Urban Planning & Issues

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Sanjeev Shivadekar, TNN Jul 29, 2012, 12.47AM IST

MUMBAI: Statistics of slums in Mumbai or available open space, playgrounds, garbage, sewerage, information on city taxes, revenue collected by the BMC and other such vital information related to Mumbai will be available online by the end of the year.The BMC has initiated a move to set up a separate cell for a scientific data centre and will be the country's first corporation to have an independent department for figures.

Mumbai municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte said, "The aim of having a dedicated statistics cell is to build a firm and broad data bank for the corporation. The statistics will also be useful for all plans and policy formulation." Kunte said, "Once the statistics cell starts functioning, such data will be available at the click of a mouse. The information compiled by the BMC will be in downloadable format so that any citizen can access the info."

Abhay Pethe, professor of urban economics at Mumbai University, said lack of data always affects planning and policies of the city. "Mumbai is major driver in the MMR region. Collecting scientific data of Mumbai will be of great help to the administration for addressing the issues of the city," Pethe said. "The information will be also useful to political parties as the availability of key records will lead to a healthy debate on the floor of the House," Pethe added.

Kunte said two to three meetings have been conducted for setting up the statistics cell. "In order to have scientific data of the city, the BMC has decided to take the help of experts from stastical institutes," Kunte said.

TOI

We need a liveable, sustainable Bangalore
Gujarat accepts report on sustainable development
Kolkata: Only plastic ban won't do, experts seek law to stop littering
Dilli: The rising menace of open drains

[engineer.akash]

Soon, you can hire bicycles from stations

MYSORE: Here is some happy news for bicycle enthusiasts in Mysore. The district administration is going all out to promote bicycling in a big way by introducing public bicycle sharing (PBS) system in Mysore before Dasara.

Authorities will float tenders by early next week inviting private players to assist them in the proposed project.

Perhaps this is the first tier-II city in India to embark on this green initiative.

Under the scheme, bicycle stands will be created across the city areas and about a dozen bicycles each will be stationed for public use. One can hire bicycles from any of these stations and then drop them at any other station.

Locations have been identified for the proposed project and authorities have covered important spots like railway stations and bus stands and even tourists spot like Mysore Zoo, Mysore Palace and St Philomena's church.

This will help authorities in promoting bicycling and help passengers save money in commuting. For instance, a person travelling from Kuvempunagar, an upscale locality, to the railway station can take a bicycle from a PBS bicycle stand nearby, leave the cycles at the railway station PBS stand and continue their onward journey.

This move will be most useful for early morning and late evening commuters as auto fares are usually double during the time and public transport is scarce.

Initially, authorities were planning to offer the service free of cost for the first one hour but that has been ruled out. The charges, however, will be nominal, said an official. Last month, deputy commissioner P S Vastrad held a meeting with managements of all educational institutions seeking their cooperation to set up bicycle stands at their campuses. Many had promised to offer space then.

No immediate ban

To a query, Vastrad said they don't have any immediate plan to ban movement of motorized vehicles in the central business district, especially in the vicinity of Mysore Palace.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/15608411.cms

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Published: Monday, Aug 27, 2012, 11:30 IST
By M Raghuram | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

Tier-II cities of the state are anxiously watching the developments in Bangalore about garbage disposal as they believe that what happens here will set the precedent for them.

Civic bodies of cities like Mangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad, Gulbarga and Belgaum are keeping a close track on the proceedings in Bangalore. Mangalore mayor Gulzar Banu said Mangalore city has been witnessing opposition to dumping garbage at Vamanjoor (Mangalore’s Mavallipura). She said about 240 families live around Vamanjoor landfill, besides a school run by a public trust. She said Mangalore City Corporation had started a project to treat solid waste at the dumpyard, but the amount of garbage it has been receiving is far beyond the machine’s capacity; there is no option but to dump the extra garbage.

Mysore mayor MC Rajeshwari said that in all the nine zones of Mysore city, the civic body has earmarked space for solid-waste management unit, but the people living around these areas have been opposing these units. Residents of two areas have sent official notices to Mysore City Corporation, expressing their opposition to the proposal of setting up waste-processing units there. She said the city corporation was in a fix now over what to do with the garbage. Mysore city generates 240 tonnes of garbage every day.

Even Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation is facing the same problem. The civic body had identified two places—Karwar Road for Dharwad and Shivalli for Hubli—for waste disposal. In both places, people have started petitioning the corporation against dumping garbage there. Shivanand Mattannavar, chairperson of standing committee on public health of Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation, said Hubli and Dharwad generate 400 tonnes of solid waste every day. Of it, 250 tonne goes to the Karwar Road dumping yard and they are planning to send the rest to Shivally, about 15 kilometres from Hubli. He said the corporation has been facing stiff resistance from Shivally Gram Panchayat and the residents of Karwar Road for dumping garbage in their locality.

Former judge of Karnataka high court, Justice (Retd) MF Saldanha disapproved of the very concept of having landfills to dump garbage. “It is inhuman to make people live in that area amid stench and disease,” he told DNA, adding that this is the main issue with the Mavallipura landfill.

“If the state government continues to violate basic human rights, situation like Mavallipura will come up everywhere in the state. If a city like Bangalore dumps its garbage at Mavallipura and Mangalore at Vamanjoor, it will be nothing else but an act of bullying the smaller towns by big cities,” he said.

DNA

[Krishnamoorthy K]

R. Y. Narayanan

Coimbatore, Aug 17:

The master plan under preparation for Coimbatore will incorporate proposals for mass transport systems like metro rail, mono rail or Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), according to K. Phanindra Reddy, Secretary, Housing & Urban Development, Tamil Nadu Government.

While there were no complaints of delay in processing of applications for building plan approvals here, he said the number of applications filed had gone up and auto DCR (Development Control Rules) was under preparation.

Responding to questions from newsmen here after inaugurating the ‘Fairpro 2012’, the property exhibition organised by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (Credai), Coimbatore, he said the master plan for the city was being prepared. The issue of public transport and to what extent facilities like metro rail, mono rail or BRTS could be provided would be mentioned in the master plan.

On the question of fast-tracking the processing of building plan applications, Reddy said no specific complaints of slow processing had been received. The number of applications filed had gone up and auto DCR was under preparation. (A builder explained that the Government wanted to encourage filing of applications for building plan approvals online or through CDs).

Inaugurating the three day property show, he said the credit for Coimbatore getting the best corporation award in the State (Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa presented the award on the Independence Day at Chennai) belonged not only to the city managers but to the people of the city. He said “no amount of rule making” could result in better environment, better management “unless rule obedience, rule compliance is widespread” and the “need for enforcement is minimal”. This explained why the western part of Tamil Nadu, particularly Coimbatore, was more successful, he said.

The State Housing Secretary said as responsible citizens the developers were as much stakeholders as the Government in ensuring “sustainable urban development”. To be sustainable, urban development has to “ensure environmental sustainability, resource sustainability and social sustainability”. If the developers had their eyes only on their profitability numbers, then the commitment for the future of the city, love for it would not be there. He wanted the `front ending’ to be done by the people constituting the city.

Reddy, lauding the double-digit growth of the real estate sector, said if this were to be sustained, the public transport should be improved. He said cities like Singapore have made significant investment in public transport even while making private transport expensive. He felt that the private vehicle users should be made to pay for the road space they occupied for travel, parking and the pollution they caused and the funds generated should be used for improving public transport.

He said his department was open to receiving suggestions from Credai, Institute of Architecture and the Institute of Town Planners to “improve our planning processes, improve our planning parameters and to expedite our planning permissions”.

Madan Lund, Chairman, FAIRPRO 2012, said the latest edition of property show has more space and more number of participants. The property show would also host sessions on new materials being used in construction, particularly green buildings, legal issues to be considered while investing in properties and on aspects of ‘Vasthu’ which would be addressed by experts in the respective areas.

P. Karthikeyan, President, Credai, Coimbatore, and Omkar Sankar, Secretary, Credai, Coimbatore, spoke.

Keywords: Coimbatore master plan, Coimbatore, mass transport system, Credai, Fairpro 2012, Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India, town planning,

TH

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Bangalore’s planners are looking at low-cost public transport to solve the city’s traffic problems

Shamsheer Yousaf

Bangalore: Despite being the first city outside New Delhi to launch a modern metro rail service in the country, Bangalore’s planners are increasingly looking at low-cost public transport to solve the city’s burgeoning traffic problems.

The state’s Urban Land Transport Authority (ULTA) has been busy the last one month finalizing two draft reports to help decongest the city. The first is a bus rapid transport (BRT) system along the city’s Outer Ring Road that links two of the city’s information technology (IT) corridors; the second is a commuter railway system that would link the city’s suburbs with neighbouring towns and cities.

These efforts highlight attempts to ease congestion in one of India’s fastest growing cities as the vehicular population grows at an unprecedented pace.

Data from the regional transport office in Bangalore show the vehicle population in Bangalore has increased from 2.6 million in 2006 to 3.8 million in 2011, an increase of 46% in five years. According to the city’s comprehensive traffic and transportation plan (CTTP), the average Bangalorean is spending 240 hours stuck in traffic every year.

In July, the ULTA met with EMBARQ, a Washington-based non-profit that works on providing sustainable transport solutions to discuss the implementation of a BRT system in the city. EMBARQ director Holger Dalkmann, speaking at a discussion in the city, said his organization presented a concept plan for the proposed 30km BRT that connects Hebbal in north Bangalore to Silk Board junction in south Bangalore. This corridor skirts Bangalore’s two main IT corridors—the International Tech Park in Whitefield and the Electronic City.

An ULTA official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said EMBARQ would submit an implementation plan document based on the detailed project report submitted four years ago by RITES, an engineering consultancy and project management firm.

“The construction along the ring road has been done according to the report’s recommendations so as to facilitate a BRT service,” the official said. For instance, when flyovers were constructed to create a signal-free corridor along the ring road, a split design was opted so that the BRT service can avoid the gradient.

“Once this stretch is done, we are exploring extending the BRT network to 280km,” the official said.

The ULTA also held a meeting in mid-July to discuss the draft report submitted by RITES for a suburban rail service. According to the report, reviewed by Mint, RITES has proposed setting up four routes totalling 161km connecting towns on the outskirts of Bangalore to the city. This could cut short commute time for people living along the routes by up to 90 minutes.

Sudhanshu Mani, divisional railway manager of South Western Railway’s Bangalore division, said at the meeting that operations can start within a year once the project gets final approval from the state government and the railways, The Hindu newspaper reported on 14 July.

“We have already written to the Union government before the railway budget this year to begin the services next year,” urban development minister S. Suresh Kumar said. “Bangalore is in dire need for such a rail service.”

The RITES report also proposes doubling and electrification of all lines in the second phase to boost capacity.

Planning experts have welcomed ULTA’s moves. India Urban Space Foundation chairperson and Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy co-founder Swati Ramanathan said the commuter railway service is important as it connects satellite towns with the city centre. “The infrastructure is already there,” she said. “We have defunct stations and the tracks have mostly been laid that we can make use of.”

To be sure, a BRT system in Delhi has led to mixed reactions from road users. Its defenders say the system can only work effectively if it’s part of an integrated system and not in its current piecemeal fashion. Its detractors point to long traffic queues and accidents being caused by the system.

BRT would be an important component in an integrated approach to transportation, Ramanathan said. “The real danger is that projects will be thought of as stand-alone and an integrated approach will not be taken,” she said.

Livemint

[Krishnamoorthy K]

TNN | Aug 7, 2012, 04.11AM IST

BANGALORE: He breathes green, and it shows. The Adam Joseph Lewis Center at Oberlin University, Ohio is perhaps a good example of responsible and sustainable architecture. And David W Orr, special assistant to the US president on sustainability and environmental affairs and well-known environmentalist, who has spearheaded green buildings.

He's also the recipient of, among others, the , National Conservation Achievement Award by the and Lyndhurst Prize. Orr tells TOI how rapidly-growing cities like Bangalore should incorporate the green element while accommodating more people.

* Where does Bangalore stand vis-a-vis other rapidly-growing global cities?

Cities like Bangalore, like many American cities, are very intensive in nature. There should be efforts to ensure the city grows vertically and not horizontally so that natural resources, already at a premium, can be tapped more effectively. Technology has advanced a lot and it should be ideally blended with ancient architecture to design environmentally friendly towns.

* How can we build cities which are sustainable in nature?

Shifting to renewable energy is the easiest thing to do in India. Bangalore is ideally placed to become the model city if sunlight can be effectively tapped and then technology used to run the entire city on solar power. The blur which now exists between rural and urban areas must go with the idea of making entire states liveable. Also, treat waste water and put it back into agricultural land.

* You've been a pioneer in getting people to use public transport. Why?

To build that eco-friendly city, people have to hop out of their private cars and move into public transport. People must understand how natural systems work for them to design an eco-friendly culture. Only then will they ask for changes in the existing structure and get them introduced too. It's all about ecological literacy, when people understand how the natural system works and design things around them accordingly. Pollution levels come down drastically when people start using public transport and that goes a long way in developing a green, sustainable town.

* Tell us more about green architecture and the Lewis Center you set up...

Green architecture eliminates environmental damage, architecture that honours human senses with a built-form. It aims at creating spaces where people would want to work and, in turn, the economics will improve. The greener the infrastructure designs in a city, the better are its economics. The Lewis Center has the distinction of being one of the thirty milestone buildings in the 20th century to be the most interesting of a new generation of science buildings and also one of the most important green buildings of the past 30 years. It helped launch the green building movement in higher education and is one of the few buildings powered entirely by sunlight. It also purifies and reuses its waste water.

TOI

More than a lakh households in Bangalore don't have toilets
Namma Cycle kicks off in Indian Institute of Science
Bengaluru: BBMP to build biogas plant at KR Market using organic waste
Bengaluru: 40 percent of water from supply board goes waste
Regulations on apartments have fallen flat

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Sreekantswamy B Mysore: Aug 10 , 2012 DH News Service

* Realtors, farmers, site investors make a beeline; CDs not available

By 2031, when the population of the city is expected to touch 23 lakh, according to the draft master plan (revision 2), the residential area (urbanisation) would have touched 16,289.67 hectare.

Compared with land use pattern of the year 2009 on display along with the draft and related information at Nanjaraj Bahadur Choultry in the city, the current green-rich areas would become residential areas. Apart from Mysore taluk, neighbouring Nanjangud and Srirangapatna taluks are also included.

Take for example Hunsur road, where Huyilalu, Kumaravalli, Haniyanapura, K Hemmanahalli, Nagawala and other villages are located on the outskirts. In the year 2009, they were fertile land. In the next 19 years, Huyilalu and Nagawala among them will metamorphose into urban areas. Similarly on T Narsipura road, Chornahally, Yandahalli, Vajamangala among others will see newer extensions.

When Deccan Herald made a reality check at the choultry, agriculturists, senior citizens, site owners and last but not the least real estate agents formed the chunk of curious visitors.

An elderly person, who has invested in a villa site on Hunsur road, wanted to know whether the area will fall under the limits of Mysore City Corporation (MCC) in the coming years.

When he got to know that the extent of MCC will reach up to a village located near to the site, he was on cloud nine. Another reason was the fortune it will fetch, if sold at a higher price.

Two elderly persons were shocked to know that a particular area where many realtors have bought plots to develop layouts showed green on the chart. Another, in a rather sarcastic tone, said all this green patch will go one day and show only cream (refering to the patches of colour denoting residential areas marked in the map). A resident of Vivekananda Nagar was inquisitive whether a particular stretch of the road remains commercially active or will extend further.

Most of them were disappointed to know that the information in the form of compact discs (CD) was yet to be made available.

MUDA employees, deputed at the spot, had a ready answer: “It will be available in a day or two, but at a price.”

As a result, some were jotting down, some others capturing the pictures on their cellphone cameras. However, there were dedicated staff with two computers to reply to visitors’ queries.

There were also complaints about spelling mistakes. For Ayrahalli, it’s mentioned ‘Ay yarahalli’, for Yelwala, Elwala, and Balamuri and Balmari both are printed, leaving it to the choice of the visitors to decide the correct word. The Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute (CSRTI) campus on Manandavadi road is written ‘CSTRI Campus’.

DHNS

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Mangalore: Aug 5 , 2012 DH News Service

The disaster management model followed by the Japanese is a role model to the world. Even during the worse situations like Tsunami and explosion at nuclear plant, the Japanese did not seek assistance from the developed nations like USA.

Rather they sorted their problem without any outside help, said Indian Red Cross Association district unit President Dr Shantaram Shetty. He was delivering the valedictory address at the two-day workshop organised for the district disaster management team members at SDM College of Business Management on Sunday. A day should come when every student who passes out from the Universities should have undergone the training for disaster management.

The more awareness brought among the youth about the disaster management, would help the society in a great extent. The Japanese are patriots and they have undergone the disaster management training, which makes the nation easy to manage any circumstances, said Dr Shetty. Commending the 60 students who participated in the workshop, he asked the strained youth to join their hands in reducing the damage caused by any kind of disaster at any time. Red Cross National Disaster Management Team member Dr Kumar V LS, Redcross district committee Honourary Secretary Suresh Kumar and others were present.

DHNS

[Krishnamoorthy K]

PTI Sep 6, 2012, 03.11PM IST

NEW DELHI: A bill to protect the rights of street vendors and regulate street vending activities was introduced in the Lok Sabha today amid opposition uproar over coal block allocation.

The Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja.

As per the provisions of the Bill, anyone over 14 years can register with the Town Vending Committee. The Committee will issue identity cards to vendors to carry out business in alloted vending zones.

The bill will also help the authorities to regulate hawking activities in public areas such as pavements and roads.

The Bill, pushed by Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC), is aimed at protecting livelihood rights and social security of street vendors and regulation of urban street vending in the country and ensuring uniformity in legal framework for street vending across states and UTs.

The measure also provides for setting up of vending zones for hawkers to sell their products with minimal restrictions and without fear of being fined by municipal authorities for vending in unauthorised areas.

The Bill seeks to empower local authorities to relocate street vendors if they cause nuisance or obstruct movement of general public after issuing a seven-day notice.

Every street vendor who fails to relocate or vacate the site alloted to him after the expiry of the notice period shall be liable to pay a daily penalty of up to Rs 500 as may be determined by the local authority.

ET

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Published: Friday, Sep 7, 2012, 16:55 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Agency: DNA

Though the city’s Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) has significant coverage, transport experts at the first Asia BRTS conference, which was inaugurated in the city on Thursday, called for integration of the system with other modes of transport. “It is important to have integration of BRTS with other modes of transport,” said Dario Hidalgo, director of research and practice, Embarq NGO, in his presentation.

Hidalgo, who is from Colombia, and his team are involved in sustainable transport and urban development projects in India, Mexico, Brazil, China and other places. The urban planning specialist said Ahmedabad needed a well-synchronised system to provide commuters transport facility at their doorstep.
“It is important to connect BRTS with other modes of transport. Rickshaw stands or local bus service near the BRTS station can be set up. Only then will it help ensure a holistic transport system for the entire city,” Hidalgo said.

He also stressed on walkways for commuters as BRTS runs through the centre of the road with mixed traffic lanes on both sides. “Besides good walkways, what can be revived is the use of two-wheeler lanes. Many of them are presently encroached upon, and can be utilised,” added Hidalgo.

Executive director, urban transport, at CEPT University, Prof Shivanand Swamy called for tailor-made BRTS to suit the demands of different cities. “For Ahmedabad, the design of BRTS buses can be changed to enable access to narrow lanes.

DNA

[Krishnamoorthy K]

The second version of the JNNURM must focus on putting systems in place that stop the extensive wastage of water in urban areas

M Ramachandran / Sep 02, 2012, 00:02 IST

A population of 377 million, spread over 7,935 cities and towns, projected to grow to over 600 million in another 20 years, presently contributing more than 60 per cent of India’s GDP, above 80 per cent of tax revenue and generating almost 70 per cent of all new jobs in the country — that is urban India. But when it comes to basic services for these urban residents, where do we stand and what solid planning for ensuring basics to all do we have? Not all urban residents are covered even by basic requirements like water connections at home. While estimates show that a little over 90 per cent of urban population has access to water supply, with almost 10 per cent not having this privilege, even within those connected there are huge variations. Indicators of poor quality of access, low reliability of supply, poor water quality, high loss levels and low cost recovery do not get reflected in the overall access figures. There is no city in the country which provides 24x7 piped water supply. While only 64 per cent of the urban population is covered by individual water connections and/or stand posts, duration of water supply averages between one and six hours.

While waste water recycling and re-using the same for a variety of purposes does not figure in our water management system as a key activity, we also do not seem to be sufficiently concerned about the considerable gap between the amount of water put into the distribution system and the amount of water billed to the consumer. Technically called non revenue water (NRW), the loss level is supposed to be about 50 per cent on average, though actual figures for the country are not available. This basically reflects the poor management of water utilities in our cities; they lack the governance, autonomy, accountability and managerial skills to provide reliable service. NRW could be physical losses such as leakages, commercial losses due to defective water meters or theft or unbilled authorised consumption. The total cost of NRW worldwide is estimated to be $14 billion per year, with a third of this accounted for by the developing world. In developing countries, estimates say that about 45 million cubic meters of water are lost daily from water leakage — capable of meeting the requirements of about 200 million people. Service-level benchmarking exercises undertaken in recent years show that NRW in cities like Bhubaneswar, Bokaro and Imphal are the highest, above 60 per cent.

If we consciously go in for a strategy for reduction of NRW in our cities from the present level to an acceptable level of 15 per cent, would not that itself easily provide the water requirement of those who do not have access today? Let us look at the example of Mumbai. The Brihanamumbai Municipal Corporation, responsible for water supply, says that the exact percentage of water loss due to pilferage and leakage cannot be ascertained unless the water audit gets completed, a process which could take three years. Estimates indicate that BMC’s distribution network loses more than 20 per cent of its water. While Mumbai needs 4,250 million litres of water per day (mld), the city gets 3,470 mld and, against the daily shortfall of 780 mld, loss due to leakage and pilferage is reported to be 694 mld. On the other hand, Nagpur municipal corporation which successfully implemented 24x7 water supply for a pilot area and is now in the process of upscaling it for the entire city, could have reduced transmission losses, translating into savings of Rs 6 crore a year; it has upgraded its water treatment plant, resulting in water savings of 22 mld; and put in energy conservation measures, enhancing its pumping efficiency to 80-85 per cent and reducing energy consumption from 285 kwh/ml to 195 kwh/ml — leading to savings equalling Rs 163.6 lakh per year. 24x7 water supply taken up in five selected zones in the three Karnataka cities of Belgaum, Gulbarga and Hubli-Dharwad helped in loss reduction from 50 per cent to 7 per cent due to improvements in the transmission and distribution network and improved metering. Today, over 25,000 households get the benefit of 24x7 water supply. Both these instances are examples of improving supply, generating more revenue, taking up governance reforms and tariff increases and bringing in the private sector, leading to efficiency gains. The pro-poor policy in Karnataka for the urban poor, of waiver of the normal one-time connection deposit and fixing a lifeline supply of 8,000 litres per household per month at a concessional rate encouraged all poor households to opt for direct connections rather than depend on stand posts.
Urban water is a state subject, so the action is at the level of states first and cities next. In terms of reforms for the water sector, the first stage of the Centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission talked only about the levy of reasonable user charges by ULBs/para statals in the water sector. But the huge funding either for the mission cities or the small towns meant major improvements in augmenting bulk supply and bringing about long-pending changes. Thus Kolkata could replace British-era bulk water supply pipes after ages of corrosion. Surat could institutionalise reforms in water management through optimal investments in technology. Hyderabad — which had only alternate-day water supply, with inappropriate timings — could restore daily supply after a gap of 20 years.

We cannot afford to waste almost 50 per cent of the water made available to the system just because there is no focus on efficient water management. The forthcoming JNNURM II should insist on much-needed managerial and policy changes. Maharashtra is a good example; a focused three-stage Sujal Nirmal Abhiyan was a comprehensive programmatic approach to increasing the efficiency of service delivery. Setting the basis for reduction of NRW, ring fencing water supply and sanitation operations, moving to full cost recovery, piloting 24x7 water supply, city-wide metering, 100 per cent billing and collection, increasing the autonomy of service providers, adopting service standards and tariff guidelines, generalisation of 24x7 across all cities, corporatisation of utilities and regulating mechanisms are planned to be achieved state-wide through this initiative. However, all this is to happen only by 2025. The Union urban development ministry has recently circulated an advisory to all states outlining areas of improvement and actionable points by the states and local bodies. The six areas identified are: clarifying the mandates of water supply and sanitation service providers, improving the governance of water supply and sanitation service providers, financing water supply and sanitation operations and infrastructure development, regulating the urban water supply and sanitation service, building capacity and developing procedures for community participation.

India’s urban water sector is long overdue for changes and reforms, better management and accountability and a prioritised as well as focused strategy, meriting the status of a mission. The next version of the JNNURM in the Twelfth Five-Year Plan should take note of this, and insist on time-bound action by all states so that water is saved and better managed.

BS

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Ranjit Sabikhi
September 04, 2012

India is urbanising rapidly and this trend is certain to gather pace in the next 20-30 years. It is anticipated that by 2030, 350 million people will move into the country's urban centres and 700 million will do so by 2050. The last two censuses (2001 and 2011) show that there has been a steady

rise in the number of new 'census towns' (towns that have a population of over 5,000) over the years and in due course of time, many of these towns will grow in size and become cities.

Unfortunately, there are no proper plans in place for these new settlements as well as for the existing cities that are witnessing massive urban sprawls. This is not the best form of future growth and it would make more sense to establish independent new towns that are tailored to meet a variety of different needs.

Moreover, by 2021, 138 million people will be added to the working population and they would need employment opportunities. The new towns can provide a substantial employment base for the migrants from the rural areas. But this would need enormous expansion of civil construction, road building and infrastructure industries.

China understood this need for planning more than 30 years ago and invited foreign architects, town planners, urban designers, and construction firms to help the government to plan and develop new urban centres. Today, they are doing it on their own. But India is still way behind in recognising and providing for this shift.

Town planning and urban design must become an integral part in all state development boards. Until now, it has been done on an interim basis, every 10 to 20 years. For planning to be meaningful, it is essential that it is monitored regularly, adjusting to the changing needs over time.

At present, most masterplans are not upgraded regularly and they are nothing more than an outline for land-use patterns, with no planning in depth or detail. Very often plans do not even correctly reflect the situation on the ground. With all the sophisticated facilities available today, it is possible to have detailed three-dimensional visualisations of all buildings as built, and also show what it would be like if the city areas are developed as planned.

These projections should be then updated regularly, to correctly reflect new constructions. GPS surveys and aerial photographs can help monitor, control and visualise future development. We have the technical skills required to use sophisticated systems of development available today, but our planning systems are primitive and outdated.

As mentioned earlier, by 2030, we will need 300 towns to be developed as full-fledged cities. To ensure that they don't become disorganised slums, it is essential that an effort is made to plan a basic civic structure for these new cities.

In times to come, factors like clusters of IT centres, large universities along with related colleges and other teaching institutions, hospitals and medical complexes, will serve as nuclei for future cities. Whatever be the basic urban stimulant, states will need to identify a location, and plan and lay out the infrastructure for such settlements.

Town planning and urban design needs to be accepted as a basic component of governance and this calls for acknowledgement of the movement of large numbers of people from rural to urban areas, and providing for them planned development for a better quality of life. To meet this need, it will be necessary to involve large numbers of trained professionals. The present state planning boards employ very few architects, planners and urban designers. Morever, planning has to be a continuous affair and in order to effectively deal with this, a more dynamic planning framework has to be evolved.

The states also need to plan new urban centres with detailed land use plans. Proper conceptualisation and urban design forms the next important stage of development. Although the importance of urban design has been recognised within the country for more than 40 years, it has still not been acknowledged by our State institutions and planning authorities.

So what does an urban designer do? An urban designer helps to effectively integrate inputs from various specialist consultants that include traffic and transportation systems, the utilities network, the landscape framework and the overall land use plan, and gives it all a three dimensional form.

As a result, the city takes concrete shape, defining the quality of urban space within it, to meet a variety of different needs. The volumetric definition of the city helps to see and observe what one would actually experience, as one moves through different areas. This need not be finite and final. It can be indicative, setting out a broad framework, which can be adapted in different ways depending on detailed design and use. It, however, helps to define the direction and scale of the development proposed.

The building of some 300 new cities across the country provides a tremendous opportunity for the employment of a large number of agricultural labourers, who will move to urban centres. Along with this, there will come about the development of a large construction industry, manufacturing materials and components that will form part of the new structures. A comprehensive network of railways, and highways, and a nationwide communication network to serve and connect the new urban centres, will call for an unprecedented level of economic development on a massive scale.

In order to make all this possible, it will be necessary to actively involve the community as stakeholders in the new cities. We urgently need dynamic urban governance with a commitment to provide for a better quality of life for the new city inhabitants.

Ranjit Sabikhi is a Delhi-based architect

The views expressed by the author are personal

HT

[Krishnamoorthy K]

SHAHANA CHATTARAJ

India needs municipalities with inter-disciplinary skills and the ability to manage conflicts between stakeholders.

The leadership of most major Indian cities aspires to transform them into “world-class” metropolises. Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, models her vision for Kolkata on London, complete with a Kolkata Eye.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh supported a plan to transform Mumbai, just as Shanghai was transformed, into a “world-class” emblem of modern India. And Singapore, that paragon of order and control that is the antithesis of India’s messy urbanism, is widely admired by India’s bureaucratic elite.

A Singapore-based firm was selected to prepare Mumbai’s new “Concept Plan,” a long-term strategy to guide urban development in the city’s extended metropolitan region over the coming decades.

Conducting my field research in Mumbai a couple of years ago, I attended a presentation made by the Singapore firm, an impressive proposal that covered everything from metropolitan transportation, to new growth centres, to housing to environmental sustainability.

After the presentation, a former State official asked the pointed question, “Who is going to implement all this?” Mumbai, like many other Indian cities, has a better record of making urban plans and policies than implementing them.

HOW MUNICIPALITIES WORK

For many commentators in the press and public, the failures of urban planning in India have a simple explanation. Corruption and “politics” are catch-all explanations for India’s urban ills. A more compelling explanation is that city governments in India are ill-equipped to undertake complex and challenging tasks, whether it is delivering basic public services or carrying out comprehensive urban transformations. Simply put, world-class cities need world-class states.

Singapore boasts of having the best civil service in the world, with public officials paid salaries comparable to the highest in the private sector, in order to attract “the best and brightest” to public service. In New York, the world’s premier global city, the city government and its agencies constitute the city’s largest employer.

And Shanghai’s dramatic and rapid transformation was led by a “local developmental state” that aimed to transform Shanghai into an international centre for finance, high-technology manufacturing and advanced services. In order to remake the city, the municipal state in Shanghai first re-invented itself.

According to Yawei Chen, Assistant Professor of Real Estate Management in Delft University, the re-development of Shanghai was as much a project of “state-building” as it was of physical development. She claims that “the new city of Pudong was an experimental laboratory to design administrative and development institutions capable of meeting Shanghai’s new economic goals.”

As Shanghai globalises, the municipal state’s role is not receding but transforming, as the city shifts its focus from infrastructure-building to promoting innovation through education and support to key industries, improving quality of life and implementing sustainable growth strategies. Thus, revamping public education is as central to Shanghai’s urban transformation as physical infrastructure.

STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION

Mumbai’s “World Class” transformation agenda, based on the influential Vision Mumbai document prepared by Bombay First, a business-sponsored civil society group, calls for extensive state mobilisation, intervention and coordination.

It is ultimately the state’s job to manage the problems of displacement and conflicts over urban space and to consider long-term developmental, social and environmental impacts of growth strategies. Building effective municipal states has been key to China’s management of urbanisation, according to pioneering urban theorist John Friedmann, Professor Emeritus at University of California, Los Angeles.

China’s experience also shows that corruption, the bugbear of India’s middle-class reformers, does not preclude cities from keeping pace with urban service and infrastructure needs. In India, on the other hand, city governments have struggled to keep pace with urban growth. Despite the plethora of “world-class” urban visions, India’s cities remain resolutely resistant to urban planning.

A recent report by the Government’s Working Group on Strategic Urban Planning describes India’s existing planning process as “rigid and deterministic” and calls for an overhaul of the country’s urban development institutions. Urban planning does not end, nor indeed should it begin with, master plans or concept plans. It is a process intended to coordinate long- and medium-term investment and urban development patterns with economic and social development objectives.

Urban planning and implementation, thus, call for a range of professional capacities within the state, not just in engineering, project administration and public finance, but also in economic and social policy analysis. In democratic societies with diverse and competing interests and objectives, it also calls for the institutionalisation of the more “political” processes of legitimisation, participation and stakeholder consultation when implementing urban projects.

Today, city governments in India fall far short, not just in their technocratic capabilities, but also in their democratic processes.

CHAOS IN GURGAON

A senior transport planner, working in Gurgaon after working in the US and Singapore, said, “Planning in India is neither democratic nor technocratic, it’s autocratic ... wherever else I’ve worked, you have some sort of process, with different people involved, experts and stakeholders, when you make a decision that will impact thousands of people. Here you put in a six-lane highway, and it’s all based on one person’s approval. There are no transport planners, just engineers, in the transport planning department. So they don’t think about overall traffic patterns and flows in the city, pedestrian access and safety, or equity and environmental issues.”

Gurgaon, India’s so-called Millennium City, has the superficial trappings of a “world-class” metropolis: six-lane highways, multinational corporate towers, malls and luxury gated developments. But as numerous experts and residents have pointed out, the city’s development in the absence of effective state institutions has resulted in a dysfunctional and polarised city. Despite its wealth, Gurgaon lacks basic public services and amenities, from waste management to fire safety to public parks, schools and hospitals.

The failure of city governments in India to provide adequate public services, safety and infrastructure are problems that are immediate and affect a majority of urban residents. These weaknesses in state capacity are likely to have long-standing consequences for India’s future.

A McKinsey study predicts that deficiencies in per capita water supply, sewage treatment and solid waste management, affordable housing and public transport will widen. While India’s cities continue to generate growth, says the McKinsey report, they fall short of delivering a basic standard of living to their residents across all major quality-of-life indicators. The critical lesson for India from China’s urban experience lies in re-shaping and strengthening municipal governments in order to meet development objectives. Given their powerful States and lack of democracy, Singapore and Shanghai may not be appropriate models for Indian cities, but Gurgaon is a potent warning. Market forces and private wealth, Gurgaon shows, in the absence of an effective state, have failed to create a liveable city.

(The author is a post-doctoral fellow at The Lauder Institute, University of Pennsylvania.)

This article is by special arrangement with the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania.

BL

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Most citizens live without awareness of aesthetics and planning, so don’t demand basic infrastructure and facilities

Farah Rahman

A friend told me shortly before I returned to Hyderabad that he would never move back to India from the US despite having the ability to relocate to Kerala to live a comfortable life and a best friend who had setup a brand new hospital in his hometown. His concern was that if were to fall ill, his ambulance would be stuck in traffic and he may die en route and never make it to the caring hands at the new hospital. This is not that far fetched.

Since being back in Hyderabad for the past six months, I have dealt with many aspects of a city with every infrastructure and basic amenities stretched to a never envisioned length. Water scarcity and power shortages are on the rise even as new buildings are under construction on almost every street. The roads are clogged and air pollution levels are alarming. Ten minute trips can stretch to over an hour at odd times not just during peak traffic hours. But this situation is common in all fast-growing major Indian cities. The need for sustainable urban planning is urgent as India’s major cities are projected to grow massively in the next two decades.

A McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) report “India’s urban awakening: Building inclusive cities, sustaining economic growth” from April 2010 throws up some interesting and alarming statistics. By 2030, 700-900 million sq. m of commercial and residential space needs to be built, 2.5 billion sq. m of roads will have to be paved and 7,400km of metros and subways will need to be constructed—20 times the capacity added in the past decade. Some 590 million people will live in cities and 91 million urban households will be middle class.

“India is in a state of deep inertia about the urgency and scale of urban reform,” the report says. “Despite the perilous state of many Indian cities, there seems to be comfort with the status quo, resistance to change, and a lack of recognition of the urgent need of change.”

Against this backdrop, challenges related to urban planning, public transportation, sustainability, education and urban culture and a focus on sustainable urbanization took centrestage last weekend at a public symposium organized by the Goethe-Zentrum Institute in Hyderabad.

In the context of Indian planning and particularly in the context of planning in Hyderabad, some issues that came up are that governance failures and revolving political parties make for plans that are prepared, but never implemented. Most citizens live without any awareness of aesthetics and planning and, therefore, don’t demand basic infrastructure and facilities; citizens fail to take ownership of their surroundings or go to extremes as the affluent increasingly live in gated communities.

The venue was Vidyaranya High School, a school whose main building is a great example of architecture that incorporates climate, site, location and culture as noted by Peter Gotsch, an architect and city planner. Designed by German architect Otto Konigsberger, who once served as Mysore’s chief architect and planner, the building perfectly incorporates the school founder’s unique vision to encourage students to learn without fear and freedom to explore their own private spaces—inner and outer. The building is cosy, well ventilated, inspiring and stately.

And as it turns out, the venue may be the best long-term impact investment the event makes. A practical suggestion for long-term change came from Srinivas Murthy, an architect and chief executive of the firm SMG Design Inc., who gave the example of the city of Chicago’s programme to teach awareness of aesthetics and city planning to children from primary school onwards.

He is working towards starting such a push locally. Primary, middle and high schools would do well to consider expanding their curriculum to introduce city planning and aesthetics. For now, the children of at least one school are getting exposed to these issues and will no doubt make for better informed citizens who are in tune with aesthetics and the importance of sustainable planned development.

livemint.com

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Aparajita Ray, TNN Sep 6, 2012, 01.18AM IST

BANGALORE: Come mid-October and the dusted cycle docking stations that you see around MG Road will cater to Metro commuters on all stations between MG Road and Byappanahalli. This after Namma Metro appropriated BBMP's shelved rental cycle project and put it back on track.

The Automated Tracking and Control of Green Assets (ATCAG) run by Kerberon Automobiles, which started a pilot project to promote cycling in the city, has won the tenders to start cycle docking stations for the Metro. The project will roll out by the second week of October at all six stations with 100-cycle capacity; high-end machines will replace the current docking stations around MG Road.

The three stations in the vicinity of MG Road include one near Anil Kumble Circle, the second at Utility Building complex in front of Fame Cinemas and the third one at War Memorial Park on FM Cariappa Road. The rental project is aimed at officegoers in and around MG Road.

"We are undertaking market studies to understand the business and finalize the rates and security deposits. However, the security deposit for permanent users will be not more than Rs 800 and the facility will be beneficial for most professionals working along the metro corridor. They can rent a cycle from the metro station to their offices located closely and bring them back before boarding the train back home," said Syed Haseeb Arafat, co-founder, Kerberon Automobiles.

While the BBMP plan is yet to take off, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) officials want to add more wheels to the cycle project. The initial investment to install the docking stations, cycles and machinery at all the metro stations would be around Rs 1.5 crore and the operational cost could run up to Rs 3 crore, said Arafat.

BMRC officials said the tender conditions will also mandate having more such docking stations around the Metro corridor so that commuters can cycle to nearby areas without having to depend on another form of transport after getting off the train. "We are planning to start this facility before our first anniversary," said UA Vasant Rao, general manager, finance, BMRC.

The initial plan was to install 80 such docking stations across the city to promote non motorable transport in the form of cycling in some of the residential areas and wider roads. "The project is with the BBMP and it is taking time to start tendering process," V Manjula, commissioner, directorate of urban land transport (DULT), told TOI. The registration process has also been held up at ATCAG temporarily.

"Our pilot with the BBMP and (DULT) did go well but never took off because the process at the government levels is taking longer than expected. Also, the DULT endorsed the project to BBMP and even cleared the proposals. But the government and BBMP are yet to kickstart the land acquisition for docking stations and give the go-ahead to the project," added Arafat. BBMP's loss is now BMRC's gain.

TOI

And enjoy reading comments by TOI readers also.

And these cycles have GPS tracking so the chances of getting away with the cycles are rare -- Aparajita Ray

So, thieves have to learn how to disable GPS in case they want to continue with their profession. Anyway, identification card and deposit may be enough to discourage theives.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

SUBHOMOY BHATTACHARJEE
Posted: Wednesday, Aug 15, 2012 at 2210 hrs IST

New Delhi : India’s most ambitious urban development plan, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, has run into a wall with the finalisation of its second phase being delayed due to a turf-war between the Urban Development Ministry and the Planning Commission.

The two sides are fighting over which government agency will clear the highly lucrative project approvals for cities. The Urban Development Ministry under Kamal Nath wants a say in the process. But Planning Commission Member Arun Maira wants it to be decentralised and left to the cities following the experiences during the implementation of the six-year-long first phase.

While the ministry is responsible for implementing the ambitious programme, funds for the same have to be approved by the Planning Commission.

The tussle has delayed the finalisation of the second phase which was to be completed before March this year. In the first phase, the government had planned to spend about Rs 81,000 crore on the urban renewal plan, of which Rs 42,000 crore was to come from the Centre. The ministry had approved 1,361 projects for the first phase of which 352 have been completed. It fears that this will reduce to a trickle if Maira’s proposal goes through.

India is the fastest urbanising country in the world and Indian cities are expected to house 590 million people by 2030 according to a McKinsey Research Institute report of 2010. The report projected that India would need to invest about $1.2 trillion to equip its cities to cope with such a rate of urbanisation.

Nath told The Indian Express that he was confident the plan panel would come around to the ministry’s point of view. “We will only approve projects sent by state-level advisory committees, but it has to be done (by us),” he said.

Maira said that the Finance Ministry had advised the Planning Commission that it would be impossible to fund the second phase at the same level as in the first phase, with Urban Development Ministry figures showing that only two-thirds of the amount committed has been spent so far. Following this feedback, it had been decided that JNNURM would provide limited funds to cities over the next five years. Instead, it will invest in improving the urban management capacity of cities and towns. “Local urban planning needs to develop the ability to spend the money well,” Maira told The Indian Express.

Government sources said that the move had naturally upset the Urban Development Ministry as it was JNNURM which raised its profile nationally from being seen as largely responsible for union territories such as Delhi until the early 2000s.

Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna said he was hopeful that the balance amount of funds too would be released in phases, “keeping in view the progress of work and attendant governance reforms. The ongoing works are required to be completed by March 2014”.

Nath said he agreed with Maira that cities are not able to generate projects of the size needed to justify the plan commitment. However, he said he was confident the city renewal plan would be approved by the middle of September this year.

FE

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Published: Monday, Aug 27, 2012, 11:33 IST
By DNA Correspondent | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

The garbage problem in the city is not something that can be wished away. There are solutions to tackle the problem, but these need hard decisions and proper implementation of rules.

The recent garbage crisis in the city brought to the fore exactly the serious problems with our current system of dumping waste. While the BBMP was faced with closed landfills, the solution that they came up with was finding another land to dump the waste. According to solid waste management experts, BBMP’s way of dealing with garbage is improper.

Various NGOs working on solid waste management and civic issues have now come together to convince the BBMP that segregation at the source is the only way out of the problem. As a first step to this, the organisations held demonstrations of segregating garbage in Jayanagar, Malleswaram, Rajajinagar and Russell Market, with over a 100 pourakarmikas working on segregating garbage.

According to a spokesperson, “The entire aim of segregation is to reduce the pressure on landfills. Garbage is not a problem that can be addressed as a one off effort. Today we may clean 500 tonnes of garbage, but this is going to be back by tomorrow morning. We cannot simply dump it and turn the land into a dump yard,” she said.

Segregation and garbage management has to be made into a way of living, she added. “We have to institutionalise garbage management. Make it mandatory to segregate waste at the source. If it is not done, impose fines on those not segregating waste. Today, there has been a paradigm shift in the manner in which we look at garbage. You cannot simply throw it on the streets and you cannot simply dump it in landfills. There has to be a system in place,” she said.

Through this effort, the NGOs want to first convince the BBMP of the benefits of segregating waste and how it is the solution to proper waste management. For this, they had engineers, contractors and pourakarmikas at the demonstration. After a similar demonstration on Monday, those involved, plan to give a presentation to the commissioner of BBMP and convince him to institutionalise segregation at the source.

“The citizens too need to be made aware of segregation. However, that is looking forward. We will start with the BBMP and once, hopefully, it is institutionalised we will work with people on segregating waste,” she said.

On Monday, the demonstrations will be held at Bellandur, HSR Layout, Koramangala, RT Nagar, Sanjay Nagar and Ulsoor.

DNA

[Krishnamoorthy K]

x-post

Originally Posted by sunil.kulkarni

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) launched on 3.12.2005 is a reform linked scheme for provisioning of urban infrastructure and services in urban centres for the identified cities and towns. It has two components, namely, the Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) and the Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT).

Requests for inclusion under UIG of JNNURM have been received during the Mission period in respect of Amravati, Aurangabad, Ayodhaya, Belgaum, Bellary, Biharshariff, Calicut, Darjeeling, Deoghar, Dhule, Faizabad, Gandhinagar, Gaya, Gorakhpur, Gulbarga, Guntur, Gurgaon, Gwalior, Haldia, Hubli-Dharward, Jhansi, Jodhpur, Kaithal, Kalimpong & Kurseong, Karamsad, Kolhapur, Kurnool, Kurukshetra-Pehowa, Malegaon, Nalanda, Panipat, Pawapuri, Port Blair, Rajgir, Sambalpur, Siliguri, Solapur, Sultanpur-Lodhi, Vrindavan, Warangal etc.

As per guidelines of UIG, the number of cities under the Mission shall remain around 60. At present there are 65 cities covered under UIG of JNNURM and no more cities have been added and no projects approved and assistance provided to the cities mentioned above under UIG Sub-Mission of JnNURM. However, cities that are not covered under UIG are eligible for assistance under UIDSSMT subject to availability of funds.

Under UIDSSMT, the sharing of funds would be in the ratio 80:10 between Central Government & State Government and the balance 10% could be raised by the nodal/implementing agencies from the financial institutions (FIs). Implementing agencies may substitute internal resources for funds to be raised from the FIs. However, in case of cities/ towns in North Eastern States and Jammu & Kashmir, sharing of funds would be in the ratio 90:10 between Central & State Government.

The Government has set a timeframe upto 31.3.2014 for completion of ongoing projects.

Under the UIG Sub Mission of JnNURM, 552 projects have been approved during the mission period with approved cost of Rs.6204179.50 lakhs and ACA commitment of Rs.2869829.38 lakhs. So far 146 projects have been reported physically completed. Under UIDSSMT, 807 projects for 672 towns/cities have been approved during the mission period with approved cost of Rs.1402095.73 lakhs and ACA commitment of Rs.1124001.74 lakhs. So far 215 projects have been reported physically completed.

The mission has completed its normal tenure of 7 years on 31.03.2012 and the Government has extended the period for 2 years i.e. upto 31.03.2014 for completion of ongoing projects and reforms only. It has no mandate to sanction fresh projects during the extended period.

This information was given by the Minister of Urban Development Shri Kamal Nath in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

MG/J – PQ1 – usq 140
(Release ID :86432)

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=86432

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Good news for Noida Extension flat buyers
Press Trust of India / New Delhi August 24, 2012, 21:35

In good news for flat buyers in Noida Extension, the National Capital Region Planning Board today gave its approval to the Draft Master Plan for Greater Noida-2021.

"All the members of the NCR Planning Board and the Chief Ministers of the member-states have signed the approval," Naini Jayaseelan, Member-Secretary NCRPB told PTI. The National Capital Region Planning Board has Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan as its member-states.

The Allahabad High Court had stayed construction in Noida Extension, which is a part of Greater Noida, and directed the Greater Noida Authority to seek approval of its Draft plan from the NCR Planning Board.

The Board, which is chaired by Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, has okayed the Draft Master Plan with the understanding that the earlier recommendations made by the NCRPB technical committee would be incorporated in the plan, officials said.
A statutory committee of NCRPB had already given the the Draft plan the go-ahead after suggesting some modifications, sources said.

In Noida Extension, about 2.5 lakh homes were being developed, of which nearly 1.5 lakh have already been sold.

The developers welcomed the decision of NCRPB.

"We are very happy, it is a good news for buyers, developers and farmers. It is a great relief for all stakeholders," Amrapali CMD Anil Sharma said. (More)

BS

Master Plan 2021 clears final hurdle!

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Shivani Singh, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, September 03, 2012

Within three days of Delhi government announcing its decision to legalise 917 unauthorised colonies, the under-construction portion of a building collapsed like a house of cards in east Delhi's Gandhi Nagar. Three persons, including a rickshaw puller on the road, were killed because the owner of the building was adding two floors to a barely stable structure.

Like all houses in the illegal settlements of Delhi, this card-house too was built without government sanction. But with the assembly elections due next year, it made political sense to grant amnesty to such colonies. It now awaits the final clearance from the lieutenant governor.

The Congress government can claim to have kept its promise to residents of these colonies who were granted provisional regularisation certificates in the run-up to the 2008 polls. Now, of course, the government has promised to bring these settlements on the city's civic map. It is talking about giving ownership rights to its residents, setting up connections for sewerage, water and power supply, paving roads and building parks, schools, fire-stations and such other components that go into making planned townships.

But look at those 567 colonies that were made legal in the last such drive in 1977 under the then prime minister Indira Gandhi. After three and a half decades, they still resemble shanty towns.

Basic water and power connections have been provided but augmenting infrastructure has been difficult due to lack of space. Utility poles pass through balconies. Toxic sewage flows in open drains because sewerage system is still non-existent. Narrow lanes separate rows of houses, leaving no room for building a decent road. Even authorities admit houses are so tightly packed that one can't provide any public space without bringing down some buildings.

The biggest concern is structural safety. Delhi is third on the list of the world's 10 most vulnerable cities, after Kathmandu and Istanbul, says a GeoHazards International study based on variables such as earthquake of magnitude 6.0 and above, building frailty, potential for fire and landslides, and the life-saving abilities of local authorities

Most buildings in Delhi's unauthorised colonies are built on weak foundations with extremely poor load-bearing capacity. It is not unusual to see four to six storey wafer-thin structures come up in less than two months. Little wonder then that house collapses kill more people than any other disaster in Delhi. Two years ago, 71 died in Lalita Park, an "unauthorised regularised" colony.

According to one estimate, Delhi is short of 1.13 million housing units. This has forced the working class to seek alternatives illegally. For 50% of Delhi population, it means living in slums or poorly provisioned illegal settlements like these unauthorised colonies.

With such huge numbers involved, demolition was anyway not an option. The regularisation drive is a step towards recognising the rights of the working class to proper housing. Ownership rights to residents will also open up a huge housing stock for sale and rentals. But will this move be able to make these colonies liveable and safe by urban planning standards?

More importantly, will construction of illegal buildings continue as the government keeps regularising more colonies? The authorities have warned of strict action against anyone encroaching land and officials who allow it to happen. It is easier to check unauthorised construction at the initial stages. But this requires political will.

While chalking up a better enforcement strategy to control illegal construction, the government must also come up with a plan for beefing up its housing stock.

Delhi is not only India's most populous city but it also experiences the highest level of urbanisation. The fact that four decades of so-called planned development have been able to provide decent housing for only half of the city's population should be considered a wake-up call. Or Delhi will have to regularise 'regularisation'.

HT