Urban Update January 2014

Vision Issue

All India Institute Of Local Self Government

UrbanUpdate Setting the agenda for tomorrow’s cities

January 2014

Standing Alone to Stand-Alone Cities

UCLG pushes forward the UN campaign for stand-alone urban goal

Future Cities

The Way Forward...

Dr. Jatin Modi President-AIILSG

Editorial

Ranjit Chavan Editor-in-Chief & Publisher Director General-AIILSG Editorial Managing Editor: Apresh C Mishra Executive Editor: Nirmal Anshu Ranjan Associate Editor: Lojy Thomas, AIILSG Desk Editor: Jessy Iype ….……………………………………………

Design Meenakshi Rajput ….……………………………………………

Marketing Manager: Neha Sharma ….……………………………………

Printed and published by Ranjit Chavan on behalf of All India Institute of Local Self Government, Printed at M/S Graphiclines, -99/5, Ground Floor, Naraina Industrial area, PH-1, New Delhi -110028. Published at Plot No.6, F-Block, Bandra Kurla Complex,T.P.S. Road-12, Bandra-East, Mahar, Maharashtra.

Despite careful selection of sources, no responsibility can be taken for accuracy. The magazine assumes no liability or responsibility of any kind in connection with the information thereof. All right reserved.

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Volume I - Vision Issue For feedback and information, write in at info@urbanupdate.in

Plugging The Hole

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e take immense pleasure in presenting the maiden edition of Urban Update — a news magazine on urban infrastructure, governance and culture.

As flight of rural masses to urban areas continues unabated, urbanisation — structured or otherwise — becomes an unstoppable phenomenon. Shrinking opportunities in rural areas on account of growing population and stagnating development has led to an increasing number of people heading for the cities in search of greener pastures.

While the urban surge is an experience shared by most of the developing countries, it is most pronounced in Asian and African countries. In India, cities are fast turning into economic hubs, projected to generate almost 70 per cent of the net GDP and account for nearly 85 per cent of the total tax revenue by 2030.

This unprecedented rural-to-urban movement is putting an extra burden on cities and straining the existing infrastructure.

Be it accommodating huge volumes of migrants, providing them with basic civic amenities, arranging for large-scale solid waste disposal, giving them clean environment and putting in place a dependable public transport network, it calls for lots of vision and planning. But sadly though, by and large both seem amiss in the Indian context. Policy vacuum has plagued the country decade after decade.

It was similar stream of thoughts that sprang forth the vision of a holistic magazine on Urban Development that could evangelise urban infrastructure, governance, culture and, above all, sustainability... And we are here with the initiative.

Urban Update will be sincere in ensuring highest journalistic standards in its reporting, and highlighting accomplishments, challenges and experiences of cities. It will also serve as the trustworthy platform to exchange ideas, present expert opinions, foster community wisdom and offer pragmatic solutions to plug the gaping holes in the urban space. Besides, it will also prove to be a reliable medium to interact and engage with peers and businesses in the domain.

We are sure, as we set out on a journey to help make the urban planet a better place to live, we will not fall short of ideas, suggestions and feedback from you. We look forward to your support.

Thanks.

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January 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

Newscan

HCL to set up 100-acre IT city in Lucknow

NEW DELHI: Technology group HCL has said it will set up a 100-acre IT city in Lucknow, a move that will help create job opportunities for about 25,000 people in Uttar Pradesh. Financial details were not immediately available. About 60 acres of the proposed IT city would be allotted to IT and ITeS, the company said in a statement.

The remaining 40 acres is intended for support infrastructure and initiatives of social impact. Ancillary support services required for IT industry would also create huge career opportunities, it added.

Gujarat’s Metro-Link Express implements SAP

AHMEDABAD: The Metro-link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA) has chosen SAP solutions to assist Gujarat’s metro rail run efficiently and profitably, announces India unit of the Germanyheadquartered SAP. The deployment will enable various departments of MEGA to be connected over a unified network and facilitate smoother information flow and access. It is confident that SAP implementation will facilitate greater transparency and agility in the system and will improve the operational proficiency.

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Surat to have 26 lakh vehicles by 2015 Surat is the world’s fourth fastest growing city, and so seems its vehicle population. Thanks to absence of a reliable public transport system, the Diamond City’s traffic scenario is set to get worse with addition of 3.5 lakh new vehicles to its present population of over 22 lakh vehicles by 2015. The official statistics of the Regional Transport Office (RTO) suggest that on an average, every month 10,000 two-wheelers and 3,500 cars are registered in the city.

GAIL gets eco nod for 220MW power plant NEW DELHI: GAIL India Limited, the nation’s biggest gas marketing company, has received environmental clearance for setting up a 220MW gas-based power plant at Raigad in Maharashtra at a cost of Rs 1,028 crore.

The firm plans to use 1 million standard cubic meters per day of natural gas to generate 220 MW of electricity at the proposed combined cycle power plant. GAIL plans to set up the combined cycle gas based power plant within the existing LPG plant boundary.

Electricity generated at the plant will be sold to Maharashtra.

Pune cold to waste management!

PUNE: The zero-garbage project – a joint initiative of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), NGOs and corporate sector – has found many takers in housing societies and commercial establishments, but its progress in slum areas has been slow. Ravi Pandit, a governing board member of Janwani, one of the organisations in the zero-garbage initiative, feels there is a need for more efforts in generating awareness in the city areas where the project has been launched.

The project, launched in 11 PMC areas in February 2013, had witnessed a marked progress initially.

Central Govt nods 3rd instalment for Pune BRTS NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Urban Development has approved the proposal for release of third instalment of Rs 862 lakh for the Kalewadi-KSB Chowk to Dehu-Alandi Road BRTS corridor. The approval was given at the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee meeting held here recently. The project has achieved 44 per cent physical progress and is likely to be completed by the end of next year. The approved cost of the project is Rs 21,920 lakh.

Centre okays water supply projects for Chennai NEW DELHI: The Central Government has approved a proposal for 10 new projects for providing comprehensive water supply to various areas of Chennai city. These projects were approved at the meeting of the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee of the Union Ministry of Urban Development here recently. These projects have been sanctioned at an approved cost of Rs 27,114.11 lakh. The Central Government will contribute 35 per cent towards the total cost.

January 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

Coimbatore takes a step towards monorail

COIMBATORE: The city is likely to get a rapid transit system in the form of monorail. With the burgeoning population taking a toll on infrastructure, the state government is looking to establish a railbased transportation system to reduce the burden on the roads. On Dec 13, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa announced a feasibility study for establishing a monorail network in the city. Coimbatore Municipal Corporation (CMC), which is in the process of preparing its City Development Plan and also mobility plan, will now include monorail feasibility following the announcement.

Nashik civic body to borrow from HUDCO

HYDERABAD: Putting an end to a long wait, the local Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has cleared connectivity for MMTS (Multi-Modal Transport System) PhaseII from Umdanagar to Shamshabad. The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited had invited tenders for the project without the Umdanagar-Shamshabad section previously.

The 6.5-km project was estimated at Rs. 30 crore a few years ago.

‘Mark waste disposal areas in Delhi plan’ NEW DELHI: The Delhi Master Plan 2021 should make it mandatory for each zone to have a designated area for waste disposal, says Sunita Narain, Director-General of the Centre for Science and Environment. The new Master Plan must have an environment service zone, so that no zonal plan is passed on disposal of liquid or solid waste without its approval, she said speaking at a meet on “Waste to Resource: Addressing Construction and Demolition Waste in Cities” here on Dec 23, 2013.

Meet on Waste Management in Kochi KOCHI: The Department of Civil Engineering at Toc-H Institute of Science and Technology (TIST) at Aarakunnam held a two-day national seminar on Waste Management on Dec 17-18. Head of the Civil Engineering Department Lathi Karthi said the objective of the meet was to create awareness on environment and socio-economic issues by bringing together students, research scholars, academicians, practising engineers, consulting engineers, NGOs and others to discuss various issues related to the research and development in waste management and find possible solutions.

Four-laning of GayaRajgir-Nalanda section NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the project for four-laning of approximately 93-km Gaya-Hisua-Rajgir-NalandaBiharsharif section on NH-82 in Bihar. The total project cost is estimated at Rs. 1,408.85 crore and will be completed within three years of signing of the contract agreement.

The project connects Nalanda, the ancient set of learning popularly called as Nalanda University. The place is visited conjointly by the tourists visiting Bodh Gaya. The road shall also connect Rajgir, where

Vishwa Shanti Stupa or Japanese Pagoda is a major tourist attraction, and Gaya.

Newscan

NASHIK: Following the approval of the state government to raising a loan of Rs 200 crore to fund civic projects, the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC) has decided to borrow Rs 100 crore each from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and nationalised banks. The state government on October 17, 2013 had given its approval to the NMC to raise the loan from banks. Accordingly, the NMC has invited tenders from various banks quoting their rate of interest. The civic body expects to complete the process of finalising the bank by December-end.

Hyd MMTS-Phase-II airport link cleared

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Newscan

Ahmedabad BRTS going the Delhi way AHMEDABAD: Barely a month after the Delhi Government deciding to scrap the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), Ahmedabad BRTS also seems destined for the same fate.

Weak enforcement of rules, poor junction management during peak hours and indifference to dedicated lanes for road minorities such as cyclists and pedestrians have made the ordinary Amdavadi cynical about traffic rules devised for BRTS. The cynicism is widespread and so deeprooted now that people prefer to pay fines for breaking into BRTS lanes than abide by the rules and wait in traffic jams.

A comparison of peak hour traffic at some of the busiest junctions of Delhi BRTS with similar points on Ahmedabad BRTS route suggests Delhi’s Chirag Delhi junction is similar to Anjali crossing in Ahmedabad.

Chirag Delhi junction’s traffic volume for 16 hours was observed to be 1.98 lakh while that of Ahmedabad was noted to be 1.55 lakh. Peak-hour traffic at Chirag Delhi junction was recorded at 16,465 vehicles while at Anjali, it was marginally less at 15,898.

Another interesting statistics thrown up by the comparison by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) is that during the same period, the average queue length during peak hours at Chirag Delhi was 367 meters while at Anjali crossing it was 350 metres.

Similarly, angry Amdavadis get into the BRTS lane during peak hours just as it happens in Delhi.

Cyclists are forced to travel in mixed-traffic lanes as dedicated cycle tracks are unsafe because of broken infrastructure, encroachment by hawkers, squatters and parked cars (as it is in Delhi).

Goa hotels told to install waste disposal plants PANAJI: The Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) has issued directions to 32 starred hotels, including five star properties, to immediately install bio-degradable waste disposal plants, failing which action would be taken against them.

The notices were issued under the Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules 2000, when it was pointed out that the hotels ask the piggeries to take over the surplus food, creating nuisance for the people living near the piggeries, GSPCB Chairman Jose Manual Noronha told reporters on Dec 31. The board had inspected several piggeries and decided to cut down the problem at its source, which are starred hotels, Noronha said.

The hotels were also asking the piggery owners to carry other scrap material along with the food which were found piled up alongside the piggeries, raising health issues, he said.

The board inspected 56 starred hotels across Goa, of which 32 were found to be violating the rules. It asked the hotels to immediately ensure that all the bio-degradable waste should be composted.

Thane-ites can click civic complaints THANE: The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) is going to develop a mobile application that will help citizens register their complaints by just clicking a picture of the area of concern.

A proposal regarding this application was recently cleared

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in the TMC’s general body meeting.

Sources said the civic body will soon invite bids to appoint an agency to develop such an application.

According to the proposal, the city has expanded manifold and its population has also increased.

Currently, residents

January 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

operational, citizens can address their complaints directly to the civic body.

complain to the Corporator, who then informs the department concerned.

But once the mobile application becomes

“Once the picture is uploaded, the software will pick up the location via the longitude-latitude of the place. The TMC will pick up pictures only from its jurisdiction.

This will be done via

geo-fencing. The cost of the plan has been pegged at Rs 70-90 lakh,” said civic chief Aseem Gupta.

However, some residents were not very enthusiastic about the project.

They instead suggested that the TMC starts more grievance redressal cells.

Newscan

BMC, CRISIL join hands MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)’s solid waste management (SWM) department has tied up with global analytical company CRISIL to create mechanisms with which the corporation can enhance civic services in accordance with the standards set by the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India.

In 2008, the ministry had introduced ServiceLevel Benchmarks (SLBs) for some basic municipal

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited will create mechanisms with which the corporation can enhance civic services services like water supply, sewerage, solid waste management and storm water drainage. These benchmarks were set in order to facilitate critical reforms in the urban sector.

With CRISIL, the BMC will analyse the status of

these basic services and come up with time-bound solutions to solve any problems it finds. The All India Institute of Local SelfGovernment was appointed last year to carry out a study on the issue.

The BMC has declared

Pune to get another civic body PUNE: A Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) general body meeting has cleared the proposal for merger of seven more villages into the PMC limits to create a new municipal corporation for the villages and areas in the eastern parts of Pune.

The villages proposed to be included in the new corporation are Nandoshi, Mangadewadi, Bhilarewadi, Gujarwadi, Nimbalkarwadi, Jambhulwadi, Kolwadi and Wagholi.

Claiming that Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan had already ordered a survey of the area and that the survey was going on, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Dec 21, 2013 showed his willingness to create a new municipal corporation. He was in Pune to attend the meeting of the Pune

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District Central Cooperative Bank Limited.

Although the Congress and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have been opposing the proposal for the merger of these seven villages, it was passed with the help of majority in the House during the PMC general body meeting on Dec 11, 2013.

The reporters pointed out that there are a few villages opposing the merger with the PMC since it would burden the residents with taxes without providing them facilities.

Pawar said, “If at all a few villages are not willing to be included in the PMC limits, some other villages could be willing to be part of the PMC. We can keep these villages aside and think of including those that are willing...”

that for the next two financial years, it will work to achieve the SLBs of 100 per cent house-to-house collection and waste segregation.

The corporation says that it has already achieved 70 per cent of its target for houseto-house collection.

‘Flyovers no solution for traffic jams’ CHENNAI: The proposed elevated expressway along Old Mahabalipuram Road “will probably benefit land owners outside the city and not commuters,” says Peter J Park, an internationally known urban planner and architect. “Cities in developing countries can avoid the mistakes made in developed countries. Chennai has an opportunity to skip the ‘failure phase’ the US had to go through and learn from our mistakes,” said Park on Dec 14, 2013 ahead of a workshop for Chennai Metro Rail where he would provide inputs on development of mass transit nodes in the city with the Koyambedu station as a case study.

The man who served as Planning Director in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Denver, Colorado said he brought down a flyover over the Milwaukee river because it limited access to the people. He replaced it with an at-grade boulevard. “Flyovers serve only those in cars.

People cannot walk a flyover.”

Newscan

France offers urban development expertise NEW DELHI: Keen on cooperation in the field of urban development, France has offered its expertise in the sector to India with special focus on waste management. “...This (waste management) is a big issue. We will ask some French companies who specialise in this to come in January and meet Indian local bodies to propose solutions,” said Max Claudet, Cultural Counselor, at French Embassy on Dec 19, 2013. The embassy had organised a seminar on Indo-French local cooperation in urban development and interacted with officials of various Indian local bodies and municipalities to know about their challenges.

National painting contest on Water Conservation held

JnNURM completes maximum projects NEW DELHI: Till Nov 30, 2013, the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) completed 217 out of 539 Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) projects sanctioned in Phase-1 (March, 2005-March, 2012). Similarly, 322 projects were at various stages of completion on the given date. Also, out of 806 Urban Infrastructure Development for Small & Medium Towns projects sanctioned in Phase-1, 413 were completed, while 393 projects are in various stages of completion.

Kolkata locality says ‘no’ to plastics Union Minister for Water Resources Harish Rawat (centre) releases a calendar for the year 2014, at the 4th National Painting Competition on Water Conservation in New Delhi on Dec 27, 2013

NEW DELHI: The Central Ground Water Board under the Ministry of Water Resources organised 4th National Painting Competition on Water Conservation for the students of classes VI, VII and VIII on Friday at NASC Complex, PUSA, New Delhi. The painting competition was aimed at generating awareness about conservation of water. This competition was held at three stages, i.e. school, state and national level. Over 26,000 schools and more than 19 lakh students participated at school level. Out of those, selected students took part at the state level, and finally, the national level contest followed.

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KOLKATA: The residents of Bangur Avenue in east Kolkata actually live this dream, thanks to their local councillor Mriganka Bhattacharya. Plastic bags disappeared from this traditional residential locality much before the state government’s 2007 ban on plastic carrybags below 40 microns. He launched a personal drive against plastics in 2001, a year before the Union government banned the production, sale and use of thin plastic bags.

Meet on biomedical waste for Chennai students CHENNAI: More than 50 NCC cadets at the Stanley Medical College (SMC) on Dec 20 participated in a seminar on biomedical waste management, organised with an objective to make the students understand the importance of biomedical waste segregation and disposal. While 85% of the waste generated by government hospitals is generic in nature, the remaining 15% of biomedical waste is infectious.

Six-laning of VadodraSurat section of NH-8 NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its approval for six-laning of a 6.7-km stretch on the Vadodra-Surat section of NH-8, including construction of a new four-lane extra-dosed bridge across the Narmada River and two eight-lane flyovers in Gujarat.

The cost is estimated at Rs. 503.16 crore including Rs. 17 crore as the cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation.

The project is covered in Bharuch district.

The upgradation of this stretch will ensure smooth and safe traffic flow and substantial gains in terms of reduced Vehicle Operating Cost (VOC) and reduced travel time.

Kochi joins European Union project KOCHI: In a development that could provide a major boost to its urban development initiatives, the city has been selected as a participant in a European Union project. The project is run with the support of International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and UN Habitat. The project will look for solutions in areas such as public transport, transport infrastructure, city logistics, integrated planning or sustainable urban mobility plans, network and mobility management.

January 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

Complaint against Raipur civic babus just a call away RAIPUR: Now, citizens of Raipur can lodge a complaint against municipal staff by calling a toll free number of the local municipal corporation. The decision came after a series of complaints were lodged by people against some reported malpractices in the municipal body. Also, a review meeting of the Urban Development Department was conducted by Chief Minister Raman Singh, after which it was decided to allow the common man to put forth their grievances related to alleged corruption. The Chief Minister assured that all complaints would be looked into.

BMC to appoint 18 more structural auditors

CARDIFF: Scientists leading a research have said unless emissions of greenhouse gases are cut, the planet will heat up by a minimum of 4°C by 2100 – twice the level the world’s governments deem dangerous. The research indicates that fewer clouds form as the planet warms, meaning less sunlight is reflected back into space, driving temperatures up further still. The way clouds affect global warming has been the biggest mystery surrounding future climate change.

Lucknow civic body eyes cleaner city in 2014 LUCKNOW: With an aim to make the city cleaner and greener in 2014, Mayor Dinesh Sharma inaugurated the most modern and technologically well-equipped control room for speedy redressal of public grievances recently in the Rubbish Removal Department near the Municipal Commissioner’s camp office in Gomtinagar area. The Lucknow Municipal Corporation has also formed a 17-point work agenda for this year which would emphasise identifying problem areas and solving them on a priority basis. A ‘citizen charter’ has also been formed for this task which ensures accountability of each department for completing the work within the time frame.

Rapid Metro formally inaugurated in Gurgaon

Bengaluru needs Rs 80,000 crore for sustenance BANGALORE: The ‘Garden City’ needs at least Rs 80,000 crore over the next five years to be sustainable, said State Urban Development Secretary PN Srinivasachari.

Addressing a workshop on “Cities of the future: Smart and Sustainable” here on Dec 13, 2013 Srinivasachari said, “If Bangalore has to sustain its rapid growth and introduce sustainable solutions to manage its waste, water, environment and transport, the government should invest at least Rs 80,000 crore over the next five years.”

GURGAON: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Dec 15, 2013 formally inaugurated the first intra-city service line in Gurgaon, Rapid Metro, a month after the mass transit service started commercial operations. The function was organised at the Sikanderpur Metro Station where both Rapid Metro and Delhi Metro converge. Mr Hooda and some Haryana ministers boarded a Rapid Metro train after the inauguration. The Phase-I of the Rapid Metro has been constructed at a cost of Rs 1,088 crore. The 5.1-km stretch touches six stations. The Rapid Metro began commercial operations Nov 14, 2013.

Newscan

MUMBAI: In a bid to expedite the structural audit process of municipal buildings, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to appoint 18 more structural auditors, thus taking the total number to 46 in its panel, to carry out major repairs, rehabilitation and designs of municipal buildings in the city. After the Dockyard Road building collapse, in which 61 people were killed, the BMC decided to increase the number of structural auditors.

Most of the civic hospitals, markets, fire stations and staff quarters buildings were constructed at least 30 years ago.

Planet likely to get hotter by 4°C by 2100

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Newscan

GPS, CCTVs in public transport

Women cheer, industry smiles The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs clears Rs 1,405-crore project to install tracking devices in public transport for ensuring safety of women on the move

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he Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Jan 2, 2104 gifted the commuters this New Year a unified system of Global Positioning System (GPS) both at national level (National Vehicle Security and Tracking System) and state level (City Command and Control Centre) for tracking the location of specific vehicles through emergency buttons and video recording of incidents in public transport vehicles.

The project, estimated to cost Rs 1,405 crore, will be implemented within a period of two years in 32 cities in the first phase and 21 cities in

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the second phase.

The project was undertaken following the December 16 gang-rape incident in Delhi. The government hopes that the move would help mapping and tracking of public vehicles, in addition to sensitising masses on crime against women.

While the announcement has already garnered thumbs-up from lot many Jyothis, who experience a harrowing time in public transport, it has also thrown open a floodgate of opportunities for the security devices industry.

The government decision is set to translate into a windfall gain not

just for the manufacturers of closecircuit television cameras (CCTVs) and GPS devices, but for all those associated with the sector – right from the technology provider to the retailer.

Demand of those devices for thousands of vehicles from 32 cities means a big business for the domestic security devices industry – bigger than anything it has seen in the recent times.

Now, while it remains to be seen whether the installed devices would be of any help in reining in the high rate of crimes again women, the government decision has already proved a booster for the industry.

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Cover Story

Future Cities

The Way Forward...

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January 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

Policymakers have mostly taken lopsided view of the urbanisation process and pitched for locationspecific solutions, ignoring that intertwined fate of villages and cities call for an integrated approach

By Nirmal Anshu Ranjan

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Cover Story

ith cities fast turning into hubs of economic activities, India stands on the threshold of a major socio-economic change.

Statistics suggest by 2030, India’s total population will hit the figure of 1.5 billion — the largest in the world — and the urban dwellers alone will account for nearly 600 million of it — more than twice as much as in 2001.

As the population grows and opportunities of gainful employment in rural areas shrink, the resultant fallout has been an unprecedented movement of masses to the urban areas.

While it took 40 years for India’s urban population to rise by about 250 million between 1971 and 2011, addition of the next 350 million could take place within half that time.

What makes the situation scary is a policy vacuum on the part of successive governments and ad-hoc measures adopted by its agencies to tame the menace of unregulated urbanisation. As a result, close to 24 per cent of the urban population continues to live in slums, where even basic necessities like drinking water, regulated power supply, hygienic living condition and proper public transport facilities are a far cry.

The current approach towards urbanisation, analysis suggests, will result in slum population ballooning from 17 million to 38 million, water supply dropping to 65 litres per person against the benchmark of 150 and peak vehicle density touching 610 per lane kilometre against a benchmark of 112. In the given likely scenario, the ultimate casualty will be quality of life and the hardest hit will be the urban poor of the country.

Besides, since cities are going to be central to India’s economic growth, generate 70 per cent of the net GDP, account for 85 per cent of the total tax revenue and contribute towards a near four-fold increase in per capita income across the nation, it becomes all the more crucial to ensure a balanced urban development. In other words, perilous state of cities might

spell trouble for the national economy itself.

Cover Story

POLICY VACUUM

But more often than not, India’s policymakers have indulged in taking lopsided view of the problem, and ended up putting forth location-specific solutions. They tend to ignore the fact that the fate of villages and that of cities are intertwined and that only an integrated approach can address the problem in its real enormity.

Another major impediment to handling the problem of unregulated urbanisation in a holistic manner has been lack of an institutional mechanism. This is so also because the Indian Constitution defines urban development as a state subject, and therefore, the solutions have remained piecemeal over the decades.

Other issues compounding the problem include reluctance among investors to commit resources to India’s urban centres, fragmented data, opaque land transactions, and dearth of institutional capacity and shortage of trained urban professionals. However, most endemic of them all has been absence of any strategy or vision, or even the zeal to have one.

THE WAY FORWARD

The Planning Commission in its 12th Five-Year Plan Approach Report admits that the pace of urbanisation poses an unprecedented managerial and policy challenge, “yet India has not engaged in a national discussion about how to handle the seismic shift in the makeup of the nation”.

Various studies in the past have suggested that India needs to work on areas like inclusive cities, urban governance, funding, planning, capacity building and low-income housing, among others, to manage its process of urbanisation.

Let funds flow

The Planning Commission, like a recent McKinsey Global Institute report, pegs the capital investment necessary to meet the projected demand of infrastructure in Indian cities at $1.2 tril-

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INDIA BY 2030 A McKinsey report, “India’s urban awakening: Building inclusive cities, sustaining economic growth”, presents some startling indicators of the likely changes over the next 15-20 years: ♦♦ 590 million will live in cities, nearly twice the population of the United States today ♦♦ 270 million people net increase in working-age population. ♦♦ 70 per cent of net new employment will be generated in cities ♦♦ 68 cities will have population of 1 million plus, up from 42 cities today ♦♦ $1.2 trillion capital investment is necessary to meet projected demand in India’s cities ♦♦ 700-900 million square meters of commercial and residential space needs to be built – or a new Chicago every year ♦♦ 2.5 billion square meters of roads will have to be paved, 20 times the capacity added in the past decade ♦♦ 7,400 kilometers of metros and subways will need to be constructed – 20 time the capacity lion. It cites that the current spending under the head is $17 per capita per year, whereas the most benchmarks call for $100.

The McKinsey’s report stresses that India needs to break away from its incremental approach to urban investments as it will need to invest an average of $60 billion (Rs 2,70,000 crore) annually. The need is even higher in Tier-I, where India needs to spend around $300 per capita annually.

Although achieving this huge funding leap might look like a herculean task, the report goes on to suggest three possible ways to unleash sources of funding that have been traditionally under-leveraged: ♦♦ Effective monetising of land assets: MMRDA in Mumbai has shown that it is possible as it used land asset sales to fund a proposed

Policy vacuum over the decades on the part of successive governments and adhoc measures resorted to by its agencies to tame the menace of unregulated urbanisation has led to close to 24% of the urban population living in slums bereft of even basic necessities

$22-billion infrastructure programme; ♦♦ Ensuring five-fold increase in property tax collection to at least 0.3 per cent of property values through better assessment and compliance; and ♦♦ Promoting private sector participation to finance building of infrastructure – an opportunity that alone could be worth $12 billion a year.

With these changes, Tier-I and TierII cities would be able to fund as much as 80-85 per cent of their requirements, and the balance can come from the Central and state governments, the report recommends.

Who will lead?

By 2030, India’s largest cities will be bigger than many major countries in terms of both population and economic output, but despite the 74th Amendment to the Constitution, local selfgovernments are run as extensions of state governments.

The Planning Commission report insists that meaningful reforms must happen to enable true devolution of power and responsibilities from the states to the local and metropolitan bodies, in keeping with the amendment.

January 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

To achieve substantive changes in city governance, India has a series of options to choose from, including converting its largest cities into fullfledged states, e.g. Delhi. Since this is politically difficult, India must at the least institutionalise directly-elected metropolitan mayors in its 20 largest cities on the lines of the UK – a parliamentary democracy, in which India’s governance architecture is rooted.

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Coping with Urbanisation needs empowerment of ULBs

Planning for the surge

It is absolutely necessary to plan in a clear-headed manner to help connect land usage with urban flows, which would, in turn, ensure that a city’s infrastructure is capable of delivering basic urban services. For example, a metropolitan master plan sets out the overall strategy for the economy, mass transit, land usage and affordable housing. If the traffic on London roads today is less disorderly compared to most of the other big cities in the world, the credit goes to the planners who visualise the number of peaktime vehicles 20 years from now.

Emerging cities should learn from the mistakes of Tier-II cities, many of which suffer from the lack of an integrated 40-year concept plan and a 20year master plan integrated across sectors. Today, no emerging city in India has a well-analysed 2030 master plan.

It is vital for municipalities in emerging cities to create these plans professionally to avoid an urban chaos.

It’s doable

India’s rapid urbanisation clearly indicates an inescapable urban future. Cities are emerging as the engines of economic growth. Simultaneously, rising migration is fuelling chaos in urban centres. It is critical to preserve and promote the economic and social viability of our cities. Cities, however, seem unprepared to contend with these emerging challenges.

The 74th Amendment to the Constitution and the 10th Five-year Plan clearly stipulate the need for decentralised urban governance and empowerment of the cities as the third tier of the government. It is widely recognised that such empowerment is critical to the emergence of cities that are inclusive, transparent and sustainable.

At the same time, cities also need to be efficient in equitable service delivery and ensure a decent quality of life for all their citizens. This they must do in partnership with city stakeholders allowing space and voice especially to the poor and women.

This requires empowerment of urban local bodies for governance, planning and management of cities, and settlement with efficiency,

effectiveness and sustainability.

But, experiences suggest, capacity building is the biggest challenge in implementing reforms at the local government level. The capacity for project preparation, appraisal, monitoring and implementation is limited to the urban local bodies (ULBs) level.

Besides, both states and ULBs have to implement reforms in a time-bound manner. The ability to execute these reforms is wanting in several cases. Besides, the response from all the states has not been uniformly well: some have come up with more project proposals while others have lagged behind.

National and local governments need to formulate coherent and sustainable capacity building strategies to provide institutional and professional support to all levels of capacity building through exchange of information and experience.

For such a network to succeed, it is essential that it has at its centre a strong and active core with sufficient international standing and resources to give it the intellectual authority and ability to initiate and coordinate action nationally.

Cover Story

It’s time India moved beyond debating whether urbanisation is good or bad, and act with meticulous planning and full sincerity, so as to prevent urbanisation from going haywire.

Although the task ahead may appear a daunting one, it can be accomplished provided it is addressed with a clear vision of the future shape of things. After all, it was only recently that China witnessed transformational changes and on a similar scale. All India needs today is transition from the current state of deep inertia to one of a deep commitment to change backed by a sense of urgency.

Jatin Modi President, AIILSG

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Waste disposal Vs recycling Irfan Furniturewala, MD, Hanjer Biotech

Three urban innovations

Prof Chetan Vaidya, Director, School of Planning & Architecture

Integrated approach Rajesh Jain, MD, Wapp Systems

Urban water shortage and sanitation issues are some of the challenges we face in our cities today besides energy shortfall. Overdependence on ground water and pumping water over long stretches leads to energy consumption and wastage through leakages.

Similarly, municipal bodies spend a lot of money over waste collection with no effective waste management success stories, and also threatening environment and public health in the process.

Towards sustainable water future Pawan Mathur, Director, Water & Heat, Itron India

India today faces several water issues, including limited access to drinking water, losses in leakages and the quality of water. Together with population multiplication and fast urbanisation, these factors further push the demand for water, making it a basic necessity and a precious resource.

With these challenges staring in India’s face, innovative technologies can come handy to ensure an efficient distribution of water and reduce non-revenue water (NRW) – a drab on a sustainable water future. Advanced meter reading technology (AMR) can enable accurate billing for water consumption. This creates accountability for water use, helping to keep water costs affordable and distribution efficient.

Honeywell: Committed to saving lives Mario Maura, Marketing Leader, Honeywell Life Safety

Honeywell Life Safety has introduced an innovative product for the Indian market called FAAST – Fire Alarm Aspiration Sensing Aspiration Technology. It raises alert at the earliest stages of a fire. In Acclimate™ mode, the detector automatically adjusts itself to prevailing environmental conditions, so as to keep nuisance alarms at bay. FAAST has low cost of ownership and is backed by expert support.

Bytes

Three important urban innovations taking place in India in recent times are reform-based national urban renewal mission (JnNURM), an urban knowledge networking programme called Peer Experience and Reflective Learning (PEARL) and Use of Mobile Networks for Governance in Rajkot. JnNURM has focussed attention on the policy makers working to offset the challenges faced by urban India. It has succeeded in ensuring that governments commit to reforms in governance, though the commitments have not always been kept.

The PEARL programme has been keeping track of important lessons in city reforms, and identifying and documenting good practices – both online and otherwise. The Rajkot Municipal Corporation, on the other hand, has started a mobile governance programme with the aim of providing information instantly. The city has divided services in three parts – Alert Services, Interactive Services and Management Services. All the three innovations have met with success, though large-scale replication/transfer of these innovations will call for institutional strengthening and appropriate capacity development programmes.

There is a need to identify municipal solid waste management as a resource recycling activity rather than a disposal exercise. In keeping with this perception, Hanjer has developed its homegrown patented green technology to recycle and recover resources such as Biogas, Energy, Fuel oil and Compost as its second generation products out of mixed municipal solid waste.

We believe that this modular technology can be replicated not only in its 20 plants in various cities but also across metros and other small towns. It has a self-sustainable business model with 85 percent recycling capability of waste, which is in line with the global objective of reducing landfills.

The Multi Product Waste Recycling and Minimization technology [MPWRM] is an ideal solution for the large volumes of unsegregated, low-value waste being generated in Indian cities. This technological solution can be adopted by all towns and cities as a Proven Best Practice solution for their waste.

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HERITAGE CITIES Wonder That Is India Rapid urbanisation in India has accelerated the pace of change in all aspects of life and threatens to destroy its diverse heritage

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ndia boasts of rich cultural heritage, with numerous ancient structures dotting the landscape of the country. At many locations across the country, there are large forts constructed by the kings to get protected from enemies and fight with them.

There are protected and unprotected monuments, individual and groups of buildings of archaeological architectural, historical and cultural significance, public spaces including landscapes, parks and gardens, and street layout defining identifiable neighbourhoods or precincts.

As India is a land where four major world’s religions, Hinduism, Bud-

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dhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated, the heritage sites here do not belong to any specific religion and present a mixture of the real India — the secular India.

Cultural heritage of a country serves well as historical roots which connects its people to their ancestors and with the history of their land. But in recent times, rapid urbanisation in India has accelerated the pace of change in all aspects of life, particularly in urban environments. A majority of Indian cities and towns are exposed to strong extraneous and fast-growing agents of change that disturb the delicate balance that exists between the physical, social, cultural and ecological aspects

of the urban settlements.

The UNESCO bid

With a view to strengthening Indian cities and towns to cope with these changes that threaten to destroy India’s diverse heritage, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) took the initiative to form the Indian Heritage Cities Network (IHCN). The move intends to bring together representatives of various Indian historic cities and towns on a common platform to discuss their problems and share experiences and good practices for sustainable development and conservation of their unique cultural heritage.

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The IHCN was founded as a programme by UNESCO’s New Delhi Office at an international conference on Indian Cities of Living Heritage in September 2006 at Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Established with the endorsement of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, together with 10 Indian cities, several institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and seven French cities as well as the French heritage cities’ association, Association Nationale des Villes et Pays d’Art et d’Histoire (ANVPAH), IHCN has since grown to encompass more than 20 cities.

Heritage as urban resource

Heritage is an important resource for cities. In a bid to ensure this resource maintains its importance and place in the economic and cultural profile of the city, it is necessary to make sure that the infrastructure it requires is adequate and in place. Overall environment of the city is also an important factor in heritage promotion.

With the intention of preparing a conservation plan for heritage protection and development, it is essential to begin by recording and analysing the role that heritage plays in the socio-economic and cultural life of the city, by using such indicators as the number of visitors, number of people dependent for their livelihood on heritage, income that heritage generates for the city, etc.

Indian cities and their heritage

quite popular.

Today, Gwalior easily finds itself amid the most developed Indian cities with the mass production of the items like cotton, yarn, paint, ceramics, chemicals, and leather products.

Tourism in Madhya Pradesh has got a boost from Gwalior, and the city catches the attention of tourists for its art and handicraft products. The forts, monuments and palaces are all there to mesmerise one and all.

DELHI: Delhi is one of the few metropolitan cities with a high concentration of heritage structures: 155 national

monuments and another 1,000 culturally important places. Various historical periods have left their imprint and turned the city into a remarkable mosaic. Shahjahanabad is a magnificent example of 17th century Mughal urban planning; Mehrauli, built around the 12th century QutubMinar, is the oldest urban settlement in the city; and New Delhi or Lutyen’s Delhi is an amazing expression of 20th century garden city principles.

UDAIPUR: Udaipur, also known as the City of Lakes, is famous for its Rajput-era palaces. It is a popular tourist destination in India. The lakes, palaces and vibrant culture attract many foreign and domestic visitors. The wellknown Lake Palace covers an entire

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MYSORE: Mysore Master Plan 2031 has put in place a mechanism to conserve heritage environs of the city even.

The city with the majestic Mysore Palace, the royal mansions, heritage public buildings, gardens, water bodies and planned markets showcases an indelible impression of the vision of the Maharajas, their Dewans and other brilliant luminaries on the City Municipality as early as 1862.

Mysore is also called the City of Palaces as a number of palaces are located in the city. Mysore Palace or Ambavilas Palace, the main palace of Mysore, is one of the most visited monuments in India. The city boasts of over 200 historical structures, and most of them are properly maintained.

A few years ago the Government of India chose the royal city as a beneficiary under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM). The JnNURM implementing authorities undertook a Rs. 2.9-crore project for improving the heritage structures and Rs. 51.82-crore project for development of the core zone.

GWALIOR: Gwalior, the momentous city with a rich past is positioned in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. This historical city is beautifully placed on the main New DelhiMumbai and New Delhi-Chennai rail route amid its olden charm. About 300 km from Delhi, the city holds immense significance for both Madhya Pradesh and India. Being an extremely old city, historic and massive forts have made it

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island in the Pichola Lake. Many of the palaces have now been converted into luxury hotels. The city is often called the “Venice of the East”.

KOLKATA: During the British colonial era from 1700 to 1912, when Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) was the capital of British India, it witnessed

a flurry of frenzied construction activity of magnificent buildings largely influenced by the conscious intermingling of Neo-Gothic, Baroque, NeoClassical, Oriental and Islamic schools of design. Unlike many north Indian cities, whose construction is predominantly based on simplicity, the layout of much of the architectural variety in Kolkata owes its origins to ornamental European styles and tastes imported by the British and, to a much lesser extent, the Portuguese and French.

The buildings were designed and inspired by the tastes of the English gentleman around and the aspiring Bengali rich men. Many of the major buildings of this period are well maintained and several buildings have been declared as heritage structures.

VARANASI: The city of Varanasi is unique in the architectural, artistic and religious expressions of traditional Indian culture and is, even today, a living example of this culture. The city--in the past and in the present-

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-is an exceptional testimony to living traditions in religious faith, rituals and myriad festivals, traditional and ancient forms of worship and belief that are still practised in the varied expressions of asceticism, spiritual and meditative exercises, education, music, dance, handicrafts and art forms, passing from one to other generations.

Varanasi, also known as Benares or Banaras, is located on the banks of the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh, has been known for the innumerable temples there, as also their magnificent architecture. Many of its temples were plundered and destroyed by Mohammad Ghauri in the 12th century. The city has been a cultural centre of North India for several thousand years.

BHUBANESWAR: Bhubaneswar is the capital city of the eastern Indian state of Odisha and better known as a Temple Town and Cathedral City. The city is a true representative of Odishan architecture and exhibits the architectural grandeur of the state at its peak.

The Lingaraj temple is the foremost site and draws a huge flow of the Hindu devotees from everywhere.

Besides many of beautiful temples,

Bhubaneshwar is also known for its museums, and the Odisha State Museum is one of them. The museums in the city clearly depicts the glorious past it has gone through, and travellers make out the magnificence of the city with a wide set of sculpture, coins, copper plates, stone inscriptions, armours, Bronze Age tools, natural history, etc.

AURANGABAD: Aurangabad is a historical city in the northern part of the state of Maharashtra and in the western region of India. The city boasts of a rich past and has seen the dominance and ruin of many dynasties in its course of survival. Established by a local Muslim noble Malik Ambar at some stage in the early 16th century, the city fascinates travellers from all parts of the globe.

The city is well-known for the sites like Bibi-ka-Makbara, the mausoleum of Aurangzeb’s queen and several Buddhist cave temples. The city has the “poor man’s Taj Mahal”, as a replica of the Taj Mahal is built here. The city was earlier called Fatehpur and later renamed as Aurangabad by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.

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THIS PLACE COULD BE YOURS CALL NEHA SHARMA +91 96544 57548 neha@urbanupdate.in

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THE TOP

3INFRA

PROJECTS that could shape

India’s urban future

DELHI MUMBAI INDUSTRIAL CORRIDOR

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his project incorporates Nine Mega Industrial zones of about 200-250 sq. km., high speed freight line, three ports, and six airports; a six-lane intersection-free expressway connecting the country’s political and financial capitals and a 4000 MW power plant. Several industrial estates and clusters, industrial hubs, with top-of-the-line infrastructure would be developed along this corridor to attract more foreign investment. Funds for the projects would come from the Indian government, Japanese loans, and investment by Japanese firms and through Japan depository receipts issued by the Indian companies.

A band of 150 km (Influence region) has been chosen on both sides of the Freight corridor to be developed as the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. The vision for DMIC is to create strong economic base in this band with globally competitive environment and state-of-the-art infrastructure to activate local commerce, enhance foreign investments, real-estate investments and attain sustainable development. In addition to the influence region, DMIC would also include development of requisite feeder rail/road connectivity to hinterland/markets and select ports along the western coast.

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METRO RAIL NETWORK

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he Metro fever is catching up in smaller cities, thanks largely to the success of Delhi Metro.

Cities like Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Bhopal are making a case for Metro, even though they don’t qualify because of the population cut-off.

Creating a world-class Metro rail infrastructure in a con-

GOLDEN QUADRILATERAL

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gested and regulation-heavy city like Delhi was a daunting task. With two million people hitching a ride every day, Delhi Metro Rail has become a new way of life. As the Delhi Metro covers more ground, more and more people have shifted to this mode of transport.

Some 200 trains cover 70,000 km everyday on 190-kmlong Metro corridors in Delhi. The numbers can only increase once another 140 km in new lines are added by 2016.

Roughly, Rs 523 crore is saved annually in fuel costs whereas the cost in terms of time of passengers saved per year works out to a whopping Rs 2,978 crore, according to a study.

While Metro rail is successfully running across four cities, more metro rail systems, and monorail are being built to cater to the increasing needs of people in cities.

The first rapid transit system in India was the Kolkata Metro, which started operations in 1984.

It was followed by the Chennai Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in 1995.

olden Quadrilateral (GQ) highway project connects four metros - Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai, and other cities such as Pune, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Kanpur and Surat.

The network covers a length of 5,846 kilometres with four-and six-lane highways.

According to the latest update available from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), 99.71 per cent of the project work was finished at the end of January last year. Some recent reports suggest the project is 99.99 per cent complete now.

The benefits of the GQ are manifold: better movement of products and people, more choice of locations for initiating industrial activity, reduced wastage for the agriculture sector, and a decrease in vehicle operating costs and time.

The initial completion date for the GQ project was December 2003. But the project got delayed due to problems in acquiring land, arranging funds and awarding contracts. There was no cost overrun, though. The project cost is Rs 32,492 crore, which is slightly less than the Rs 34,300 crore estimated in 2005.

NHAI has been slow in six-laning of the network through the public-private participation model even though it was approved almost six years ago. In the fifth phase of the National Highway Development Plan, the government had approved the six-laning of 6,500 kms of four-lane highways comprising the GQ and some other high-density stretches through public-private collaboration. Currently, around 2,800 kms are six-lane highways.

Centre Stage

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon poses for the lens on Dec 12, 2013 after receiving 157 letters from Mayors, Governors and their associations and civil society partners calling for inclusion of an Urban SDG in the new development agenda

Standing alone to

Stand-alone cities UCLG drives forward the UN mission to achieve sustainable development goal beyond 2015 through empowerment of local and regional authorities in the urban world

By Team Urban Update

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‘Urban Age’ Vs UCLG Mantra ♦♦ For the first time in recorded history, more people are living in urban areas than in rural ♦♦ In such a scenario, it becomes critical for the actors in the urban space to act immediately, effectively ♦♦ It is important that urbanisation be socially equitable, economically viable and environmentally sustainable ♦♦ UCLG’s mantra of stand-alone urban goal is to show the way out of the urbanisation haze

“We are living in the ‘urban century’... By the middle of this century, 70 per cent of all people will be living in cities...”

Ban Ki-moon UN Secretary General

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further empower local and regional authorities for an inclusive urban development, the Barcelona-headquartered United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and its members have launched an “Awareness Campaign for a Stand-Alone Urban Goal”.

The campaign aims to influence the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for recognition of the

An Appealing Campaign The UCLG campaign has already garnered support of over 160 local and regional leaders, local government associations and working partners in over 40 countries

crucial role the sub-national governments play as engines and actors of a holistic growth. Urban objectives, like reducing poverty to the minimal and making cities sites of opportunities in an environment-friendly manner, cannot be achieved without empowered regional and local authorities, it underlines.

However, since complications in the urbanisation process are a direct offshoot of unabated migration of rural masses and rural poverty to the cities, the awareness drive emphasises that an urban goal be not only citiescentric but also entail a territorial approach, with due consideration to regional and rural-urban linkages.

The UN Secretary General’s report to the General Assembly, issued in July 2013, also acknowledges the subnational governments as key actors of sustainable development on account

Centre Stage

eckless and haphazard urbanisation, fraught with multiple risks, has the experts globally sit up and scratch their heads on how to bring about a balanced urban development while also ensuring enough resources for the future generations to come.

With less than 1,000 days to go before the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expire, the focus has now shifted to the plan of action beyond 2015. Several United Nations bodies and other concerned organisations are busy devising strategies to come to terms with the challenges of urbanisation post-2015.

Taking a cue from the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) report of June 2013 and the Rabat Declaration of July 2013 -- both stressed the need to

Centre Stage

of their proven contribution to addressing local challenges, and in turn influencing the resultant outcomes on a global scale.

The Indian Context

About UCLG The United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) represents and defends the interests of local governments on the world stage, regardless of the size of the communities they serve. Headquartered in Barcelona, the organisation’s stated mission is: “To be the united voice and world advocate of democratic local selfgovernment, promoting its values, objectives and interests, through cooperation between local govern-

ments, and within the wider international community.”

The UCLG has presence in and participation of over 140 of the 191 UN member-states spread over seven world regions, representing over half of the world’s total population.

Its members include individual cities and national associations of local governments, which represent all the cities and local governments in a single country.

UCLG Campaign ♦♦ Rapid urbanisation is an important transformative phenomenon that will reshape the world as we know it, having impacts beyond the lives of city-dwellers ♦♦ Many of the consequences of urbanisation will have a global impact. At the same time, cities have the potential to offer solutions to global challenges ♦♦ An urban goal should not only be geared towards cities but should entail a territorial approach, with due consideration to regional and rural-urban linkages ♦♦ Promote urban and land use planning for more efficient spatial management and innovative infrastructure design and service delivery ♦♦ Ensure resilience to climate change and disaster risk reduction

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India’s population has already crossed 1.2-billion mark and is expected to swell by another 300 million within the next couple of decades, while the urban headcount is likely to shoot up significantly – from 377 million in 2011 to 590 million by 2030.

This rural-to-urban movement is happening primarily because an increasingly large number of employment-seekers are headed for cities, where nearly two-thirds of the country’s economic output is being recorded.

A McKinsey Global Institute report observes: “Surging growth and employment in (Indian) cities will be a powerful magnet...projections show India’s urban population soaring from 340 million in 2008 to 590 million in 2030. And this urban expansion will happen at a speed quite unlike anything India has seen before. It took India nearly 40 years (between 1971 and 2008) for the urban population to rise by nearly 230 million. It will take only half the time to add the next 250 million.”

In this backdrop, need for a sustainable urban development is not just relevant to the country, rather it calls for immediate execution of such a plan,

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Aims of Stand-Alone Urban Goal

“...We must tackle governance reform in regional governments and strengthen their capacity to raise funds for infrastructure...”

Isher Judge Ahluwalia Chairperson, ICRIER so that the urban populace does have access to a reasonably good healthcare facility, enough drinking water, a reliable power supply system and a dependable public transport network.

The Way Ahead

dia has achieved in the past decade. In addition, between 19,000 and 25,000 kilometers of road lanes would need to be built every year (including lanes for bus-based rapid transit systems), nearly equal to the road lanes constructed over the past decade.”

The observation aptly underscores the gigantic task staring in the face of the nation if it were to secure the goal of sustainable city planning so as to herald social and environmental equity while also improving the lives of the people.

The case of urban India is also the story of urban space in East Asia, South Asia and sub-Saharan African region, where most of the population concentration is expected to take place in the next 15-20 years, UN projections suggest.

At a seminar, “Urban Asia: Financing Liveable Cities”, organised under

Crowding India India’s population has crossed 1.2-billion mark and is expected to swell by another 300 million within the next couple of decades, while the urban headcount is likely to shoot up from 377 million in 2011 to 590 million by 2030

the aegis of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in New Delhi in May last year, experts suggested possible ways to make urbanisation sustainable in India. Most of the speakers underlined the need for investment to strengthen infrastructure in cities but not before ensuring a better equipped regional and local governments that can understand and handle the local issues best.

In this context, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) Chairperson Isher Judge Ahluwalia observed, “Regional governments are responsible for infrastructure development, and they are facing such issues as establishing a revenue model for infrastructure investment, and mobilising private funding through PPPs (public-private partnerships).”

Ms Ahluwalia then discussed policies to address these issues. “First, we must tackle governance reform in regional governments and strengthen their capacity to raise funds for infrastructure. Strengthening the organisational capacity of regional governments is a precondition for the central government to transfer infrastructure funds to regional governments. Also, to realise inclusive growth, we need to improve the connectivity between large and small cities, as well as between cities and rural areas.”

Centre Stage

While urbanisation has fuelled economic growth in the Indian cities, it has also resulted in a huge strain on the existing physical infrastructure.

Overcrowding, rampant growth of slums, disparities in living conditions and inequity in access to services are endemic in the country.

In most cities, the critical infrastructure is woefully inadequate, technologically outdated, increasingly fragile and insufficient to meet even the current requirements of all its residents.

Talking of the need for infrastructure expansion in cities, the McKinsey report points out: “...to meet urban demand, the economy will have to build between 700 million and 900 million square meters of residential and commercial space a year. In transportation, India needs to build 350 to 400 kilometers of metros and subways every year, more than 20 times the capacity-building of this type that In-

♦♦ Educate and focus attention on urgent urban challenges and opportunities to reduce growing inequalities in urban areas, protect the environment and ensure resilience ♦♦ Mobilise and empower all urban actors around practical problem solving, enhancing the participation of urban stakeholders ♦♦ Promote integrated and innovative infrastructure design and service delivery to address the specific challenges of urban poverty and access to infrastructure, particularly for slum dwellers ♦♦ Promote urban and land use planning for more efficient spatial management and innovative infrastructure design and service delivery ♦♦ Ensure resilience to climate change and disaster risk reduction ♦♦ Promote inclusive and participatory governance built from the bottom up and taking into account social and cultural realities and demands

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An Eco-Friendly

alternative to bricks

T Lightweight Autoclaved Aerated Concrete blocks are fast overtaking the traditional solid fired clay bricks as an environmentfriendly building walling alternative Manish Tiwari, CEO, Biltech 38

January 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

he growth in India’s economy and population coupled with urbanisation has resulted in an increasing demand for residential, commercial and industrial buildings as well as other infrastructure. Studies suggest that out of the total constructed area existing in India in 2030, about 70 per cent would be the ones coming up between 2010 and 2030.

Also, building construction in India is estimated to grow at a rate of 6.6 per cent per year between 2005 and 2030 (McKinsey and Company, 2009), and the building stock is expected to

multiply five times during this period, resulting in a continuous increase in demand for building materials.

The bulk of building materials is currently derived from locally available clay, soil, sand and gravel. Solid fired clay bricks are the most widelyused walling materials in the country.

However, over the past few decades, development of other materials, such as solid/hollow concrete blocks, flyash bricks, Cement Stabilised Soil Blocks (CSSBs), Fly Ash-Lime-Gypsum (FaL-G) blocks and Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) blocks, has created viable alternatives to bricks.

The building materials production

January 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

industry in India, particularly when seen in the light of future demand of those materials, could have long-lasting implications in terms of natural resource depletion, future energy demand, local pollution, contribution to greenhouse gas emissions as well as socio-economic condition of a significant number of low-income workers.

But somehow, there is still very limited understanding of the broader environmental consequences of building materials relating to natural resource depletion, energy, environment and socio-economic aspects.

Therefore, there is an imperative and urgent need to have a comprehensive plan for development of walling materials production in India.

Buildings are large entities and, as such, they impact the environment in various ways. Present-day designs clearly consume large quantities of physical resources, such as materials and energy in their construction, maintenance and use. This can also have adverse effects on loss of ecological amenity and biodiversity, which remain difficult to assess, to date.

If we are going to raise buildings in an ecologically-sustainable manner, or even substantially reduce the environmental impacts of current construction approaches and practices, it will be necessary to consider the impacts of a building over its full lifecycle.

The life-cycle of a building material

can be considered to have five stages — mining/extraction/harvesting, processing, use in construction and demolition of structures built with those materials. For most building materials, the major environmental impacts occur during the first two stages, but as waste-disposal problems increase, the impacts associated with the demolition stage are also a cause of concern.

A comprehensive assessment of materials used for wall construction encompasses the following: • Consumption of resources and raw materials including water • Consumption of energy for production and transportation (em-

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bodied energy) • Operational energy of buildings resulting from material (thermal) properties • Productivity or efficiency • Emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) – CO2 • Regional air pollutant emissions – Particulates, SO2, NOx • Socio-economic benefits

Column

When compared with solid/hollow concrete blocks, fly-ash bricks, CSSBs and FaL-G blocks, Aearted Autoclaved Concrete has emerged as the best walling material alternate, and this technology is gaining prominence in both public and private sectors.

AAC, enjoying a history of over 100 years, scores the highest when compared to all the conventional alternatives and has been heralded as the building material of the new millennium. It is a lightweight and environment-friendly solution for all building walling needs.

Currently, there are more than 325 manufacturing plants worldwide that annually produce more than 25 million cubic yards of AAC. China, Russia and Europe are among their biggest users. In India, its presence has seen significant increase over the last two decades, and more than 40 production plants are in various stages of implementation across the country.

dbHMS Building Simulation Products

Is a company that focuses on in depth Indian climate and culture, the company offers contextual and innovative solutions to green engineering to design buildings with minimum energy consumption and lowest carbon footprint Features ♦♦ Engineering services like mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire fighting and lighting ♦♦ Sustainable green design that involves passive design like geothermal, earth tunnels, active passive like design integration, intelligent building and control design ♦♦ Green certification like IGBC, LEED, Eco-housing facilitation and GRIHA certification ♦♦ Advance Energy, stimulation studies on building system and commissioning and energy audits

Purafil Emergency Gas Scrubber Purafil has been the world leader in the engineering and manufacture of gas-phase air filtration media, systems, and air quality monitors Features ♦♦ The water-wastewater solutions eliminate unwanted odours and purify the air to create a pleasant, healthy atmosphere ♦♦ It is economical and effective solution for eliminating sewage odours, preventing toxic gas releases and providing corrosion control ♦♦ Known as chemisorption, this process converts odours to harmless

Solar Rickshaw The best Local Conveyance option in cities Features ♦♦ Solar Rickshaw is absolutely Non Pollutant Conveyance ♦♦ Solar Rickshaw is also an employment opportunity ♦♦ Solar Rickshaw need no CNG, PETROL, or DIESEL as fuel options

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January 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

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Intergraph Geospatial 2014 The company builds upon the foundation introduced in 2013 of a united, modern, and dynamic portfolio, broadening the reach of our customers.

It integrates the technologies across product lines, honing in on the importance of strong analytical tools, the cost savings associated with managing big data, and the ubiquity of mobile Features ♦♦ Create Customised Solutions , Spatial Modelling ♦♦ Mobile: Real-Time Updating & Reporting ♦♦ Intergraph Mobile MapWorks ♦♦ Intergraph Mobile Alert

Trilux’s Viatana LED Trilux’s lighting company has launched a new product called Viatana LED lights. With its unique reflector technology, it ensures optimal lighting of streets and parking lots and thus lessens the danger of accidents Features ♦♦ Attractive: The timeless luminaire design of the Viatana achieves a high recognition factor and long acceptance ♦♦ Future-safe: The modular luminaire construction enables easy replacement of the standardised LED modules ♦♦ Efficient: The latest free-form reflector technology for optimal illumination and intelligent switching concepts for power reduction ensure a high level of economy ♦♦ Robust: A high protection rating and high quality materials enable a long service life in outdoor areas

Kirloskar pumps’ Solid Handling Pumps

Features ♦♦ Solid size up to 105 mm ♦♦ Back pull-out design ♦♦ Gland packed / Mechanical Seal ♦♦ 50 Hz / 60 Hz availability ♦♦ Also available in vertical execution

Products

Solid Handling Pumps (SHM) are horizontal non-clog pumps having single stage, single suction with back pull out type design. SHS are vertical non-clog pumps for wet pit applications. These pumps are widely used in paper industries, water carrying gravel.

The expo focused on the growing energy needs in India. This event created awareness among the stakeholders and technology providers across the globe for the development of Indian power and industry sector

Energy Storage India

Events

04 - 06 December 2013 Mumbai, India

This exhibition is India’s largest and most prestigious security & fire safety for top security professionals

IFSEC INDIA 2013 05 - 07 December 2013 India Expo Center Greater Noida

The event was beneficial for creating awareness in specific waste solutions like collection, sorting, processing, treating, coverting, recycling and reusing

The expo focused on energy/water conservation, safety, security & fire protection, water technologies, paints, coats & wall coverings, air conditioning & refrigeration, decorative & architectural lighting, home & office automation

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05 - 07 December 2013 Mumbai, India

ET ACETECH-Delhi 05 - 08 December 2013 New Delhi, India

Ahmedabad hosted a unique exhibition called Infratech for three days, from 3rd-5th January, 2014 for technical experts and professionals related to steel, cement, and power and mining industries to get aware of the modern market trends and latest business opportunities

Another water conservation exhibition called The Water Live Water Expo, a three day event to be held Coimbatore, offers the launch of the latest products offers that promotes water technology products and equipment

Clean India Pulire

Water Live Expo 08 - 10 January 2014 CODISSIA Trade Fair Complex Coimbatore

Infratech 03 – 05 January 2014 YWCA Club Ahemdabad

January 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

ELECRAMA-2014 is poised for a quantum leap in terms of event experience, ambience, context, commerce. Manufacturers, traders, utilities, consultants and decision makers from over 100 countries will converge here

An exhibition on water conservation and management called ‘Everything About Water’, where representatives from irrigation, ground water and municipal authorities, pollution control board, technocrats and decision makers will learn the tools and techniques on water recycle

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ELECRAMA 08 - 12 January 2014 Bangalore International Exhibition Centre Bangalore

Everything About Water Expo 09 - 11 January 2014 NSIC Exhibition Complex New Delhi Karpagam College of Engineering has been successfully organizing the International Conference on Intelligent Systems and Control (ISCO) since 2006. The ISCO 2014 is themed on “GREEN CHALLENGES AND SMART SOLUTIONS”

ISCO 10 - 11 January 2014 Karpagam College of Engineering Coimbatore The year’ first International Conference on Non Conventional Energy in the field of Renewable Energy Source. The aim of this conference is to encourage the exchange of discussion on alternative energy and related research

ICONCE 16 - 17 January 2014 JIS College of Engineering Kolkata

Water Expo 20 - 22 January 2014 Chennai Trade Centre Chennai

The 22nd Convergence India 21 - 23 January 2014 Pragati Maidan New Delhi

The Exhibitions India Group is organising South Asia’s largest ICT Expo called 22nd Edition of Convergence India 2014.

Themed as “Connecting India” it is an international exhibition and conference that aims to focus on new-age technologies and merging business solutions

Events

The expo would help noted professionals to gather and analyse the latest market trends and industry happenings on water softening, engineering, chemicals and drinking water industries. Informative trade conference sessions, with renowned industry

Urban Agenda

APRESH MISHRA MANAGING EDITOR

Agenda for tomorrow’s Cities

Why is chaotic state of affairs in our cities? Did India err while doing the urban planning, or did it do it at all? Well, as a nation, India has terribly lacked in vision and strategy for a contemporary urban development

I

ndia like other developing countries on the globe has seen an urban surge: migration of people from rural areas to cities in search of opportunities has been a trend over the recent past all over the world. But, sadly though, the crowding of urban space and overall deterioration of quality of life in cities has been far worse in India than in most parts of the world.

But why is this state of affairs in our cities? Did we miscalculate the scale of urbanisation in India? Did we err while doing the urban planning, or did we do it at all? Well, the answer to all such queries lies in the fact that we as a nation have terribly lacked in strategy or vision for a contemporary urban development, or even the keenness to have a policy that suits the needs of present-day urbanisation.

Although there are a number of fac-

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tors leading to our lagging behind in the global competitiveness, we can broadly focus on five areas of urban sphere to make up for the past mistakes.

HOUSING: This is one area that has been a victim of neglect over the decades. Successive governments have failed to erect adequate dwellings in urban areas for people in general and the working class in particular. That explains why nearly 24 per cent of the urban population continues to live in slums, where even basic civic amenities are a luxury.

As the need for low-cost housing in cities has been acutely felt since long, the governments of the day need to mobilise adequate resources for the purpose and focus on housing for all. A framework for financing affordable housing solution can solve

January 2014 | www.urbanupdate.in

much of the problem.

WATER AND SANITATION: Given the unabated movement of masses from the rural to urban areas, by 2030, the number of people projected to be living in Indian cities stands at a whopping 600 million. This will lead to water supply dropping to 65 litres per person against the benchmark of 150. With ground water level shrinking fast, providing water to city-dwellers in an economical way would be a huge challenge. But our planners are yet to take into account the long-term implications of our callous attitude towards water consumption.

No different is the case of sewage disposal mechanism. In the absence of adequate investment in the area, raw sewage is being done away with by dumping into the rivers and other water bodies, thus causing immense damage to the ecological balance. It’s time for serious planning, backed by firm financial commitments.

PUBLIC HEALTH SYSTEM: Previously, it was rural areas alone where healthcare services would be in poor shape. But with the rising load on urban hospitals, all of our cities have seen collapse of public healthcare facilities for the poor citizens. One can see emergence of numerous superspecialty hospitals on the public land, given to private hands at low prices on the promise of serving poor people, but the promise is never fulfilled.

For ensuring affordable medical care, there is an urgent need to create a pool of healthcare centers around the cities.

EFFECTIVE POLICING: Secure cities would be but a pipedream in the absence of effective policing. But unable to cope up with the pressure of providing security to an ever-growing urban populace, the police administration seems crumbling down. Policing, which is synchronised with the community and is receptive to the needs of the poor, has largely been neglected.

Lack of integration with the localities creates huge mishaps. In such a situation, there is an increasing need of community policing. Creating policing in 21st century also calls for a system which involves citizens.

SUGGESTIONS Mail us at info@urbanupdate.in

Although there are a number of factors leading to our lagging behind in the global competitiveness, we will have to go in overdrive mode to make up for the past mistakes

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Urban Agenda

TRANSPORT AND TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT: Chaos on roads is common to virtually all cities, big or small, as India has an awfully inadequate transport infrastructure. Although some new concepts like Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) are being executed in Delhi, Ahmedabad and Pune, they seem going the wrong way for want of supporting infrastructure.

Moreover, the thrust of policies has apparently been on looking for ways to

promote motor cars. It is not difficult to make out that this is not a sustainable way of growing a city. The government needs to pay attention to developing transport infrastructure which is built around public transport.

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