Weak Governance, impediment in Urban Reforms +02

NHB plans fund for urban poor +17

Eco-friendly substitute for plastic +05

Mechanical puzzle parking system in Guwahati +19

It’s visible. According to the Census 2011, over the decade from 2001, Indian cit ies, towns and urban agglomera-tions added 91 million people, registering a decadal growth of 31.8%. The rural and total population during the same period grew at 12.3% and 17.7%, respectively. The migra-tion from rural to urban India in the next two decades would be even faster due to shift of the urban economy from sk i l l e d s e r v i c e s t o m o r e labour intensive industries. It could lead to a highly con-gested urban infrastructure, if not managed well. The chal-lenges, consequently, for pol-icy makers, city managers and urban stakeholders are com-plex, but the emerging sce-nario offers room for innova-t i o n a n d p l e n t y o f opportunities for new prod-ucts and services.

“ The governance is the weakest link among the key drivers of urban transforma-tion,” remarked Prime Minis-ter Dr. Manmohan Singh. “Unless our institutions are reformed and governed well, they will neither attract the huge investments required to build and maintain city infra-structure nor deliver efficient services in a sustainable man-ner. Advanced technologies such as GIS, GPS and GPRS are powerful tools for improv-ing efficiency in the delivery of public services. IT applica-tions and software packages are also being increasingly used to improve public ser-vice deliver y,” added the Prime Minister.

A n e x p e r t c o m m it t e e, headed by economist Dr. Isher Judge Ahluwalia, has made recommendations such as introducing a local bodies

finance list in the Constitu-tion, empowering the bodies with exclusive taxes, and unlocking land value by put-ting in place a transparent and accountable mechanism for the monetisation of public land. She has advocated that investment in urban infra-structure be increased from 0.7% of GDP in 2011-12 to 1.1 % by 2031-32.

Analysts opine that lack of l i t i g at i o n-f r e e a n d cl e a n titled land has pushed up property prices in the city. In a bid to reduce pressure on the existing cities, the Plan-ning Commission’s working group on urban strategic planning has proposed to develop new urban hubs along with transport and industrial corridors, to man-age the growing population in the cities and towns. The aim is to tackle future urban-ization hurdles in a planned manner as India moves from 31% urbanization to over 50%

in the next few decades. As a part of Municipal Corpora-tion of Gurgaon’s initiative, Fairwood Green Transport Private Ltd has conducted a comprehensive survey for introducing Pod Taxis in Gurgaon. There will be 3150 Pod Taxis for the entire city. The route will be 105-kms long with 143 stations and eight multilevel parking lots.

The demand for energy would also go up. Increasing usage of renewable energy such as solar could reduce the pressure on coal and oil. V. Saibaba, head of Lanco Solar, asserts that India’s solar power costs could fall by more than 40% by 2015, allowing t h e i n du st r y t o c o mp e t e against domestic oil and gas firms without the help of state subsidies. The lighting of public places including the streets is likely to opt for solar in near future.

Beneath the optimism of India’s high economic growth, the areas that deserve atten-tion are sanitation, rehabili-tating slum-dwellers and proper disaster management practices. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh Sanitation said, “If India con-tinues to go ahead with the centralized approach towards sewage treatment, not only will it create crisis situation for sanitation, it will also bring back the inhuman prac-tice of scavenging. Whereas decentralized sewage treat-ment means onsite sanitation and disposal of excreta at the place of emanation itself.” At present, only 269 towns of over 7000 towns have sewage treatment plants. The private enterprises could turn the ch a l l e n ge s i nt o b u s i n e s s opportunities.

Indian urbanization accelerates

Urban India by 2030l Cities are likely to house

40% of India’s population

l 68 cities with population of more than 1 million

l 13 cities will have population of more than 4 million

l Cities will account for around 70% of India’s GDP

l Urban India will drive fourfold increase in average national income

l Indian cities will need $ 1.3 trillion worth investment

Source: ‘India’s Urban Awakening’ report by MGI

The challenges are apparent, but the change in dynamics offers plenty of business opportunities.

FEBRUARY 2012 `50 / US $5 www.urbannewsdigest.in

Volume I • Issue I Policy 02

Environment 05

Waste 06

Water 10

Energy 14

Finance 17

Transport 19

Real Estate 21

Housing 23

Safety & Security 26

E-Governance 28

Events 30U R B A N N E W S D I G E S T

policy

Agartala Municipal Coun-cil has involved Prof Ranjit Mitra, an expert from Del-hi’s National School of Plan-ning and Architecture to ini-tiate a process to prepare a city plan for the next 25 years. Prof Mitra said, “We had a detailed discussion on how to improve urban facilities like sewerage, solid waste man-agement, drinking water,

beautification of water bod-ies and revenue collection.”

The system of issuing Khatas by the municipal corporation to claim private property own-ership may be a thing of the past in Bengaluru. Revenue secre-tary, Rajeev Chawla, said that the Khata has no legal validity as multiple Khatas are issued for a single property. The Kha-tas will now be replaced by an urban property records scheme, scheduled to be

launched in January 2012. He also said that the government will take up a project where cit-izens will be issued unique ID cards for their properties.

Ahmedabad Municipal Cor-poration (AMC) along with the city traffic department is planning to have standard-ized speed bumps across the city. The civic body plans to retain this procedure with some alterations to decide on the common type and size of speed bumps.

“We are working on design-ing the speed bumps which will be according to the road manual and standards of Indian Road Congress (IRC), which is a national body,” said Guruprasad Mohapatra, AMC

municipal commissioner. The guidelines are being framed for making the speed bumps, including the height of the bump, its width, measure-ments and necessary mark-ings for its visibility.

New property ownership scheme for Bengaluru

Standardized speed bumps across Ahmedabad

Shimla Municipal Corpora-tion (SMC) has passed a res-olution for the imposition of ‘Green tax’ on vehicles enter-ing the city. The tax would be levied on vehicles not regis-tered in Himachal Pradesh and the amount collected from it would be spent on cre-ating facilities for tourists.

The tax amount would be `100 for two-wheelers, `200 for cars and jeeps, `300 for middle segment and utility vehicles and `500 for buses

and trucks. The local civic body hopes to generate an income of rupees six crore annually from the tax to be collected at four barriers set up by the SMC at entry points.

SMC also approved the proposal to increase the tax for door to door collec-tion of garbage from `35 to `40 per household and also increase the charges for hospitals, institutions, shops, commercial estab-lishments and hotels.

Green tax for tourist in Shimla

Agartala Municipal Council to make city plan

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said that the governance is the weakest link among the key drivers of urban transfor-mation. Addressing the National Conference of the JNNURM in New Delhi, he said that unless our institutions are reformed and governed well, they will nei-ther attract the huge investments required to build and maintain city infrastructure nor deliver efficient services in a sustain-able manner.

He stressed the need of e-gov-ernance and said, “Advanced technologies such as GIS, GPS and GPRS are powerful tools for improving efficiency in the delivery of public services. IT

applications and software packages are also being increas-ingly used to improve public service delivery.” He further advocated the interconnectiv-ity of the key stakeholders with the government for enhanced urban planning.

Talking about sustainability, he said, “It is also necessary to mainstream sustainability con-cerns into our urban planning and project preparation pro-cesses. This will require urban administrations and state govern-ments to issue suitable bye-laws and regulations based on national guidelines and standards, and to incentivise adoption of sustain-able practices and technologies.”

Governance is the weakest link in urban transformation: PM

Best Performing City under Sub-Mission for Urban Infrastructure and Governance

Pimpri-Chinchwad

Best City Award for Special Category States for UIG

Guwahati

Best City Award for Implementation of Reforms pertaining to Improvement in Development

Hyderabad

Best City Award for Improvement in Solid Waste Management for UIG

Kanpur

Best City Award for Implementation of reforms pertaining to Financial Sustainability for UIG

Bengaluru

JNNURM Award Winners

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4 policy February 2012 · URBAN NEWS DIGEST

The Ministry of Tourism has stepped up its agenda to clean India. In a high-profile gath-ering, encompassing eminent ministers, technocrats, actors, media and NGOs, the contours of ‘Campaign Clean India’ were discussed. It is scheduled to be launched in March 2012. Despite the ‘Incredible India’ promo-tional campaign, India’s share in the world tourism market is con-spicuously meager at 0.6%. This seems to have triggered intro-spection and reform.

International and domestic tourists appear to have rated ‘low in satisfaction and high in importance’ areas such as hygiene and sanitation condi-tions, solid waste management and absence of public amenities like toilets as priorities. ‘Cam-paign Clean India’ is a laudable initiative, which is likely to be part of the government’s strat-egy in the 12th Five-Year-Plan. It will aim to undertake both sensitisation and action at field level to bring destinations and surroundings to an acceptable level of cleanliness and sustain this through ownership and involvement of private and pub-lic sector stakeholders.

A rather unlikely presence of Dr. A.P.J. Kalam, former presi-dent of India, as the chief guest added a refreshing twist to the deliberations. At the very out-set, Kalam hit the nail on the head with, “cleanliness starts with a clean mind”. Separate discussions were held amongst the five core groups mandated to collate five recommenda-tions each, which would lend shape and substance to the action plan of the campaign. In random order, these include — ‘call-for-action’ inspirational print and electronic media cam-paign in English, Hindi and several vernacular languages; involvement of youth through

schools; participation of celeb-rities and creating an icon for desired mass impact; building linkages between health and cleanliness; using social media network; creating synergy with other ministries; instituting a strong legal framework as well as rewards for best practices in promoting cleanliness; chan-nelising CSR of business houses towards adopting a monument; engaging NSS and NYK for vol-unteering for clean-up activi-ties; instituting mechanisms of garbage disposal; announcing a ‘Clean India Day’ in the nation’s calendar and implement LNT (Leave No Trash) messages at all key destinations.

Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi said he wanted rail-ways to emulate airlines, as far as cleanliness went. Tourism Minister, Subodh Kant Sahai, expressed a keen desire to part-ner with all departments. Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit stressed the realities of this daunting task and called upon NGOs to actively participate in the vision. On the face of it, if implemented wisely with suf-ficient resource investment, the campaign is anticipated to remove a major road block to full realisation of India’s tour-ism potential.

Though the real challenge might be in addressing the issue of habits and preferences in what is considered ‘clean’ in the context of a civilisation. For example, the Indian (or Asian rather) squat toilets and wash-ing may be anathema to the western, while the whole con-cept of WC and toilet paper ‘dry’ cleaning might be consid-ered dirty by an average Indian. The Japanese have even now not phased out the squat toi-lets from public conveniences. But then, they also reinvented the WC with washlets fit-ted for washing as an alterna-tive to ‘dry’ cleaning. Can we do that? If only we could face such ‘dirty’ issues, beyond the aesthetics of catchy slogans and advertising campaigns, we can hope ‘Campaign Clean India’ to make an impact.

Given India’s phenomenal growth over the past couple of years, certainly the challenge, and indeed the key, is to align economic with sustainable development. While the tran-sition toward a green economy will present huge opportuni-ties for innovation, I believe the most valuable of these will be within global partnerships - through the interchange of technology and expertise.

Indeed, nowhere is the stag-gering pace of transforma-tion taking place in India more apparent than in the develop-ment of its infrastructure. The UK’s low carbon supply chain already forms a key part of many of today’s major global infrastructure programmes, including India; where British design and engineering skills are already evident across the country’s major projects and drawing on UK know how.

Take, for example, India’s airports, where several UK firms are involved in their development including Mott Macdonald. Mott was part of the design and engineer-ing team for the Delhi airport, which went on to win the pres-tigious ‘British Construction Industry’ award for 2010. Mott have been appointed civil and structural design engineers for ten elevated metro stations in Chennai and will provide all civil, mechanical, electrical and architectural services for these stations. UK-based Hal-crow is closely involved with the Delhi Metro project and a number of other metro proj-ects across India. Certainly, with India planning to spend £57 billion on rail develop-ment, there are considerable opportunities for both coun-tries to share clean technology expertise and implement sus-tainable solutions for wide-spread application.

And it is not only the rail sec-tor, where these collaborative opportunities are to be found. UK firms like JCB, Serco and KPMG are involved in the Brit-ish India Roads Group, which was established by UKTI and

UKIBC to improve India’s con-gested urban roads and create new rural roads using recycled and waste material.

The UK is rapidly becoming a global hub for leading low car-bon solutions - offering a broad spectrum of bespoke, cost effec-tive and innovative technolo-gies that can be tailored to local legislation and fiscal drivers. And with London 2012 set to be the greenest Olympics ever, the Games provides the ideal plat-form from which to showcase the UK’s low carbon credentials across a range of areas.

Indian firms can also find out about the breadth of UK expertise through events like the recent Urban Regenera-tion Mission (28 Nov-2 Dec 2011). Last month, UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), the government department that supports overseas firms to do business in the UK and UK firms to globalise, led a high profile mission of leading British companies to Kolkata, Mumbai and Bhopal to explore project opportunities.

The mission, which was jointly organised in partner-ship with the UK India Busi-ness Council (UKIBC), pro-vided a unique platform from which to showcase UK innova-tion and ongoing capability in sustainable infrastructure.

UKTI will also have a pres-ence at Municipalika in Chen-nai, where exhibiting UK companies including Geo-tec, Enviro Technology and Atkins will showcase exper-tise on city infrastructure and sustainable urban devel-opment projects. Design firm, Atkins, for example, work with government, public and private sector organisa-tions in providing solutions to urban development and

environmental challenges.The UK and Indian govern-

ments have already established the British-India Infrastruc-ture Group to identify part-nership opportunities across India’s extensive infrastructure development programme. But where can Indian companies most benefit from UK exper-tise to help strengthen their own global competitiveness?

Certainly, the UK has learnt from the revitalisation of its ageing inner cities and this embedded knowledge can use-fully be shared across India’s own expanding cities. Bho-pal, Kolkata and Mumbai are all keen to access UK exper-tise for their various regener-ation projects including the development of old indus-trial areas, waterfronts, mar-kets and parks. UK companies including Beckett & Rankine and BMT Baxter are working on port projects in south India while architectural firm Benoy, is developing market cities – a mixed use development in Chennai, Bangalore and Pune.

Meanwhile, UK-based architects RMJM worked on the design of the Common-wealth Games Village, H.R Wallingford, which provides support in engineering and environmental hydraulics, undertook a feasibility study for Cochin Transhipment con-tainer terminal.

As more Indian compa-nies gain greater awareness of the breadth of experience that UK businesses can offer, and we continue to fuse skills and expertise, I am confident that the UK’s low carbon know-how will play an integral role – and make a valuable contri-bution – to India’s dynamic eco-nomic growth and infrastruc-ture development.

Some soap and lots of lather…

UK’s low carbon skill base will help India’s infrastructure

Ministry of Tourism’s ‘Campaign Clean India’

VIEW POINT

The UK’s low carbon skills base, which is driving world leading sustainable solutions, is well placed to help india’s booming infrastructure indu-stry meet its green targets.

Mike Nithavrianakis, British Deputy High Commissioner in Southern India.

ENViRoNMENTJapan had much to tackle, after it was badly hit by the Tsunami in early 2011. Apart from the heavy losses it faced, it still faces great threat from the Fukushima Nuclear power plant. According to a latest study, following the heavy

floods and consequent trem-ors in the area, the Fukushima nuclear disaster released twice as much of radioactive sub-stance into the atmosphere. Comparing with the disaster that happened at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine

on 26 April 1986, experts opine that the radiation dispersed from Fukushima could be close to 40% of the Chernobyl.

The study by author Andreas Stohl of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, estimated the presence of much higher levels of radioactive cesium-137 in and around the area, which is dan-gerous because it can last for decades in the environment, releasing cancer-causing radi-ations. Meanwhile, an official from the Japanese government branch of Nuclear and Indus-trial Safety Agency said that the agency could not offer any com-ment on the study because it had not reviewed its contents.

After much delay in the cloud-seeding experiment started by the Pune-based Indian Institute of Tropical Meteo-rology (IITM), it is now plan-ning for another extension till next year. The experiment aims at creating artificial rain to tackle drought-like situa-tions in the rain shadow areas of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, with its main focus on Solapur.

IITM is presently using an aircraft which has been hired from South Africa. Apparently a Doppler radar is being used to monitor an aircraft spraying salt on tar-geted clouds, while a second plane with instruments is due

to measure the changes. How-ever, IITM has now proposed hiring an Indian aircraft for the purpose.

“Last year, we faced prob-lems with litigation issues on the company that had bagged the tender for the aircraft, and this year the Directorate Gen-eral of Civil Aviation (DGCA) delayed permission to use the aircraft hired from South Africa for rain seeding,” said Director IITM B. N. Goswami. The `50 crore experiment, Cloud Aerosol Interaction and Precipitation Enhancement Experiment which the Minis-try of Earth Sciences (MoES) had started in 2008, was due to end in 2011.

The West Bengal government, has allotted 350 acres of land for the upcoming industrial park and eco-tourism infra-structure at Nayachar, which is an island on the Hooghly river in East Midnapore dis-trict. An official of the Hal-dia Development Authority said that around 250 acres will be given to the industrial town of Haldia and the other 100 acres will be provided at a place near Panagarh in Burd-wan district.

Earlier, a PCPIR project was proposed in the Nayachar Island; however, the state gov-ernment scrapped the venture on environmental grounds and assured that an eco-tour-ism project would come up in its place. “The government will not allow a chemical hub in the state because of threat of air and land pollution and also since it threatens the livelihood of fishermen,” said Partha Chatterjee, the State Industry Minister. He further added that the island would be developed for eco-tour-ism and protection of inter-ests of fishermen inhabiting the island.

In a recent move, the Karna-taka High Court has strictly prohibited the commercializa-tion of lakes in Bangalore. A PIL was filed by the Environ-ment Support Group, challeng-ing the privatization of manage-ment and rehabilitation of lakes in Bangalore. The High court panel under the chairmanship of Judge N K Patil recommended that there should be no private

sector participation to commer-cialize lakes in the city.

The panel was constituted by the Principal Division Bench of the High Court, entrusted to formulate a long term plan to conserve lakes in Bangalore. It made 10 recommendations, one of which states that the com-mercial exploitation of any lake cannot be allowed under any circumstances.

Fukushima emits 40% of Chernobyl radiation

IITM cloud seeding experiment to be extended

Commercialization of lakes prohibited: Karnataka HC

Nayachar to get eco-friendly hub

The Solar Energy Park at the Garden of Five Senses that has been non-functional since 2007 is now on the verge of revival. The Delhi Tourism Board is all set to float tenders for the main-tenance and operation of the park that has solar powered cars, cycles and buses.

“The tenders will be floated by next week and the short-listed private company will run the park for seven years. The expenditure for revival of this park will be worked out at a later stage. The company will be allowed to charge a nomi-nal amount for usage of facili-ties provided in the park,’’ said an official. The official further informed that shortlisting a reliable company would take another six months at the min-imum, and only then will the vehicles be made ready for use.

Solar Park to be re-energized in Delhi

After decades of research all round the world, a city com-pany in Gurgaon has claimed to have found an alternative for plastic. Roidec India Chemicals in Gur-gaon has said that it has manufac-tured the liquid e m u l s i o n , n a m e d Roithane, which is c u r r e n t l y being used commercially for packaging purposes.

Plastic poses a direct threat to the environment since it is non-biodegradable. While the manufacturers and devel-opers of Roithane, claim that

this substance is 100% envi-ronment friendly and biode-gradable, and is developed from food-grade vegetable oil.

“It is for the first time in the world

that anyone has d e v e l o p e d

such a sub-stance, and it will soon make plas-

tic a thing of the past,”

said Anu-mod Gagan

Sharma, the proud director of the company

where the emulsion was devel-oped. Although a little costlier, Roithane cuts all the recycling costs making it cost effective.

Environment-friendly substitute for plastic

WASTE

Following complaints from local residents to the Maha-rashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), the incinera-tor for disposal of biomedical waste in the Pimpri Chinch-wad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) area will soon be shifted to the Moshi garbage depot, outside the city limits. MPCB had given directives to

the municipal corporation to shift the biomedical waste dis-posal facility way back in 2010.

At present the incinerator is attached to the Yashwan-trao Chavan Memorial hospi-tal (YCMH), where PCMC had signed a contract with a pri-vate agency for waste disposal. Accordingly, the corporation tabled a proposal to allow the

agency to shift the biomedical facility by relaxing the rules and conditions in the contract.

PCMC’s medical chief has said that it will take five months to build a new bio-medical disposal facility at the garbage depot. In the mean-time, PCMC will continue to operate in the existing facility at YCMH.

Garbage collection agency, SWaCH will be allotted two more spaces at the Pim-pri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) for improving the work of gar-bage segregation.

The agency will also use the spaces for washing and mainte-nance of vehicles deployed for door to door collection of gar-bage. Nirmala G, SWaCH man-ager, said that the agency is run-ning 116 hopper rickshaws in two zonal areas - Pradhikaran, Chinchwad, Akurdi, Talawade, Sangvi, Thergaon, Kalewadi, and Pimple Saudagar. Addi-tional spaces were required as the number of houses in the area exceeds the number of rickshaws that can reach Chikhli on time.

ACTS (Agriculture, Crafts, Trades and Studies) Minis-tries, a Bangalore-based Bible training institute and a centre offering vocational training, is engaged in producing its own power using organic waste gen-erated by IT companies, includ-ing IT giant Wipro.

Dr Ken Gnanakan, General Director-ACTS, said it was aimed at linking the urban concern with solid waste man-agement to rural require-ments like compost, electric-ity and employment. He said, “Known as water-jacketed floating gas holder model, this unit has an installed capacity of 10 kilo volts (KV). The waste is segregated into inorganic

recyclables (metals, recycla-ble plastic, glass, etc), non-recyclables (leather, non-recy-clable plastic, tetra packs, etc) and organic waste. The inor-ganic recyclables are sent for specific recycling process through scrap dealers. Non-recyclable materials are col-lected in gunny bags and are stored in separate storage area for disposal.”

Every day, the 12-kw bio-gas generator runs for about six hours 45 minutes. Sludge coming out of the biogas plant is partially filtered and reused for mixing the food waste. The rest of it is processed in drying beds and is used for agriculture.

A corporation-wide inaugu-ration of the decentralized waste management campaign was held at the Muttada ward of Thiruvananthapuram. This

waste management scheme will be piloted in the Thampa-noor, Palayam, Nanthancode, Pattom, Kesavadasapuram, Kowdiar, Kuravankonam, Vazhuthacaud, Palkulangara, Poojappura, Fort, Sasthaman-galam, Vanchiyoor and Kun-nukuzhi wards.

Earlier, the corporation council had unanimously accepted a motion to this effect moved by Mayor K. Chandrika. Recently the cor-poration organised a work-shop featuring experts on waste management.

Experts have cautioned that building sanitation capac-ity sans decentralized treat-ment of sewage generated from it, will lead to an increase in many social and health prob-lems. Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh Sanita-tion and Social Reform Move-ment, said, “If India continues to go ahead with the central-ized approach towards sewage treatment, not only will it cre-ate crisis situation for sanita-tion, it will also bring back the

inhuman practice of scaveng-ing. Whereas decentralized sewage treatment means onsite sanitation, disposal of excreta at

the place of emanation itself.”Citing the Central Pollution

Control Board data, Pathak said, “Even if we put a halt to the development of the cities at this very point of time, it will take us 3000 years to put sewer lines and cover the entire country with centralized sewage treat-ment plants at this rate.”

At present, only 269 towns of the more than 7000 towns and cities in India have sewage treat-ment plants, according to gov-ernment’s own data.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has started the upgradation of the city’s sew-age system, but it is still indeci-sive over the use of treated sew-age for non-potable purposes. In 2009, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had publicly mooted the use of treated and supply the water and find consumers for it.

Rajiv Jalota, Additional Municipal Commissioner, said, “We have de-linked the treat-ment of sewage water and the use of water for non-potable purposes. The BMC will invest only in the treatment of water and will leave the use to the

interested parties.”Jalota added, “There is uncer-

tainty about whether such water will be bought at all. So, we will encourage private firms to invest so that the civic body doesn’t spend on it.”

PCMC to shift biomedical waste disposal incinerator

Two more spaces for SWaCH

NGO produces power from organic waste of IT firms

Thiruvananthapuram launches waste management campaign

Founder of Sulabh movement criticizes centralized approach

BMC in a fix over use of treated sewage water

Ramky Enviro Engineers is commencing its operations in Chennai soon for collection, segregation and transporta-tion of garbage. Out of the three zones awarded covering 88 sq km, i.e. Teynampet, Adyar and Kodambakkam, work will start from Teynampet, where the company is now in the process of selecting 3,500 to 4,000 con-servancy workers.

Full operations in all the three zones will start in March. The project involves use of GPS-enabled technology to coordi-nate and optimise garbage col-lection and vehicle movement.

With the lowest bid for cost

per metric tonne, Ramky Enviro was awarded the `560-crore conservancy contract for the three zones for a period of seven

years. Besides operating simi-lar conservancy contracts in 10 Indian cities, Ramky also has operations in Singapore.

Ramky aims to make Chennai clean like Singapore The Tamil Nadu Pollution Con-

trol Board (TNPCB) has asked local bodies, including the Chennai Municipal Corpora-tion, to set up e-waste collec-tion centres in order to prevent such wastes being broken down by hazardous methods by peo-ple in the informal sector.

TNPCB Member Secre-tary K Karthikeyan said that only five per cent of the total e-waste produced was com-ing into the formal sector. He said, “A survey of e-waste gen-eration sources, including

industries, commercial estab-lishments, home appliance sell-ers and households, would be conducted soon. This has been stressed in the e-waste policy of the state government.”

Karthikeyan further said, “Similarly, many firms are claiming to be recyclers of e-waste, however, several are not. They only disman-tle e-waste in a crude, rudi-mentary manner. An enter-prise audit must be done by TNPCB to ensure proper handling of e-waste.”

TN local bodies to set up e-waste collection centres

8 WASTE February 2012 · URBAN NEWS DIGEST

To tackle the city’s garbage problem, the Munic-ipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) is all set to build a waste-to-energy plant at Narela-Bawana, where they already have a waste pro-cessing plant.

The plant will not only take care of 4,000 of the 8,000 metric tonnes of garbage generated by Delhi everyday, but will also generate 32 MW of

electricity. The electricity produced will be added

to the grid to bring electricity to homes across the city. The proposed waste-to-energy plant will

be built at a cost of `500 crore and will be built by Ramky Group. The plan had

been introduced some time back, but MCD was awaiting approval from the Union Ministry to go ahead with it.

The Brihanmumbai Munic-ipal Corporation (BMC) has sought the participation of big public and private compa-nies, five star hotels and hous-ing societies to start their own garbage treatment plants to help it avoid the overuse of its dumping grounds.

Mohan Adtani, Additional Municipal Commissioner said, “We have asked private firms to set up their own garbage treat-ment plants but this is just a request and not binding on them legally.” At present, BMC

has only one dumping ground at Deonar and the other three

at Chincholi Bandar, Gorai and Mulund are defunct.

MCD to build new waste-to-energy plant

BMC seeks participation of private firms to manage garbage

Various experts on solid waste management gave ideas on how the waste collection

system in Chandigarh could be revamped. They said that the garbage could be collected

from the source and then taken straight to the Garbage Processing Plant.

The discussion at PEC University of Technology in association with Chandigarh Administration and Munic-ipal Corporation was held during a national workshop on ‘Best Practices in Munici-pal Solid Waste in India’ with a focus on Chandigarh.

P U Asnani, Chairman, Urban Management Consul-tant, said that city waste is always heterogeneous and that there is a need to plan out how much land is required for the landfill.

Experts give ideas on solid waste management in Chandigarh city

Indian households in urban areas, generate around 2.6 mil-lion tonnes of dry recyclables per annum, out of which 1.3 million tonnes is contributed by paper only, which includes newspaper and magazines also.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has proposed that the govern-ment could frame a policy on

management of waste paper, while calling for greater private sector participation in this area.

The DIPP has also proposed that the government could simul-taneously announce a scheme to provide incentives to municipal-ities, which in turn can make it mandatory for households to seg-regate waste and impose a fee on commercial users.

DIPP policy for managing waste paper in urban areas

International Finance Corpora-tion (IFC) is helping Government of Orissa and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation for the introduction of 24x7 water sup-plies in the city. A comprehen-sive first round meeting has already begun. IFC is willing to support a PPP model or through private participation.

BMC is following the path of Nagpur, the first city to have privatized the water distribu-tion. What has drawn the Gov-ernment’s attention towards the 24x7 water supply is the Nag-pur case of improved quality of water with only a marginal rise in tariff. The total water supply in Bhubaneswar is around 250 million liter a day.

A large section of available water goes waste and the author-ities at BMC said the involve-ment of private companies will reduce water wastage.

A survey conducted by IIM Calcutta students reveals that for the betterment of the Kol-kata’s riverfront, not only the restoration of ghats but better transportation and civic facil-ities also are required.

The study proposes ‘Integra-tion of river with cities’ by way of providing transport linkages and civic amenities. It says that only restoration cannot beautify

the rivers but a comprehensive plan is required.

There are observations about conditions of riv-ers along with the ghats, the buildings, neighborhoods, civic infrastructure and trans-portation are in poor shape. The IIM report also suggests improvement of living condi-tions for people residing close to the ghats.

WATERBhubaneswar likely to get 24x7 water supply

IIM-C suggests integrating river with city

The Delhi Jal Board got the pilot project on PPP cleared for water distribution in a few areas in Delhi. A bid-ding process would be held for scrutinizing the compa-nies. Along with water dis-tribution, companies would also be responsible for the operations and maintenance

of the reservoirs. Officials said, they hope that this will help improve the efficiency in water distribution network and reduce no-revenue water.

Around 250 water tank-ers of over 13 years old will be replaced to improve water distribution through tank-ers. Over `37 crore have been

budgeted for operation and maintenance of the 27 MGD recycling water treatment plants for a period of five years. Approval for a proposal worth `364.5 crore for supply, installation and a seven-year maintenance contract of eight lakh domestic water meters was also given.

S Delhi water project on PPP model

Nagpur Municipal Corpora-tion (NMC) is likely to give entire water works infra-structure to private opera-tor Orange City Water Ltd (OCWL) for 25 years.

Chairman of Water Works Committee, Prakash Totwani said, “NMC will ensure that the amount spent on tank-ers is collected from the oper-ator once the water works is handed over to them.”

NMC had got `1,670 crore for various water projects under the central government’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. Of this, the corporation has already started projects worth `1,000 crore including estab-lishment of two new water treatment plants, construction of 24 overhead water tanks, lay-ing of new water pipeline net-work, leak detection etc.

NMC water goes private

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Slum-dwellers at Mankhurd area in Mumbai have dug up wells for their daily water requirements. Slum dwell-ers said they are facing water shortage and they have to pay `100 on an average per day to get water from private suppliers. They said being

dependent on water tankers forced them to dig up wells for non-potable use of water.

Slum-dwellers also said that the water supply for an hour daily was not suf-ficient for the high den-sity population in the area and demanded that the

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) should look into the matter and pro-vide basic water facilities.

However, the civic body has the policy to provide water connections only to those shanty owners registered till January 1, 1995.

Slum-dwellers dig up wells

Storage capacity of important reservoirs in the country improvedThe combined live storage in 81 important reservoirs in the country is 108% of last year’s storage and 119% of last 10 years average storage.

Central Water Commission is monitoring storage position of 81 important reservoirs spread all over the country, of which as many as 36 reservoirs are having significant hydro-power benefits with installed capacities of more than 60MW each.

Out of these 81 reservoirs, there are presently 10 reservoirs where this year’s storage is less

than 80% of the average of pre-vious 10 years and in remaining 71 reservoirs the storage is more than 80% of the average of previ-ous 10 years.

The Commission has kept in touch with the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation and is providing information of the weekly storage position to the Crop Weather Watch Group for evolving suitable crop strate-gies and also appraising the sit-uation to various departments and ministries involved in water resources planning.

Bangalore will have uninter-rupted water supply by March 2012 as the fourth phase of Cau-very drinking water scheme is to be completed by then. The scheme, executed by the Banga-lore Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB), was delayed due to scarcity of sand, but has recently been expedited to meet the deadline. The total cost of the

completed works is estimated to be worth ̀ 2,500 Crore.

Urban Development Minister, S S Kumar, said the completion of the project will help pump 500 MLD water. He claimed to have visited the place for the ninth time to review the progress, expe-dite the work to meet the dead-line and complete the mega water supply scheme on time.

Indore Municipal Corpo-ration (IMC) has passed a proposal related to water schemes i.e. supply from Narmada phase III, water supply to villagers in Khargone and to Indore Railway station.

Talking about water supply to villagers from Narmada, Mayor Krish-namurari Moghe said, “As per the agreement with ADB on Narmada Phase III, we are liable to sup-ply five mld of water out of 356 mld water that will be supplied through the pipeline. Right now we will get only 90mld water from March, and we will supply only three mld of water to the villagers.”

Kolkata Metropolitan Devel-opment Authority (KMDA) is planning to install two water meters to avoid water shortage in summer in three municipali-ties - Bidhannagar, South Dum Dum and Dum Dum.

Kolkata Mayor and KMDA Vice Chairman Sovan Chatterjee met with the senior officials of the agency to discuss the water woes in the three municipalities

in summer. He mentioned that all the three civic bodies as well as Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) have to pump in underground water to meet the daily demand and advised to install water meters in these areas. KMC at present, supplies about 10 mil-lion gallons of water per day to the three municipalities, less than the actual requirement.

Uninterrupted Cauvery water supply by March 2012

IMC passes three water schemes

Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) in Maha-rashtra has collected only `10.21 crore as water tax for the current financial year, as against the target of `79 crore due to interrupted water sup-ply even after installing water

meters under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) from April 1, 2009. It was observed that the residents were not paying water taxes because they were getting excessive water bills by the authority.

PCMC’s water tax figure below the target

KMDA to meet water needs in 3 areas

12 WATER February 2012 · URBAN NEWS DIGEST

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ENERGy

If you are an energy specialist looking for a job, the solar energy sector could just be your next big destination. To fulfil targets of 20,000 MW of installed capacity

under the National Solar Mis-sion, the Indian solar energy industry will need an estimated one lakh people by 2022 across domains, profiles and levels.

The sector aims to invest nearly `4,337 crore by the end of its mis-sion period.

The solar space of late has been abuzz with activity with around 40 players such as Enam Securities, Emami Group, enter-ing this market in the last one year alone. “Solar power proj-ects can be implemented in a very short time of 3-4 months compared to traditional means of power like coal and hydro and they also have a long life of 25 years,” the managing director of a solar company said. Besides, there is an additional advantage of acquiring assets like land at lower rates with help from the government, which ensures huge returns in the long run.

What can be termed as astute pol-icy making and better cost com-petitiveness compared to con-ventional power generation, India is expected to see wind energy installation going up by 3,000MW this year, says a report.

The anticipated capacity addition would be 39% higher than that of 2,142MW witnessed last year, according to a HSBC Global Research report. In addi-tion, the country is projected to have wind capacity addition of nearly 7,500MW between the 2011-15 period.

“The key drivers for growth

are primarily a strong pol-icy framework and improving cost competitiveness of wind

technology compared to conven-tional generation,” the report said.Normally, a significant proportion of installations in the Indian wind market have been by non-utilities and non-developers. However, in the past two to three years the market has witnessed the emer-gence of various renewable devel-opers, with the Indian side grow-ing from 1,600-1,800 MW to a 2,000MW mark, the report said.

“We, therefore, retain our wind installation forecasts for 2012-15, with 2,400MW instal-lations in 2012 and 2,700MW in 2015,” the report added.

ReNew Wind Power expects to launch a 200MW wind power capacity by December 2012. The founder of the company, Sumant Sinha, a former Chief

Operating Officer of Suzlon Energy, announced that he has already placed orders with Suzlon and the Chennai-based ReGen Powertech for wind power turbines. The company aims to start deputing the project by the middle of next year, with a total capacity of 100 MW and also intends to put 25 MW under the REC scheme – which would fetch them trade-able ‘renewable energy certificates’. This comes as a breather to all those aiming to build an eco-friendly world.

Solar energy to create more jobs

More wind energy installation in India by 2015

It’s time for real windfall

In India, the production of ‘white coal’ has become quite popular in many places, with Rajasthan topping the list. In Jaipur, for instance, more than 200 units are producing this coal presently. It seems that in future, white coal is likely to replace regular fuels for oil due to its low carbon emission levels and high calorific value. The main ingredient used in

making ‘white coal’—mus-tard seeds, was earlier thrown away by farmers as an agricul-tural waste. Today, Rajasthan contributes 70% of the total production of mustard seeds. According to environmental-ists, the production of white coal is gaining popularity eas-ily in Rajasthan as it’s cheap and it also helps the farmer to earn extra money.

Rajasthan tops the ‘white coal’ production list If ‘health is wealth’ then having

a healthy style of living amidst an eco-friendly atmosphere is equally essential. Recent studies have shown that green buildings not just help to create a positive atmosphere but it also increases the energy efficiency. The next thought that comes to our mind is the right planning.

Adequate planning mini-mizes the ill-effects of unplanned urbanization. India has scored a

position among the few countries for planning good green struc-tures. The country has over 1,290 green building projects coming up with a footprint of over 908 mil-lion square feet. The data shows that we should match our pace with the rest of the world where in the next 10 years span, the num-ber of green buildings will be about five times the current figure. Of these, about 30% are expected to be in India as well as in China.

Live Green, Live Well

Chennai’s wind electric gen-erator makers RRB Energy, is in the process of acquir-ing a minority stake in an Ital-ian firm, a top company offi-cial confirmed recently. “We are in the process of acquiring one company in Italy for (enter-ing) the solar energy sector”, RRB Energy Deputy Manag-ing Director Sarvesh Kumar told reporters. He said this would be the first overseas acquisition by the city-based company. Asked whether the company was formally acquir-ing the Italian firm, he said they would acquire 20 to 25% stake in that company, whose name he declined to divulge. “We will

hold a majority stake in that company. We will be having around 20-25%. That’s a tech-nology company in the solar energy sector”, he said.

RRB Energy is also plan-ning to set up their fourth electric generator facility with an investment of `250 crore. “We already have three facil-ities near Chennai. This will be the fourth to manufacture large capacity wind turbines”, he added. The company already invested around ̀ 250 crore to set up three manu-facturing units at Poonamal-lee near Chennai. The fourth is coming up on 20 acre land allotted by SIPCOT.

RRB to enter the solar energy sector

Solar solution for data centres While extensive use of power in firing servers, storage sys-tems and again cooling them, are putting immense pres-sure on the power grids, IBM’s India Software Lab in Banga-lore has devised a quick solu-tion to the problem. IBM has developed a system to run data centres on solar power which

will be commercially available for use. Until now, no one has engineered solar power for efficient use in Information Technology sector.

“We have designed a solar solution to bring a new source of clean, reliable and efficient power to energy-intensive, industrial-scale electronics.”

said Rod Adkins, senior VP of IBM’s systems and tech-nology group. This solu-tion will bring a 10% sav-ing in developed markets, which could be even bet-ter in emerging markets, where there are many places that are not served or inad-equately served by the grid.

NPCL distributes power through women SHGs If we are talking about women empowerment, then here’s a piece of it. The Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) is in the process of building a one mw solar power plant at Surajpur in Greater Noida and the power that is generated will be distributed through women self-help groups.

“Solar power would be distributed, on a cost basis, through women self-help groups in villages in Greater Noida as part of our solar power programme,” NPCL CEO RC Agarwal said. “We are doing this in association with a Delhi-based NGO, Development

Alternatives,” he added.On completion of this proj-

ect, six offices and six substa-tions of the NPCL in Greater Noida will run on solar power. The energy that would be saved will be consumed by the masses. This effort will help in reservation of energy in an environment-friendly way.

16 ENERGy February 2012 · URBAN NEWS DIGEST

Solar power prices to fall

Arctic waters, West Asia, new sources of oil and natural gas

India’s growing energy needsKeeping a tap on the grow-ing need of solar energy across India, Lanco Solar is among the few companies nominated for the task of building solar power proj-ects in the country.

V. Saibaba, head of Lanco Solar, announced sometime ago that India’s solar power costs could fall by more than 40% by 2015, allow-ing the industry to compete against domestic oil and gas firms without the help of state subsidies.

If it was huge oil reserves that drew world attention to West Asia, it’s now the turn of natural gas and other recoverable reserves to raise the eyebrows yet again.

In the last couple of years, vast amounts of nat-ural gas have been found deep under Israel’s Medi-terranean waters, and stud-ies have begun to test the feasibility of extracting syn-thetic oil from a large kero-gen-rich rock field south-west of Jerusalem.

Israel’s swing of fate is just one of many big energy sur-prises developing as a new generation of unconventional fossil fuels rule the roost.

From the high Arctic

waters north of Norway to a shale field in Argen-tine Patagonia, from the oil sands of western Canada to deepwater oil prospects off the shores of Angola, giant new oil and gas fields are being mined, steamed and drilled with new technolo-gies. Some of the reserves have been known to exist for decades but were inaccessi-ble either economically or technologically.

Put together, these fuels should bring hundreds of billions of barrels of recov-erable reserves to world mar-ket in the coming decades and shift the geopolitical and economic calculations around the world.

According to a 2005 data on availability of electricity across India, it has been claimed that about 50% homes are still wreathing under darkness and it will take another five years to light them up.

Speaking on the acute short-age of electricity in India, P. Uma Shankar, secretary in India’s Ministry of Power said, “In about two to three years, the per capita consumption will cross 1,000 kilowatt-hours. It would require the electricity supply to grow about 8.7% a year.

“We have been growing by about 5.5% a year. By the end of this year, we will have about 200,000 megawatts of generation. This we will need to increase by about 15,000 to 20,000 megawatts per year for the next 10 years.” How-ever, when asked about how India will look like in 15 years, Shankar replied, “Per capita electricity consumption will increase to 2,000 kilowatt-hours per person.” Thus we hope to see a brighter India in the near future.

UJVN joins hands with GAIL A joint venture has brought together Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVN), the state-run hydropower company, and GAIL to set up two power plants in Uttara-khand. In June 2011, a MoU has been signed to set up two gas-based power plants of 350MW each. A total of `2,500 crore is proposed at Kashipur

and Haridwar towns for these two plants. The design capac-ity of the pipelines will be 2.5 MMSCMD. It has been decided that the majority of the power from these power plants would be sold to Uttarakhand through a long-term power purchase agreement. The projects are now awaiting its approval by the state Cabinet.

FiNANcE

Three months before the finan-cial year comes to an end, just about 20% of the total of `7,637 crore has been utilized for cap-ital works like roads, hospitals, water, etc by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). It has been the case every year since 2007. Around `3,631 crore

was not utilised in 2007-2008. The next year, the unused fig-ure was ̀ 4,819 crore; in 2009-10, it was `3,896 crore; and in 2010-2011, ̀ 3,222 crore.

In the recent past, the under-utilization of funds has impeded many important projects such as building of

pumping stations, conserva-tion of heritage sites, and con-struction of additional toilet blocks. Of the eight pumping stations it planned, the BMC managed to finish just two. The undertaking to complete 35,000 additional toilet blocks by 2011 is also unfinished.

The Finance Ministry has approved 1% interest subvention on housing loan scheme liberaliz-ing the limit of housing loan up to `15 lakh. The subvention will be provided where cost of the house does not exceed ̀ 25 lakh.

In a press release issued by the Ministry, `500 crore has been made for the financial year 2011-12 for the scheme. National Housing Bank (NHB) has been designated as the nodal agency.

The scheme provides inter-est subsidy on housing loans as a measure to generate addi-tional demand for credit and to improve affordability of hous-ing to borrowers in the lower and middle income groups.

Limit of subsidy for an indi-vidual borrower would increase to ̀ 14,865 for a loan of ̀ 15 lakh on reducing balance basis from the present limit of `9,910 for a loan of ̀ 10 lakh.

The National Housing Bank (NHB) will set up a loan guar-antee fund of `1,200 crore for the urban poor during the Budget 2011-12 for housing loans up to `5 lakh in metro and other cities.

A trust will be setup for loan guarantee of 90% for loans up to `2 lakh and 85% for loans

up to `2-5 lakh. The scheme, funded jointly by the central and state governments, will be a default guarantee scheme intermediated by banks and financial institutions.

The recovered amount after the lender pays back will be used to repay the financial insti-tutions and NHB’s trust

Greater Visakhapatnam Munic-ipal Corporation (GVMC) has annual budget with estimates of `1886 crore, for 2012-13 with almost no change from the last year’s budget which was around `1,900 crore. Presenting the Bud-get, the city mayor, P. Janardhan Rao, said, “Around `115 crore have been allocated for the con-struction of houses under the JNNURM scheme and ̀ 100 crore for a fly over at Aseelmetta junc-tion and BRTS.”

This is the last budget by the present council. The cur-rent GVMC council’s term ends on February 26. The bud-get proposals were increased to `1,200 crore after it became the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation.

Only 20% of the fund utilized so far by BMC in 2011-12

1% interest subvention on housing loans up to `15 lakh

`1,200 crore for urban poor

GVMC presents `1886 crore budget for 2012-2013

The Haryana government has provided first phase of grant-in-aid to urban local bodies for undertaking development work in the areas of transport, infra-structure among others.

The government has sanc-tioned `25.37 crore as a first installment for the development works during the year 2011-12.

After the first phase is complete, a utilization certificate will have to be presented before getting second installment.

An official associated with the development said, “Direc-tor, Urban Local Bodies, would be responsible for ensuring that grants released are utilized as per guidelines issued by the Finance Commission.”

Haryana Municipal Councils get `25 cr grant

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TRANSpoRT

The Guwahati Metropoli-tan Development Authority (GMDA) has joined hands with Kolkata based firm, Simplex Projects Limited; for develop-ing a multi-level parking called the mechanical puzzle parking system. With an investment of `40 Crore, the Public Private

Partnership (PPP) based project is believed to be ready by 2013.

An official associated with the project said that the technology has been adopted after looking at various technology used in other countries like Japan and Korea. He said that the puzzle park tech-nology and tower parking will be

installed for above the ground, underground and combination.

“The growth in city’s facilities infrastructure needs and beau-tification in respect to essential civic facilities and amenities. The new parking lot will offer relief to commuters and vehicle owners in the city,” a GMDA engineer said.

An analysis on PMC’s transpor-tation budget for 2011-12 reveals that despite `930 crore being allotted for transport to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), there has been greater traffic congestion, pollution and accidents in the city as the budget allocation is to encour-age more use of motor vehicles. The study was carried out by Pune based NGO, Parisar.

NGO’s programme director Ashok Sreenivas said that more than 60% of the transport bud-get is allocated to boost the use of motor vehicles while only 18% of the budget is for encouraging

public transport. Sreenivas said that such

preference in allocation of funds results in greater use of motorized vehicles. Over the last two years, there was

a growth of 23% in the num-ber of two-wheelers and cars registered at the Pune RTO. It has resulted in greater con-gestion, pollution and acci-dents in the city.

Deputy Municipal Com-missioner of Ahmedabad Municipal Corpration said in a press conference that the corporation is looking to add more routes and buses in the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) to ease traffic conges-tion in the city.

Run by Ahmedabad Jan-marg Limited (AJL), and set up by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), City’s Bus

Rapid Transit System (BRTS) service, which began with just a 12.5 km stretch in 2009, is spread over 45 km today ben-efiting around 1.4 lakh passen-gers daily. Started with a fleet of 12 buses, BRTS will have 150-200 buses by next year.

A recent survey suggests that BRTS passengers are sub-ject to lesser vehicular pollu-tion as compared to any other mode of transport.

Mechanical puzzle parking system in Guwahati

Pune’s traffic bottlenecks remain

BRTS will boost city’s transport system: AMC

The world’s biggest com-puter-services company, IBM has launched ‘Smarter City Solutions’ — a new solution designed to help cities of all sizes gain a holistic view of information across city depart-ments and agencies.

IBM’s Intelligent Oper-ations Center, which is a

streamlined suite of real-time dashboard, analysis, and data integration tools for its Smarter Cities initiatives, will offer specific modules for public safety, water and trans-portation that are designed to optimize operational efficien-cies of a city.

As for expansion, IBM expects to start operations in 40 Indian cities by 2013. With APAC contributing 24% of its total revenue in the first quar-ter ending March 31 this year, increasing at a rate of 12% year over year, it is fastest among all other geographic regions.

IBM launches smart city solutions

The Ministry of Road Trans-port and Highways (MORTH) has approved the construc-tion of 1000 kms of express-ways under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) at a total cost of `16,680 crore. The project under sixth phase of NHDP will be implemented through Public Private Part-nership (PPP) model.

The ministry has also

proposed to develop National Expressway-NE II, (Eastern Peripheral Expressway) con-necting NH-1 at 36 KM near Kundli and terminating on NH-2 at 64 KM near Palwal.

The proposal for establish-ing Expressways Authority of India on the pattern of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has also been put on the discussion.

New expressway projects by MORTH

Draft report by the Minis-try of Urban Development for sustainable cities, indi-cates that a comprehensive and implementable transport plan based on metropolitan transport authority (UMTA) is required to do away with traffic congestion in major cit-ies. The report advocates an engaged participation of each and every stakeholder related to city management.

The report says, “The plan should function as a sin-gle-window clearing house for evaluation and funding of transport projects. The UMTA should control funds for the city on urban transport related aspects. This would ensure that all sanctioned proj-ects for the city are coherent, integrated, give good priority to public transport and non-motorized transport facilities.”

Implementable mobility plan required

Referring to the concept of Green Highway in the devel-oping countries for quite some time, C P Joshi, Minister of Road Transport and High-ways, finally announced that India is participating in the Green Highway Campaign.

Addressing the ‘ASEM Transport Minister’s Meet-ing & Transport Develop-ment Forum’ in China, Joshi said that the incentives pro-vided by Government of India for implementation of projects through PPP mode include grant of 40% Viabil-ity Gap Funding, allowing 100% Foreign Direct Invest-ment, Tax concessions, and duty free imports on road construction equipment.

“The government intends to take up mega projects of about 400-500 km estimated to cost about US 1 billion dol-lars each and would welcome international investors, con-tractors, and concessionaires to participate in this pro-gramme”, he said.

India taking green route: C P Joshi

Canadian Consultant LEA Ltd. is preparing a comprehensive transport plan for Hyderabad metropolitan development area. This plan will be prepared with the support from the Min-istry of Urban Development, Government of India. A study for the purpose is being carried out covering the entire HMA covering Hyderabad District.

LEA has proposed to develop a comprehensive transportation

plan for short, medium and long term periods for HMA. Over 30,000 households would be sampled and interviewed during the course of the Home Interview Survey covering areas under Greater Hyder-abad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). The information col-lected would be utilized to esti-mate the travel demand, appre-ciate travel pattern and plan for better transport infrastructure.

Hyderabad Metropolitan for a broader transport plan

Fairwood Green Transport Private Limited has con-ducted a comprehensive sur-vey for introducing Pod Taxis in Gurgaon, a much touted plan by the Municipal Corpo-ration of Gurgaon (MCG).

According to the survey, there will be 3150 Pod Taxis

for the entire city. The route will be 105-km long with 143 stations and eight multi-level parking lots. The route will pass through NH8 at six locations.

The route will also cover old Gurgaon localities in addi-tion to the posh and privately

developed townships such as DLF City, Sushant Lok, Palam Vihar, Southcity and HUDA sectors. The project will cost the state govern-ment around `5,000 crore and is likely to be executed under the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has approved the proposal of two road projects worth `2,240.65 crore by Ramky Infrastructure.

The first project is for six-laning of the Agra-Etawah bypass section of National Highway (NH)-2 in Uttar Pradesh under the National Highways Development Proj-ect (NHDP) Phase V. The

second project is for four-lan-ing of the Hospet-Chitradurga section of NH-3 in Karnataka under NHDP Phase III.

The estimated costs of the projects are `1,207.00 crore and `1,033.65 crore, respectively. The concession period for the first project is 30 years and for the sec-ond 25 years. Both the projects include a construction period of 910 days each.

Pod Taxi: Dream not so far Ramky Infra gets two road projects from NHAI

20 TRANSpoRT February 2012 · URBAN NEWS DIGEST

REAl ESTATEAccording to a research study conducted by Liases and Foras, a real estate research firm, around 68% flats in Mumbai cost over `1 crore, and only 2% of flats available in the city cost between `25-50 lakh.

Pankaj Kapoor, managing director, Liases and Foras, said, “the flat prices have gone up ten times in the past decade. There were 55% slums because of unaffordable houses 10 years ago. The figure is now 70%. If the prices do not come down, more slums will mush-room in the city”.

He said houses which fall in the `25-50 lakh bracket, find no takers as they are located at neglected areas like Saki Naka and Marol in Andheri (East).

The India apartment Index has risen in capital and rental val-ues across metros have wit-nessed a 4% rise in the Jul-Sep 2011 quarter compared to Apr-Jun quarter, revealed the report by Magicbricks.com.

Delhi, Chennai and Ghazi-abad saw 9% rise, while Noida was at second spot, with an 8% increase, followed by Ban-galore and Hyderabad (5%). Mumbai, Gurgaon and Pune posted moderate rise of 1-2% , below the national index val-ues. Ahmedabad index value dropped 5%, while Kolkata wit-nessed no change.

Capital values rose in over 50% of localities across cities during the period. However, only three out of 11 cities showed a similar trend in rental values.

The report highlighted lim-ited supply of new projects across markets due to tight monetary conditions, high quoted prices led users to go slow on investment decisions, rise in rental values because of improved transport corridors and metro connectivity, and hike in capital values of sub-urban properties near IT/com-mercial hubs.

Cushman & Wakefield and Global Real Estate Institute said in a report that the office space market in India’s top seven cities will see 17% growth higher than estimated demand. Of the seven cities - National Capital Region, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Kolkata - only Bangalore will see demand for office space exceeding supply.

Arvind Nandan, executive

director, Consultancy Services, Cushman & Wakefield India, said, “As the supply will be exceeding the demand for com-mercial office spaces in the next five years this may lead to increase in vacancy. The corporate clients in such a scenario will look for better value proposition in terms of rents, maintenance cost, park-ing etc, while expanding and con-solidating operations.”

68% flats in Mumbai cost over `1 crore: Study

DLF launches affordable housing project in Bangalore

National Property Index (NPI) rose by 7%

Oversupply in office space segment by 2015

To improve profit margins and devise a way to offload land, realty major DLF has launched affordable housing project in Bangalore and has recently moved away from selling apartments. The company has

already started selling homes in south Bangalore for prices starting at `28 lakh compared to the `70 lakh-plus starting price for most of its flats, echo-ing a trend it has stayed away from for years.

This year, DLF has largely launched plotted develop-ment projects in multiple locations, restricting resi-dential sales to luxury apart-ments in Chennai and villas in Shimla.

Consequent to the complaints about the the administrive delays, the Maharashtra Government with the Brihanmumbai Munic-ipal Corporation (BMC), has decided that the proposals of construction projects after they are submitted should be either approved within 90 days or rejected instantly.

It takes at least four years to get an approval for a proposal. Delay in commercial and residential

projects escalates the total cost of the project, which puts an addi-tional burden on the end-user.

An official associated with the project told that the authorities are keen to streamline the pro-cedure by removing all unnec-essary hurdles such as seeking permissions so that the develop-ers will be able to complete the projects on time and there will not be any delay in handing it over to the buyers.

Construction projects in Mumbai to be approved within 3 months

NCC Urban Infrastructure Limited is planning more than 10 residential and com-mercial projects worth `250 crore together with a built-up area of 2.5 million square feet, in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyder-abad and Kochi.

The company has got `150 crore as equity and remaining as loan from the parent company NCC Limited. The company has a land bank of over 400 acre but has so far developed around 2 million sq ft of residential and

commercial space.Narayana Raju Alluri, man-

aging director of NCC Urban, said “The Company is in the process of launching a 100-acre

integrated township, envel-oped with commercial space, in Visakhapatnam, besides a 150-unit apartment venture in Gun-tur city shortly.”

The circle rates have been increased by the Delhi Govern-ment by up to 250% in A cate-gory colonies and 15% in the last category (H) colonies, ris-ing from `86,000 per square metre to `215,000. Those in B category will go up 100%, from `68,200 and ̀ 13,800 to ̀ 136,400

and `15,870, respectively.The rates of C category prop-

erty will increase from `54,600 to `109,200. The rates of D cat-egory `43,600 - will be revised to `87,200, while the rates for E category will be `47,840, up from `36,800.

Chief Minister Sheila Dik-shit told reporters after a cabinet meeting that the step has been taken to ascertain the actual rates of the property and ensure legal transactions. The government has also decided to review the cir-cle rates every two years, she said.

NCC Urban plans projects in South India

Delhi Property Circle rates up by 250%

Abu Dhabi Municipal is going to launch rental guidance index for helping individuals and groups. By it, rents in the city will be guided by an index providing information about the true rental value of properties.

Ali Al Hashemi, manager at the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, said, “The index will determine the

rental value of a unit based on indi-cators like location, number of bed-rooms and how old it is”.

The Tawtheeq system will be implemented for transactions associated with the Department of Transport (DoT), the Abu Dhabi Distribution Company (ADDC) and the Department of Economic Development.

Abu Dhabi to launch rental guidance index

22 REAl ESTATE February 2012 · URBAN NEWS DIGEST

HoUSiNG

The Beijing Municipal Govern-ment is going to add more peo-ple for low rent housing. The program targeted at the low and middle-income earners and peo-ple without a residential regis-tration in Beijing, having worked there for more than five years, has been designed to facilitate hous-ing for all across city.

The rules will allow those

residents pay less than their neighbors. According to the size of the apartments and income levels, the applicants will get subsidies. However, the rent the people will pay would be slightly less than that of their neighbors. Moreover the per capita floor area will not exceed 15 square meters for those who have already had homes.

The Centre for Environmen-tal Planning and Technology (CEPT) University in a study has revealed that out of 172 plots with a total size of 135.85 hectare, only 6.1% of the land is being used for socially and economically weaker section (SEWS) housing.

The study conducted by CEPT faculty member Rutul Joshi and research associate Prashant Sanga says that the local government is not tak-ing advantage of the plan-ning tools such as town plan-ning schemes which provide

land to the poor, due to vari-ous administrative and legal reasons. The mismanagement of the resources and ineffi-cient land management cause

underutilisation of SEWS housing land. The study also points out that this has con-sequently failed in attracting attention of the planners.

The Mira-Bhayander Munic-ipal Corporation (MBMC) has stopped giving water con-nections to the new construc-tions in the area from the last 8 months due to shortage of water

supplied for the residents.Residents are forced to pay

higher rates on commercial water for the building they have occupied. Challenges remain with the sources from where the authorities are going to give water to these new constructions.

MBMC approves propos-als for buildings with water supply. The water depart-ment assesses the proposal and gives its clearance. But for the last two years MBMC has failed to provide water facili-ties to new constructions.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has asked co-operative group housing societies at Indra-prastha Extension in east Delhi to pay Common Area Tax applicable since April 1, 2004 for the common area on their premises. The soci-eties have been asked to meet the assessor-collector with all docu-ments at the earliest this year.

According to a notice sent by MCD to Indraprastha co-opera-tive group housing society, these housing societies have to pay tax for all the covered common areas. Residents are protesting saying that the societies did not

get any civic works facilities by the MCD. They allege that the basic civic work is done by group housing societies.

“However, if the societies can prove that the common areas are part of the super-built area, they need not pay tax for it,” said a senior official of the property tax department.

6.1% of the land used for weaker section in Ahmedabad

No water for new buildings at Mira-Bhayander

Pay tax on common area: MCD

At a seminar on ‘Let’s Face Urban Challenges’, organized by the Orissa chapter of Confed-eration of Real Estate Develop-ers Associations of India (CRE-DAI), the Vice Chairman of Bhubaneshwar Development Authority (BDA) D K Singh said that lack of litigation-free and clean titled land has jacked up property prices in the city.

Singh said that BDA board has approved a land acquisi-tion policy for construction of houses. BDA will facilitate acquiring land for housing proj-ects after it gets nod of higher

authorities. Developers will be called in for the construction in association with BDA. The land

will be provided for the people belonging to lower, middle and higher income groups.

Property price high due to lack of litigation- free land

Beijing’s rental housing program covers more

The economically challenged are becoming vocal. A large number of slum dwellers in Pune have demanded a cooper-ative society to implement the Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme instead of giving their development rights to pri-vate builders. At a hearing, which was convened by Pune Municipal Commissioner, Mahesh Phatak and SRA Joint Director, Dr Sanjay Kolte, at least 1,000 dwellers, who were present there, threatened to boycott the civic elections, if their demands were not met.

The dwellers have also objected to the eligibility rules, wherein, only those registered as voters as on January 1, 1995 and continued to stay in the same location, are eligible for housing facility. The SRA has been set up to carry out slum housing schemes in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad area, which has 560 and 69 slums, respectively.

The government is equally active. The National Advisory Council (NAC) has suggested that the slum dwellers should not be displaced. They should be resettled at the same place where they reside. In the areas where resettlement is not pos-sible, they should be relocated by citing appropriate reasons and those being displaced will have the right to appeal against such an order. Ame-nities for such housing should

also be clearly indicated in fresh guidelines.

The Working Group (WG) on Urban Poverty, headed by Harsh Mander, has advised that the Rajiv Awaas Yojana should work more comprehensively towards making urban India free of slums. Union Minister for Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Kumari Selja has involved Peruvian Economist Hernando de Soto, who is President, Institute of Liberty and Democracy (ILD), Peru to discuss a project focus-ing on the legal empowerment of the poor in India. The project will focus on three states to assess the extent of insecure property titling, the reasons for it, its most common practices and suggestions in which this wealth can be unlocked for the use and benefit of the poor. The project is supposed to propose institutional changes and reforms that will pave the way for large-scale national i mp l e m e nt at i o n o f t h e s e reforms for a more inclusive urban growth in India.

The ripples could be seen at Surat. Municipal Corporation at Surat has been given financial assistance worth `27.27 crore for taking up city mapping and survey work for slum-free city cell under the central govern-ment’s Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY). The first installment of `59.60 lakh has already been

released. The Rajiv Awas Yojna has been initiated after the experience of JNNURM sub-mission of Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) and the Integrated Housing and Urban Development Programme (IHSDP). The projects worth Rs 700 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) are on in the city to build approximately 46,850 houses for the urban poor.

The Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation has

issued the Draft Model Prop-erty Rights to Slum Dwellers Act, 2011 for public discussion. The Model law advocates that new urban families, whether by way of migration or natural growth of population, should have recourse to housing with civic amenities, and are not forced from lack of options to create encroachments and slums and live extralegal lives in conditions of deprivation of rights and amenities. The Model law focuses on enabling the household to access the for-mal channels of credit and access to mortgageable rights for housing construction.

Kumari Selja has said that 55 projects under the Sub-Mission Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) and 107 projects under the Integrated Housing

and Slum Development Pro-gramme (IHSDP) of the Jawa-harlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) have been sanctioned for con-struction of 1,54,750 and 99,224 dwelling units, respectively. She said in the Lok Sabha that the Government of Maharashtra had requested for replacement of non-starter projects by new ones and the same has been agreed to. Six projects under BSUP and eight projects under IHSDP were returned to the state government for modifica-tion. The proposals received from the state governments are processed and considered by the sanctioning committee at the central level. The govern-ment asserts that no project under BSUP and IHSDP is pending for approval.

24 HoUSiNG February 2012 · URBAN NEWS DIGEST

Rehabilitation of slum dwellers offers innovative business opportunities

Building Materials and Tech-nology Promotion Coun-cil (BMTPC) has developed Design Packages using alter-nate building material and construction technologies in different geo- climatic condi-tions consisting of a cluster of 60 houses, community centre, school and shops/ kiosks.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Kumari Selja said, in the Design Packages alternate

building materials and con-struction technologies devel-oped in the country by R&D Institutes and other agencies for walling, roofing and other ele-ments have been recommended in place of conventional materi-als and practices.

She said the aim of the Design Packages is to establish and propagate the cost effec-tiveness of known and scientifi-cally proven as well as emerging

building materials and con-struction technologies in dif-ferent parts of the country. The alternate technologies aim at reducing the cost upto 20%.

BMTPC develops alternate materials and constructions technology

URBAN NEWS DIGEST · February 2012

SAFETy & SEcURiTyCDMC conducts quake mock drill

Gurgaon takes a different route to punish traffic violators

NIA to set up operations in Mumbai

Mumbai may get security cover like London

Orissa Govt announces 360° disaster management plan

The City Disaster Manage-ment Cell (CDMC), an initia-tive of the Thiruvanantha-puram Corporation, which works under the Govern-ment of India Urban Risk Reduction Program, is aimed at disaster risk mitigation, strengthening institutional capacity and creating aware-ness among school children.

The CDMC with support from Trivandrum Social Ser-vice Society recently organised an earthquake mock drill ses-sion in a government school.

The members of the school safety clubs were also directed to conduct home-based

studies like collecting details from newspapers about disas-ters which had hit their city, like floods.

The Gurgaon police has joined hands with car maker Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) to impart road safety and driving skills to drivers at a Road Safety Knowledge Centre. The idea is that the police will track the vio-lators when they come to pay challans and bring them to the training room.

The training will be manda-tory for violators and they will have to pay `50 for it. Police Commissioner SS Deswal, inaugurated the one-room cen-tre, which will operate from the office of DCP traffic. Offenders will be trained on road signage, rules and behavioral aspects

through multimedia and simu-lators. Deswal said, “It will pro-vide road safety knowledge to

violators and bring a cultural shift to improve traffic condi-tions in the city.”

Owing to Mumbai’s vulner-ability to terror attacks, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will set up an opera-tional base here. Ever since its inception after the 26/11 terror attacks in 2008, NIA has been sending its men to probe ter-rorist strikes in any part of the country along with the state agencies. The NIA, which has its head quarters in New Delhi, has two operational bases — at Guwahati and Hyderabad. Apart from Mumbai, the NIA

is also setting up operational bases in Chennai and another city in a southern state.

The Maharashtra government has given a go ahead to the home department’s plan to install 5,000 CCTV cameras in Mum-bai costing `600 crore. Home Minister, R R Patil, with a group of ministers, bureaucrats and high level police personnel had recently visited London to study the security measures employed by Scotland Yard to tackle ter-ror and crime. One of the offi-cials, who had visited London said, “We want a similar set up for Mumbai. CCTV cameras will be installed in areas with a high crime rate.”

The Orissa State Government has announced special provi-sions for women, children and persons with disabilities to face natural calamities. For this the Orissa State Disaster Manage-ment Authority in collaboration with Handicap International

has started work on structural modifications in 28 multipur-pose cyclone shelters with pro-visions of ramps and specially-designed facilities for them.

Apart from these, ten units of Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force, trained in search and rescue techniques and equipped with modern machinery, have been set up at Cuttack, Balasore, Chha-trapur, Jharsuguda, Koraput, Bhubaneswar, Paradeep, Bar-ipada, Rourkela and Bolangir to respond to disasters.

Road Accident Data Management System in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu has planned a GIS-based Road Accident Data Man-agement System (RADMS) under

the ‘Road Safety Action Plan’ for detailed information on accidents for all the roads.

State Traffic Planning Cell has been appointed as a nodal agency for implementation of the plan. The project has been designed with the help of international consultants and is funded by the World Bank.

The state had set a target of

reducing fatalities by 20% over the period from 2006 to 2013. The target has already been exceeded, and bolder targets can be set now.

Tamil Nadu had one of the worst records of vehicle acci-dents in the recent past and it also had the fastest growth in the number of vehicles in the coun-try, from 82 lakh in 2007 to 1.3 crore in 2010.

SAFETy & SEcURiTy 27URBAN NEWS DIGEST · February 2012

More police personnel for KolkataThe West Bengal state cabinet has created 3,407 new posts for state and city police forces. Of the posts, 2,500 are for con-stables in Kolkata Police, 319 for drivers in the city police and 50 female constables in the same force.

But these new posts mean more money, and it is unclear how the cash-strapped state government would recruit the new staff immediately. The new posts have been cre-ated in all 14 cabinet meet-ings since the new Trinamool Congress led government came to power in May. Sanc-tion was given for 6,900 posts in 17 new police stations and

10 traffic guards for the city’s southern fringes after the decision to bring all Kolkata

Municipal Corporation (KMC) wards under the city police jurisdiction.

BMC opts for web-based parking System

UN disaster management expert gives a reality check

WHO helps Hyderabad prevent drunken driving

Fire safety checks in Municipal buildings

DMRC makes construction safety guidelines stringent

The Brihanmumbai Munici-pal Corporation (BMC) is plan-ning to deploy a web-based parking system to record the number of vehicles being parked, the type and model, entry and exit time and num-ber of hours it was parked.

“By computerised park-ing and linking the system to the BMC’s server, we will be able to track the movement of vehicles in the city. This sys-tem will help during terror attacks or vehicle thefts,” said Additional Municipal Commis-sioner Aseem Gupta.

The surveillance system will be further strengthened as the police’s plan to install CCTV cam-eras across the city will also help

track movement of vehicles. “One can track the time of a vehicle being parked and the direction in

which it went afterwards. These little details will help all security agencies in the city,” said Gupta.

The Hyderabad traffic police will now impose harsher penalties on drunken drivers. Besides detaining the vehicle, they will book a case against the culprits under Section 185 of the IPC and impose a pen-alty of `1,000. For the first time in the country, the city traffic police will use hand-held breath alcohol analysers to pre-vent road accidents. With the help of these latest analysers,

funded by the World Health Organisation (WHO), C V

Anand, Additional C o m m i s s i o n e r

of Police (Traf-fic), believes they will be able to handle drunken driv-ing effectively.

Due to alarm-ing increase in

the number of road accidents, especially in

Andhra Pradesh, the WHO launched Road Safety-2010, a pilot project in the city as part of its Global Road Safety Part-nership (GRSP) initiative.

Mumbai fire brigade has been asked to check fire safety in all public hospitals and other municipal buildings in the city. They have also been asked to perform regular audits.

The Additional Munic-ipal Commissioner of Bri-hanmumbai Municipal

Corporatio, Manisha Mhais-kar said, “We have given fresh instructions to check all municipal properties including municipal hospi-tals for fire safety norms. We have directed the chief fire officer to speed the process of these fire audits.”

The loss of 60 lives in two mis-haps during the construc-tion of Delhi Metro’s phase II has impelled Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to make the guidelines for Safety, Health and Environ-ment (SHE) stringent.

The corporation has made training of contractors, work-ers and site engineers involved in the construction sites of phase III mandatory. Anuj

Dayal, spokesperson, DMRC, said, “We have tied up with IIM-Ahmedabad to provide this training.”

A DMRC official said, “Phase 3 is the most complex project and we have to carry out construction in heavy traf-fic zones like the Ring Road and Outer Ring Road. Any mishaps in these places would not only cause damage to our workers but the general traffic as well.”

J..Radhakrishnan, Head of UNDP India’s Disaster Man-agement wing said that India is losing `86, 000 crore annually, due to lack of disaster manage-ment practices. According to him, 58.6% of India’s landmass is prone to earthquakes of mod-erate to very high intensity and over 40 million hectares (12% of land) is prone to floods and river erosion.

Radhakrishnan said, “Vul-nerability to disasters and emer-gencies of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear origin also exist. Disaster risks can be related to expanding population, urbanization and industrialisa-tion, development within high-risk zones, environmental deg-radation and climate change.”

He also said that conventional construction methods must be

avoided to make buildings safer. He also emphasized on the need to follow national building code during construction to ensure safety from earthquakes.

E-GoVERNANcE

The Sikkim Government is going to create an online platform for citizens’ access to government services and integrating admin-istrative functions. The platform will help citizens get access to government services from any-where anytime.

Contract for executing the project has been given

to leading IT services com-pany—Accenture. Krishna G.V. Girim, Head, company’s Health & Public Service said, “The government will be bet-ter equipped not only to share important information, but facilitate future growth by reducing operational costs and overheads.” Accenture

will use e-forms builder’ in this e-Governance project for rapid and standard imple-mentations, he said.

The Minister of IT of State of Sikkim, N K Pradhan said that this e-gov project will benefit citizens and enable easy interaction with various government services.

The Delhi Government has taken a step more towards smart e-governance projects, with e-SLA (Service Level Agreement) in Delhi being a big hit so far among the cit-izens since 15th September when it was launched. The e-SLA delivers 32 services related to 14 departments.

Sources associated with the project said that the departments have got

1,42,820 applications dur-ing this period. e-SLA tool was used maximum by the applicants to get their services from Revenue and Transport Departments.

Sources said as far as ser-vice delivery with ease is con-cerned, most of the applicants favored e-SLA in Delhi which they were satisfied with. The percentage of delay in provid-ing services was negligible.

Sikkim gets Accenture for e-gov initiatives

e-SLA well implemented in Delhi

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minis-ter J Jayalalithaa has unveiled e-ticketing facility for the bus services, operated by the State Transport Corporations. The ticketing facility can be availed either through the website or via mobile phone.

There are around 50 reserva-tion centers operational in the state and its neighboring states. It is expected that the number of the

centers will go up to 300. The new facility is available on 1,000 buses of the state express transport

corporation (SETC) and a few other long-distance buses of the other transport corporations.

The Uttar Pradesh Govern-ment has launched e-pay-ment portal for business to ensure paper free transac-tion. The portal called Nivesh Mitra, has a unique interface for smooth transaction for

entrepreneurs and investors.After inaugurating the por-

tal, State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Com-missioner V N Garg said that the e-payment portal accessi-ble at www.udyogbandhu.org

also assists entrepreneurs for getting clearances from 12 gov-ernment departments.

At present, Nivesh Mitra is operational in 18 districts but will be made available in the entire state in next few months.

E-payment portal for businessmen

The Information Kerala Mis-sion (IKM) is going to intro-duce e-payment facilities to sev-eral municipalities but people at IKM have talked about man-power crunch.

Currently seven panchayats are being attended by the tech-nical assistants from IKM. A technical assistant associated with IKM said that after having added other panchayats in the local bodies, they would have to

go to other panchayats as well. List will include more local

bodies after having completed the entry of data of the current local bodies which are opera-tional under the project, and will be saved at the Kerala State Data Centre. Operator-created data will be authenticated first by the authorities of the local body concerned and then by the quality assurance team from IKM.

Kerala ULBs to get e-payment facilities with manpower crunch

Tamil Nadu govt introduces e-ticketing facility for bus services

EVENTS

What’s new at Municipalika 2012l Focus on Clean

Technologies: Water, Waste, Renewable Energy and Recycling

l Participation of United Kingdom

l Participation by Urban, Energy and climate-change experts from UN Habitat HQ, UK and US

l Exclusive Conference Session: Sustainable City and Urban Development - The UK Experience (with UKTI)

l Focus Session on Affordable and Inclusive

Housing, and Slum-less cities (with Magic Bricks)

l Special Session: Cities for GenNext and Sustainable Campuses (with Brookhaven National Laboratory, University of Madras)

l Special Session: Vibrant Cities – Living Heritage (with Indian Heritage City Network)

l Support from Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and Indian Green Business Council, among others

Municipalika 2012, the 10th International Conference and Exhibition on Good Urban Governance for Making Cit-ies Work, being organised in Chennai from 23rd to 25th Jan-uary 2012, will showcase and leverage high-level of urbaniza-tion in India to deliver opportu-nities for sharing experiences and best-practices, strategies and solutions, and business networking for delegates and exhibitors from all over India and abroad.

The mega event is supported by the Government of India’s Ministries of Urban Develop-ment, Housing and Urban Pov-erty Alleviation and New and Renewable Energy. This is in addition to the strong support

and participation of the Gov-ernment of Tamil Nadu as host state, along with all its ULBs, public utilities, para-statals, and urban infrastruc-ture related organisations. The event will also have participa-tion from the UN-Habitat HQ in Nairobi.

A significant value addition this year is the participation of the United Kingdom with an exclusive segment in the con-ference and exhibition show-casing the UK’s experience in sustainable urban infrastruc-ture development. The other new features this year are the sessions on vibrant cities and living heritage, as well as on GenNext cities and sustainable campuses. The US Department

of Energy continues its sup-port to Municipalika to high-light issues related to energy efficiency and low-carbon urbanization.

The deliberations are struc-tured over 12 technical sessions covering various critical areas of urban development, manage-ment and governance, and over 800 delegates and 100 speakers are expected to participate from 100 Indian cities and abroad.

The exhibition will have over 150 technology and service providers, urban stakeholders, and city and state pavilions. The conference is organised by Good Governance India Foun-dation and the Exhibition mar-keting and logistics are han-dled by Fairfest Media.

Good Urban Governance for Safe, Healthy, Green, Inclusive and Smart Cities

Municipalika 2012

Conference Programme

An eye view on the Conference23 January, 2012 : DAY 1Inaugural Session

10.00- 13.00 Inaugural Session of Conference, Launch of Urban News Digest, Inauguration of Exhibition and Walk-around by VIPs and Delegates

23 January, 2012 : DAY 1THEME: Urban Reforms & Best Practices, Safe Cities

14.00–15.30 Progressive Cities: Urban Reform Agenda - Policies and Strategies, New JNNURM

15.45–16.45 Working Cities: Efficient and Effective ULBs / Parastatals – Institutional Framework for Governance

17.00–18.15 Safe & Resilient Cities: Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Strategies.

17.00-18.15 Vibrant Cities: Living Heritage

18.30–20.00 Vision Addresses: Future Cities

24 January, 2012 : DAY 2THEME: Healthy & Green Cities

09.30–11.15 Healthy Cities: Integrated Water and Waste-water Management

11.30-13.15 Healthy Cities: Integrated Solid-Waste Management

11.30–13.15 Green Cities: Sustainable Urban Transportation and Traffic Management

14.00-16.00 Sustainable City and Urban Development: The UK Experience

16.15-18.45 Green Cities: Low Carbon, Energy-Efficient , Sustainable Built-Environment and Communities

19.00-20.30 GenNext Cities

Sustainable Chennai and Sustainable Campuses

Special interactive session with Urban Stakeholders, Businesses, Citizens Communities and Young Professionals

25 January, 2012 : DAY 3THEME: Inclusive & Smart Cities

09.30–13.00 Inclusive & Humane Cities: Affordable Housing for all, Slum-less Cities

15.00-17.00 Smart Cities: Next Level E-Governance Solutions and Geo-Spatial Technologies

17.00-18.30 Valedictory Session and Awards Distribution

EVENTS 31URBAN NEWS DIGEST · February 2012

Tamil Nadu is the most urbanized state of India. As per the 2011 Census, 48.45% of the population of Tamil Nadu lives in the urban areas. The state has 125 municipali-ties, nine city municipal cor-porations (other than Chen-nai Corporation) and 561 town panchayats.

Chennai, which is the fourth largest Metropolis in India, covers 1189 square Kms including Chennai city. It has 16 municipalities, 20 town panchayats and 214 vil-lages in 10 panchayat unions. As there is highly accelerated phase of urbanization, the cit-ies and the towns are exposed to the problems of over-crowding, congestion, slums and inadequate transporta-tion facilities. In order to find solution to the problems of urban areas, the government

has initiated a series of mea-sures, which would certainly improve the urban profile and regulate urban expansion.

The urban affairs man-agement in the state has been based on the premise that apart from some measure of devolutions under the Cen-tral and State finance com-mission awards and a mea-sure of part grant financing, urban local bodies must gen-erate their own resources for investment in infrastruc-ture. As the state is seeking to position itself as an attractive investment destination, there is a consciousness that infra-structure in urban areas has to be built up to cope with the rising demand. There is an urgent need for a time bound plan to develop the infrastruc-ture and services in our cities and towns.

UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) will have a strong pres-ence at Municipalika 2012, where exhibiting UK companies including Geotec, Enviro Tech-nology and Atkins will showcase expertise on city infrastructure and sustainable urban develop-ment projects.

The speakers from UK will share their experience and expertise. Mike Nithavriana-kis, Deputy High Commis-sioner, South India, will deliver keynote speech while Dr. James Wilde, Director of Strategy, will enlighten the delegates on how climate change will play a role in shaping cities in the future and how organisations from all sec-tors need to collaborate to meet this challenge.

The UK experience on how to build healthy, green and

responsive cities will showcase how important areas such as policy environment, proactive private sector action, enabling local government implemen-tation, public participation, research and documentation, and finance mechanisms have transformed cities in the UK. It would also offer business opportunities arising out of low carbon development.

Tamil Nadu: The most urbanized state in India

UK’s participation in Municipalika 2012