Urban Planning & Issues

[Krishnamoorthy K]

'Make parking costly to reduce traffic'

JAIPUR: Around 35,000 cars are parked every day without paying charges which is leading to ever-increasing congestion on the city roads, reveals a survey carried out by the Urban Mass Transit Company (UMTC).

During a presentation at the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) headquarters on Tuesday it was learnt that civic bodies charge only 1000 cars per day for parking which is encouraging more users. Suggestion to impose parking charges at majority of places to discourage private vehicles was given by the (UMTC), consultant appointed by the Central government, which is carrying out research studies in 12 cities of the country.

To ensure safety for cycle riders and pedestrians, it was suggested that cycles tracks and footpath can be constructed on shared basis if the road width is less. An official explained that a similar pattern is followed in China and other European countries.

Recently, after creating much hype on construction of a dedicated cycle track for the first time in the city, the JDA has shelved the project as it will cover a lot of space.

Survey also revealed pedestrians and cyclists travelling in the nights are not safe in the city. "The lights are erected in the middle of the roads on medians. Due to this pedestrians and cyclist are forced to travel on the roads making it risky." Suggestions were made provide lights near the footpaths.

Other than this, it was suggested that the city traffic should flow on a same speed after fixing a speed limit. "The speed limit of the two-wheelers and four-wheelers should be fixed and on a road there should be minimum red lights to reduce congestion."

A senior official at JDA said, "The research will be useful for designing future strategies on road safety. Also, the projects will propose consideration of data of the new study."

An official explained, with the number of vehicles increasing manifold and parking areas becoming a major problem, the state government is also planning to draw a parking policy for the city.

The policy will be drawn taking a cue from the model parking policy of the Union government. It was proposed that in commercial areas and workplaces, there should be no subsidized parking and the parking facility should be made very costly so that individuals switch to mass transportation rather than using personal vehicles.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Jaipur Development Authority plans dedicated traffic cell for Jaipur

TNN Jan 7, 2013, 03.01AM IST

JAIPUR: To ensure systematic flow of traffic and reduce congestion on roads, the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) has proposed a dedicated traffic planning cell for the city.

Taking cue from the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), the proposal has been mooted to improve the road safety standards in the state capital.

Jaipur development commissioner (JDC) Kuldeep Ranka said, "The proposal has been sent to the urban development and housing (UDH) department for approval. The cell will be responsible for conducting a detailed study of the road, traffic planning and land use to provide solutions to ensure smooth traffic flow in future."

Officials however said that it would be a difficult task for the town planning cell and engineering wing to draft a plan for systematic traffic flow as it is a specific subject and needs detailed study a. As per the proposal, the cell will comprise an additional town planner besides five other members.

While the plan seems ambitious, the UDH department has shown apprehension to give nod for the cell, considering the present financial condition of the civic body.

"The JDA has to bear additional expenses for distributing the salaries and other expense which is not possible at the moment," an official said.

Meanwhile, JDA has invited applications from consultants to initiate a road survey of the Gopalpura bypass following recent accidents on the road.

The JDA plans to develop it as the first model road in the city. Since the bypass is connected to maximum number of linking lanes, the possibility of accidents is high. The JDA engineering wing will prepare a status report of the road on the basis of which the design for the footpaths, dividers and traffic flow control will be decided.

The official said that the engineering wing will also seek assistance of the traffic department to get an estimation of the traffic plying on various routes.

According to officials, the designs will be prepared with the aim to avoid congestion and provide swift passage to pedestrians. "As per the rules, the actual height of the footpath from the road should be at least six to eight inches. On major roads though, two types of footpaths will be developed," said an official.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

UT gets Central pat for Master Plan-2031

Smriti Sharma Vasudeva
Posted: Jan 29, 2013 at 0118 hrs IST

Chandigarh The Master Plan proposes to develop residential, commercial, industrial, public and semi-public sectors

UT gets Central pat for Master Plan-2031

After all the brickbats, here comes the appreciation. For, despite a considerable delay in submitting the draft Master Plan-2031 and some harsh words by the UT Administrator on the delay, the UT Administration has received an appreciation letter from the Centre.

The UT Administration officials had to face the wrath of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on many occasions for seeking over a dozen extensions.

Officials in the UT Administration say the appreciation letter has been sent by the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), which is the technical arm of the Ministry of Urban Planning and Development, for preparing a vision document for the next two decades.

The UT Administration had recently referred the Draft Master Plan, which was submitted to UT Administrator Shivraj V Patil, to the ministry for approval and comments if any.

The Master Plan was reverted to the UT Administration on Monday without any change and with a few suggestions. “We have received the letter, and it is the appreciation of the hard work that the department officials have put in together,” said a senior official of the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, UT Administration.

Significantly, the TCPO is an apex technical advisory and consultant organisation on matters concerning urban and regional planning strategies, research, appraisal and monitoring of Central schemes.

On the HC directions, an expert committee was formed to prepare a vision document for 2031 under UT chief architect Sumit Kaur. After over three years, the Department of Urban Planning prepared the draft Master Plan-2031.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Land Pooling Schemes to be implemented in Hyderabad

Koride Mahesh, TNN Jan 27, 2013, 04.38AM IST

HYDERABAD: Taking note of the increasing popularity of Land Pooling Schemes (LPS) across the country, the state government has decided to implement the same in Andhra Pradesh in order to bring about planned and systematic development. Under LPS, individual owners or farmers come together to develop the land to an extent of 100 acres or more with the clearance of HMDA and provide basic amenities like road, street lighting, drinking water, etc. While the land owners will lose part of their undeveloped land, they will gain eventually due to the appreciation of the value of the developed land.

To begin with, the state has decided to implement LPS in the Hyderabad Metropolitan Region (HMR) and later extend it to other urban development authorities in the state. Provisions for the same have been made in the HMR master plan, which was approved by the municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) department on Thursday.

LPS schemes are being implemented in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana. A few months ago, the Punjab government became the latest to join the bandwagon by taking up LPS in the Amritsar, Ludhiana and Batinda regions with each project having a layout of at least 100 acres.

As per the HMDA master plan, the land pooling schemes may be undertaken either by public authority or licensed private developer provided the minimum size of the layout should be 20 hectares (around 50 acres). For the general layouts development, the minimum layout areas should be 4 hectares (10 acres) of which 10% of the land should be earmarked for open spaces including recreation and community purpose. Also, 2.5% open space land should be earmarked for social infrastructure.

"The land covered for land pooling scheme shall be contiguous and approachable by an existing black-topped road of 18 mts (60 ft). If such road does not exist, the developer should first provide for the same at his own cost; and apply with copies of necessary ownership documents and revenue sketches of the site to the urban authority for obtaining the clearance for the LPS scheme," an official of the HMDA said.

Officials said as per the provisions made in the master plan, owners and developers are required to mortgage 15% of the saleable land to HMDA as surety for carrying out development and complying with other conditions in the given time period. If the developer fails to do so, the authority will have the powers to sell the mortgaged plots and utilise the amount for completing the development works. At the same time the owner is entitled to dispose of the non-reserved sites and non-mortgaged plots.

Officials said apart from incorporating the LPS in the master plan, a committee has been constituted by the MA&UD to prepare detailed guidelines for land pooling projects and integrated satellite townships for statewide policy for urban local bodies and urban development authorities. The committee has the metropolitan commissioner of HMDA as chairman, commissioner and director of municipal administration as member and director of town and country planning as member convener and vice-chairmen of Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada Urban Development Authorities as members. The chairman has been permitted to invite any other officer or expert to the committee. The draft policy is expected to be ready by end of this month.

To begin with, Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) will be implemented in Hyderabad Metropolitan Region (HMR) and later extended to other urban areas in the state

Under LPS, individual owners or farmers come together to develop land to an extent of 100 acres or more with the clearance of HMDA

Any public authority or licensed private builder can undertake development under LPS provided the minimum size of land should be 20 hectares (around 50 acres)

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Cabinet OKs tax on vacant lands in urban areas

TNN Jan 30, 2013, 03.48AM IST

PATNA: All vacant lands in urban parts of the state would now come under the purview of tax. Lands located in municipal areas on main principal road, main road or other roads would be charged Rs 5, Rs 4 or Rs 3 per square feet, respectively.

A decision in this regard was taken by the state cabinet on Tuesday.

Similarly, lands available in Nagar Parishad areas and located either on main principal road, main road or other roads would be charged Rs 4, Rs 3 or Rs 2 per square feet, respectively. In a similar way, lands available in Nagar Panchayat areas would be taxed Rs 3, Rs 2 or Rs 1 per square feet, respectively.

Approving three agenda of the Bihar urban development housing department, namely the Bihar Municipal Property Tax Collection Recovery Rules 2013, Bihar Property Tax Rules 2013 and Bihar Municipality Ward Samiti (community participation) Rules 2013, the state cabinet announced three-fold increase on existing holding tax of commercial establishments like hotel bar, restaurant, marriage halls, health clubs, gymnasium spread over more than 250 square feet of area.

Briefing mediapersons after the cabinet meeting, urban development department and housing secretary S Siddharth said the government has also approved 1.5-time hike on the existing holding tax of shops, private schools and colleges, private hostels, private coaching centres, training centres, multiplexes, cinema halls, malls, laboratories and guest houses.

The cabinet has approved three-fold increase in the rate of existing structure of tax on commercial and financial establishments, insurance and banking, nursing homes. Two-fold hike on the existing tax rate of godowns, industries and workshops was also approved by the cabinet, Siddharth said.

He said religious and cultural centres would be exempted from the purview of any tax.

In order to maintain transparency, all these three Rules would be put up on the official website of the department for a month for seeking advice, guidelines, clarification and suggestions from the public, he said.

He also said that the government would provide rebate of 5% to those who are interested in rain water harvesting.

Under the Bihar Munciplaity Ward Samiti Rules 2013, a three-member committee would be set up under the chairmanship of the department secretary. This samiti would develop grassroots planning and budgeting of each ward, particularly in developing solid waste, street lighting and parks.

The cabinet also approved creation of a separate tax collection board which will be an advisory body for seeking expert opinions and guidelines in tax structure. The representatives of ward sabha and booth sabha would be elected through the state election commission, Siddharth said.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Govt sanctions fundsfor 10 Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission works

TNN Jan 30, 2013, 04.57AM IST

LUCKNOW: The state government on Tuesday sanctioned Rs 24,253.52 lakh against the estimated cost of 10 development projects under Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) scheme of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The seven towns of UP included under the UIG scheme are Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Meerut and Mathura.

Out of the approved amount, Rs 6287.88 lakh is the centage component meant for managing staff salary, establishment and administration expenses of the agencies deployed for the project.

The urban planning department announced that out of the amount, Rs 4,504 lakh has been approved for Allahabad sewerage zone D phase-1, Rs 3,236.70 lakh for Lucknow storm water drainage, Rs 1,796.55 lakh for Lucknow sewerage district-3 (part-1) and Rs 1,635.44 lakh for STP (sewage treatment plant) of 210 MLD capacity in Kanpur.

Accordingly, Rs 585.21 lakh for Kanpur water supply in Part-2, Rs 2936.60 lakh for Meerut water supply, Rs 2722.38 lakh for Meerut sewerage in zone 5 and 7 and Rs 1108.96 lakh for Varanasi sewerage at trans-Varuna area have been approved. A sum of Rs 4,347.70 lakh has been sanctioned for Varanasi storm water drainage project and Rs 1,379.98 lakh have been earmarked for Mathura storm water drainage system.

Varanasi: Cantonment bus depot to be modernized under PPP model
Varanasi: Without bus shelters, JNNURM boarding points remain unclear
Varanasi: VMC to implement e-governance

[Krishnamoorthy K]

E-governance: AMC focuses on CCTV surveillance, GIS mapping

RITU SHARMA : Ahmedabad, Fri Jan 25 2013, 03:31 hrs

Closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera surveillance system at public places, Comprehensive Complaint Redressal System (CCRS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping of city are some of the ambitious e-governance projects of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).

The civic body has proposed these plans, which will cost around Rs 24.8 crore, in its annual budget draft for the year 2013-14. The AMC plans to implement these by 2014.

The surveillance project includes installation of CCTV cameras at civil hospitals, traffic signals, Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) and Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Services (AMTS) buses and routes, bridges and parks. These points have been selected after consulting the city police and keeping in view past incidents of blasts, thefts and violation of traffic rules.

"There is a proposal to implement an online Comprehensive Complaint Redressal System (CCRS) per ward in the coming financial year. Under this, a unique ID will be generated for complaints related to all departments. With the help of this system, complainants can track the status and disposal of their complaints," said municipal commissioner Guruprasad Mohapatra.

The AMC is also planing GIS mapping of all assets and buildings. All future underground utilities like water, drainage and storm water line, street lights and building plan permissions will be mapped and any related work will be planned after generating a separate GIS database. Comprehensive property tax related information will also be available through GIS.

"All the future work related to underground utilities including water, sewerage and storm water line, streetlights and building plans permissions will be available through GIS. Already, due to lack of data related to underground utilities, the AMC has been facing a lot of problems pertaining to digging and laying of pipes and cables," said Mohapatra.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Government to make town planning simpler

Kapil Dave, TNN Jan 21, 2013, 01.02AM IST

GANDHINAGAR: The state government has once again started the process of reviewing the four-decade-old the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act 1976, to simplify the cumbersome process of notifying the town planning schemes and developing the urban areas according to the plans.

A highly-placed official of the urban development department said, "The time consuming process of announcing and executing the TP schemes has led to haphazard development of cities. This needs to be simplified urgently. At present, it takes at least three years to even 20 years for clearing the schemes.'' In 2011, the government had formed a high-level committee under additional chief secretary (ACS)-rank official to review the Act. But there was no visible outcome.

"We are looking at using modern technology to remove all possible time-consuming processes. When the Act was enacted, there was no technology and scale of urbanization was also limited,'' an official from urban department said.

"Present old age revenue laws are also one of the key reason for delays in the TP schemes so the state government also aims to simplify these acts as much possible,'' another official from the department said.

Civic agency readies four TP proposals

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Development plan aims high, to check urban spread

Ajay Umat, TNN Feb 1, 2013, 02.52AM IST

AHMEDABAD: Raising the floor space index (FSI) by up to 30% across Ahmedabad to create more affordable housing units will be the thrust of the new development plan (DP) likely to be announced on Friday. The plan, which covers 1,772 sq km covering 68 villages, is expected to raise the FSI from the existing 1.2 in R-2 zones — construction of 1,200 sq yards on a plot of 1,000 sq yards — to 1.8, thus paving way for vertical growth on outskirts.

The proposed changes in DP are expected to bring about simultaneous alternation s in the General Development Control Regulations (GDCR) aimed at bringing transparency and standardization, so as to ensure minimum flexibility in interpretation. Zoning of the 68 villages will earmark land clearly for roads, residential areas, industrial and agricultural zones.

The Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (Auda) is likely to propose around 2.5 FSI to allow 70 metre tall (about 22 storey) buildings in the R-1 zone. The existing FSI is 1.8. In addition, developers are allowed to purchase 0.45 FSI at a premium. The present FSI of 1.8 allows 12-storeyed buildings which are 40 m tall are allowed here.

The state government is also planning to raise FSI along the BRTS and Metro rail corridors as well as the 132 ft ring road. This FSI will be transferable, which means it can be sold or leased to an adjacent plot owner.

The focus is to avoid lop-sided and horizontal growth of the city and boost high-rise development within the Sardar Patel Ring Road, which is the boundary of AMC. The affordable housing pockets are likely to come up mostly in eastern Ahmedabad.

However, the biggest beneficiaries of the proposed move will be land owners along the western flank of SG Road, starting from Sanathal to Vaishno Devi temple, where land prices are the highest. According to realtors, the proposed DP will help reduce construction cost and make houses cheaper by 15-20%.

Auda-ciously ambitious growth plan
Ahmedabad: City high-rises aren't fire-safe despite HC order

[Krishnamoorthy K]

CEPT draws up Rs 1,500-crore development plan for Gandhidham

Lakshmi Ajay : Ahmedabad, Wed Jan 23 2013, 04:19 hrs

CEPT University has come out with a Rs 1500-crore master plan for Gandhidham, which connects the country's largest port Kandla to the hinterland in Kutch district, to house 10 lakh more people in the town in the coming decade.

The plan will be submitted to the Gandhidham Development Authority (GDA) by the first week of February. "The study aims to prepare the city to accommodate the future population here... The gross area which will benefit from the plan for urban activities under GDA is around 200 square km," said Utpal Sharma, Dean, Faculty of Planning & Public Policy at CEPT, who is spearheading the plan for the town that was first set up to resettle refugees from Pakistan.

Gandhidham's planned development is important as the share of migrant population, which is employed at the state's only major port, is expected to increase considerably in the next few years. It is estimated that the population of combined GDA area will reach to 4.86 lakh by 2021 and 7.46 lakh by 2031 from 3.2 lakh in 2011. The GDA and nearby towns of Anjar and Mundra will accommodate a population of over 10 lakh by 2031.

"Among the 12 major ports in the country, Kandla occupies a strategically important geographical position, with an hinterland of around 1 million sq km stretching over north, north-west and part of central India. This makes it a hotspot for importers and exporters from across the country in the movement of cargo. Compared to Kandla's industrial expansion, Gandhidham's development has been haphazard, which we have tried to set right with this plan," Sharma added.

The plan looks at seamlessly integrating Kandla and the upcoming Tuna port's development with that of GDA. The upcoming Anjar Special Investment Region and Tuna Port, which will be developed by the Adani group (for Kandla Port Trust), will drive a lot of growth in the area.

"We have planned three outer ring roads that will ease regional traffic. A 'heavy industries zone' of 25 kms that will enjoy proximity to the port, a good highway and railway network and a logistics hub is part of the plan. Two logistic parks at Kandla and Tuna have been proposed for specific industrial expansion.

"The residential development will be done over 80 sq kms, thereby earmarking more space for industrial and infrastructure expansion. Open spaces for public use have mapped out government-owned wastelands for urban development needs," said Vivek Parikh, Research Associate at Centre for Research & Development Unit, CEPT.

The plan has underlined salt, timber and transport as the three key sectors that will drive business activity in Gandhidham.

"Currently, the GDA does not have powers to acquire land, but it can regulate and control development in the area under it. The implementation of this proposal depends heavily on the scope of

the GDA. We will also make recommendations to expand the scope of the Gandhidham Development Act, under which the GDA has been formed, to give it more power," Sharma said. He added that Gandhidham is exempt from the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act due to the special status awarded to the port town.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Planners, activists seek focus on urban land acquisition

Radheshyam Jadhav, TNN Jan 7, 2013, 03.18AM IST

PUNE: Activists and urban planners have demanded that the central government should amend proposed land acquisition Bill to incorporate provisions focusing on urban areas or else introduce separate Bill for urban vicinities.

Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement, Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill, 2012 proposed by the government starts with the introduction, "Infrastructure across the country must expand rapidly. Industrialization, especially based on manufacturing has also to accelerate. Urbanisation is inevitable". However activists and urban planners observe that the Bill focuses only on the rural land acquisition and rehabilitation and excludes urban area.

"Apart from the proposed Bill, there should be separate Bill for urban areas which will consider the vital fact of increasing land value in urban areas. The government norms and rules for land acquisition should move with time. Jairam Ramesh, minister for rural development has shown concern for rural areas, but the urban scenario remains neglected in the proposed Bill" said urban planner Anita Benninger - Gokhale speaking to TOI. She added that the issue if Bio Diversity Park (BDP) in Pune city is pending for years as the issue of compensation has become bone of contention.

"Once you have laws giving confidence to land owners that they will get 100 per cent or maximum compensation, there will be no opposition to land acquisition" she added.

Urban planner Ramchandra Gohad said, "Land acquisition in urban areas has become major issue. If the central government is not willing to bring new Bill, the proposed Bill should be amended and more provisions for urban areas should be incorporated. The central government should encourage Town Planning (TP) schemes in urban areas, which will facilitate urbanization".

The McKinsey Global Institute report that states that the urban population of India would rocket to 590 million by year 2030 from 340 million in year 2008, and form about 40 per cent of the total population. Activists question the Bill for "neglecting" the issues emanating in the urban areas when it comes to land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation.

Various organizations under umbrella of National Alliance of People's Movement (NAPM) led by Medha Patkar have decided to raise voice against the " negligence" towards urban issues in the proposed Bill.

" The Bill and the comments by both, standing committee as well as ministry of rural development almost totally excludes and have unaddressed the situation in the urban areas, where there is no land acquisition, but eviction, brutal and unjust, for any and every elitist real estate development to infrastructure without guaranteeing right to shelter, right to life and livelihood" the NAPM stated in a press statement.

The draft Bill states, " Where land is acquired for urbanization, 20% of the developed land will be reserved and offered to land owning project affected families, in proportion to their land acquired and at a price equal to cost of acquisition and the cost of development. In case the project affected family wishes to avail of this offer, an equivalent amount will be deducted from the land acquisition compensation package payable to it".

However NAPM objects the provision. " The only provision is to compensate with 20% of developed land for land owning families in urbanisation projects, which is not with regard to the cases where land belongs to the government or private entities but people are evicted. We demand a separate section or a separate act for the millions of the urban persons and urban land from getting misappropriated. The Bill with the presently proposed content need to be called only Rural Bill" states the NAPM statement.

NAPM members alleged that "rapacious" use of Land Acquisition Act 1894 by the government to secure land for "development" projects has caused over 100 million people to be displaced from their land, livelihoods and shelters. " The country is dotted with communities resisting State sponsored land grab which resonate the demand for a just law to ensure that there is no forced acquisition of land and resources, including minerals and ground water" said NAPM members.

Activists said that if the UPA government is serious about addressing the conflicts over the land and other natural resources then it must listen to the voices of those struggling or else it will only aggravate these conflicts all across the country. " The need of growth, infrastructure and urbanisation can't be fulfilled on the graveyard of millions. A pro-people Development Planning Bill with complete participation of the Gram Sabha will go a long way in stopping the massive corporate corruption and lead to decentralization of power having an overall impact on the politics of the country" said activists.Pune's land acquisition moves at slow pace

The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has failed to execute the 1987 Development Plan (DP) in the past 25 years. Out of the 609 reservations earmarked for various civic amenities, the PMC has developed only 134. The civic administration blames the land acquisition process for the failure to implement the DP.

Now the PMC has prepared a DP for old city. The DP is applicable to the old city comprising 17 peths and its surrounding areas extending to over 147.85 sq km. The DP proposes 921 reservations covering 1,080.79 hectare area for amenities like health, education, recreation, etc. The 1987 DP had 587 reservations for amenities.

In the development plan, the administration earmarks available land in the city for public amenities like gardens, hospitals, schools, roads and footpaths based on the population of an area. The DP lays out policies and proposals for development and use of land. It is meant to guide decisions such as whether permission to develop should be granted under the development control rules. The decisions must be consistent and match the DP adopted by the authority after public consultation.

"Despite all efforts to acquire land, the administration has failed to convince owners. A majority of the land acquisition cases are pending in court. People have no faith in the compensation process. It is a fact that urban land acquisition is entirely different from the rural scenario," said one of the civic officials.

According to the civic administration one of the reasons for the failure of the Swargate - Katraj - Hadapsar pilot BRTS project was problems in acquiring land. The pilot route was developed in stretched as many land owners whose land was to be acquired for the project approached court.

The DP for 1987 had earmarked two internal ring roads, one passing through peth areas and the second, a High Capacity Mass Transit Route (HCMTR) route connecting areas between Bopodi and Hadapsar. The objective was to reduce traffic congestion.

However, these roads may never become a reality as land acquisition is impossible with large-scale development in the city.

Owing to opposition to land acquisition the PMC failed to acquire land for roads in the congested areas. All commercial activities of the city are concentrated in Budhwar Peth, Shukrawar Peth, Shaniwar Peth, Narayan Peth and Sadashiv Peth. Roads, lanes, and bylanes in these areas were planned more than 300 years ago. Same roads being used by the city which now has a population of 32 lakh. Over 5,000 four-wheelers and 35,000 two-wheelers pass through the Peth areas every day and more than half of the vehicles than 50% vehicles are parked for extended hours.

City engineer Prashant Waghmare said that the PMC was putting efforts to accelerate land acquisition process and taking land owners into confidence.

Definition of Land

"Land includes benefits to arise out of land, and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything attached to the earth."

Time Line Set in Draft Bill

Compensation will be given within a period of three months from the date of the award;

Monetary relief and rehabilitation entitlements will be provided within a period of six months from the date of the award;

Infrastructure relief and rehabilitation entitlements will be provided within a period of eighteen months from the date of the award;

No involuntary displacement will take place without completion of relief and rehabilitation;

[Krishnamoorthy K]

'Pune repeating mistakes of Delhi, Mumbai'

PUNE: Environmentalist Anupam Mishra has warned of a looming water crisis in Pune and said that rapid concretisation was responsible for the increasing incidence of flooding in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore.

Addressing a news conference on Wednesday on the sidelines of the ongoing seventh Kirloskar Vasundhara International Film Festival, Mishra stressed on the urgent need to regenerate water bodies and set up mechanisms for rainwater harvesting to ensure availability of water for future generations.

Mishra said that town planning in cities like Delhi and Mumbai had been chaotic and haphazard and Pune was going the same way by allowing construction of high-rises without planning for water supply and sewage disposal. He also said the Mutha and Mula rivers have become dirty and polluted.

"Land prices are going over the roof. When space is being allocated for everything from parking lots to gyms, why can't it be earmarked for water bodies too," he asked. Calling on town planners and governments to reassess urban development plans, Mishra also urged buyers of flats to demand for clear-cut plans for rain-water harvesting from their builders.

Mishra, who is the recipient of the Jamnalal Bajaj Award for 2011, said water bodies like ponds not only help to ensure decentralised supply of water for cities, they also prevent the water-table from drying out and also control floods. "As a civilisation thirsty for water, we are running out of time. If a city has to get its supply of water from 500 km away, it is hardly development. Instead of endlessly digging bore-wells, states would do better by respecting the natural sources of water and conserving the present water bodies," he said.

Speaking about river cleanliness projects, he called for all state municipal corporations to learn from the cooperative efforts of fisherman from Kolkata in cleaning the Hooghly river. "Those fishermen have shown to the world that it is possible to clean a river without spending money," he said.

He also stressed on the need for community involvement to solve the water crisis. "If we need healthy cities, each and every individual needs to do his or her bit," he said. He urged for greater awareness about water problems in order to overcome "water illiteracy".

Revised regional plan in next few months
24x7 water supply in PCMC areas likely in four years
Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority may be formed by next month
Confusion reigns over bio-diversity park (BDP) approval

Mumbai's public transport system in a mess, local train accidents increase
BMC plans to declare gaothans as slums, residents to protest

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Chief minister hints at legislation for integrated urbanisation

TNN Jan 25, 2013, 06.00AM IST

PUNE: Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday said that the state government was preparing a new legislation to set rules for integrated urbanization.

"Today over 50% of the population in the state lives in urban areas and more villages are merging with urban areas. Urban governance has become challenge in Pune, Mumbai and other cities. With rising population, cities are planning metro, mono rails and the BRTS. There is a need to go for integrated urbanization and the government plans a new legislation to set new rules in this regard" Chavan said.

Chavan was addressing a gathering after inaugurating the 'MAHA conference - 2013 on women in architecture', organized by the Indian Institute of Architects and the Council of Architecture in India at Balgandharva Rangmandir.

CM defended the state policy to convert special economic zones into integrated industrial areas and townships, wherein 60% land would be used for industrial purpose, 30% for residential and 10% for commercial purposes.

"The special economic zones were not attractive and hence the state has to go for integration of industrial and other purpose development. This policy will reduce the pressure on cities like Pune, Mumbai and Thane," Chavan said. He added that the town planning schemes for newly merged areas in the civic limits should be given priority by the local bodies.

"The merger of fringe villages will make Pune a bigger corporation than the Mumbai corporation. In such circumstances, the PMC has to create infrastructure so that people will have to travel less to work place. This will also help reduce traffic congestion," Chavan said.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

M Ramachandran: Systems for our cities

Needed: a comprehensive urbanisation strategy so states have a framework on which to act

M Ramachandran / Jan 13, 2013, 00:54 IST

As the world gets more and more urbanised, with more than 70 per cent of global GDP from cities, and with cities growing fast primarily because they are the engines of national economies, there is a clear message that it is time that we in India paid sufficient attention to how our cities are evolving. UN Habitat’s latest “State of the World’s Cities Report” says that by the middle of this century, it is expected that out of every ten people on the planet, seven will be living in urban areas. An urban governance system which is not sufficiently empowered, that allows continuing gaps in basic infrastructure coverage and delivery, and which lets slums proliferate because there is no well-defined housing strategy, has complicated the process of steady, balanced urban development. So has the multiplicity of authorities in India’s cities, and their strong dependence on state governments for finances, as well as the weak master planning process, leading to an absence of an overall vision and strategy for a city’s development. The existence of an entirely different governance regime and scheme of things in the rural areas that immediately adjoin cities has led to further complications.

One of the key factors governing how a city grows and expands is the policy regarding Floor Area Ratio (FAR), also known as Floor Space Index (FSI). Quite often, it is the state governments which guide and determine the development control norms and often it has been seen that select variations are approved at the state level — sometimes seeming to be influenced by considerations external to the overall city planning process. What role do density norms or stated requirements in this regard play in shaping the city’s scheme of things? An answer can be gathered from the Bangalore example, where it is said if the present density regulations are corrected, the city’s radius could be 8 km rather than the present 12 km. In Singapore densities vary as per location, planned use and availability of infrastructure.

The point being made is that as the process of urbanisation spreads, there is a need to proactively guide the process at a larger level. After the first National Urbanisation Commission of the 1980s, India has not had another such commission to look at the complexity of issues involved and to suggest appropriate strategies for different parts of the country. Though urban development is a subject mandated to the states, any effort to provide direction by the Central government significantly influences the process, as can be seen from the reforms initiative and support for infrastructure development provided through the seven years of JNNURM. Land is a critical factor in the development of cities today, and in the absence of policies defining property rights and land values, the limited urban land available cannot play a balancing role in a city’s overall development. There are a large number of other key issues which need to be adequately handled through strategies and policies — such as making the master plan process less rigid, ensuring integration of land use and transport planning, matching land use and infrastructure, ensuring environmental sustainability and so on. For these the states would need to state their strategies and subsequently guide the process of implementation.

Though there is no national initiative now to try and give shape to future urbanisation strategies, the Twelfth Five-Year Plan identifies affordable housing; sustainable livelihoods and enterprise; universal access to water and sanitation; quality and affordable public transport; a clean and healthy environment; strengthening local governance systems; integrating planning organisations and provisions; building capacity across all levels; financially empowering urban local bodies; and promoting innovation in urban management as key initiatives of India’s urban future.

Rajasthan, Karnataka and Kerala are three states which have taken the initiative to seriously address the issue of strategy for urbanisation. Rajasthan set up a state commission on urbanisation in 2011 to examine the state of urbanisation, to review the status of various policies, to identify priority action areas and also to evolve and recommend a policy framework. The Karnataka strategy is to go in for a framework for guiding the urban development of the state and help create cities which are economically productive, socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable. It talks of focussed strategies like developing cities taking into account their differing strengths; shifting the traditional focus on master plans to a spatial approach; reforming the urban land markets to make them more efficient; developing suitable programmes to reduce and ultimately eliminate urban poverty; strengthening of infrastructure in five key areas of direct relevance to city residents; and strengthening democratic urban governance.

Kerala has gone about this process in a very systematic manner and prepared a state urbanisation report with the urban vision of revitalised urban areas of compact urban form, distributed in a balanced and orderly manner in the entire state, which would complement the rural hinterland and act as engines of development. The recommendation is to have three categories of urban areas: urban clusters/urban corridors, isolated higher-order urban areas and small urban areas. Three zones are proposed within an urban area: core urban, intermediary urban and peri-urban. The strategy for development of the core area is remoulding to a compact urban form, with high-intensity development supported with necessary infrastructure. A planned, comparatively low-intensity development is the general strategy suggested for the intermediary urban area. Intensive residential activity, high plotted development and high-rise buildings are suggested for this area. Low intensity is proposed in the peri-urban area. New developments which need large tracts of land are to be located in these areas. Controlled organic growth within the peri-urban area may be the objective. The possibility of a buffer zone between the peri urban and rural area is recommended to be explored.

What needs to be done to achieve this is that the urban profile must be part of the general strategy for the comprehensive development of the state — in fact, the urban profile must be made an integral part of the component of regulated spatial structure of the state, defined through a state perspective plan. Existing large land parcels should be conserved for future development. How to enhance density, which is low in core urban areas — ranging between 6,000 and 7,500 persons per square km — is also an issue to be addressed.

There have been varying discussions about the way in which our large cities have developed. Some are high-density. Most have huge transportation problems. Economically weaker sections find it difficult to find proper housing. Almost all our cities have poor basic infrastructure and service delivery. Poor sanitation and lack of basic facilities hampers their progress. These are just some of the fundamental issues substantially confronting our cities and towns. Few states have strategised the various factors, stated above, that need to be taken into account to have balanced city development and proceed with urbanisation. It is time to look at all these fundamentals from a national perspective with recommended strategies for states keeping in view their current trends and projected requirements. It is time to have another national urbanisation committee.

The author is a former Secretary of Urban Development, Government of India

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Indian cities must act now on city climate resilience plans

Cities across the world, due to their rapid population growth and large-scale developmental and economic investments, are at high risk from the impacts of climate change. According to the United Nations World Urbanisation Prospects 2011 report, the population living in urban areas is projected to increase from 3.6 billion currently to 6.3 billion by 2050. Cities need to start thinking about addressing these impacts which will become more evident in the coming times given their high vulnerability.

Indian cities are facing multiple challenges: rapid urbanisation, inadequate urban services and infrastructure, migration, ecological degradation etc. which makes them all the more vulnerable in an uncertain and changing climate regime. In India, 53 cities have populations of more than one million people. By the 2060s, it is expected that there will be approximately 500 million additional people in an estimated 7,000- 12,000 urban settlements in India.

Though facing serious issues, cities can offer solution by evolving climate resilience strategies which can go a long in reducing their vulnerability and ensuring sustainable development. In view of this, it is crucial to develop urban climate resilience plans that can prepare cities to face the consequences of extreme weather events like urban flooding, public health crisis and the like. Understanding the urgency, The Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network (ACCCRN), part of a $59 million, 7-year climate change resilience initiative supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, was launched in 2009 to create climate resilience strategies and action models in 10 cities across four countries in Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and India).

[Krishnamoorthy K]

The challenge of achieving sustainable mobility

Akshima T Ghate, IBNLive Specials

Providing adequate and quality mobility options to the urban population is one of the key challenges that our cities face today. The trends that we are witnessing in terms of explosive motorisation are leading to major threats to environment, health and social well-being. The problems related to urban transport are expected to aggravate manifold in the coming times and hence lead to the urgency of addressing various facets of urban transport and undertaking efforts for making it sustainable because the current growth trends in no way are sustainable. The increasing dependence on private vehicles, declining share of public transport and non-motorised transport are some of the key trends that are making our transport systems unsustainable. Additionally, we are struggling to get our basics right; we have been investing on vehicle friendly infrastructure, planning and designing inequitable mobility systems, are unable to ensure safety and security on roads and public transport systems, and are unable to ensure even the basic needs in terms of universal access.

While many may not accord the situation as alarming, it may be unwise for city planners and managers not to take this seriously. We are witnessing vehicle registration levels of about 1400 vehicles in Delhi, around 1000 in Bangalore and are reaching similar levels in cities like Pune, Chennai, etc. We could very well reach the level of about 400 million vehicles in the next 20 years, almost a four times increase as compared to today. What could be more alarming? We cannot have the luxury of expanding our roads for ever, which means that we cannot let the growth of vehicular population continue at the current rates. We need to put a curb on it, which implies that we urgently need sustainable mobility systems, systems that do not promote private motorisation of this extent.

Sustainable mobility systems aim at moving people, not vehicles and hence focus more on development of mass transport systems and non-motorised transport infrastructure rather than vehicle friendly infrastructure.

Sustainable mobility systems are usually environment-friendly and provide adequate, quality, affordable, reliable and comfortable mobility options to all and promote safety and security of the commuters. We can achieve such systems if we judiciously start planning the urban and transport systems. We need to first of all set the right policies, programs and investments schemes in place.

To some extent, the National Urban Transport Policy has done that at the national level. We need similar policies, programmes and plans at state and city level also. We need to ensure that the investments are channelled to the right kind of infrastructure projects and pass all checks of environmental impacts, safety, and accessibility, among others. The goal should be to provide 'mobility for all'.

This is not an easy task because we do not have adequate institutions, capacity and commitment towards promoting sustainable mobility systems. We have 'just' noticed the problem and are starting to respond to it. Unfortunately the responses that we are seeking have short-term impacts. We need to look for long-term solutions, which sometimes may not be easy to implement. But in the interest of society and environment, we need to undertake such interventions. We hope that the thematic tracks in the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit -2013 on sustainable mobility are able to find some solutions to addressing these challenges and guide towards the right direction of achieving sustainable mobility.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

IT gives cities a ‘smart’ makeover

Sudhir Chowdhary: Jan 07 2013, 00:44 IST

Some Indian cities, in a small way, are using advanced technology to ease traffic woes and sensors to monitor water leaks, and are tracking garbage trucks through GPS to ensure they dump their waste at designated landfills. Enhancement of quality of life is the prime motivation

Traffic jams have become endemic to most Indian big cities. Not only that, erratic water supply and innumerable power cuts can really drive people crazy, especially in summer months. Thankfully, there’s a way around it and technology holds the promise to make our cities a better place to live in.

Cities in the developed world are making technology master plans and then using these plans to develop a citywide command and control network that monitors and optimises the delivery of services like power, water, traffic and healthcare. The basic premise of a smart city is making infrastructure network and delivery of services more efficient—across telecommunication, logistics, water and gas supply.

Indian cities, in a small way, are using advanced technology to solve problems. These include traffic control, using sensors to monitor water leaks, tracking garbage trucks through global positioning systems to ensure they dump their waste at designated landfills, energy management in smart buildings and complexes.

The concept of a smart city is a relatively new one, brought into limelight in India by IBM. The tech major brought its smarter planet concept to India in 2010 and today, it has over 20 projects under IBM smarter cities initiatives. To name a few cities among them are Delhi, Pune and Bangalore. Also under development are smart townships that are controlled centrally, and entire cities along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. As these projects expand, Indian cities will be ready for technology integration—which is in a nascent stage right now.

With estimates that out of the country’s 5,000-plus towns and cities, about 100 would require a 21st century urban transportation system, automation of transport services by the nation’s first intelligent transport system (ITS) in Mysore, is just the beginning. Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) invested approximately R20 crore in the project.

R Ramanan, CEO & MD, CMC, says “Intelligent transport system is a project of national importance, which can be replicated to make public transport more commuter-friendly and efficient in all our cities which are undergoing urban renewal.” CMC is engaged in and is eyeing several intelligent transportation system projects that can leverage GPS, mobile and cloud technologies to enable citizens to receive real-time information on state transport enabling efficient use of the system.

“The overall objective of ITS is to make public transportation in the cities more efficient, comfortable and customer friendly so that citizens are increasingly weaned away from using personal vehicles, thus leading to improved traffic efficiency, reduced traffic congestion and fuel consumption, improved environmental quality and energy efficiency and improved economic productivity,” says Ramanan.

The CMC head informs that innovative and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) help address the critical issue of customer service by improving the productivity and efficiency of public transportation. “Information such as schedules, arrival/departure time, location, etc is obtained through satellite based GPS and disseminated through large LED displays and also mobile text messages. It improves the overall traffic congestion within cities. It also improves fleet management, navigation, routing while saving precious fuel.”

That’s not all. Seven new cities coming up along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor will also use smart technologies with a total investment of $90 billion over a decade, says Tony Spizzichino, CEO Telit RF Technologies. Headquartered in London, the company develops, manufactures and markets machine-to-machine (M2M) modules, which enable machines, devices and vehicles to communicate via wireless networks. “Around the world, governments are looking at mass systems and digital technology that cuts across power, water, safety and transport needs. While technology firms are working on digital master plans, the models will be customisable to adapt to Indian realities.”

Typically in a smart city, sensors will provide real-time inputs to a control centre on clean water, energy, public transport, public safety, education, and healthcare. Intelligent communication tools will let administrators manage and respond to emergencies quickly as well as provide residents with constant real-time inputs.But what about old urban centres? Can smart technologies help re-engineer utility systems and delivery? Water distribution systems, for example, were built 50 to 100 years ago and badly need upgrading. Revenues of $14 billion are being lost according to the World Bank, which makes a compelling economic case for better water metering. Smart water grids that leverage the value of smart water meters in homes and other buildings are being deployed, albeit slowly. According to a report from Pike Research, the global installed base of smart meters with two-way communication capabilities will only reach 29.9 million by 2017, up from 10.3 million in 2011.

According to Tony, a major city in the developed world is creating an ultra high-speed broadband network along its waterfront area, with speeds of 100 Mbps for residences and 10 Gbps for commercial establishments. This network is supposed to help deploy a large number of new services like telemedicine, distance education, virtual tourism, and several business applications. Wembley Stadium in London went through a major overhaul, integrating all building safety systems with data, video and voice communications, and then using an intelligent control solution making it the most technically advanced sports stadium in the world.

Even in India, there are departments that are beginning to employ smart technologies. Bangalore’s traffic police have 180 cameras around the city managed from a control room making it the most advanced traffic management system in India. In the power distribution sector, smart meters are gradually being used which have various advantages over the existing electricity meters like real time two communication, anti-tamper capability, remote disconnection and reconnection capability, remote load control, energy loss calculation, pre-disconnection advice and remote configuration of multiple tariffs.

According to Tony, smart cities demand common open platforms and an information and communication technology infrastructure that can support high-speed internet access across wireline and wireless networks. This infrastructure requires two key components. First, an all-IP core network that can seamlessly integrate wireline and wireless technologies and create a converged infrastructure for buildings and ICT systems. Second, a broadband access network that can integrate systems through wireless, wireline, copper, fiber and other access technologies.

Every minute, 20 Indians move into cities. A recent analysis by Booz and Company says that India’s urban population will increase by 140 million in 10 years and 700 million in four decades. To avoid total collapse of the urban environment, India has to build new smart cities and re-engineer the old ones, the Telit CEO emphasises.

India 2040: Welcome to digitally controlled cities

Gujarat: showing the way for India’s smart cities?
Developing Integrated, Smart & Sustainable Cities - Vibrant Gujarat
Dholera will be better developed than Delhi: Narendra Modi

Kochi: SmartCity master plan to get smarter
Single SEZ status boost for SmartCity project
Kerala govt departments in dark over SmartCity plan
SmartCity Kochi project work may start in six months


Government plans 2 'smart' cities in each state

Smart Cities + Smart Villages = Smart Country ?

But, for achieving smart country even connectivity between villages and cities should be smart. So, phases may be

Smart Cities + Smart Villages -> Smart Corridors -> Smart Country.

We are still in initial phase of planning Smart SEZs. Of course, as mentioned in the article above we are incorporting smartness into cities feature by feature, i.e., features like intelligent transport system, tracking garbage trucks through GPS, etc. Finally all features needs to be clubbed together to make it a smart city.

Hope a smart city can control flooding during monsoon by design. When India becomes a smart country will there be street vendors and slum dwellers? Or should a smart city have a plan for them?

A strong financial centre contributes to inequality
India needs to rethink notion of 'smart cities' <- old news
Slums must form part of the smart city movement <- slightly old news

What I feel is a smart city should be flexible and scalable enough to accommodate everyone including migrants. It should guarantee that everyone staying in it can earn enough to live in it anytime. It should do this with a person entering it even without any qualification, skill or ability.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

India's Urban Environment: Air/Water Pollution and Pollution Abatement

This article focuses on air and water pollution in India's cities, provides empirical evidence to demonstrate the seriousness of the challenges, discusses the relevant policies of national and local governments that are used to address the challenges, and presents relevant political economy issues related to introducing pollution taxes or other policies aimed at building green cities.

We thank the Asian Development Bank and Guanghua Wan for the opportunity to work on this paper. We gratefully acknowledge comments received at a workshop on Green Urbanisation in Asia which was held in Manila, the Philippines, in April 2012. Support received from Public Affairs Centre and Delhi University for completing this work is acknowledged and appreciated. Any errors remain ours.

Kala Seetharam Sridhar ( kala@pacindia.org ) is with the Public Affairs Centre in Bangalore. Surender Kumar ( surender672@gmail.com ) is with the Department of Business Economics at the University of Delhi.

Growing urbanisation is posing serious environmental concerns in India in terms of changing land use pattern, increasing carbon emissions, solid waste generation and disposal, air and water pollution, and poor sanitation amenities. In this article we focus on air and water pollution and the pollution abatement policy.

Urban Air and Water Pollution

Carbon emissions have been increasing in India in recent years and they are higher in urban areas. We nd that average per capita carbon emissions are higher in metropolitan cities (being 1.19 tonnes per capita as compared to only 0.90 tonnes per capita in non-metropolitan cities), and the national average is 0.93 tonnes per capita (Table 1, p 23). This is because larger cities have more polluting activity such as emissions from public and private transport. However, it should be noted that municipal corporation level emissions as a percentage of city-level emissions are much higher in non- metropolitan areas than in metropolitan areas. Corporation-level emissions include those emanating from street lighting, water supply and sewage systems, transportation, building and other facilities. This is plausible because smaller city corporations lack adequate technology to minimise carbon emissions while providing various public services such as water supply, sewerage, street lighting and transportation.

The concerns related to local air pollution are serious. Table 2 (p 23) reveals the increasing level of average air and water pollution level in India, beginning 1990. Of the 127 cities/towns monitored under the National Air Quality Monitoring Programme, 101 cities report at least one pollutant exceeding the annual average air quality standard (CPCB 2009).

Household borne efuents contribute a substantial proportion of water pollution in India. A 2007 study nds that the discharge of untreated sewage is the single most important cause for pollution of surface and groundwater in India. Nearly 12.47 million (18.5%) households do not have access to a drainage net work, while 26.83 million (39.8%) households are connected to open drains. In respect of underground sewerage, the avail ability is 30% and 15% in notied and nonnotied slums, respectively.

A majority of the government-owned sewage treatment plants remain shut most of the time due to improper design or poor maintenance or lack of reliable electricity supply to operate them, together with absentee employees and poor management. Wastewater generated in these areas normally percolates into the soil or evaporates. Uncollected waste accumulates in the urban areas, cause unhygienic conditions and release pollutants that leach to surface and groundwater (CPCB 2008). Inadequate discharge of untreated domestic/municipal wastewater has resulted in the contamination of 75% of all surface water across India.

City corporations, municipalities and panchayats responsible for water supply and sanitation are supposed to treat efuents as per the national water pollution standards or the Minimum National Standards (MINAS). However, a major portion of efuents, about 70%, goes untreated. Table 3 provides the summary statistics of wastewater generation and treatment in India in 2008. Note that Delhi and Mumbai account for about 69% of the treatment capacity of metropolitan cities.

Municipal authorities need to recognise the problem of pollution of water bodies and pay attention to their liability to set up sewage treatment plants in cities and towns to prevent this pollution. Conditioning intergovernmental scal transfers from state governments to local bodies on the basis of wastewater treated could be an effective instrument for strengthening the nancial position of municipalities (Kumar and Managi 2010; Murty and Kumar 2004). This will not only strengthen the nancial position of local governments but also help address the problem of domestic water pollution.

Pollution Taxations

The Indian government's approach towards prevention and control of pollution has been mostly in the nature of legislation-based command and control measures while natural resource management has been largely carried out through programmes supported by allocations from the central (e g, programmes of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources, Ministry of Agriculture) and state budgets. The use of scal instruments (other than expenditure policy) in environmental policy has been rather limited even though the need to employ economic and scal policy instruments for pollution control and management of natural resources has gained steady recognition during the 1990s (Murty and Kumar 2004; Kumar and Managi 2009).

The Supreme Court of India has played a catalytic role for greening cities in the country. The Court identied critically polluted cities and suggested an action plan to reduce the level of pollution in these cities. In 1996, Delhi was the rst city ordered to develop an action plan while the most recent action plans were mandated in 2003. To date, 17 cities have been given orders to develop action plans. In light of the Supreme Court's reputation as a driver of environmental reform in India as well as the overwhelming approval of Delhi's compressed natural gas (CNG) bus programme as part of its action plan, many believe these policies have made signicant gains in improving air quality. The Court mandated the use of catalytic converters in vehicles, a common means to reduce vehicular pollution across the world due to the low cost of its end-of-the-pipe technology. In 1995, the Court ordered that all new petrol-fuelled cars in the four major metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai) were to betted with converters. In 1998, the policy was extended to 45 other cities. It is plausible that this regulation could reduce the air pollution level in cities.

The combustion of oil products, which mainly occurs in the transport sector, is responsible for about 13% of CO2 emissions in the country. Efciency-enhancing measures in the transport sector are leading to dual benets of both local air pollution abatement and reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Emission standards have been prescribed for vehicles. The implantation of vehicle emissions standards results in signicant costs savings in terms of health benets (Table 4). India has taken substantial initiatives to make the transport sector less emission intensive (Economic Survey 2012). The commercial manufacture of battery-operated vehicles has begun in India with a view to promoting low/no carbon emitting vehicles.

Further, to reduce urban local air pollution in Delhi, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has provided a major boost to public transport, especially in the most congested sections of the city. In a short span of 5-10 years, a citywide network is expected to provide a major mass transport alternative. Similarly, in other cities mass transit systems are in the process of being implemented, e g, the metro-bus project in Bangalore. Some large cities (e g, Bangalore and Chennai) have started to introduce exclusive lanes for buses and Delhi is experimenting with high capacity bus corridors. Several other cities are also planning similar initiatives. Srinivasan (2005) reports that in India CO2 emissions from transportation per passenger kilometre are 16 grams against the 118 and 193 grams in EU-15 and the United States, respectively.

Market-Based Instruments

In the Policy Statement for Abatement of Pollution, released in 1992, the MoEF noted the need for a mix of policy instruments in the form of regulations, legislation, agreements and nancial incentives to address environmental concerns. The MoEF constituted task forces in 1995 and 2001 to evaluate the scope for market-based instruments (MBIs) for industrial pollution abatement. The task forces recommended explicit incorporation of MBIs in pollution control laws, greater reliance on economic penalties in the short- and medium-term, and completely replacing criminal penalties by MBIs in the long run.

In order to encourage the shift of polluting industries from congested urban areas, capital gains made in moving from urban to other areas are exempt from taxes if these are used for acquiring land and building production facilities in non-urban areas. Excise and custom duty exemptions or reductions are given for the use of environmentally-friendly raw materials.

The actual use of scal incentives in the country has, however, been rather limited. These take the form of tax concessions for the adoption of pollution control equipment and a somewhat more structured policy for the promotion of renewable energy technologies. Tax incentives are usually specied for identied abatement technologies and activities, not for providing dynamic incentives for technological innovation and diffusion. Also, since most of these are end-of-the-pipe treatment technologies, they do not promote more efcient use of resources. There are some provisions for the use of levies, cess, nes, and penalties for polluters, though their implementation and effectiveness could do with improvement.

In the last few years, the Government of India has expressed the desire to use markets for controlling pollution in the country. India has levied a cess on coal at the rate of Rs 50 (~US$ 1) per tonne, which is applicable to both domestically produced and imported coal. This money goes into a National Clean Energy Fund that is used to fund research, innovative projects in clean energy technologies, and environmental remedial programmes. To control the industrial pollution of mono nitrogen oxide and particulate matters, the government is going to start emission permit markets as pilot projects in three states, viz, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

Similarly, to increase energy efciency in energy-intensive industries in a cost-effective manner, the Bureau of Energy Efciency has launched trading in energy efciency certicates known as the Perform Achieve Trade (PAT) programme. The Electricity Act 2003 together with the National Electricity Policy (NEP) 2005 and the tariff policy (TP) mandate promotion of electricity generation from renewable sources and encourage the use of markets. The initiatives of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) range from determining preferential tariff for renewable energy and creating a facilitative framework of grid connectivity through the Indian Electricity Grid Code to developing market-based instruments like the Renew able Energy Certicate (REC). The REC mechanism is seen as a major initiative towards promoting renewable energy and encouraging competition in this segment since it addresses the twin objectives of harnessing renewable energy sources in areas with high potential and compliance with Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) by resource-decit states. This important framework was formally launched in November 2010, heralding a new era in the development of green energy in India (Economic Survey 2012).

Moreover, the Government of India has recently launched the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat (NMSH) under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). The NMSH would also help in greening Indian cities. The mission promotes energy efciency in the residential and commercial sectors by bridging the knowledge gap on designing green infrastructure by ensuring better implementation of government schemes and by offering appropriate nancial incentives. It also asks for developing a comprehensive approach to managing water, solid waste and wastewater that takes into account the potential for recycling, reuse and energy creation. Moreover, the refurbishing of urban transportation to increase usage and energy efciency through a combination of promotional, regulatory and scal measures, including mandatory fuel efciency standards to be notied shortly, would be a step in greening the Indian cities.

Results also show that the emissions intensity of India's gross domestic product (GDP) declined by more than 30% during the period 1994-2007 due to the efforts and policies that India has pro actively put in place.

At the sub-national level several municipal corporations have taken the lead in reducing carbon emissions. Some cities such as Gorakhpur, Surat and Indore have taken up pilot projects for adaptation and mitigation of the impact of climate change in their cities. Indore, which has been affected by climate change in the form of rising temperatures and increasing incidence of non-monsoon drought, has identied potential pilot activities such as underground water storage and a volunteer-based water supply availability tracking system. Various carbon emission-reducing processes are gaining carbon credits in the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). Technologies involved in reducing electricity consumption in streetlights, use of light emitting diode (LED) lighting source, Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) mass transit system, green technologies and e-governance are part of this process. AMC has agreements with several companies with a prot-sharing arrangement for carbon credit trade.

Summary and Conclusions

India's carbon emissions are currently not alarming given the low share of manufacturing in its GDP, but are likely to increase with the increasing role of manufacturing, urbanisation, rising incomes and the use of personal vehicles. The Government of India has resorted to a market-based approach to contain pollution. In addition, at the sub-national level, cities are also doing their bit to reduce carbon emissions and increasing green urbanisation by making their buildings more energy efcient.

The more immediate problems of India's cities relate to inadequate solid waste management, poor sanitation and sewerage, which lead to the pollution of groundwater aquifers. While a new National Urban Sanitation Policy has been drafted and innovative methods are being adopted by cities with respect to solid waste management (e g, waste segregation), the challenges that remain to be addressed relate to the nancing of the huge urban infrastructure backlog along with that for future requirements.

References can be viewed at: ( http://www.epw.in/system/files/pdf/2...nvironment.pdf )

Copyright 2013 Economic & Political Weekly, distributed by Contify.com
All Rights Reserved

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Urban aspirers need houses

Can the aspirations of 100 million people be possibly ignored?

First, consider the statistics. India's urban population has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 2.8 percent over 2001-2011, resulting in an increase in urbanisation. Out of India's billion-plus population, 377 million people are urban dwellers. According to Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation the urban housing shortage is estimated at nearly 26.53 million households for the 11th Five Year Plan.

According to the Report of the Working Group on Urban Strategic Planning, the country is expected to witness more than 50 per cent urbanisation (or an urban population of more than 700 million) in the next few decades. If the expression "next few decades" seems a bit stretched and hazy, a Ficci study says cities would witness a net increase of 900 million people by 2050. Further, over 2012-2050, the pace of urbanisation is likely to increase at a CAGR of 2.1 percent — double than that of China.

THE URBAN ASPIRER

So, can the aspirations of 100 million people be possibly ignored?

A bulk of this vast amount of population would be made up by what the Boston Consulting Group calls 'Urban Aspirers'. BCG's figures put this aspirer class at 34 million households or 14 per cent of the country's 240 million-strong households; they generate annual household incomes between $7,400-$18,500 and can be divided into two categories – 'Urban Aspirers' (19 million households) and 'Rural Aspirers' (14 million households).

An integral part of the 'aspiration' is to own a home which they can afford. While affordability is relative to a household's income, spending and saving behaviour, and also the geographical location of the chosen residence, there is consensus that a proper residential unit within urban limits anywhere across metro cities will cost Rs 25 lakh or more.

The question is: Can Urban Aspirers afford a house which carries a minimum price-tag of Rs 25 lakh? Taking a bank loan would be an obvious choice. Since most banks consider 5.1 times annual income as the maximum affordability of a household, they can easily apply for loans anywhere between Rs 19 lakh and Rs 47 lakh. This settles the question on the ability to afford.

IS SUPPLY ENOUGH?

But, are real estate companies building enough 'affordable' houses to meet this demand?

According to Jones Lang LaSalle, private developers are primarily looking at luxury, high-end and upper-mid housing segments since these fetch a premium vis-à-vis the modest affordable housing units. However, to be fair to the builders' community, it's not always been a case of higher profitability that has driven them away from affordable housing; restrictive civic laws limiting Floor Space Index (FSI) levels and high realty rates in metro cities have actually made affordable housing unviable for builders. Our cities — with their haphazard urban sprawl — have the lowest FSI in the world.

To accommodate future urbanisation, it is absolutely crucial that city planners redraft archaic building density regulations in urban areas on a priority basis. Planners really need to pursue strategic densification, including relaxing FSI limits. Extra FSI will ensure that developers get decent margins, and provide decent apartments. This would also bring down property rates, which would in turn would facilitate affordable homes.

The Union government must simultaneously issue directives and introduce incentives that encourage state governments and cities to revamp their strategy. The focus should be on vertical expansion instead of the current horizontal development and planners should also facilitate a mixed land use policy. However, all of these need to go hand in hand with infrastructure development, including a world-class public transport system which is accessible, fast, reliable and affordable.

The role of state governments in facilitating affordable housing cannot be stressed more. States play a large role in releasing land for development. However, as the Deepak Parekh committee report 'Affordable Housing For All' points out, the focus of the state governments, till now, has been limited to auctioning land to private players. This practice has contributed to escalation of land prices, which is detrimental to the concept of affordable housing.

INTERVENTIONS NEEDED

State governments should establish a single-window clearance system, which serves the three principal objectives: realistic price discovery, land allotment and granting approvals in a time-bound manner. A haze of contradictory approval requirements, administrative delays and a dysfunctional system which works on multiple clearances are a bane for players in this sector.

The government would also do well to consider that apart from land rates, there has been a significant hike in input costs (cement, steel and labour). Therefore, for realty players promoting affordable housing, a tax incentive would be very welcome.

Other financial incentives could include capital subsidy for PPP initiatives, regulated lower interest rates, discounts or waivers in stamp duty and registration, and priority sector credit for home loans up to Rs 25 lakh.

Also, many prospective buyers among this class would stand to gain if the subsidy for home loans in metros and tier-1 cities are increased for houses up to Rs 35 lakh, up from the current limit of Rs 25 lakh. Instead of having a single national benchmark of Rs 25 lakh, the government should map markets and implement different slabs.

The government has taken a step towards encouraging affordable housing by make funding more accessible for developers and housing finance companies.The inclusion of slum rehabilitation projects will address the need for better urban planning.

Affordable housing is sustainable business model and presents a good opportunity for developers to address the needs of an emerging class that would eventually demand affordable housing as a fundamental right.

—The author is MD & CEO, Tata Housing

[Krishnamoorthy K]

The Birth and Growth of City Planning

by Jeremy Rosenberg
on February 4, 2013 10:00 AM

Posted Mondays, Jeremy Rosenberg's (@LosJeremy) Laws That Shaped L.A. spotlights regulations that have played a significant role in the development of contemporary Los Angeles. These laws - as nominated and explained each week by a locally-based expert - may be civil or criminal, and they may have been put into practice by city, county, state, federal or even international authority

This Week's Law That Shaped L.A.

Law: Standard State Zoning Enabling Act (SZEA) and Standard City Planning Enabling Act (SCPEA)
Years: 1926 and 1928
Jurisdiction: Federal
Nominated by: Mitchell J. Silver

I recently had the pleasure of speaking by phone a couple of times with Mitchell J. Silver, AICP.

Silver is the Chief Planning and Economic Development Officer in the City of Raleigh, North Carolina. More importantly for the purpose of the "Laws That Shaped L.A." column, Silver is also the current President of the American Planning Association (APA).

Given Silver's national portfolio, it is no great surprise that when I asked him to nominate a law or two that played a key role in shaping contemporary Los Angeles**, Silver offered up a pair of federal Reform-era laws that have been extraordinarily consequential not just in Los Angeles, but throughout the United Sates.

These two laws, which Silver calls "somewhat interchangeable" are: the Standard State Zoning Enabling Act (SZEA) of 1926 and the Standard City Planning Enabling Act (SCPEA) of 1928.

"In terms of the American experience, and even the international experience, these two Acts have been responsible for shaping our cities -- and for that matter, planning in our counties -- for close to a century," Silver says.

Why? Because these two heady laws arguably created the modern practice of city planning and zoning, along with the planning profession that crafts and administers these city-building blueprints.

Text on the APA website calls the two laws -- known together as the Standards Acts -- "the basic foundation for planning and zoning." Silver says that the Acts have "allowed the orderly growth and development of cities in the United States" and offers that they help explain America's more orderly transformation from agricultural to industrial economy to the transformations currently in progress in less-zoned China and -- in particular -- India.

Silver says that the names of the Acts themselves are telling. "What's interesting," Silver says of SCPEA in particular, "is it says, 'city planning.' It doesn't say 'town and country.'"

"To put this in context," Silver continues, discussing the late 19th and early 20th centuries, "people were flocking to the cities in massive quantities. Cities weren't equipped for mobility. There wasn't adequate housing or sanitation. People were getting sick and dying. So the reason why this is so significant is that it put in place model legislation that states could adopt, which could in turn enable cities, counties, towns and villages to put these mechanisms in place that helped manage and plan for growth."

1958 sketch of proposed Valley administration center. Image from Hollywood Citizen News / Valley Times Collection. Image courtesy Los Angeles Public Library

Silver is not trying to say that planning and zoning as concepts were invented whole cloth by the federal government eighty-five or so years ago.

For example, in this previous Laws That Shaped L.A. column, "The Roots of Sprawl: Why We Don't Live Where We Work," Occidental College' Mark Vallianatos discusses the importance of the City of Los Angeles' 1908 Residence District Ordinance.

And here, L.A. based planner and Latino Urban Forum founder James Rojas provides insight into the Laws of the Indies, the first urban planning manual to reach the Americas.

But what Silver is suggesting is how the two 1920s Acts he's spotlighting led to the American rise of everything from planning commissions to master plans to "the approval of public improvements" and the "control of public subdivision." And again, this wasn't just taking place in the Golden State.

"Each state used [SZEA] as a model and the enabling legislation varies from state to state," Silver says. "So you won't find the same enabling language in North Carolina's Enabling Act as you will in Alabama or Mississippi or California."

The common denominator? "You cannot zone unless you have a plan and you need enabling legislation that enables local government to actually have that police power to put planning and zoning in effect," Silver says.

The APA President also readily acknowledges that the Acts haven't served as universal panacea. Silver speaks, for example, about the importance of regional planning. He says that while the Standards acts recommended such multi-municipality cooperation, in practice, that hasn't always turned out to be the norm.

"There are over 89,000** local government in the United Sates and as a result, regional planning is clearly an issue," Silver says. "We know that problems and issues don't stop at a political boundary."

Such regional issues, Silver notes, abound in and around Los Angeles. They include transportation, water, air quality, open space, parks, greenways, wastewater, energy, security, utilities, telecommunications and security.

Still, despite any failures, the two Acts clearly have been impactful and remain so, all these decades later.

"Zoning is about protecting the public health, safety, morals and welfare of the public," Silver says. "At the time, there was concern that as the country urbanized, we wanted to make sure we had the rules in place...because we recognized we had to have some way of managing how we grow."

**When I asked Silver what he most hears about Los Angeles and California from fellow planners, among the topics the APA head mentioned were Proposition 13 and the end of the redevelopment authorities.

Have a suggestion for a Law That Shaped LA or someone to interview? Contact Jeremy Rosenberg via: arrivalstory AT gmail DOT com. Also contact or follow Rosenberg on Twitter @LosJeremy