Urban Planning & Issues

[Krishnamoorthy K]

BANGALORE: Green at heart, but have no garden space? Just hit the roof with your palms and plants, line up pots on the balcony and turn a wall into a leafy cascade.

The concept of green buildings is gaining acceptance, with green walls and rooftop gardens. These little patches are as efficacious as any lung space in reducing air pollution, increasing water retention and mitigating the heat island effect. In these buildings, water used in rooftop gardening is channelized to reach the groundwater table through a network of pipes.

"A simple roof garden with potted plants to grow vegetables or flowers helps the building grow heat resistant through water retention and also combat air pollution," said Hema Kumar, founder of India Green Infrastructure Network (IGIN) and member of World Green Infrastructure Network (WGIN). He was participating in a discussion on Tuesday at a three-day conference on sustainability and green infrastructure organized by IGIN. The meet was inaugurated on Monday.

Kumar explained how terrace gardens can facilitate an efficient rain water harvesting system and recharge the ground water table, which is the ultimate solution to the water crisis staring the city in the face.

The second day of the conference showcased Singapore as a model city which in the 1960s witnessed the urban crisis that Bangalore is facing today. IGIN and WGIN experts narrated how the city-state went on to become a garden city and is now known as "a city in a garden".

They explained how green walls greased with a special material to help grow climbers and plants are being built in many prominent buildings in European cities and Singapore. The city-state has built vertical parks housing waterfalls and hundreds of species of butterflies and insects, which can be accessed through elevators and lifts.

The experts ideated how roof gardens can be created at hospitals, office buildings, high-rises and even civic facilities which help make the facilities self-sustainable.

Liak Teng Lit, group CEO of Alexandra Hospital in Singapore, showed how a roof garden was cultivated in his hospital where vegetables and fruits are grown for patients and staff.

"Politicos, professionals and citizens are disconnected but if these three come together on the same platform, people can be enthused on how simple greening processes can change the face of Bangalore," Kumar added.

ROOFTOP COOLER
Green roofs benefit biodiversity, storm water management and reduce the heat island effect. Scientific knowledge should be used to understand the importance of green roofs, and develop local information of the forms and uses of green roofs that are appropriate for the region.

Manfred Koehler | president, wgin, and researcher on green roofs and walls

SINGAPORE'S GREEN GROWTH
Only 0.1% of Bangalore's population has rooftop gardens
Over 30% of every building in Singapore has green spaces
Singapore has made it mandatory for all new buildings to be 50% green
Rooftop gardens, green walls are part of government policy in most European cities
Copenhagen aims to achieve 100% target in raising green infrastructure

WHAT'S A GREEN WALL?
A living plant-based exterior or interior wall of a building, on which a growth media like soil can be stuck to grow climbing plants
Is a natural insulator and helps regulate temperature automatically inside a building
Reduce temperature inside by 10 degrees, reduce electricity bills
Also called living wall, bio wall or vertical garden

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Press Trust Of India / Chennai/ Jerusalem Nov 29, 2012, 00:07 IST

Some American cities too were on the list of increased pollution levels

India’s ‘ silicon valley’ Bangalore has been rated among top polluted megacities in the world, claims a new study, using data collected by NASA’s high-tech satellites. Scientists at Tel Aviv University tracked pollution trends for 189 megacities, including Mumbai, New York City and Tokyo, by analysing eight years’ worth of data from three of NASA’s high-tech aerosol monitoring satellites.

Northeast China, India, the Middle East, and Central Africa are presently leading in pollution increase, including Bangalore, with a 34 per cent average increase in aerosol concentration between 2002 and 2010, website Tel Aviv University’s American Friends (AFTAU) reported. Europe and Northeast and Central North America are seeing the largest decreases in aerosol concentrations overall, the website said. Among the cleanest cities were Houston, with a 31 per cent decrease over the time period; Curitiba, Brazil, with a 26 per cent decrease; and Stockholm, Sweden, with a 23 per cent decrease. Researchers led by Pinhas Alpert of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences tracked pollution trends for 189 megacities - metropolitan hotspots where the population exceeds 2 million. Their method, published in the American Journal of Climate Change, is the first to provide standardised global testing of pollution levels. Researchers found that the thickest layers of global smog - caused by traffic, industry, and natural minerals, among other factors - are found over the world’s megacities.

Some American cities were on the list of increased pollution levels, including Portland with a 53 per cent average increase and Seattle with a 32 per cent average increase, but Alpert believes these numbers reflect the multiple wildfires that have been happening in the region in the second half of the period examined.
In the future, he hopes to develop a method for separating such natural causes of pollution from man-made pollutants for more accurate data.

However, getting an accurate measurement of pollution is no easy task. On-the-ground monitoring stations do not always provide the most accurate picture - monitoring stations depend heavily on local positioning and some cities put stations in urban centers, while others build on the edge of a city.

BS

Bangalore among top polluted mega cities
Karnataka govt moves to plug high water leakage in B'lore

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Reuters
November 28, 2012

Time is running out for many developing countries like India to protect their growing cities from future environmental risks and resource scarcity, a report by an engineering and design consultancy, Atkins, showed on Wednesday. Atkins, together with the University College of London's Development and Planning Unit and the UK government's Department for International Development, assessed the risks, vulnerabilities and capabilities of 129 cities in 20 countries.

It found that cities in developing countries are most at risk from climate hazards as populations grow and development is fast-paced, putting pressure on natural resources and energy.

More than half the world's population already lives in cities and this is expected to grow to 75% by 2050.

"Given that 95% of this urban expansion is projected to take place in the developing world, it is cities in developing countries which will be at the front line of managing this challenge," the report said.

"The earlier cities in developing countries take steps to future proof their urban development, the better. There is an important - but closing - window of opportunity for many cities to act now before they are locked into unsustainable and unsuitable development pathways."

Cities account for 60 to 80% of energy consumption and 75% of carbon emissions even though they only occupy 2% of the earth's land.

Natural hazards such as storms and flooding already have a devastating impact on cities, and that is only forecast to get worse as they increase due to climate change.

Last month, Hurricane Sandy hit the US East Coast, causing an estimated $71 billion damage in New York and New Jersey.

RISK AVOIDANCE

Environmental degradation has cost countries such as Pakistan, Nigeria and Ghana up to 10% of their gross domestic product, according to the report.

"Few cities have a low risk profile. These are often cities that are currently small but with significant growth prospects," it said.

Some of the world's largest cities such as Bangkok, Delhi, Jakarta and Mumbai have high energy use and the most environmental risks from flooding and cyclones, as well as threats to water and food and natural ecosystems.

Other cities need to focus on one risk area. Bangalore, for example, has a high energy and carbon footprint due to new high- rise glass facade developments, while Karachi faces water and food supply risks due to drought and the limited availability of agricultural land.

"Cities with the highest number of vulnerable people continue to remain in the largest cities in South Asia such as Kolkata, Mumbai, Karachi and Dhaka," the report said.

In those four cities, over 32 million people live in poverty which highlights the scale of the challenge.

To respond to risks, cities will have to work closely with national and regional government to strengthen their urban governance, planning, finance and services.

Policies which can reduce urban poverty and boost short-to- medium-term economic growth include improvements to walking and cycling infrastructure.

Policies such as urban agriculture, micro-generation, public transport information improvements and enhanced bus services are easy to implement and low cost.

However, much more financial assistance will be needed as many developing country cities are dependent on transfers from national governments and do not have projects which meet private sector investment criteria.

(Editing by Jason Neely)

HT

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Chinmayi Shalya, TNN Nov 12, 2012, 01.24AM IST

MUMBAI: Climate change and reckless development are leaving Mumbai increasingly vulnerable to the elements. A news report on an ongoing climate study places India's financial capital sixth in a list of 20 port cities worldwide at risk from severe storm-surge flooding, damage from high storm winds and rising seas. By 2070, according to the study, an estimated 11.4 million people and assets worth $1.3 trillion would be at peril in Mumbai due to climatic extremes.

The in-progress study, by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), reveals that many of the susceptible port cities are in Asia. In the news report's list-ranked by assets at risk-eight among the top 10 fall in the world's most populous continent.

Kolkata comes in the fourth spot while Guangzhou takes in second. In the City of Joy, 14 million citizens and assets worth $2 trillion will be at peril by 2070, the study predicts.

Experts studying climate change assert that rampant concretization in global cities is not only leading to fluctuations in temperatures worldwide but also causing shifts in microclimates. These changes together, they say, are likely to build up into disastrous scenarios by 2070, effecting excessive rainfall. In cities like Mumbai, where poor urban planning has left little space for water to get absorbed into the ground, the impact may be severe.

"A big portion of Mumbai is concretized and this is increasing. Solar radiation is absorbed by concrete, triggering urban heat island effect, where temperature within the city rises. The circulation of the warm air from the city with cooler air currents from less urbanized areas can cause extreme weather conditions," says Subimal Ghosh, an associate professor in the civil engineering department of IIT-Bombay.

Ghosh had contributed to an OECD study in 2010 on flood risks, climate change and adaptation in Mumbai. That report predicts an increase in the intensity of the Asian summer monsoon. It also foretells a 3.6 degrees Celsius increase in the mean temperature in Mumbai by 2070 or 2080.

"This is the worst-case scenario. Even if not so high, the mean temperature in Mumbai would rise significantly. Another preliminary research by IIT-Bombay too shows that heat waves would be warmer by about 2 degrees Celsius," Ghosh says.

According to the 2010 study, human heedlessness is as much as much a cause of Mumbai's susceptibility to flooding as its geographical location. The city's concretization has reduced the possibility of rainwater getting absorbed into earth and its high population density has put additional strain on the creakingly old drainage system.

"Large areas of reclaimed land are situated just above sea level and below high-tide level. This inhibits natural runoff of surface water and impacts the complex network of drains, rivers, creeks and ponds that channel water into the sea. Meaning, during high tide, seawater can enter the system, preventing drainage and, in extreme cases, leading to salt water deluge. The city's drainage system is inadequate to cope with heavy rainfall and is impeded by urban encroachment," the 2010 study explains.

Rakesh Kumar, chief scientist and head of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, warns that a combination of change in temperature and humidity will increase the spread of diseases. "With very tall buildings around, sunlight will be blocked, causing humidity levels to rise, making the city a breeding ground for diseases," says Kumar.

The solution, most experts concur, lies in revamping the drainage system, among other steps. "We need to make sure that urbanization is allowed after careful planning and keeping in mind spatial distribution. Development needs to happen away from the city. Also, stronger weather forecast systems are needed and so are evacuation facilities for dwellers of low-lying areas," says Ghosh.

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Uday U, Hassan, Nov 20, 2012, DHNS:

Zero waste management unit opened; city produces about 60 tonnes of garbage

If all goes well, Hassan city would be spruced up soon as two zero waste management units are getting into shape and expected to be completed in a couple of months. Along with this, it will also produce bio-compost that aims to benefit farmers.

As a prelude to this, the city municipal council has already launched a unit a month ago on an experimental basis near Arkalgud road here. A total of ive tonnes of garbage is being processed daily. Garbage from Kattinakere market is being brought to the unit and is segregated into bio-degradable and non-bio-degradable before treating the same into compost. Garbage from ward 26 to 29 is also being collected and brought to the unit for converting it into compost.

Going ahead, waste from Hemavathi nagar is also being brought to the unit for processing. After a month the first batch of compost would be ready and the CMC is prepared to hand it over to the farmers. The garbage collected from the market is being segregated into dry and wet waste.The wet waste is dumped in the unit and mixed with bacteria, which acts faster than the worms that is used to produce vermicompost. The recycling waste is processed in another method and other wastes would be segregated at a unit set up in Ageele, according to sources.

Solution

CMC commissioner Nagabhushan said with the success of the first unit which is churning out manure out of garbage, two more units will be started in a couple of days. Later, units will be set up near district stadium, Vanivilas and near Beeranahalli lake. Along with this permission has been sought from the government to purchase 10 auto tippers and is expected to rollout soon, he said.

Cooperation

People’s cooperation is necessary for the success of any project and it is easier if the garbage is segregated at the source itself. Though awareness has been created on the same, it has not met with proper response. Hence, it has become inevitable to make it mandatory.

He appealed to the residents to segregate the waste before disposing it which would help to a great extent and it is possible to see the waste vanishing slowly from the roadsides. Hassan city produces 50 to 60 tonnes of waste every day and it is inevitable to look for a solution.

With the increasing pile of garbage every passing day, lack of pourakarmikas is yet another hurdle. If such units are not set up, it would become difficult to maintain cleanliness and hygiene in the city, said Nagabushan.

Deccan Herald

[Krishnamoorthy K]

For the past week, I have been driving to work through a "pea-souper" - thick fog which has hung menacingly over Delhi and its neighbourhood.

The city has looked like a smoggy dystopia. The people of Delhi are mourning the death of the sun.

Although the sun made a welcome appearance on Friday, some media reports say the smog is far from defeated and may return during the weekend.

My eyes hurt when I step out, and I spent days nursing a nagging headache. At work, many of my colleagues are wheezing, sniffing and coughing. The papers are full of stories of clinics overrun by patients suffering from respiratory ailments.

Winter smogs are not uncommon in Delhi, but this year has been rather extreme, sending air pollution levels way above permissible limits. The government has blamed farmers who burn straw in neighbouring states.

Independent environment groups insist that rising pollution is to blame.

Researchers belonging to the watchdog Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) say Delhi's air quality has deteriorated sharply - particulate matter in the air has risen by 47% between 2000 and 2011, while nitrogen dioxide levels has leapt by 57%.

Delhi, they say, is a gas chamber: its air contains a lethal cocktail of poisonous gases like nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, ozone, and benzene. Farm fires have merely exacerbated what is an already bad situation.

The government appears to be rather blase about it all, blaming the weather (slow wind speeds, low temperatures and high humidity) and curiously, even hinting at conspiracy by neighbouring states

"It is as if it is deliberately being done to choke Delhi," Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit told a newspaper.

CSE Executive Director Anumita Roychowdhury, in charge of its air pollution and transportation programme, warns that government's response could have disastrous consequences.

"Unfortunately, despite the scary hard facts about the elevated cocktail of pollution and health risks, the problem is being dismissed as a mere weather phenomenon," she said.

"In other parts of the world, governments issue warnings and take pollution emergency measures during such severe pollution episodes to protect public health. But we are doing nothing."

She is right. So what has gone so awfully wrong with Delhi's air, a decade after the city earned international plaudits for introducing green fuel and bringing down pollution levels?

Researchers believe that the unfettered growth in the number of vehicles, especially ones driven on diesel, is a key reason.

Delhi alone adds over 1,000 new vehicles every day, half of them diesel-fuelled. The capital has over 6.5 million vehicles, which is more than the total number of vehicles in the cities of Mumbai, Chennai (Madras) and Calcutta.

A thriving suburbia, including areas like Gurgaon, Noida and Faridabad, has meant that over a million vehicles - 70% of them cars - enter and exit Delhi every day.

The new vehicles are better, the fuel is cleaner, but their sheer numbers do not do any good to the city's air.

It is not rocket science to conclude that Delhi needs to ramp up its public transport and cut down on private pollution-carrying vehicles.

To be fair, the city has come a long way in improving public transport: the quality of its passenger bus fleet is among the best in India, and an impressive metro railway now links most parts of the city.

But environmental groups like CSE say this is simply not enough.

"Delhi is taking too long to scale up its public transport," says Ms Roychowdhury.

Some 6,000 passenger buses run in the city - but the government itself admits it needs nearly three times that number to cater for peak passenger traffic. The city is bereft of pavements and footpaths, betraying a skewed planning ideology which favours cars over cycles and pedestrians.

Environmentalists also recommend higher parking charges for cars and a crackdown on unauthorised parking to force more car owners to use public transport - parking spaces, by one estimate, gobble up to 10% of Delhi's land, and daily additions of new cars creates demand for parking space that is bigger than 300 football fields every year.

Although cars are the mode of transport for only 14% of travel trips in the city, parking fills up disproportionately large spaces.

Environmentalists also suggest a hike in diesel prices, an upgrade emission standards, the introduction of buses for commuting to and from the suburbs and the imposition of congestion charges.

But the authorities don't seem to be listening.

BBC

Govt planning to develop two new rapid rail corridors

International firms come for development of Gomti riverfront

Mysore: Mound of waste woes greets minister
Bengaluru: Ride on footpath and you may lose driving licence
Mangalore: Maintain cleanliness or pay penalty!

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Of urban infra targets, 18% achieved over 7 years in housing, 26% government auditor blames poor or listless management

BS Reporter / New Delhi Nov 30, 2012, 00:51 IST

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission's seven-year voyage seems to have yielded little, at a great cost.

And, says a performance audit of the programme by the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General ( CAG), the main reason has not been corruption or leakages but ennui and poor management, including defects in the guidelines, delay in release of funds and so on.

The scheme, begun in 2005, allocated Rs 1 lakh crore, with half the allocation coming from the Centre. It achieved just 18 per cent of the targets set in creating urban infrastructure and only 26 per cent of the housing units it was supposed to create in seven years.

The scheme was also meant to strengthen urban local bodies in structure, composition and financial resources. It required each state government, urban local body and the central government to sign a memorandum of understanding, whereby they would commit to implement various reforms to further the Constitution’s 74th amendment’s mission of genuine and far-reaching devolvement, including increased transparency and better governance. (REFORM ROAD MAP)

A total of 1,517 and 1,298 housing and urban infrastructure projects, respectively, were approved for implementation between 2005 and 2011. However, as on March 31, 2011, only 22 of the 1,517 housing projects were completed. Only 26 per cent of the dwelling units within these projects had been completed. Of the 1,298 urban infrastructure projects approved, only 231 were completed. Non-availability of land was one reason. There were also cases of completed houses where the occupants had not been identified.

The CAG also reported widespread delays in projects and blamed this on the lack of planning by the implementing agencies. One reason it pointed to was a delay in release of funds from the Centre. Against a total allocation of Rs 66,084 crore by the Planning Commission, the Government of India was to have given Rs 37,070 crore. However, it had released only 32,934 crore up to March 2011. The delay resulted in a rush of expenditure in the last quarter, said the CAG.

It noted the scheme had envisaged sharing by the urban local bodies of the expenditure. In most states, it was observed the ULB share was either not released or was less than the stipulated amount.

The CAG has advised the Centre to give suitable incentives to states implementing the reforms envisaged in the JNNURM guidelines. And, enhanced capacity building, so that states achieve the pending reforms within the extended period up to March 2014.

BS

[Krishnamoorthy K]

MANGALORE: About 2.26 lakh units of electricity can be generated from garbage produced in Bangalore every day, according to V V Bhat, secretary to the Union government and a member (finance) Space/Atomic energy/Earth Commissions.

Speaking at the inauguration of a two-day national seminar on 'Waste management and alternate energy sources' organized by St Aloysius College on Monday he said that Urban local bodies should encourage people to set up waste management plants by providing free land to those who are interested in constructing them.

Giving a solution to the IT city's garbage menace he said, "Phone number of the officers attached to local bodies who are responsible cleaning up garbage should be published on dustbins so that people can contact them if garbage is not taken away. Poor waste management has also led to stray dog menace in Bangalore." He also urged to hike the salaries of people engaged in clearing the garbage.

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

The suburbs will have to wait a while before they catch up with the city when it comes to having reasonably priced civic amenities, say urban planners.

''Now, residential projects are coming up in the Outer Ring Road project areas," says K P Subramanian, former professor at Anna University's urban engineering department. Projects have been announced before the land acquisition was complete, he adds. "Most of these areas, including Oragadam and Sriperumbudur, don't have water supply, sewerage system or health and recreation facilities. Here, housing projects come before development of social infrastructure as all you need is a road connection to your plot for permission to build mini-townships," says M G Devasahayam, a trustee of SUSTAIN, an NGO in urban development.

The problem is compounded by the fact that development control rules meant for the city are being applied in suburbs. According to a CMDA official, a highrise is allowed if the approach road is of a certain width, the logic being that wider roads in the city will have stormwater drains, underground sewerage and electricity lines.

Planning permissions inside the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) are based on whether the builder gets 'No Objection' certificates from Metrowater, electricity boards, traffic and fire services. However, a promoter building a 27-storeyed complex beyond Uthandi, outside CMA limits, will approach the directorate of town and country planning and local authorities who don't thoroughly scrutinise the applications, says the official.

According to former CMDA chief planner Anantharanjan Das, it will take time before the law and market catch up with the fast-paced development in and around Chennai. "In the 1930s and 40s, the electric railway line was the only way to reach places like Tambaram. Sensing the development potential, people moved to suburbs along the railway line and areas like Nanganallur were carved out," says Das. In the early days, the suburbs didn't have tarred roads or amenities. The next wave of migration was to ECR that primarily attracted people with enough means to own cars to ferry them back to the city from their farm houses.

The development of the IT Corridor again saw middle class families moving to the suburbs. "The accumulated development of last 30 years happened in the space of 10 years," says Das, who along with his team prepared an infrastructure plan for the IT Corridor up to Siruseri in 2000. Now, projects are going beyond Melmaruvathur along NH45, Maraimalai Nagar and Chengalpet in Kancheepuram. It is a market economy where developers can't be held responsible for providing social infrastructure. "The market will catch up with the pace. Koot Road that connects southern suburb Madipakkam with Medavakkam resembles a mini-T Nagar with its shops. The situation will improve the government acts," he says. It is also up to the government, which collects `100 per sqft as infrastructure charge from builders, to prepare a development plan and implement it, he says.

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Little has changed in urban India. There are some flyovers, JNNURM logo-bearing buses and terribly designed housing for the poor. That's it
Subir Roy / Dec 05, 2012, 00:59 IST

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, or JNNURM, is unique in some ways. It was the first large development initiative to specifically focus on urban India. Till then the politically correct stance was that India lived in its villages. JNNURM signalled that the city, as an engine of growth in the post-liberalisation era, had arrived.

Second, the idea for the mission came from a coalition of experts from civil society and the corporate world. Third, reform and the need to deliver it were written into the project. Perhaps most dramatically, in a system in which new ideas move glacially, from the first presentation to the Planning Commission in October 2004 to the inclusion in Budget speech of 2005 the idea had a gestation period of not years but months.

Now that JNNURM has completed its designated life of seven years, it is important to see how well it has fared. Fortunately, the mission can be assessed both top-down and bottom-up — the latter, visually and anecdotally; and the former, administratively, through a new report of the comptroller and auditor general, or CAG.

The primary movers wanted the mission to reform property tax, adopt fund-based accounting, ensure citizens’ participation in urban governance, be high on disclosure and put at the centre of city government an elected municipal body under which would function the parastatals delivering different services.

In reality, things went like this. Tripartite memoranda of agreement were signed between the Centre, state government and urban local body ( ULB) concerned to carry out 23 reforms, 13 of them mandatory. Thereafter various reforms progressed varyingly. The overriding aim of states and ULBs was to tick off items on a list to be able to continue to receive funding, irrespective of whether reality on the ground changed. Unsurprisingly, visually and anecdotally, little has changed in urban India. There are some flyovers, JNNURM logo-bearing buses and terribly designed housing for the poor. That’s it.

Under the expense-sharing formula, the Centre was to spend 50 per cent, or Rs 50,000 crore (later raised to Rs 66,000 crore), of a total foreseen expenditure of Rs 1 lakh crore. It has made a budgetary allocation of Rs 45,000 crore, but disbursed just over Rs 40,000 crore. Of the projects approved till 2010-11, only 8.9 per cent have been completed. Consequently, the life of the mission has been extended by two years, to 2013-14. There was delay down the line — in release of central funds, onward release to ULBs with matching state funds, and finally in release of funds by ULBs to specific projects. As to how the money has been spent, at given points, utilisation certificates were outstanding for a total of Rs 10,000 crore.

Programme management units were to be set up in every state to help the state-level nodal agency with project appraisal as well as monitoring of projects and reforms. These units were not set up in several states; where they were set up, they didn’t do all that they were supposed to do. To ensure planned development, a 20- to 25-year city development plan ( CDP) was to be prepared and periodically updated. Also, detailed project reports ( DPRs) were a must. The bottom line was: no DPRs without a CDP, and no funds before the two were done. The CAG’s audit found that some DPRs were inadequate, and there was no link between some of them and the relevant CDP.

For a scheme of such magnitude, the two nodal ministries created no new posts. As staff was simply redeployed, monitoring suffered. Naturally, the urban development ministry is quite modest about its performance. It told the CAG that such a reform agenda was a “huge challenge” and “too ambitious” a task for seven years. It also said that the attempt at reform had revealed major lacunae in the capacities and resources of ULBs, with larger cities faring better.

On specific reforms, the only one that seems to have been carried out somewhat comprehensively is conducting regular elections to ULBs. Delegation of powers to them, including city planning functions, had made uneven progress. On switching to a double-entry, accrual-based accounting system, there is a mismatch between success claimed and reality on the ground. Not every organisation claiming to have switched prepares accounts on that basis. Administrative reforms have taken place in only one-third of the states. About half the states specifically examined have achieved 85 per cent of coverage in property tax. Ninety per cent efficiency in collecting taxes has been achieved in only 10 out of the total states examined.

In some areas reforms have made no progress at all. One is property title certification. On simplifying conversion of agricultural to non-agricultural land, the urban development ministry has cried off, saying that this is a state subject. The ministry has claimed that 23 states have enacted community participation legislation, but their names have not been given to the CAG. Sixteen states said they will reform their rent control laws but have not done so.

BS

[Krishnamoorthy K]

CHANDIGARH: Even as UT and MC sit over proposals to develop community parking lots in the city, the narrow internal roads of various sectors are virtually clogged after dusk with cars parked in front of houses on both the sides. With no enforcement by traffic police or the resident welfare associations, cars are parked haphazardly and evacuation in case of an emergency would be impossible.

The situation is particularly bad in sectors like 18 to 27 and 45 to 47 and in most of these areas, community parkings have been proposed.

In Sector 27, paver blocks have been laid by the corporation so that open space between houses could be used as parking but this has benefited only a small part of the sector. "The safety issue comes in the way. There are no guards deployed and someone who does not live in immediate vicinity will not want to park his car in this parking," said R K Garg, a social activist from the area.

"With mow vehicles hitting the roads every day, the situation has gone from bad to worse. Government houses that had been designed five decades back keeping a bicycle or scooter in mind have no parking space and people have two to three cars with every member of the house driving to work," said Raman Wadhwa, a resident of sector 19.

UT urban planning department has proposed to make pockets of these congested sectors no-parking zones to develop the habit of walking among residents of the area but there is still no plan on how to deal with parking problem in the residential colonies.

"The administration intends to make parking space a condition while approval of residential building plans for new houses. But the sad part is that no plan was chalked out while planning sectors like 45, 46 and 47, which came much later," said Reema Bhanot, a resident of Sector 46.

TOI

Metro man pitches for monorail in Vadodara
Pune metro plan stirs from its slumber
Emerging LED Lighting Market in India to push Urban Planning towards Eco-Efficiency and Low-carbon Trajectory

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Ashok Pradhan, TNN Dec 9, 2012, 01.23AM IST

BHUBANESWAR: How about a modern integrated township with zero government investment and no land acquisition! The state government is planning to develop the proposed satellite township called South City on a 1200-acre land in the south-west corridor of the state capital under such a town planning scheme.

As per the plan, all land-owners who own 30 square metre or more land will contribute 40 per cent of their land for common use. They will retain the remaining 60 per cent with them. The state government would use part of the 40 per cent land to create common amenities such as roads, drains, parks and sports infrastructure. It will monetize part of the land by offering it to private parties for commercial exploitation such as opening a multiplex or starting a hospital. Once this happens, cost of the land retained by the owners will appreciate much beyond their 40 per cent contribution.

"The provision for such partnership exists in the Odisha Development Authorities Act 1982. It is for the first time that we are planning to use it. It is like a self-financing project. Government will only play the role of a facilitator," housing and urban development secretary Injeti Srinivas told TOI.

Srinivas explained that by contributing 40 per cent land, the land owners will reap huge benefits. Price of land in the area will significantly appreciate once there is infrastructure development. The worth of the 60 per cent land would be much more than the total price now, he said. Srinivas said such schemes in Ahmedabad and Vadodara have resulted in benefiting the land owners while ensuring planned urban growth.

"We will consult the Ahmedabad Development Authority, which has already executed such projects successfully," Srinivas said and added the government would try to replicate more such partnership models.

The government has proposed to create the township on 1208.39 acre using land from seven villages. Jagasara will contribute most part of the land with 579.56 acre land. Madanpur (204.42 acre), Kaimatia (73.21 acre) Paikarapur (317.98 acre), Kaimatiapatana (3.04 acre), Bidyadharpur (7.01 acre) and Jagasarapatna (23.17 acre) are the other villages in the plan. The governmenmt already has 94 acre land in the project area.

The government is planning the vertical city with at least a tertiary care hospital, a school of international standard, shopping mall and multiplex and housing for all categories of customers. It would have underground cabling and utility corridors.

A private consultancy has already completed topographical survey while Tata Consulting Engineers has made the master plan of development. The government was initially planning to acquire private land which was stayed by the Orissa high court in September, 2011.

Experts feel such partnership model will reduce legal complications of land acquisition and foster inclusive growth. "In the ongoing practices those losing land to public utilities get thrown out of the developed area while those not losing any land get substantial benefits because cost of their properties multiplies by many times. The new model will benefit all," said director, town planning, P K Patnaik.

Realtors are also optimistic about the government move, but with a word of caution. "Theoretically, it sounds good. The success will depend on how well the government is able to execute it," said Pradipta Kumar Biswasray, president of Real Estate Developers' Association of Odisha.

TOI

Muda's Rs4 thousand crore riverfront project gathers steam

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Dhamodaran Ramakrishnan, Director, Smarter Planet Solutions - IBM India & South Asia talks about the company's approach towards the booming smart cities segment in India. By Pupul Dutta.


In India, we do not yet have smart grids; smart cities seem like a distant dream, your take on that.

India is undergoing a massive urban transformation. Every minute during the next 20 years, 30 Indians will leave rural India for urban areas. At this rate, India will need some 500 new cities in the next two decades. By 2050, it is estimated that urban population will constitute nearly half of the total population in India. The smarter our cities become - the better for humanity.

IBM offers solutions for the optimisation of the entire energy value chain - power generation, transmission, distribution and renewables; and we are actively engaged with forward looking utilities in all these segments of the industry. We are currently engaged in more than 150 smart grid projects around the world and are committed to helping utilities realize the full investment of their smart grid programs. Policy makers worldwide, including India, are accelerating the transformation of electricity networks and pilot implementations in India are already on the immediate horizon.


What is IBM doing in the smart city projects?

Working with forward-looking city leaders on over 2,500 successful city projects across the world, IBM is committed to transform our cities smarter. For instance: smart metering in Malta helps citizens pay only for the energy they use. Predictive analytics helped slash Richmond’s crime rate by 40% in one year. These are all real stories, driven by predictive insights harnessing discreet flow of information, anticipating problems, coordinating resources like a cognitive system of a living organism.

IBM India is prepared and committed to bring the best of our smarter cities solutions to make Indian cities more efficient. To date, we have led over 2,500 projects with cities globally. We can now monitor, measure and manage nearly any physical system at work in our cities. We have the ability to collect and analyse real-time information on everything from transportation networks, to hospitals, to the electricity grid. IBM is seeing good traction in the areas like traffic management, water management, crisis and disaster management. IBM India is also running pilots in some cities where it is trying to ease traffic congestion. Globally we use GPS systems in cities like Stockholm and Singapore to track traffic congestion. In India, we are trying to track a traffic jam by collocating mobile phone density. We will implement it elsewhere in the world if it is successful here.


What according to you are the challenges faced by the cities today and what can be done to change the scenario, especially in India?

Facing aging infrastructures, declining budgets, changing demographics and increasing threats, forward-thinking city leaders must innovate to address citizen demands. They must reach to collaborate and integrate with a range of organisations, facilitating new interconnections that improve outcomes. Leaders need new ways to sustain high service levels for citizens and businesses while improving efficiencies. They need to drive economic growth and enhance quality of life while facilitating coordinated responses to crises, improving transportation and water management systems, ensuring reliable energy delivery, protecting residents from crime, and reducing the environmental impact of cities through resource conservation and energy efficient urban planning. At the same time, leaders must promote citizen health, deliver optimal outcomes across social programs and educate citizens for tomorrow’s challenges. To accomplish these goals, leaders cannot simply work harder. They must work smarter. IBM smarter cities solutions can help leaders leverage a wealth of information to make better decisions, anticipate problems to resolve them proactively and coordinate resources and processes to operate effectively.


What is the role of collaboration in driving the smarter cities transformation?

We believe in adopting a holistic, collaborative, proactive, engagement-driven approach in evolving smarter cities and enabling citizen-centric services through the use of sophisticated technologies. Indeed, collaboration amongst the public sector, private sector, government, academia, research, NGO and citizen forums plays a key role in achieving this. To sail smart towards a brighter future, cites need to cultivate a thriving academic and innovative culture, a critical mass of industry-specific skills and learning, vibrant cultural institutions and communities and fluid conduits through which knowledge flows across all these communities. This in turn will lead to evolving cities that possess the right mix of diverse talent have a powerful source of competitive advantage as they are often difficult to replicate.


What kind of growth opportunities do you foresee in India?

India’s growing economy is placing huge demands on critical infrastructure – power, roads, railways, ports, transportation systems, healthcare, water supply and sanitation. Some estimates indicate that while the government has raised its investments in infrastructure, the investment gap remains daunting with an estimated $1 trillion required to meet the country’s resource needs over the next five years. And, some of the key areas of investment will be in smart grid, water management, transportation, emergency services and city operations. This significant investment in urban infrastructure also represents an opportunity to consider how these systems interact with each other and design them in a smarter, more efficient manner.

express computer

Bangalore: Students take little, green steps

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Amruta Byatnal


THEIR OWN SPACE: A dedicated track such as this one in Mysore gives a boost to cycle-riding. Photo: M.A. Sriram

THE SUNDAY STORY Cyclists lament that as the economic prospects of the city grew, so did the number of two-wheelers and cars.

On the busy roads of Pune, one can still hear reminiscences of what was once Maharashtra’s ‘cycle city.’ Cyclists lament that as the economic prospects of the city grew, so did the number of two-wheelers and cars. In its bid to open its doors to industry, the city built huge roads to its doorstep, pushing the humble cycle out of the way.

Attempts to regain the erstwhile title have since brought a lot of attention, but experts say there is still a long way to go.

With the introduction of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Pune as early as 2004, citizens were hopeful that it would address the diverse needs of a growing city. Cycle tracks were a compulsory addition to the BRT corridor. The corridor started functioning in 2008, in time for the Commonwealth Youth Games, and Pune Municipal Corporation claimed that 130 km of cycle tracks were ready.

Reality check

A June 2011 survey conducted by the city-based organisation Parisar showed that the city needed more than just a check mark over the tracks: it needed a design. The survey found that while the government claimed it had constructed 130 km, only 88 km were found to have cycle tracks. However, most of the 88 km were not in a usable condition, Ranjit Gadgil of Parisar told The Hindu.

Badly designed tracks had many obstructions, like electric poles, bus stops, telephone panels and trees. The tracks were not networked well. “Cycle tracks have missing portions and the sections… are not connected to one another. Unused cycle tracks are then encroached upon, which makes them even less usable,” he said. “Very often, we have seen the PMC itself encroaching on the tracks …”

“Micro design planning is needed in such cases,” Mr. Gadgil said. “There is no blueprint or a model cycle track which can be followed. What is missing in the chain of planning is an urban designer who can give the contractors street design guidelines.” The PMC is convinced of the need for guidelines, and has appointed an urban design firm. “Things are moving, and I’m still hopeful,” Mr. Gadgil, a cyclist himself, said.

Punctured schemes

Even as it was struggling with the cycle tracks, the PMC set out to introduce a bicycle sharing scheme. To be built on the model of cycle cities, such as London and Paris, the scheme sought to encourage cycling and make it financially viable.

After tenders were sought, a non-profit organisation led by a youngster, Raj Janagam, was awarded the contract for introducing 300 cycles on rent, with 25 stations. Raj, who had already run a pilot in Mumbai with 750 bikes, quoted Rs.7 crore, half of which would be funded by the PMC, and the other half would be raised through advertisement and corporate sponsorships. The actual rent would have been low, just enough to help in the maintenance of the bikes. However, after a year of running from pillar to post, the organisation could not find enough sponsors and hence had to give up the project. “No corporate was ready to fund us. They did not see the viability,” Mr. Janagam told The Hindu. He also tried approaching the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, (BMC), but its response was lukewarm.

After this failed attempt, the PMC did not start a new tendering process. PMC authorities refused to answer questions about the project.

While the PMC was toying with Mr. Janagam’s idea, another opportunity was missed. The World Bank, through the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), invited proposals to fund pilot bicycle sharing schemes from States engaged in the India Sustainable Urban Transport Project (SUTP).

With hopes anew for the bicycle sharing scheme, Pune sent a proposal for innovative activities to encourage cycling. Three other proposals were received — from Mysore, Bhopal and Indore. “These were evaluated based on the criteria of demonstration potential, the level of preparedness of the proposed project, the ownership and capacity of implementing agency, and the decision was taken at the SUTP Steering Committee to provide Global Environment Facility (GEF) grant funds to Mysore for the project,” Nupur Gupta, Senior Transportation Specialist at the Word Bank, said.

Lessons from Pune

As more cities adopt the BRT, Pune’s lessons in the last eight years are relevant. This year, when Rajkot proposed a bicycle sharing scheme, it looked at Pune. “The revenue model was important. We felt that it was necessary to separate the operations from the advertisers, so that transparency can be maintained. The revenue from the rent barely covers a third of the operation costs,” Chris Kost, of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), said. The ITDP has conducted a feasibility study of the scheme, which the Rakjot municipality has submitted to the MoUD for approval. The cycle tracks will run along 10 km of the BRT corridor and cost Rs. 14.4 crore. “We have planned for around 1,500 cycles, as of now with 86 stations,” Mr. Kost said.

Lack of political and administrative enthusiasm is a major cause for the delay. “The Mayor of London was persistent to get the bicycle rent scheme in place, so we have the Barclay’s Cycle hire scheme. In India, it is not a high-profile project,” Shreya Gadepalli, Senior Program Director of the ITDP, said.

TH

[Krishnamoorthy K]

NetIndian News Network
New Delhi, December 8, 2012

President Pranab Mukherjee has called for emphasis on urban governance, planning and financing and underlined the need to explore the possibility of developing secondary cities and towns by encouraging private investments.

Speaking on "Sustainable Housing for the Masses" at the annual convention of the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) here yesterday, Mr Mukherjee said the Government would have to play a support role to provide infrastructural facilities to divert part of the migration from the larger concentrations.

"The pressure on housing sector can be expected to chart the northern vector in the coming decades with urbanization in the country growing at a fast pace. Having grown nearly 32 % in the decade ending 2011, the urban population is expected to be around 600 million by 2030 in a century which would see the majority of the people of this world living in cities," he said.

Mr Mukherjee said urbanization in the developing world was virtually unstoppable particularly in India which is one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

"This is for the reason that countries urbanize rapidly when economies grow faster. It is attributable to factors such as industrial and service sectors concentrating in and around urban areas due to better access to material inputs, larger concentration of consumers, better networking opportunities spawned by knowledge sharing, skilled manpower and globalisation," he said.

He said these factors would induce larger migration of people to the cities in search of new avenues of employment.

"With densification of economic activities in urban areas, these centres would increase in importance as focal points or hubs of economic growth. Consequently, the share of the contribution of the urban areas to India's GDP is expected to reach 75-80 percent by the middle of the century. Therefore, managing the challenges associated with this phenomenon is not only important for the economic prosperity of the nation but also from the social perspective," he said.

The President said that, to manage and reap the benefits of urbanization, it is imperative to provide the basic urban infrastructure such as housing, roads, water, electricity, sewage, sanitation, transportation, education and healthcare in these "city regions."

"We have several large cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkata. Neglect of such concentrations can result in urban chaos leading to deceleration in economic growth and law and order problems," he said.

Mr Mukherjee spoke of the several measures taken by the Government to address challenges in the urban sector, including the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. He said Government schemes alone could not address the problems and the private sector, which would also benefit from well-managed urban entres, had an important role in this direction.

He said the less affluent economic groups face the brunt of the housing shortages, with 25 per cent of the urban population living in slums and squatter settlements. He said the Government was seized of this reality and had launched the Rajiv Awas Yojana in 2009 to provide houses to slum dwellers with title certificates.

The President said the private sector would have to take more initiatives to find sustainable solutions in this regard. He said the Government was taking steps to encourage private developers by making affordable housing construction attractive through direct and indirect incentives.

He said there were major problems that bedevil the efforts to help low income groups become homeowners. Significant among them is the difficulty in extending credit to this segment of the population through the banking channels.

"While HIG and MIG segments have been able to reap the benefits of the low rate mortgage loans and deductions available under the Income Tax Act, and home loan disbursement has gone up many fold, the EWS and LIG households have been left behind," he pointed out.

"Banks are generally reluctant to lend to them because of the perceived risk of the loans becoming non-performing assets. I am confident that banks would rise to the occasion to face this challenge and evolve innovative methods to allow greater credit flow to this segment. I hope that Mortgage Guarantee Fund and Interest Subsidy Scheme, launched recently, will make the credit flow to these segments easy," he said.

He said both the Government and the private sector should look at ways to augment land supply for housing.

"One way may be to look at acquisition of land in adjoining areas of urban agglomerations and connect them to the city centers through rapid mass transportation systems. Simultaneously, it should also be ensured that available land mass is utilized optimally by revisiting planning norms. In addition, it should also be ensured that all the housing projects have schemes for low-income groups. This should be made a part of town-planning strategy," he said.

"The importance of this requirement cannot be exaggerated as the economically weaker sections provide the kinds of services without which urban agglomerations cannot have a healthy existence. These centers require services of taxi drivers, maids, cleaners etc. Through this, inclusive growth can be encouraged not only as an existential requirement of agglomerations, but also as a social need," he said.

Mr Mukherjee stressed the need for special emphasis on innovative technologies, designs and materials and skill deelopment.

"Housing and real estate sector holds the key to economic prosperity of the country because of its backward and forward linkages with other sectors of economy besides serving an important social goal. This sector is rightly termed as engine of economic growth," he added.

NNN

netindian

Mumbai turns lab rat for urban thinktank
‘Urban poor suffer due to flawed govt planning’

[Cygnus-X1]

Nice reads Krishnamoorthy sir, thanks.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

By N R Madhusudhan - BANGALORE 16th December 2012 09:12 AM

Municipal corporations in the state may have to install Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) soon, as Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) is planning to make it mandatory for the corporations to treat sewage before discharging it.

According to sources, KSPCB Chairman, Dr Vaman Acharya has already conducted a series of meetings with the department officials in this regard.

The KSPCB is in the process of holding a meeting with Urban Development Secretary, officials from Department of Municipal Administration, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Karnataka Urban Water Supply Board and Revenue Department to discuss the modalities and technologies that are to be adopted while setting up STPs. While refusing to comment on the issue, Acharya said, “We are working on regulating the flow of sewage and clearing garbage and dust in municipal areas. We have set a target to overcome the garbage and sewage crisis in three years.”

At present, there are eight city corporations, 44 city municipal councils and 68 town municipal councils in the state. The Lok Adalat had reprimanded the state government for allowing municipal bodies to pollute the groundwater by not treating sewage. The Lok Adalat had also asked the state government to set up STPs in the municipal areas.

Environmentalist AN Yellappa Reddy said, “We have been asking the KSPCB to take action against the municipal bodies for polluting the groundwater under the Water Act”

NIE

Thanks for compliments Cygnus-X1 Sir.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Published: Friday, Dec 14, 2012, 14:29 IST
By Merlin Francis | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

As DNA celebrates another successful year of its stint in Bangalore newspaper stands, the city stands on the verge of a turning point. As the city grows, serious challenges that could make or break the city are surfacing. And from the looks of it, citizens are grappling with the problem.

One of these challenges is transportation. There is the much-improved Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus service; the Namma Metro work is still in progress; and talks of Mono rail are doing the rounds along with commuter rail that has long been the demand of Bangaloreans. But the fact remains that the focus of the administration remains on building flyovers and expanding roads -- more on movement of vehicles than movement of people or comuters, which is the need of the hour.

However, as Ashwin Prabhu of Embarq puts it, "We will never be able to build our way out of congestion."

"The growth in both ownership and usage of private vehicles will always be faster than that of road capacity, especially at this stage of India's economic development. Therefore, focusing the investments on increasing road capacity will be not only futile, but counter productive to quality of life in the city when negative externalities of vehicular traffic such as congestion, local air pollution and traffic fatalities exist," he says.

In the light of the rapid growth of the city, Ashwin Mahesh, member ABIDe and founder, Mapunity, says that one major problem that the city will be facing is with regard to housing. "Even a middle-income family cannot afford to buy a house in the city anymore, and that means that millions of people are going to be living outside the city and commuting to work. We need to develop work clusters outside the city to lighten this burden," he says, considering that the housing board itself hasn't done much in the years.

"What we need today is a paradigm shift in our thinking," says TG Seetharam, head, Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transport and Urban Planning (CiSTUP), IISc. "The growth of cities is so fast and so big that they are putting a huge strain on the existing infrastructure. However, most of the attempts that are made to clear congestion are only temporary considering the exponential growth in number of vehicles in Bangalore. We need to stop aping the West in our solutions for congestion and ensure that the focus is on mobility, besides ensuring that sustainable transportation solutions are accessible to the people," he said.

Apart from investing in public transport rather than private vehicles, Embarq's Prabhu also adds that within public transport, the focus tends to be on cost intensive solutions such as Metro Rail. "While the Metro is very useful as a mode of mass transit, investments for Metro should not crowd out the investment for the true backbone of Public Transport, which is the bus service. This should be the highest priority," he says.

The Bus Rapid Transport System, the concept plan of which is with the Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT), which is awaiting clearance, is the right move in this direction and requires speedy clearance. What is now needed is priority systems for buses on major roads through bus lanes and so on. There has to be more focus on pedestrian facilities and facilities for non- motorised transport too. "This has to be high on the agenda," he says.

While encouraging public transport through investments, what is also required is disincentives for private transport. For instance, Prabhu suggests an annual registraion fee for private vehicles. "This can also be used as an opportunity to test the road worthiness of vehicles and to recapture some of the subsidies given to private transport vehicles for fuel," he says, adding, "The revenue can be pumped into the public transport facilities to improve it."

However, for this to work, public transport in the city should be efficient and reliable -- two things BMTC is yet to achieve.

In the long term, efforts should be taken towards integrating transport and land use planning through statutory documents such as the master plan. "The vision should be of a compact high density city with mixed use neighbourhoods, wherein external trips are served by high quality public transport and internal through non motorised modes," says Prabhu.

According to Ashwin Mahesh, the single most important project that needs fast tracking is the commuter rail. "It was proposed in the 1980s, for God's sake. Ours is the only metro in the country without proper rail connectivity to nearby towns. If we fix this, it will make the lives of two million people better in one go," he says.

However, Mahesh opines that only improving mobility is not enough. "We have to look at housing, and get serious about fixing the shortage. If people don't have decent places to live, everything else will crumble around them."

On the infrastructure front, Mahesh says "We are still building at the pace in which the Egyptians built the pyramids. We need to find ways to build faster. BBMP should get out of infrastrcuture, and BDA should be closed. Instead, we should have a dedicated Bangalore Infra Development Corporation that can bring all the global innovations in construction to the city," he says.

He too emphasises on the need for better pedestrian facilities. "The pedestrian facilities that are being provided in the city are on a very small scale. It has to up-scaled. I am hoping that in the next year at least 20 major roads in the city will have decent pedestrian facilities," he says.

The city already has a number of facilities in place. The Big 10 services, the improving bus services, the Metro, traffic management centre, which was the first in India, the work towards BRTS and so on. However, much more needs to be done.

DNA

BDA prepares to form Arkavathy layout

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Hyderabad, Dec. 20:

The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has obtained clearances for a 40 MW power plant with municipal solid waste generated in the city.

The corporation expects to use the 3,100 tonnes of municipal solid waste it generates every day as fuel for the power plant, GHMC Special Commissioner Navin Mittal said on Thursday.

Ramky Enviro Engineers will set up the plant under public, private partnership mode at the Jawaharnagar dump yard in Kapra.

Addressing a conference on ‘Environmental Resource Conservation – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), he highlighted the need to better manage waste and also treat water for recycling where ever possible.
Funds

He felt the Centre and State Governments need to provide necessary funds to municipal bodies to tackle solid waste and water pollution.

“Expecting the urban local bodies to generate their own funds through property tax and other methods without providing any portion of taxes collected does not happen anywhere in the world,” Mittal said.

Once the uniform Goods & Services Tax comes into being in the country, the Governments should think of providing one to 1.5 per cent of revenue to the municipal bodies towards meeting capital costs for sustainable development technology, he added.

A.K.Parida, Director General of Environment Protection & Training Institute of India, said the challenge for the country and the industry was to ensure sustainable growth of 8-9 per cent.

Cities and not States help decide investments, he said. Therefore, it was necessary to tackle municipal waste in an efficient manner, according it a top priority. He advised the industry to strive for bringing in clean technologies.

Parida said the State plans to come out with climate change action plan.

rishikumar.vundi@thehindu.co.in

BL

[Krishnamoorthy K]

By H M AravindH M Aravind, TNN | Dec 23, 2012, 05.16 AM IST

MYSORE: The Mysore City Corporation (MCC) is planning to build biogas plants for effective management of solid waste and generation of energy.

The six biogas plants will be built at different parts of the city to cut down the pressure on the centralized treatment plant at Sewage Farm in Vidyaranyapuram.

The civic body plans to collect dry waste only on Saturdays, while bio-degradable waste will be picked up everyday. While mega projects to harness energy from the bio-degradable waste have had little success at major cities in India, the local body is experimenting with mini biogas plants. Each of the six plants has a capacity of one tonne.

The Council on Saturday gave its nod for the setting up of the six biogas plants and estimated the project cost at Rs 1.5 crore. The grants-in-aid that MCC receives under the State Finance Commission is being used to build the plants.

The project is part of MCC's ambitious plan to set up zero-waste management plants across nine zones in the city.

The plant at Vidyaranyapuram processes 200 tonnes of solid waste, while the city generates about 420 tonnes per day.

In addition, Rs 1.5 crore has been set aside for land filling activities at the Sewage Farm and Rs 75 lakh has been allotted for procuring five mini tippers for transportation of animal waste. The council meeting chaired by Mayor Rajeshwari Puttaswamy approved Rs 3 crore as its share for the solid waste management projects sponsored by the Centre under JnNURM.

The MCC also set aside Rs 30 lakh to fix problems at its heritage headquarter which is over eight decades old.

TOI