers could thus supervise the activity on the dock and warehouse simultaneously.

Facilitating the movement of cargo was a mud brick wharf, 220 meters long, built on the western arm of the dock, with a ramp leading to the warehouse.

There was an important public building opposite to the warehouse. Throughout their time, the city had to struggle for survival against the multiple floods and storms. Dock and city peripheral walls were maintained efficiently for many years. The town’s zealous rebuilding ensured growth and prosperity of the trade. However, with rising prosperity, Lothal’s people failed to upkeep their walls and dock facilities, possibly as a result of over-confidence in their systems. In 2050 BCE, a flood of moderate intensity exposed some serious weaknesses in the structure,

but the problems were not addressed adequately.

All the construction was with the use of fire dried bricks, lime and sand mortar and not by sun dried bricks.

The other port city referred to in ancient India is the City of Arikamedu.

It is widely considered as the referral point in south Indian ancient history.

According to a navigational guide written by an anonymous Greek writer in 50 AD the city of Poduke or Arikamedu was mentioned along with Poompuhar (Kaveripoom Pattinam) and Muziris in the Periplus Erythraean Sea. According to the author the City was a major trading station for goods to the Greco Roman world. The name Arikamedu is evolved from a Tamil word Arikanmedu. Most of the government records and local Tamil population still use the name Arikanmedu. It is only

among English and French speaking archeologists and historians that the City is known as Arikamedu.

Arikamedu was a sleepy fishing village before the arrival of Greco Romans. The City became an industrial and port town during the Yavana (Greco Romans) period and once the Romans left, the city fell back to oblivion.

Settled along the eastern bank of River Ariyankuppam near the mouth where it empties into the Bay of Bengal, the city was a manufacturing hub for textiles particularly of muslin cloth, fine terracotta objects, jewelries from beads of precious and semi precious stones, glass and gold. The city had extensive glass bead manufacturing facilities and is considered as the “mother of all bead centers” in the world. Most of their output was aimed for export.

During its peak period, 100 BC to 100

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

35

Article | Port Cities

Ports of India Allapuzha

Allapuzha, located in Kerala is a landmark between the Arabian Sea and a network of rivers and lagoons flowing into it. History says Allapuzha had trade relations with ancient Greece and Rome in the B.C era and in the Middle Ages.

Alang

The ship breaking yard of Alang (town in Bhavnagar district) is the biggest in the world, recycling about 50 per cent of the scrapped ships of the world.

36 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

Lothal

Lothal is an ancient city located near Ahmedabad and is one of the world’s oldest urban settlements. At the peak of the city is situated the dockyard.

This was one of most important ports on the subcontinent.

Kandla

Kandla is one of the leading major ports of India. It is located in the Kutch district of Gujarat. It is aiming to become the number one port in Asia in terms of traffic handled.

Paradip

Paradip is the primary seaport of Orissa. The region around the Paradip port is emerging as a major investment destination in India with several steel plants coming up there.

Porbandar

Porbandar is located in the extreme west of India in Gujarat. It is an important all weather port on the Arabian Sea. Its deep sea port was built during the last quarter of the 20th century.

Haldia

Haldia is a port city in West Bengal. The Haldia Township is bordered by the Haldi River. The port has attracted factories of foreign companies, like Mitsubishi Chemical Company and Indian ones like Haldia Petrochemicals. Haldia Petrochemicals is the second largest petrochemicals project in India.

Bharuch

Bharuch is a large sea port city in the Bharuch district of Gujarat.

The place was always prosperous as a result of its location on the Narmada River. It is a place of great commercial importance because of its proximity to the Gulf of Cambay and the Arabian Sea.

Kochi

Kochi is a city in Kerala. The city is one of the principal seaports of the country. The Cochin Shipyard is the largest shipyard in the country. The Cochin fishing harbour is the major fishing port in the south.

Machilipatnam

Machilipatnam is a port city near Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. The port is located on the Coromandel Coast of India. A 17th century port, it served for trade with the French, Dutch and the British.

Mormugao

Mormugao is Goa’s main port.

Mormugao is one of the major ports of India. With its sophisticated, high capacity, mechanical ore handling plant for the iron ore, it has consistently recorded the highest tonnage for iron ore exports.

Mangalore

Mangalore is an important port city on the west coast located in Karnataka. The economy of Mangalore is mainly dominated by port-related activities and agricultural processing.

Nhava Sheva

Nhava Sheva Port located on the outskirts of Mumbai is also known as Jawaharlal Nehru Port. It is India’s largest container port and among the most mechanized and automated.

Panjim

Panjim is a port city in the State of Goa. The port is one of India’s finest natural harbors. The city lies on the left banks of the river Mandovi.

Ratnagiri

Ratnagiri is a port city located in Maharashtra. The port is located on the south of Pawas Bay in the Ratnagiri District.

Surat

Surat is a port city in Gujarat. It is said that out of this port, the city of Surat was born.

Veraval

Veraval is a port located near the Somnath Temple in Gujarat. The most striking sight of Veraval is the fishing port, where thousands of trawlers, country crafts and dhows can be seen unloading their catch.

Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam, one of India’s major ports, also houses an important naval base and is a vibrant city.

AD, the City enjoyed extensive trade relations with Imperial Rome. The City was connected with several other cities in the rest of India both by road and river. The raw material and finished goods were brought to Arikamedu for manufacturing and export. The harbor of Arikamedu would receive ships from other ancient port cities such as Muziris and Anuradhapura for transshipment of goods to countries in South East Asia such as Indonesia, Thailand, China and the rest of the north eastern part of India.

Archeological excavations since the early 20th century brought out fascinating evidences of an urban settlement in Arikamedu. The city had two distinct yet related parts, South and North. The northern part of the city, nearing the sea, was a harbor and believed to have a settlement of people of Greco Roman origin. The southern part of the city was predominantly industrial and was inhabited by native people. The excavation revealed the layout of the city with structures such as warehouses, ring wells and tanks. The city of Arikamedu has a unique claim of cultural continuity from 300 BCE to 1800 AD. Except for a brief period, the urban settlement in Arikamedu was unbroken from Megalithic period to mediaeval periods to modern period.

Today we have a number of ports both major and non-major, operating on the east, west and southern coasts of the country.

In recent years, port development has received a great deal of focus by the government in its thrust for upgrading physical infrastructure. However, the emphasis is on building good ports including the road and rail linkages while development of the City does not receive enough attention.

As a result the infrastructure of the port city is rendered inadequate and often breaks down in the face of increased population pressures.

It is high time that like Smart Cities we need to have a policy for Smart Port Cities.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

37

smart cities Mission

aiilsg bags mandate from five leading cities under Smart Cities Mission Transforming existing Indian cities into Smart Cities or building new ones is a colossal task. Cities need to assess their current situation and determine the critical capabilities needed to enable a Smart City. All India Institute of Local Self-Government (AIILSG) is assisting five leading contestants in preparing their proposals for the nationwide ‘City Challenge’ being contested by 100 potential Smart Cities Team UrbanUpdate

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rbanization is scaling new peaks with the steep rise of population in Indian cities. At present, cities accommodate nearly 31 per cent of India’s population and contribute 63 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By 2030, they are expected to house 40 per cent of the population and contribute 75 per cent of India’s GDP. This presents a formidable challenge in the context of Indian cities. Indian cities work in a complex environment constrained by financial resources,

38 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

fast-growing populations, and ageinginfrastructure. To transform the contours of urban spaces, the Government of India launched the Smart City Mission and has recently released the list of 100 potential smart cities. These cities will compete in a nationwide city challenge and the top few cities will become eligible for financial assistance from the government and hand-holding support from select international agencies for implementing the Smart City projects.

All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment (AIILSG) is empaneled

by the Urban Development Ministry of the Government of India to assist cities for the ‘Smart Cities Challenge’.

The institute has been selected by five leading cities to assist them in preparing their Smart City Proposals (SCPs) for the second round of the Smart Cities Challenge. The five cities-Chandigarh (UT), Faridabad & Karnal (Haryana), Raipur & Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) chose AIILSG over several competing consultants including renowned global firms to help prepare their bids.

Based on their proposals, about twenty cities will be selected to receive

funding from the Central Government and handholding assistance from various agencies in making their cities ‘Smart’. The funding from the Centre would be about Rupees 100 crores per year for five years, i.e, a total of Rupees 500 crores per city. The government’s Smart Cities Mission is one of the most ambitious interventions which recognizes the crucial role of urbanization in nation building and economic prosperity. The Mission will make the selected cities show-pieces and examples for the rest of the country in creating vibrant urban spaces and improving the lives of citizens.

A natural and oft repeated question is ‘What is a Smart City?’. There is no standard prescription in the Mission for making a city Smart and it is acknowledged that the components of Smart City may vary from city to city.

Nonetheless the Mission has provided a direction for the planners by laying down ten elements of core infrastructure.

These include adequate water supply, assured electricity supply, sanitation including solid waste management, efficient urban mobility and public transport, robust IT connectivity and digitization, and e-governance. The purpose of the Smart Cities Mission is to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local area development and harnessing technology, especially technology that leads to smart outcomes.

Smart City goals are driving investment in emerging technologies such as Big Data analytics, the Internet

For over eight decades AIILSG has been has been hand-holding urban local bodies and contributing to the principles and practices of urban governance, education, research and capacity building

of Things, cloud computing, and mobile-based solutions. Application of Smart Solutions will enable cities to use technology, information and data to improve infrastructure and services.

Established in 1926, AIILSG has been the steadfast friend, philosopher and guide to urban local bodies. It has contributed to the principles and practice of urban governance, education, research and capacity building in the local governance space.

In recent years, AIILSG has ventured into rural and tribal capacity building and handholding of rural institutions of self-governance. In addition to its national activities, it has organized several programmes in other South Asian countries viz., Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and in other regions including South Africa, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Malaysia and China.

AIILSG has developed innovative solutions to the complex issues of cities in areas such as energy conservation,drinking water supply, sanitation and waste management, e-governance and environment protection and sustainability.

Using the four pillars of comprehensive development viz, institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure, as envisaged in the Smart City Mission, AIILSG aims to develop the entire urban eco-system and targets to meet the aspirations and needs of citizens. This can be achieved by developing efficient infrastructure and systems, adding on layers of ‘smartness’ through planned, inclusive and sustainable interventions. Such an approach will result in creation of additional employment opportunities and higher incomes for all, especially the poor and the disadvantaged, and thus result in improved quality of life, leading to inclusive and sustainable Cities.

Smart City Plan for the cities will be developed based on the key performance indicators, mapping of the city, city level self-assessment, and citizen

engagement. The strategic plan would be the result of integrated planning, such that the economic, physical, spatial, social and environmental dimensions of the whole city and the specific areas selected for area-based development are considered with clarity and with reference to evidence (information & data). The plan would bring about operational efficiencies and equitable outcomes using technological innovations, and the harnessing of people’s trust and participation in all aspects of the project.

An area based proposal will identify an area of the city that has been selected through desk research, analysis and citizen engagement as the appropriate site for either of three types of development: Retrofitting (making an existing area more efficient and liveable by packing it with large number of smart applications), Redevelopment (replacement of existing infrastructure with smart new ones) or Greenfield development (new development with smart solutions in a previously vacant area). This area will be developed into a ‘Smart’ area, with all the ‘Essential Components’ and any additional features that are deemed necessary and appropriate.

Core infrastructure elements for the development of the smart cities • Adequate water supply, • Assured electricity supply, • Sanitation, including solid waste management, • Efficient urban mobility and public transport, • Affordable housing, especially for the poor, • Robust IT connectivity and digitalization, • Good governance through e-Governance and citizen participation, • Sustainable environment, • Safety and security of citizens, particularly women, children and the elderly, and • Health and education.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

39

Velocity | Patna

Patna awaits basic civic amenities The Land of Ashoka and Chanakya has been struggling with basic civic amenities for long.

One thing Patnaites are looking for in this poll season is a solution to their woes Team UrbanUpdate

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atna missed the ‘Smart City’ bus in the final list which was announced by union ministry for urban development recently.

Among the 17 cities from Bihar that

40 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

were evaluated, Patna ranked third from bottom, scoring 35 per cent — only above Buxar and Sitamarhi, which scored 31.25 per cent each.

Patna scored zero in eight out of the 15 selection criteria. All the ULBs were

required to mark themselves.

Sans safe drinking water

More than half the population in Patna has no access to safe drinking water. It ranks 6th in the descending order among

14 large capital cities of India as far as open defecation is concerned, said Bhim Reddy, associate fellow, Institute for Human Development (IHD).

A large number of city residents were neither happy with the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) nor with their ward councilors, his survey has revealed.

Garbage menace

Heaps of garbage on the city roads creating a nasty stink or overflowing drains is a frequent sight in Patna.

Its residents are used to such ‘civic amenities’.

In another survey by research scholar

Anjor Bhaskar, also associated with the Institute for Human development (IHD), nearly 760 tonnes of human excreta is generated daily under the Patna Municipal Corporation area and only 185 tonnes of that enter the sewage system. Bhaskar also stressed on the urgent need to have solid waste management systems and segregation of waste before disposal.

In fact, the issue of garbage lifting once dominated the question hour in Bihar legislative council in March 2013. Members cutting across party lines demanded immediate removal of garbage littered all over the city. The Patna High Court too had directed the PMC to put in place a proper garbage disposal mechanism, which would include its collection, segregation and transportation.

But, till now, neither any doorto-door garbage collection has been implemented nor has the solid waste management system become functional. A sum of Rs 26 crore was allotted to PMC under JawaharLal Nehru National Renewal Urban Mission (JNNURM) in 2008 for doorto-door garbage collection.

Immobile

The overall road network in the city is not adequate as less than 10 per cent of area is under circulation against the standard of 15-20 per cent. The road network system is deficient in terms of geometrics and traffic management aspects. The functional widths of the major roads are reduced to as low as 50 per cent due to encroachments, and parking on the road shoulders. Water logging due to poor drainage adds to the woes.

The reduced road width leads to increases in the volume-capacity ratio causing congestion, vehicular pollution and accidents. Mixed traffic on major roads further compounds the problem.

In a city where over 60,000 new vehicles hit the roads every year, according to additional SP, Patna, Ashok Kumar Sinha, there is acute

paucity of manpower to deal with the state of affairs as nearly 50 per cent posts of traffic policemen are vacant.

“Lack of permanent parking spaces for autorickshaws is a major trouble,” he said, adding that an electronic system of traffic regulation could help to some extent. The traffic cops were trying to revive the lights at Dak Bungalow crossing for the purpose.

Future not so dark

“Patna is getting adequate resources required to develop infrastructure and pan city e-governance. More than Rs 100 crore comes from the state plan.

We also have funds of 14th Finance Commission, 5th State Commission, special sanitation grant and special projects under the state plan,” said urban development and housing department principal secretary Amrit Lal Meena and added Bihar was also getting Rs 248 crore under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, 66 per cent of which is given by the state government.

A master plan to develop Bihar’s capital Patna as a metropolitan city is likely to be unveiled soon after a wait of over 30 years.”The state planning and development board has approved the master plan for Patna”, Meena said adding that Patna’s draft master plan will be sent to the state cabinet soon for its final approval.

Last year, Patna’s draft master plan was put in the public domain for suggestions and objections from the over two million residents after the state cabinet declared the “plan area” in the proposed master plan for Patna.

Meena said the new city would be spread over 1,167 sq. kms against the existing 250 sq kms. Over 600 sq. kms area has been marked as urban area, which includes setting up of two satellite towns to cater to urbanisation and population growth in the next two decades. The city will have an area of over 400 sq. kms marked as green cover. It is proposed to reserve over 16 percent of the total area for roads.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

41

Events

Sustainable solutions for new-age economies Protection of environment and development go handin-hand, environment minister Prakash Javadekar said at the 10th Sustainability Summit Team UrbanUpdate

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ndia is not an IT superpower but simply IT labour contractor as it lacks innovation. “We have not come up with Facebook, WhatsApp, Google, any new operating system or real new products,” environment minister Prakash Javadekar said while kicking off the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) 10th Sustainability Summit, held in New Delhi on September 15-16. The two-day meet was organised by CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development.

Stressing that the protection of environment and development must go hand-in-hand, Javadekar said Indian industries must start investing more on research and development for creating sustainable practices, failing which the country would not benefit, pointing out that the industrial progress must be based on innovation. Reflecting on the last one year, the minister said he is “convinced that protection of environment and development is possible simultaneously, they go handin-hand, they are not against each other and that is what sustainable development means.” According to the minister, the key to sustainability is employment. Giving the example of wood, he said that what happens when

42 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

we import it is that we export jobs. This is something that needs to change.

Javadekar announced at the Summit that the government is initiating, “public-private partnership, where land will remain with the government, but the private industries who are importing wood can do commercial harvesting.” This according to him will not only create a new carbon sink but will also create competition for the forest department. The minister appealed to the industry to not take shortcuts to growth, but find alternative routes even if it takes a little longer keeping in mind the life cycle costs.

The 10th Sustainability Summit was organised in partnership with the ministry of environment, forest & climate change, ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation, ministry of new and renewable energy, Ananta Centre, CBD-UNEP, GIZ, IGBC, NFCG, WBCSD, WWF-India.

The Summit focussed on important issues such as biodiversity, climate change, electric vehicles, next 10 years of sustainability in India, smart cities, water, sustainable agriculture, sustainable development goals amongst other issues covering vivid economic aspects and

(From L to R) Dr Subir Gokarn, former Deputy RBI Governor, Union M

President and Seema Arora, Executive Director, CII-ITC releasing a

their impacts.

Javadekar said that climate change and sustainability have become businesses for western countries as they have developed new technologies for it. “Green coal technology, climate technology, sustainable development practices, each of them has been developed by somebody else. We are just importing. Unless we make and we have them, we will not progress,” he said. YC Deveshwar, past president, CII, chairman, CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development Advisory Council and chairman, ITC, opened the Summit by saying that a decade back sustainability was a diffused thought when CESD began operations but with every passing

Engineering Smart Cities

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Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar, Y C Deveshwar, former CII

a book Sustainable Livelihood at the 10th Sustainability Summit in New Delhi

year now sustainability has become a priority. Sustainability, he said, has three dimensions, “the competitiveness dimension, the job creating and social asset forming dimension, and the environmental asset creating dimension.”

Setting a macro-level context to the two-day discussions for the Sustainability Summit, Subir Gokarn, former deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India & director-research, Brookings India, highlighted the fact that trade-off between growth, development, and environmental protection is a false dilemma.

This is not an either/or choice but both can be achieved together. “That requires behavioural changes, requires strategic changes, and organisational changes,” he said.

In her address, Seema Arora, executive-director, CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development, pointed out that what we are “confronting is nothing less than an existential crisis.” What we need according to her is “to develop abilities to exist. This is called ExistAbility.” Her call for action to business and government both was that “keep talking but start acting, now. It’s not walk-the-talk; it’s gallop-the-talk.”

onsulting Engineers Association of India (CEAI) organised a seminar on ‘Engineering Smart Cities’, on September 25 and 26, 2015 at the Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi.

The focus of the seminar was on the planning and engineering aspects of smart cities and the seminar theme covered the entire gamut of services across relevant sectors including urban mobility infrastructure, water and power utilities, information and communication technology, and sustainability solutions. The conference saw representation from experts in urban development and associated sectors.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Sudhir Krishna, Former Secretary, UD, said that urban development would create wealth and riches. But, urbanisation was far less in India compared to other developed countries. Cities should be developed into hubs for economic growth.

Per capita income and economic growth would be lower if urbanisation was less, he said adding that focus should be on making cities smarter besides ensuring efficiency, transparency, sustainability, inclusiveness and additional features like safety. Urbanisation posed some challenges too. Financing urban infrastructure was a major challenge, but raising tax levels should be explored as the last option. Financial resources could be augmented through levying user charges and selling recycled waste etc., he said.

Ramakant Jha, Head of GIFT City, said, “GIFT is conceptualised as a global Financial and IT Services hub, a first of its kind in India, designed to be at or above par with globally bench-marked financial centres such as Shinjuku, Tokyo, Lujiazui, Shanghai, La Defense, Paris, London Dockyards etc. GIFT Master Plan facilitates Multi Services SEZ with IFSC (International Financial Services Centre) status, Domestic Finance Centre and associated social infrastructure.”

Dr M Ramachandran, Former Urban Development Secretary, sounded a note of caution, saying ‘projects based on land monetisation could face challenges, given the slump in the property market. He believes user charges and other sources of revenue to be generated by the urban body will have to be considered as keenly.

Mckinsey’s report notes these could be utilised in meeting operating costs.”

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

43

Events

US-India Energy Dialogue

US, India join hands for sustainable energy solutions As the world’s two largest democracies, the United States and India share the goals of strengthening economies and protecting the environment Team UrbanUpdate

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ecognizing the critical importance of increasing energy security and access, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving resilience in the face of climate change, President Obama and Prime Minister Modi agreed in September 2014 to a new and enhanced strategic partnership on energy security, clean energy, and climate change, including strengthening and expanding the highly successful USIndia Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE) and strengthened cooperation on climate change. Since that meeting, the two countries have made significant progress in advancing these objectives, and have continued important cooperation on environment, science & technology, and health. This cooperation strengthens our bilateral relationship, promotes economic growth, and allows us to develop new and innovative technologies and products to address shared challenges.

The two governments convened a series of meetings in September 2015 to review progress in these areas. On September 21, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, and New & Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal co-chaired the U.S.-India Energy

44 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

Dialogue where they discussed ongoing work of five of the established working groups (power & energy efficiency, oil & gas, new technology & renewable energy, coal, and sustainable growth) and welcomed the formation of the new working group on research arm of PACE. The co-chairs emphasized the strategic importance energy plays in the U.S.-India relationship and discussed ways to further expand cooperation.

Also on September 21, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern and Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change Ashok Lavasa co-chaired the U.S.-India Joint Working Group on Combating Climate Change, which discussed cooperation on adaptation, forests, air quality, clean energy, and other topics.

Key highlights of p Strengthening the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy (PACE) During the U.S.-India Energy Dialogue, the two governments welcomed significant progress in implementing President Obama and Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to strengthen and expand the highly successful PACE program, in particular: PACE-R: The two sides welcomed the expansion of PACE to include a new track on smart grids and energy storage under the Joint Clean Energy Research Development Center.

Greening the Grid: The two sides launched Greening the Grid, a $30 million, 5-year initiative to scale up renewable energy integration into India’s power grid

Off-Grid Clean Energy Access Under the Promoting Energy Access through Clean Energy (PEACE) track of PACE, the United States and India announced two major initiatives to mobilize financial resources for off-grid clean energy. For early-stage innovations, the United States and India established the PACEsetter Fund, a joint $7.9 million fund to accelerate the commercialization of innovative off-grid clean energy solutions. Proposals for the first

progress since the 2014 U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue round funding of up to $2 million are due in October 2015. To sustain and scale up more mature efforts, USAID/ India launched a new public-private partnership that will work to mobilize $41 million in finance to support clean energy entrepreneurs. This effort, a partnership between New Ventures India, Insitor Management, the Global Social Business Incubator at Santa Clara University, and USAID/ India, aims to help one million Indians gain access to electricity through offgrid clean energy solutions.

Clean Energy Finance Task Force: The Clean Energy Finance Task Force met on February 16 and September 9 to explore options the Government of India (GOI) could use to accelerate the flow of private capital to support its ambitious clean energy goals. The US members of the Task Force presented US experience in standardized processes and transaction documents, such as power purchase agreements; warehousing for securitization; and use of first loss facilities and credit guarantees in support of attracting private finance for clean energy projects. The Task Force concluded its meeting with an agreement to design specific finance solutions appropriate to the Indian context.

Clean Energy Finance Forum (CEFF): The private-sector led CEFF met in New Delhi September 9 to formally report recommendations

from several working groups to the Government of India. The recommendations focused on counterparty risk and architecture, developing domestic banking and capital markets, concessional financing and fostering international investment. The Government of India presented the recommendations and the strategy for implementation at the Energy Dialogue on September 21.

Enhancing Cooperation on Climate Change During the US-India Joint Working Group on Combating Climate Change, held September 21 in Washington, DC, the two governments highlighted priorities and progress in several areas, including: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC): The United States and India reaffirmed their commitment to work together toward achieving a successful outcome at the UNFCCC in Paris this December.

Montreal Protocol The United States and India welcomed the continuing work of their bilateral task force on hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), including meetings this year in San Antonio and New Delhi, and reaffirmed their commitment to work together to achieve a successful outcome on HFCs in Dubai in November.

Fulbright-India Climate Fellowship: Following a commitment

by President Obama and Prime Minister Modi, the United States and India started implementing this new fellowship program designed to build long-term capacity to address climate change-related issues in both countries.

US-India Partnership for Climate Resilience: Both sides welcomed

significant progress in implementing President Obama and Prime Minister Modi’s commitment to improving resilience in the face of climate change in both countries. With NASA’s June 9, 2015 release of downscaled international climate models for the Indian sub-continent to much higher resolution than currently available, we have delivered on phase I of the Partnership for Climate Resilience.

Both sides have agreed to send an expert team out to India within the next three weeks to discuss details for phase II.

Working Together to Promote Wildlife Conservation US–India Wildlife Conservation MoU: The United States and India finalized the text of a MoU to strengthen wildlife conservation and combat wildlife trafficking.

The MoU includes efforts to protect critical habitat, human resources development in scientific information management in support of conservation programs, build public awareness, stabilize and increase populations of threatened and endangered species, strengthen law enforcement capacity, and combat illegal harvesting and associated trade in wildlife species, consistent with national laws and regulations.

The MoU also seeks cooperation regionally and globally, to further the mutual objective of combating the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products through enhancing dialogue and sharing of best practices, capacity building efforts, and strengthening cooperation in regional and global fora.

Under the auspices of the MoU, the United States will support Project Tiger and work with the Indians to deploy technology to track and protect India’s remaining tigers.

www.urbanupdate.in | October 2015

45

URBAN AGENDA | Disaster Preparedness

Vulnerability of coastal cities Apresh Chandra Mishra Managing Editor apresh@urbanupdate.in

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hreats to citizens caused by natural catastrophe are mounting as cities continue to expand.

Around 58.6 per cent of the Indian population is prone to earthquakes and 12 per cent to river floods. 7200 km out of 7517 km of Indian coastline is prone to cyclones and tsunamis and three per cent of landmass is vulnerable to landslides.

Drought is a frequent occurrence in many parts of the Country.

More than a third of the country falls under seismic zones IV and V, just waiting for a quake to strike.

Major cities like Guwahati, Srinagar, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai fall within high risk zones.

A recent study by Swiss RE suggests Kolkata is the world’s 7th riskiest city when it comes to vulnerability to various types of natural disasters.

When the analysis looked at just urban storms as a natural disaster, Mumbai and Chennai are ranked 8th and 9th most threatened respectively with 8.3 million put at risk.

That brings us to a major issue: are we prepared enough to tackle natural disasters? Not really!

The last big natural disaster in the quake and flood prone high

46 October 2015 | www.urbanupdate.in

Himalayas in Uttarakhand left the state government virtually clueless as it did not pay heed to the meteorological department’s warning and lacked administrative ability to evacuate residents from the disaster zone. Due to the diversity of the climatic and geological conditions, it is virtually impossible to create a unified disaster management and post-disaster rehabilitation plan.

Whether it is an earthquake in Gujarat (2001), a flooded river in Uttarakhand (2013) or a cyclone in Odisha or Andhra Pradesh (2013), the state governments have to foresee, plan and act. Also, as India is characterized by significant diversity of geo-climatic conditions; the state administrations are also greatly challenged.

Most Indian states do not have sufficient economic and financial resources to deploy in order to save citizens and rehabilitate them. It is crucial to dedicate resources for such purposes but these issues are deliberated momentarily in the wake of disasters and then forgotten.

Allocating resources for an early warning system across the country and training and recruiting scientific manpower for effective disaster management is crucial.

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Urban

Dialogues Dialogues Next Smart cities Chandigarh

Partners

Organising Team

Ranjit S Chavan President AIILSG

Ramanath Jha Director General AIILSG

Raj Liberhan Former Director IHC

M Ramachandran Former Secretary-UD GoI

Sudhir Krishna Former Secretary-UD GoI

For speakers and sponsorship requirements, please contact: Lojy Thomas: + 91 98688 73850, lojy.thomas@yahoo.com Ravi Guru: + 91 98180 98411, raavi.guru@gmail.com

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