Urban Planning & Issues

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Originally Posted by SSCaddict

actually the big projects are highlighted by media.

The basic purpose of JNNURM was to reform the municipalities, here is the progress list on page 2.

Here is the project list, you can see that so many projects which are for sewage treatment or water supply.

Originally Posted by Krishnamoorthy K

Thanks for the links. I will go through them.

The issue is not how many projects you have on sewage treatment or water supply. The issue is whether every city of India has the basic facility like sewage treatment or water supply before taking up any other kind of a project in any city which will benefit only upper class. I have also included environmental issue.

Sector Approved Cost (Rs. in lakhs)
Drainage / Storm Water Drains 806150.98
Sewerage 1,347,642.89
Solid Waste Management 224,532.21
Water Supply 1,965,983.35
Preservation of water bodies 15,644.87
Urban Renewal 48,790.28
Roads / Flyovers /RoB 893,019.87
Other Urban Transport 80,588.01
Mass Rapid Transport System 502,387.64
Parking lots and spaces on PPP basis 86,042.43
Development of Heritage Areas 21,046.08
Total 5,991,828.61


Projects useful for every citizen of the city

Drainage / Storm Water Drains 806150.98
Sewerage 1,347,642.89
Solid Waste Management 224,532.21
Water Supply 1,965,983.35
Preservation of water bodies 15,644.87
Urban Renewal 48,790.28
Subtotal 3602593.60


Projects - many of them may or may not be for common citizen and may or may not promote environmental causes

Mass Rapid Transport System 502,387.64
Other Urban Transport 80,588.01
Roads / Flyovers /RoB 893,019.87
Subtotal 1475995.52

The mass rapid transportation projects like BRTS are fine for environment and useful for everyone.

In Bengaluru TTMC with car parking is useful to upper middle class having personal vehicle and people can switch over to environmental friendly mass transportation by parking their personal vehicle in TTMC.

A few of projects here like Volvo luxury buses are not affordable to common men. Metro train is also costly. But, by attracting upper middle class they can reduce road congestion and reduce environment pollution.

Flyovers and grade separators preferably be bus routes. Flyovers if they are for providing freeways to buses then fine otherwise they too have to be classified under next category (not for common citizen and not in support of environmental causes). Many times signal free flyovers cause inconvenience to pedestrians in those cases flyovers are not supporting environmental causes as they discourage environmentally friendly pedestrians.

Projects which are not for common citizen and not in support of environmental causes

Parking lots and spaces on PPP basis 86,042.43
Subtotal 86,042.43

As these facilities are for personal vehicles which are the main cause of pollution in cities the projects are classified under this category. Although these are PPP projects the governments shares a part of money and has to supply land. As parking fees are nominal return on investment to the government is doubtful although private partner can earn money. Instead of subsidizing rich in this way and promoting pollution the land and the money can be used for creating other facilities needed by everyone. As I posted earlier nstead of government funding such projects it should force building owners to come up with adequate parking area, even old building owners should be forced to construct parking complexes nearby in shared mode.

Other projects

Development of Heritage Areas 21,046.08Subtotal 21,046.08



Houses for poor (Slum redevelopment) which I listed in post 210 might be addressed through schemes like Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) under JNNURM.
Rajiv Awas Yojana for urban poor unveiled

There are very very few projects taken up for improving pedestrian infrastructure. No projects like pedestrian subways, escalators to skywalk, etc. Should also include infrastructure needed to ensure pedestrian safety.

What I am interested to have is a full list of central government and state governments schemes which fullfil all basic neccessities. We have to compile this statewise also to understand what is happening at state level. As I posted earlier my priority is for providing basic facilities in every city of India before taking up projects like Parking lots.


"Footpath Policy" or "Footpath Bill" should include a clause saying that police are not reponsible for any damage caused to vehicle while towing it for illegal parking on footpath.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Hundreds of slums close to the rail tracks across the country will be removed in a “humane manner” and the Railways have decided to implement the Sukhi Griha Scheme, Minister of State for Railways Bharatsinh Solanki informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday.

In a written answer, Mr. Solanki said: “It has been planned to undertake slum dwellers' rehabilitation and resettlement in a planned manner through the Railways' Sukhi Griha Scheme or through other Central [government] schemes.”

He said the issue was taken up with the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation to arrive at a solution to relocate slums under the Rajiv Awas Yojna in cooperation with the State governments concerned.

The Railways were also engaged in an exercise to prevent fresh encroachments by fencing their land, he said.

Keywords: rail tracks, slums, Minister of State for Railways Bharatsinh Solanki, Rajya Sabha

The Hindu

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Any central government scheme is there to rehabilitate street vendors?

And there should be some scheme for free public toilets also.

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Prasad Nichenametla,

Indian cities must go vertical, says the 12th plan draft approach paper, among the several proposals for improving efficiency of land-usage. India has one of the lowest floor area ratio (FAR) and floor space index (FSI) in the world (less than four), compared to 10 in the rest of the world.

The FAR or FSI is the ratio of the total floor area of buildings on a certain location to the size of the land of that location, or the limit imposed on such a ratio. Increasing agriculture productivity of land is another thrust area for the next plan, given the high pressure on farmland causing political turbulence in parts of the country.

The suggestions from the Planning Commission come at a time when rapid urbanisation around towns and cities (added to industrialisation) is eating into agricultural lands.

The Greater Noida episode, where villagers protested against real estate projects on their farmlands, is an example.

"Since total supply of land is limited, land must be used most efficiently for whatever purpose it is allocated," states the paper - a blueprint to government planning for the next five years.

The paper observed that urban land is used inefficiently by not permitting sufficient substitution of capital for land in line with international practice.

"This is the result of very low FAR and FSI permitted in India. There is a lingering bias against vertical cities and a preference for horizontal spread, using more land than vertical cities," it said.

As a solution, the Commission advocated vertical cities, where urban utilities could be provided efficiently. "Land-usage planning in urban areas must be done considering larger areas together," it said.

Addressing concerns of diversion of farmland to non-agriculture purposes affecting food security, the paper asks for more food production through higher land productivity.

"Agricultural productivity is currently half of what it is in many countries. The solution for food productivity lies not in stopping diversion of agriculture land in all circumstances, but in increasing production through higher land productivity," it says.

The draft will be finalised by the National Development Council.

Hindustan times

[Krishnamoorthy K]

VARANASI: The millennia old city, known for its religious and tourism importance world over, has been plagued with unsanitary and unhygienic surroundings that not only pose a threat to health but also tarnish its image.

However, the city is being covered under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Formulation of city sanitation plan to meet the vision of National Urban Sanitation Policy (NUSP) is also in process. Almost all areas of the city wear a pathetic look with waterlogged roads and heaps of municipal solid waste. Recently the third meeting of city task force was held to discuss the issues incorporated in the draft of the City Sanitation Plan (CSP).

The Varanasi Nagar Nigam (VNN) has prepared CSP for Varanasi with support from GIZ-ASEM (German International Cooperation), Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination Society (CDD), Bangalore and CEPT University, Ahmedabad.

However, no official of VNN attended the programme of presentation CSPs of different cities before the officials of Government of India held on September 9. Municipal commissioner VK Dubey told TOI on Monday due to some urgent engagements, no VNN official could take part in the presentation programme. He said Varanasi's CSP was presented by the GIZ personnel. The observations of the presentation programme and suggestions from local community would be incorporated in the final draft, Dubey said and hoped that the CSP draft would be forwarded to the government for approval in the next 15-20 days.

The situation of city's sanitation can be understood with the fact that even CSP draft says that the solid waste management system, one of the key components of the CSP, does not comply with the MSW 2000 and CPHEEO (Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation) manual. According to the draft, the solid waste management is weak due to inadequate infrastructure, both in terms of processing and scientific end disposal. Even though private operator has taken over and initiated door-to-door collection of waste from households, due to absence of disposal site the waste is being dumped in open sites. Presently there are two dumping sites near Ramnagar and Chiragobardhan at the eastern and southern periphery respectively of the Varanasi municipal corporation. The secondary storage depots (kudaghars) are under maintained and waste often spills out leading to unhygienic condition around the area. There are 26 such waste storage houses in the city. The DPR for SWM has recommended removal of these kudaghars from the main city locations.

Besides, there is also lack of specialised waste management practices in areas like ghats, river, narrow lanes, slums, temples and kunds in the sanctioned detailed project report (DPR). According to reports, the DPR does not detail the specialised areas for waste collection like the ghats, river and narrow lanes in which the regular system of waste management does not work. The physical design of the ghats and the activity patterns lead to technical challenges in the waste collection at ghats. A large and unquantified amount of waste comprising ghat sweepings and pooja wastes is being dumped into the river. In the narrow lanes of the core city, door-to-door waste collection is complicated. The DPR although identifies the slums as special area of concern does not specify the waste collection and management strategies for the same.

The report further suggests that the DPR also mentions waste to the extent of 10 tons per day being dumped along the nullahs. Preliminary surveys indicate that the stormwater drains are choked with solid waste and effluents from septic tanks which pose health risk, especially during the rainy season. The natural drains are also overlooked in the city planning and design leading to over conretization, which again leads to clogging and impacts the natural drainage patter of the city.

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

AHMEDABAD: What happens if you find that the parking lot you frequently use while on shopping or business meetings gets converted into a temporary park? This is exactly what is going to happen on Friday at Vijay crossroads, where several organizations are observing India's first-ever Park(ing) Day. The global initiative to transform cities and create more public places started in 2005 and has now gained momentum in various countries, said organizers.

The event is supported by Bakeri Urban Development Private Limited and jointly organized by Institute for Transportation & Development Policy (ITDP), Centre for Environment Education (CEE) and Center for Environment Planning and Technology (Cept) University. It will be inaugurated by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation commissioner Guruprasad Mahapatra at 4 pm. Two spots - near Kids' Studio and Souq restaurant - have been earmarked for the purpose.

"As the city becomes denser, open spaces are increasingly difficult to find, and such multiple use spaces are replaced by parking lots, roads, and other built infrastructure. Park(ing) Day will help people rethink the way street spaces are used in the city," said Kartikeya Sarabhai, director of CEE.

First year students of masters program in Urban Design at CEPT University are designing these spaces for the day, said organizers. The event will be followed up with a series of AmdaVadmA consultations, initiated by CEE, to address a variety of issues pertaining to parking.

The events at the spot would include setting up kids' play area and outdoor cafe, interactive workshop on road safety and traffic norms for school kids by members of Ahmedabad Traffic Consultative Committee ( ATCC).

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

The safety precautions taken in India to lessen the effects of natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunami is poor said TG Sitharam, chairman, Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning, IISc. Delivering a talk on ‘Engineering preparedness for disaster mitigation’ at the Institution of Engineers, on the 44th Engineer’s Day celebration, Sitharam said that India lagged behind in its preparedness to mitigate natural disasters.

“In India, everyone wakes up only after a disaster has occurred and forgets about it within months,” he said.

He added that in the case of earthquakes, there are two ways to minimise loss of life.

“One, the ground should be engineered to transmit less vibrations to structures, and two, the structures should be designed to withstand vibrations. Engineering is crucial, as earthquakes do not kill people, it is the buildings that kill people,” he said.

Sitharam also said that educating the public is also very important to mitigate disasters.

“In India, nobody knew about tsunami until it hit the coast in 2004. People did not know what to do when it occurred and as result, a lot of lives were lost,” he said.

DNA

TERI and HUDCO plan green buildings
Urban local body staff to undergo training

The rise of the smart city, Part 1: Where is everyone?

[engineer.akash]

Originally Posted by engineer.akash

Excellent suggestion there world8115,Mysore city coportaion did plan for cycle tracks but it remained a plan forever.I also identified certain routes for the same.Have a look at chandigarh ---

A road in Chandigarh exclusive for Cycle rickshaws



A road in Mysore which can easily accomodate a cycle track like above,Lalitha Mahal road

Minister proposes cycle tracks in Mysore

Minister for Urban Development S. Suresh Kumar has proposed segregated tracks for cycling along Lalitha Mahal Road to encourage the habit among people.

The Minister, who was inspecting various development works in the city, noted that Mysore could be made “bicycle-friendly” as the terrain was mostly flat. “We have tried it at Lalbagh in Bangalore, but Mysore was suited for cycling and we want to promote the habit in a big way in the city,” said Mr. Kumar.

Noting that there were divergent views on the expansion of Lalitha Mahal Road that entailed tree-felling, Mr. Kumar said though the court order had removed restrictions on tree-felling for road expansion, all efforts would be made to conceive and implement projects that would help save the trees. “There are 126 trees, mostly neem, along the avenue and we will take steps to save them as far as possible,” said the Minister.

Though the concept of a pedestrian zone and cycling zone was mooted in the city development plan (CDP) submitted under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Development Mission (JNNURM) in 2005, the city planners failed in their endeavour and the concept was never taken seriously.

CYCLE TRACK WORK BEGINS

Work on the Cycle Track along Lalitha Mahal Palace Road in city commenced this morning. This is the first of its kind in the State; an initiative of Urban Developmen Minister S. Suresh Kumar, to encourage cycling. The track, measuring 2 mts in width and 2.75 kms in length, is taken up under CM's Rs. 100 crore project, at a cost of Rs. 25.30 lakh. The Lalitha Mahal Palace road will be widened from the existing 9 mts to 13.5 mts, at a cost of Rs. 4.77 crore.

SSC I effect Jai SSC I ....It was my dream to see this happen and it happened Thanks to SSC I???

[World8115]

[truckin]

Great Akash, but enforcement of law is also necessary. THe plan of having separate mini roads for rickshaws was conceptualized and implemented by Kiran Bedi when she was Traffic Police head in Chandigarh. Though now any rickshaw-vala rarely goes through those tracks. If there's no enforcement, there's no use of doing that.

But it's good to see our suggestions getting implemented. Hope more Govt. people listen and start working on SSCI wishes.

[engineer.akash]

Thanks guys,we must make SSC I the most sought after forum for urban issues

[engineer.akash]

Concept of sustainable development gets a push

PUNE: Thirty-one PhD, PG students and young professionals from India, Germany, Sweden, Egypt and Iran were introduced to the concept of sustainable development, its approach and implementation with regard to sanitation, low cost housing and energy efficiency here.

The programme was part of a three-week-long summer school on sustainable habitats, organised by the German International Cooperation (GIZ) and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and held at Bharati Vidyapeeth Institute of Environment Education and Research here from September 5 to 23. After field visits in Pune, Mysore and Kochi and interaction with the authorities, the participants have come up with a report that lists their findings and suggestions.

Regine Schonenberg, coordinator of the summer school programme from Berlin, told TOI that there was a huge gap between research and its implementation at policy level. So, there was a lack of developmental issues in many countries.

The summer school was organised to bridge this gap and contribute towards sustainable development.

To study sanitation issues, the participants visited Alandi, a pilgrimage town. The findings show that twice a year the floating population reaches half a million, which is 22 times the normal population. This poses a challenge to the municipal council, which has inadequate funds and infrastructure to manage the floating population.

It also faces other major problems like inadequate sanitation facilities, open defecation, unsafe water supply, disposal of untreated sewage into the river Indrayani and improper solid waste management.

The report states that several governance issues are contributing to the sanitation situation in Alandi. The municipal council lacks funds and also vacant land in the city to implement infrastructural solutions. There is shortage of human resources and absence of coordination between different stakeholders. A radical solution to these problems would be to bring the temple trust under the state government and also properly managed defecation fields at the time of festivals.

The Magarpatta township was selected as a case study for sustainability analysis with respect to environmental and social parameters.

Paulose NK, associate urban planner with an Ahmedabad university and a participant in the programme, said that the findings show that the township has an ideal solid waste management system. But there are shortcomings too, which includes lack of segregation at household level and lack of maintenance of the biogas plant. There is a sewage treatment plant but only the grey water (wastewater generated from domestic activities) is treated.

The report states that the township presents a positive example of social sustainability as the original landowners still own parts of the land and are stakeholders of the company that runs the township. But there is huge dependence on individual transportation in Magarpatta. A public transportation system, like electric cars will be convenient.

Hassan El Mouelhi, a PhD student from the Technical University in Berlin who visited Kochi, said that the community in Kochi are rarely informed about the decision-making process and hence projects are not demand-driven. The NGOs' initiatives are not impartially targeting all sections of society. Institutional linkages between stakeholders are weak. There is a lack of accountability of different stakeholders due to overlapping of roles and responsibilities. And there is lack of technical expertise in municipal officials.

Paulose said that their visit to Mysore showed that the policies have been framed with broad perspective for the overall development which has been overlapping with other similar policies. The policies are not proposed in continuation to the previous policies in the sector, he added.

TOI

[Krishnamoorthy K]

New Delhi: Apex chamber ASSOCHAM said today a network of mass transport systems is imperative to avert urban vehicular traffic as the number of cities with more than 10 lakh people will increase from 48 to 68 in the next two decades.

There are seven mega cities at present each with a population of 40 lakh. “There will be a huge demand for mass transit rail as each of the 13 major cities will have a population of 40 lakh by 2030,” said The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) in its recent study titled ‘Vision 2030 for Emerging Cities of India.’

The study was put together by chamber’s research and economic bureau after four months of exercise across the country.

Mumbai is likely to have 3.3 crore people by 2030, Delhi 2.6 crore, Kolkata 2.3 crore, Chennai 1.1 crore, Bangalore and Pune one crore each followed by Hyderabad 98 lakh, Ahmedabad 84 lakh, Surat 74 lakh, Jaipur 54 lakh, Nagpur 52 lakh, Kanpur and Vadodra 42 lakh each.

“Cities will account for 69 per cent of the country’s GDP in the next two decades. There will be critical political impact of this urbanisation which should be studied by all policy makers and other stakeholders.”

The total urban population is already 37.7 crore and may exceed the earlier projection of 59 crore by 2030, said the ASSOCHAM study. India’s urban sprawl is poised to become second largest in the world with more population than in many countries.

The most critical issue in times to come will be efficient transport systems to decongest burgeoning urban vehicular traffic volume. “Metro Rail has the potential to bring all-round benefits to businesses, the environment and people from all walks of life. It is evolving as an industry on its own, and creating space for new services and jobs.”

The big challenge for urban planners is to cope up with seven mega cities with 20 per cent of India’s population and demanding 40 per cent of total investments projected, according to the study. Metro Rail lines are destined to become focal point of transit growth and network infrastructure at the centre of each mega city.

“Significantly, a comparison of greenhouse emissions estimated for different types of transport modes throws up the fact that Metro Rail is the least polluting among various vehicles.”

The share of public transport at 75 per cent by 2030 will reduce fuel demand by 100 million tonnes equivalent. But investment requirements for urban transport development in 87 cities are estimated at Rs four lakh crore.

These could be rough estimates as each of the four mega cities are asking for over Rs one lakh crore for Metro Rail in coming years, said the ASSOCHAM study. Along with planning, standardisation of Metro Rail equipment will be needed so that mass production of coaches, signaling and station design could be set in motion to gain economies of scale.

So the government should move quickly to establish the Metro as the best mass transport means in urbanising India as a policy, said the ASSOCHAM study.

“This will mean planning for Metros in all major cities having a population of above 40 lakh, the projections of Metro construction, facilitation of mass transport to create demand for more industries to serve this demand, many new services to be provided in Metro premises and through its network of satellite bus services.”

Orissa Dairy

India accounts for 58 per cent of those practising open defecation globally

[Krishnamoorthy K]

Union Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath, on Tuesday, emphasised the need for public-private partnerships to bridge the urban infrastructure deficit.

He said that enough finance was available for the “right” PPP infrastructure projects and that money was chasing projects and not otherwise. He also said that India lacked expertise in town planning and needs to develop it in order to create global cities.

“Municipal corporations do not understand town planning. Till we develop expertise in them, it is difficult to move forward,” said Nath.

Currently, 400 million people live in the cities and this figure will reach 600 million by 2030 accounting for 70 per cent of India’s GDP and 70 per cent of new job opportunities, leading to default sub-urbanisation.

“Urban infrastructure is the biggest challenge we face. We need workable PPP models.”

IE

Proper development strategy needed for Indian cities and towns

[engineer.akash]

Originally Posted by engineer.akash

Minister proposes cycle tracks in Mysore



CYCLE TRACK WORK BEGINS

Guys I have posted lot of updates on Mysore cycle track check the link below

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...353225&page=20

Please post pics of existing cycle tracks in other Indian cities.

[engineer.akash]

Civic body to make cycle tracks user-friendly

Laxmi Birajdar, TNN Apr 25, 2011, 12.02am IST
PUNE: Over 90% of the 100 km cycle tracks in the city are not used by cyclists, it has been observed. The most common reason is that many stretches either don't serve the purpose, or are poorly maintained or badly laid. Cycle tracks were laid when the projects under JNNURM were introduced five years ago along the Bus Rapid Transit System route from Hadapsar to Katraj spanning 16 km.

http://articles.timesofindia.indiati...-design-policy





http://onourowntwowheels.com/tag/pune/

[Krishnamoorthy K]

AHMEDABAD: During a seminar on 'Urban Infrastructure and Services' at Cept University, Dr Isher Ahluwalia, head of High-Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) presented the report on the financial implications of providing urban infrastructure in 500 cities to Gujarat government.

Sharing the report, Ahluwalia praised the town planning schemes and the use of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in Gujarat.

However, addressing the gathering, chief minster Narendra Modi said, "Urban development had remained a neglected sector in India, resulting in the pathetic state they are in. JNNURM has now focused on the issue, but it still lacked a direction and political will."

He said that the annual budget allocation for urban development in Gujarat was about Rs 250 crore 10 years back which has gone up to Rs 3,000 crore now.

HPEC's report said that the country would require investments of about Rs 8,00,000 crore over the next 20 years to provide basic infrastructure services like water and wastewater and solid waste management. It said there is a need for an investment of Rs 32.4 lakh crore over a period of 20 years.

TOI

Bangalore: Flaws galore in 2015 plan, but BDA thinks of 2035

[engineer.akash]

Mysore bags ‘environmentally sustainable city' award

Mysore has bagged the first place in the EuroIndia Environmentally Sustainable City Awards instituted by the EuroIndia Centre.

The centre focusses on promoting higher standards of sustainable development in cities in Europe and India.

The award was announced at the fourth EuroIndia summit in Halle, Germany, last year and was given to one European and one Indian city, a release said.

Mysore City Corporation Commissioner K.S. Raykar received the award on Thursday at the ongoing fifth EuroIndia summit in Leuven, Belgium.

It was presented by Mercedes Bresso, president, Committee of Regions of European Union, and Harjit Anand, co-founder of EuroIndia.

Minister for Urban Development, Government of India, Kamal Nath was present, the release added.

The Hindu

Mysore Karnataka's pride

[murlee]

Bangalore is Karnataka's pride!!

[engineer.akash]

Originally Posted by murlee

Bangalore is Karnataka's pride!!

Mysore's Pride has always been Bangalore's envy

Jai Mysore and Belgaum..I am a very proud Mysorean ...