focus city 06

progressivecities 08

healthycities 10

plannedcities 13

techcities 14

greencities 15

humanecities 19

smartcities 22

connectedcities 24

resilientcities 26

vibrantcities 28

happeningcities 29

`50 / us $5 AuGusT 2013Volume II l Issue 6 Pages 32 www.urbannewsdigest.in

By 2050, almost 70% of the global population will live in cities, with the majority in developing countries. According to the United Nations, rapid urbanisation over the past decade has resulted in almost 200,000 people migrating from rural to urban regions somewhere on the planet every day. This translates into the need to accommodate the equivalent of a new city of one million people every week. This population explosion is causing an enormous strain on the infrastructure (housing, water, sewerage, transport, electricity supply) of our existing cities and impacting the environment, climate and the quality of life (community, security, open spaces, air quality). How will our existing cities or the new urban centres accommodate this growth in a sustainable manner?

Focus City: Gandhinagar

Read more... 06

Read more... 22 Read more... 28Read more... 24 Read more... 26

Smart CitiesGujarat registers highest e-gov transactions

Connected CitiesIndia’s first monorail runs with passengers in Mumbai

Resilient CitiesPragati Maidan to get armed commando cover

Vibrant CitiesClean India Campaign launched at world heritage site Taj Mahal

Read more... 19

Humane CitiesGujarat to build at least 25,000 houses for LIG and MIG segment

Read more... 15

Green CitiesWorld Bank: Environmental damage costs India $80 bn

Read more... 10

Healthy CitiesKolkata: Mobile toilets to make a debut in Durga Puja pandals

Read more... 08

Progressive CitiesNational Capital Region to include three new districts

The Sky is The Limit...

2 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 Cover story Contd. from page 1...

Contd. on page 3...

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Urban densificationTo combat the current situ-

ation of sprawl and associated costs, densification is often seen as the plausible solution. Urban density has two dramat-ically different expressions in many world cities: one on the ground plane, the other in the skyline.

Hong Kong, Cairo and Mumbai are considered among the world’s densest cities, yet they represent completely dis-parate models of urban devel-opment in the vertical and hor-izontal dimensions. ‘No one size fits all’, as far as density is concerned.

Cairo and Mumbai experi-ence density of poverty, having average densities of 96,000 and 56,000 per square mile, respec-tively, with extreme concentra-tion spread homogenously in low-rise buildings in an envi-ronment of crowding and congestion.

On the other hand, the den-sity (both commercial and res-idential) of Hong Kong and Manhattan is housed in high-rises. In Hong Kong, averaged over its full 426 square miles, the population would be 17,000 people per square mile. How-ever, more than three-quarters of Hong Kong territory is pre-served as natural landscape, and the cumulative built area is limited to 100 square miles. The land-use controls and develop-ment strategies have concen-trated 7 million inhabitants to a mere 23% of its land.

In the case of New York, the density averages 27,000 people per square mile, and the pro-portion of park and open space is only 25% - the inverse of Hong Kong. New York proper is largely low-rise, with the

exception of Manhattan.Hong Kong and Manhat-

tan’s density model of tall buildings and powerful sky-

lines have rendered an interna-tional image to the cities. There is a false cliché associated with both the cities that their sky-lines are a result of their island identities, claiming that the limited space forced buildings upward into the vertical. While rampant capitalism and real estate markets increased land values, the density of the sky-line and the proportion of open space is a function of govern-ment decisions that are cultur-ally and politically constructed.

Over the past century has Hong Kong successfully embraced Manhattan’s ‘culture of congestion’ (a term coined by prominent architect Rem Kool-haas) or does it represent a new model?

The term ‘density’ has always carried a negative con-notation of poverty, crowding, congestion, and inadequate public space. But the models of Hong Kong and Manhattan suggest the correlation of high density with affluence. It is imperative to understand what

kind of density works to make cities vital and to achieve a bal-ance between future growth and sustainable urbanism.

Envisioning a vertical futureIs the future form of our hab-

itable environment likely to be vertical, i.e. a high-rise built form as against the horizontal spread out suburban-like city morphology?

Our existing urban environ-ment (suburbs and cities) can-not accommodate continued urban growth by indefinite hor-izontal expansion nor can we continue to build indefinitely in green field sites. If, we con-tinue this pattern, we will soon run out of developable land. We would then be eating into pro-ductive agricultural land, vital for food production, or devas-tating the natural environment, leading to extinction of species, loss of rich productive top soil and other eco-system disasters arising from urban develop-ments, like the recent Uttara-khand landslide tragedy. This is the fundamental premise for intensifying existing land use on the same urban land area and selectively expanding upwards.

Development in Hong Kong

in the past decades shows that planned urban growth can accommodate the pressures to intensify central districts while creating commuter communi-ties of dispersed, but remark-ably dense new housing in the outer districts and New Territories.

According the Dr. Ken Yeang, a pioneer in the field of ecological design, “The verti-cal future need not necessarily be as clusters or as large zones of high-rise towers as in some of today’s existing mega cities (like HK and NY), but in the form of a super-tall high rise or in smaller groups of interconnected very tall high-rises.”

A 10-storey building was considered a tall building half a century ago. But now ‘tall’ has got a whole new meaning. Is a tall building defined by its height, number of storeys or is the design influenced by some aspect of tallness?

Era of megatallThe term ‘supertall’ (build-

ings over 300 metres) is now passé as we are entering a new era of ‘megatall’ (buildings over 600 metres). We are likely to witness the world’s first kilo-meter-tall building -‘The King-dom Tower in Jeddah’.

Kingdom Tower, Jeddah

3 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 Cover story Contd. from page 2...

The report ‘Tallest 20 in 2020’ by CTBUH underlines the fact that the skyscraper is here to stay. After the 9/11 attack on the Twin Tower, many predicted the death of the tall building, but as the study shows, skyscrapers

are increasing in number, height and diversity.

The tallest structures are springing up in China and the Middle East. Europe is also rec-ognising the need for a more sustainable concentration of infrastructure, energy and car-bon offered by denser cities and 161 skyscrapers above 150 metres are projected by the end of 2015.

Does the skyscraper boom herald economic doom?

With a population of more than 1.3 billion, China is rapidly urbanising and going vertical. According to reports, 40% of the world’s skyscrapers will be built in China over the next four years, including the Sky City in Changsha (838 metres), Shen-zhen’s Ping An Finance Cen-tre (660 metres) and Shanghai Tower (632 metres) by Gensler. CNN reported that the Sky City in Changsha is to be completed in 2014 and will overshadow the Burj Khalifa, Dubai by 10 metres. This could be the coun-try’s biggest landmark with a price tag of $ 1.5 billion.

According to Andrew Law-rence, pioneer of the Sky-scraper Index and head of Hong Kong and China property research at CIMB Group, “The Skyscraper Index has a good

150-year correlation between the world’s tallest buildings and economic slowdowns and recessions.”

This has been noticed in the case of New York’s Chrysler building and the Great Depres-sion of 1929, Malaysia’s Petro-nas towers and the Asian finan-cial crisis in 1996, Burj Khalifa and the Middle Eastern debt crisis in 2009. Looking at this track record is China headed for an economic collapse?

A new vocabularyThe relationship of the new

built environment with the natural environment would be quite different and the seasons and climate would have differ-ent impacts on built form and inhabitants. A large number of engineering problems (ver-tical infrastructure systems, sway of buildings due to wind, earthquake resistance, etc) would have to be addressed at the design stage. The circula-tion system should be hierar-chical echoing the horizontal city’s circulation in complex-ity and connection. The exist-ing systems will have to be rethought and innovative solu-tions devised.

Does verticality imply green?Verticality has clear energy

efficiency advantages, such as less surface area per usable floor space resulting in less heat loss and less material required

for enclosure; large scale HVAC systems are more efficient and there is a reduction in the need for transportation. But do these buildings really deliver the oft-stated sustainable advantages

and can they reduce, gener-ate and store energy in ways to benefit the city as a whole?

Challenges in supertall structures

There are a number of dis-advantages offsetting the gains. As we go higher, there

are energy implications in the construction, maintenance and occupation of a build-ing. With additional height comes less space efficiency, as structural members and

service cores increase to ser-vice the increased height of the building.

Also there are major chal-lenges in how building man-agement will respond to vari-ous crises that might affect the building and its users. Some of the identified challenges in such events are Egress, Emer-gency access, communications/ situation awareness, fire resis-tance, disaster resilience, reli-ability of water supply and active fire protection system and the reflex time involved.

Vertical farmingVertical farming represents

the futuristic vision of sus-tainable food production (food grown in high-rises), accom-modating the growing number of people living in future cit-ies. The severe climate change is one of the driving factors behind the conceptualisa-

tion of vertical farming. Verti-cal farming is sustainable not only in terms of energy, water, transport and waste but also in terms of organically produced food.

Leapfrogging from vertical sprawl to volumetric city

In the skyscraper race, are the builders giving any consid-eration to the social and envi-ronmental aspects of sustain-ability or are they busy creating cul-de-sacs, this time in the vertical direction. Most high-rise dense cities are missing the richness of multiple pro-grammes that occur at the vil-lage scale and are on their way to becoming a ‘vertical sprawl’, reminiscent of a suburban sprawl.

A classic example is the Torre David office building (45 storey) in Caracas, Venezuela. This is among South Amer-ica’s tallest skyscrapers and

is unique in its lack of eleva-tors. Almost completed, it was abandoned following the death of its developer and the col-lapse of the Venezuelan econ-omy in 1994. Today, it is a squat of more than 750 families liv-ing in an extra-legal and tenu-ous occupation that some call a vertical slum.

A blinded approach to densification will not help in achieving cities with diver-sity and vitality, rather it will aggravate anti-social behavior, increase crime rates and people will be put in further distress with absolute hatred towards ‘crowdedness’.

Eminent architect Charles Correa at the CTBUH Mumbai conference 2010 said, “It’s not how high a building can go, but what goes into a building.” He suggested that while cre-ating a mass transport sup-ported city, a high density city was the paradigm to aspire to with high rises being just one way to achieve that. These buildings would be unsustain-able without attached ameni-ties like schools, hospitals and open spaces, he added.

There is a need to introduce multiplicity of programmes within a single high-rise built form because it will not only reduce the homogeneity of spaces within the built form, but it will also add a much needed complexity and spa-tial diversity to high-rise built form. A variety of uses, activi-ties and connections should be incorporated and planned in various locations in the ‘verti-cal city’.

Barrie Shelton, Professor in Urban Design at the Univer-sity of Melbourne, advocates leapfrogging from a vertical to a volumetric city. He defines ‘volumetric’ as multiple modes of movement and many var-ied programmes stacked up across many levels, which may be above ground and below ground, and where connection between the levels is extremely effective and easy. Japan has very good underground con-nections, whereas Hong Kong has extensive above ground connections. To have urban-ism work well in a series of below and above ground lev-els is the ultimate volumetric experience.

Once a dream is now a realityWitnessing the rise of mega-

tall buildings in our lifetime is no longer a distant dream, but very soon going to be a reality. Just as we pushed the struc-tural boundaries of height, we must now continue to push the boundaries of environmental engineering in order to prog-ress the tall typology.

As skyscrapers continue to multiply, their visual, urban and environmental effect con-tinues to increase exponen-tially. Is it not possible that we could soon see the emergence of a zero-energy megatall?

Sources: CNN, CTBUH, skyscraper.org

With a population of 1 billion and growing, India has no choice but to go vertical. Having said that, it is imperative the government begin massive infrastructure projects that allow a high-rise city to thrive. Expanding horizontally, which means more road construction, more electrical grid extension, more cars and eating up valuable land that could and should be used for agriculture, is not the way forward for India. High-rise construction for the elite that is accessible by a two-lane street is not a solution. This is

largely what I see happening in Mumbai. For every luxury development in the dense cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, etc, the government needs to impose an ‘infrastructure tax’ that will go towards substantial mass transit projects. India always faces two challenges - density and policy. There are solutions to these problems that other cities around the world have had to grapple with. China, Singapore, Denmark are a few countries that have successfully dealt with expansion through public / private development process that was successful in both realising strong infrastructure upgrades as well as financing the construction. It is imperative that the national government engage international experts to consider creating a master plan vision for its major cities. Having at least a diagram or a roadmap for the future could inspire policy decisions that are based on long-term vision and not just short-term challenges.

Timothy JohnsonChairman

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH)

Sky City, Changsha

Ping An Finance Centre, Shenzhen

Shanghai Tower

Vertical slum ‘Torre David’- Caracas, Venezuela

4 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 Cover story

Otis pioneered the vertical technology industry, mak-ing tall structures a possi-bility thanks to the founder Elisha Graves Otis. The com-pany further revolutionised the industry with the intro-duction of the Gen2 elevator system. Otis’ flagship prod-uct, the Gen2 range is geared towards efficiency while pro-viding environment friendly features and benefits. Otis has sold more than 260,000 Gen2 elevators worldwide since its launch.

Some of the key compo-nents of the Gen2 range are the coated steel belt, the ReGen™ drive, the permanent mag-net machine and the Otis PULSE™ system, all of which, when combined, increase the life, efficiency, safety and reli-ability of the elevator. This pioneering technology also helps achieve substantial energy savings and facilitates environment friendliness. Some of the highlights of the Gen2 are:

Flat Belt The flat belt, a patented

product of Otis, has replaced conventional steel ropes, offering passengers a smooth ride. Made of polyurethane, the flat surface of the belt con-nects with the sheave, elimi-nating noise and friction that occurs when metal connects with metal.The belts are about 30 mm wide (1 inch) and only 3mm (0.1) thick, yet they are as strong as woven steel cables, while being far more durable and flexible. The belts make for a smaller winding sheave, reducing the space required

for the machine in the hoist-way. This feature reduces the diameter of the machine by about 5 times, compared to using steel ropes that require a larger bending radius. The flat belt is also 20% lighter than its conventional counterparts (belt/machine). All of this put together reduces wear and tear and ensures the equipment lasts three times longer and offers a machine that is 70% smaller and up to 50% more efficient than conventional geared machines. In addition, the flat belt eliminates the need for additional lubrication.

ReGen drives ReGen drives further

enhance the efficiency of Otis’ Gen2 elevators by reducing energy consumption by up to 75%. The ReGen drive does this by capturing energy that is normally wasted as heat dur-ing braking and feeding back into the building’s electric grid for use by other building sys-tems, such as lighting etc. Even better, ReGen drives produce “clean power” thanks to low harmonic distortion, which minimises impact on the build-ing’s electrical system and helps protect sensitive build-ing equipment.

Pulse Monitor Otis has what is called the

PULSE ™ belt monitoring sys-tem which electronically mon-itors the status of the belt 24/7, 365 days a year. Unlike conven-tional wire ropes that require periodic visual examinations, the OTIS Pulse system auto-matically detects any anom-aly at any point in time. This

increases the reliability and safety of the elevator.

Otis recently introduced a new elevator from the Gen2 range, titled the Switch. The Gen2 Switch™ is an easy-to-install, single phase bat-tery-operated, elevator sys-tem that will be a boon to parts of India that suffer from fre-quent power cuts. Under nor-mal running mode, the single

phase power supply charges a pack of batteries, which in turn supplies power to the ele-vator motor. So in the event of a power failure, the battery pack continues to operate the eleva-tor up to a 100 stops thus elim-inating the inconveniences of a power outage. The Gen2 Switch is up to 80% more effi-cient than a conventional ele-vator. It’s also simpler as it uses 230 volts single phase power supply instead of con-ventional three phase 400 volts power supply, making it a ‘Plug & Go’ design. The Gen2 Switch is compatible with alterna-tive energy sources like solar panels. This coupled with its environment friendly design makes it truly sustainable.

Other technologies Another exciting prod-

uct from the Otis stable is the Compass™ Destination Man-agement System. Using Otis’ patented technology, the sys-tem constantly evaluates real-time passenger traffic to improve flow and travel time, in busy mid and high-rise buildings. Instead of using standard hall call buttons,

passengers register their spe-cific floor in the lobby before they enter the elevator. The system assigns passengers traveling to nearby floors, to the same car. This minimises the number of stops per trip and significantly reduces car crowding, as well as pas-senger wait and travel times. The technology has also been adapted to respond to growing security concerns across mar-kets. The optional Compass seamless entry is specifically designed to integrate build-ing security and elevator-dis-patching systems, through various access devices.

This state-of-the-art system is engineered to accommodate demanding

architectural requirements and complement the most sophisticated building environments:

• Organisedlobbieswithorderly traffic

• Lesscarcrowding• Fewerstopspertrip• Lesswaitingtime• Lesstraveltimein

elevators • Improvedefficiencyand

performance.

The web-based EMS Pan-orama system enables build-ing staff to monitor, con-trol, report on and manage a full range of operation-crit-ical functions for an eleva-tor from any computer with an Internet connection. The EMS Panorama system offers comprehensive, real-time data that shows building manag-ers the full picture, enabling them to respond quickly to passengers’ needs and make informed decisions about equipment operations with great certainty.

Elite Service is a first from Otis and we plan to introduce this to the Indian market soon. It is a priority service that goes beyond maintenance. It offers customers guaran-teed uptime, faster response times and improved visibil-ity of Otis’ actions. Dedicated Elite service engineers deliver enhanced service and help ensure that service interrup-tions and customer requests are responded to promptly so that the amount of time the customer’s elevator is out of service is kept to a minimum.

Otis makes ‘vertical living’ easier with revolutionary productsOtis is the world’s largest manufacturer of vertical transportation systems, principally focusing on elevators and escalators. Vineet Kashyap, Director – Marketing & Sales Strategy (India), United Technologies Corporation, writes about Otis’ new products that make vertical living easier

Kingdom towerJeddah1,000+ m/3,280+ ft

burj Khalifadubai828 m/2,717 ft

ping an finance centershenzhen660 m/2,165 ft

seoul light dmc tower seoul640 m/2,101 ft

signature tower JakartaJakarta638 m/2,093 ft

shanghai towershanghai632 m/2,073 ft

Wuhan greenland centerWuhan606 m/1,988 ft makkah royal

clock tower hotel mecca601 m/1,972 ft

goldin finance 117tianjin 597 m/1,957 ft lotte World tower

seoul 555 m/1,819 ft

Doha Convention Center and TowerDoha 551 m/1,808 ft

one World trade center new york city541 m/1,776 ft

the ctf guangzhou guangzhou530 m/1,739 ft

tianjin chow tai fook binhai center tianjin530 m/1,739 ft

dalian greenland centerdalian518 m/1,699 ft

pentominium dubai516 m/1,693 ft

busan lotte town tower busan510 m/1,674 ft

Taipei 101Taipei 508 m/1,667 ft

Kaisa feng long centre shenzhen500 m/1,640 ft

shanghai World financial center shanghai492 m/1,614 ft

5 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 Cover story

CTBUH announces inaugural 10 year award winnerThis year the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has announced its first 10 Year Award recipient — 30 St. Mary Axe, London, United Kingdom, popularly known as “The Gherkin.”

The 10 Year Award has been created from this year to focus the industry on perfor-mance against design intent. It recognises proven value and performance, across one or more of a wide range of criteria, over a period of at least 10 years. This new award gives an opportunity to reflect back on buildings that have been completed and operational for at least a decade, and acknowledges those projects that have per-formed successfully long after their inauguration.

The uniquely-shaped Gherkin, completed in 2003, cleared the way for a new generation of tall buildings in London and beyond. “The Gherkin changed the land-scape with respect to what’s possible,” said juror Antony Wood, CTBUH Executive Director. “It turned the tide in an environment that was anti-tall-building.

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 6focus city

Gandhinagar stands in stark contrast to Ahmedabad with

broad roads and abundant green-ery. The capital city of Gandhinagar is located approximately 23km north Ahmedabad, the largest city of Guja-rat. Named after Mahatma Gandhi, it is India’s second planned city after Chandigarh.

Thirty sectors, into which the city has been evenly divided, spread around the central government com-plex. Each sector has its own shop-ping and community centre, primary school, health centre, government and private housing.

HousingGujarat Housing Board is responsi-

ble for carrying out housing projects in Gandhinagar.

The state government has recently given the go-ahead to four low-cost housing schemes under the Mukhya-mantri Aavas Samruddhi Yojana for the lower income group (LIG), the mid-dle income group (MIG) and the urban poor.

Families with an annual income of ₨1,00,000 to ₨2,50,000 will benefit under the LIG scheme.

These schemes are likely to boost the state’s real estate market for afford-able houses.

TransportSardar Vallabhbhai Patel Interna-

tional Airport located in Ahmedabad serves the metropolitan areas of two cit-ies in the state of Gujarat—Ahmedabad

and Gandhinagar. It provides domes-tic flights connectivity to the metros and other major cities of India. It also offers international flight connectivity to major countries across the world.

Capital Railway station in Gandhinagar is a recent develop-ment by Capital Project Division and Gandhinagar Road and Build-ing Department. Most trains running

on the western zones pass through Gandhinagar.

Gandhinagar is well connected to the metropolitans of western India. Many trains with Mumbai as their

Gandhinagar: The upcoming business hub of India

7 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 focus city

destination pass through Gandhinagar or Ahmedabad, which facilitates an easy flow of tourists from all over the western India.

Gandhinagar is connected to Surat, Mumbai, and Navi Mumbai through National Highway 8A. It is connected to Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Udaipur, New

Delhi and Chandigarh via National Highway 8C.

Gandhinagar is soon to get metro connectivity with neighbouring Ahmedabad city. The Design Advisory Committee of the Ahmedabad Metro project recently accepted the findings of a report that suggested broad gauge for the ₨21,000-crore project that aims to connect the cities of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar.

Core infrastructure works will begin in the fourth quarter of year the 2013 and Phase I is scheduled to be completed by August, 2017. The entire project including Phase II will be fully operational in March 2021.

Metro Expresslink for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA) project will see implementation of latest technol-ogy, cutting edge civil infrastructure and futuristic control mechanism. It will be India’s first driverless metro system, resulting in low operations and maintenance costs, increased fre-quency and safety.

There is also a plan for Bus Rapid Transport System (BRTS) to connect Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad.

EnergyThe Government of Gujarat has

launched the ambitious ‘Gandhi-nagar Solar Rooftop Programme’ to encourage utilisation of green energy sources like solar energy and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions caused by use of conventional sources. It also aims to increase public participation

for generation and utilisation of clean and everlasting energy sources.

Azure Power is currently in the process of constructing a 2.5 MW roof-top solar project in Gandhinagar that will be connected to the state electric-ity grid.

The state government owned Guja-

rat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) has set up a Ther-mal Power Station in Gandhinagar. The Power Station also has a colony wherein the employees of the power plant are given residences.

Gujarat International Finance-Tec CityGujarat International Finance Tec-

City Company Limited (GIFTCL) and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial

Services Limited (IL&FS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Newgen Holdings Private Limited for the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) project.

Gandhinagar, the capital of Guja-rat has emerged as one of the fast-est growing industrial regions in the country. In addition to the hub of one of the largest manufacturing bases in India, Gujarat also accounts for a large share of the investor and entre-preneurial population in the country. Keeping this in mind, the government of Gujarat envisioned GIFT as a mega project to make the capital of Gujarat

one of the top industrial hubs of the country. Thus, a land of 550 acres in administrative capital of the state has been allotted for the development of a Central Finance and Business Dis-trict (CFBD).

GIFT is designed as an environ-mentally friendly region that will have the lowest per capita energy consump-tion of any Indian metro. The project will have a green area covering 65% of the total land.

TourismAkshardham Temple at Gandhi-

nagar is one of the largest temples in Gujarat. The temple has pink stones with beautiful carvings and is sur-rounded by beautiful gardens and fountains. It also has laser-water show, a favourite among tourists.

The plan ahead The Gujarat government is to spend

₨75,000 crore on urban development over five years (2012-17), Chief Minis-ter Narendra Modi recently said.

“Gujarat is fast pacing towards urbanisation with over 42% of the pop-ulation residing in urban areas,” Modi said in an urban development-related seminar.

“As per the census of 2011, Gujarat’s total population was around 6 crore. If we consider those living around the urban areas, then by rough estimate it seems nearly 50% of the population will change the face of urbanisation in days ahead,” he added.

Artistic impression of GIFT

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 8progressive cities | policy, reform, finance

Britain is ready to partner with Karnataka to jointly design and develop the

Bengaluru-Mumbai economic corridor, British High Com-missioner Sir James Bevan

has said.The proposed corridor will

also connect Bengaluru with other cities and towns across the southern state along the National Highway 4, and trans-form Tumkur into a major industrial hub.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said his state will welcome more avenues for cooperation with Britain. Recalling British Prime Min-ister David Cameron’s visit to Bengaluru in July 2010, he said in no other city was there greater potential for such part-nerships than Bengaluru.

Maharashtra’s new Minister for Urban Development Uday Samant visited the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Devel-opment Authority (MMRDA) recently for an overview of the projects implemented by the authority.

A presentation of all proj-ects was made to the minister by the Metropolitan Commis-sioner UPS Madan. The pre-sentation included on-going projects such as Metro Rail, Mono Rail, Sahar Elevated

Road, Amar Mahal Junction flyover, Santacruz-Chem-bur Link Road, Rental Hous-ing, Extended Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project, Inte-grated Municipal Solid Waste Management Project, Surya Bulk Water Supply Proj-ect, Multi-Modal Corridor among others.

“The authority has been implementing big-ticket proj-ects, which include resettle-ment and rehabilitation of affected families. One has

to appreciate the work done by the authority since it also included rehabilitation of reli-gious structures, a very sensi-tive issue,” Samant said.

Britain may partner for Bengaluru-Mumbai economic corridor project

Maharashtra’s new UD minister takes stock of MMRDA

Haryana: New policy allows industrial colony outside urban zone

‘Aam Aadmi’ scheme to benefit auto drivers in Andhra Pradesh

Master Plan Delhi 2021 to include amendment for high risesThe Master Plan Delhi 2021 is set to include a proposed amendment for high rise build-ings. Buildings higher than 15 metres and without stilt and those higher than 17 metres with stilt in all land use zones will be considered as high rise buildings, as per the modifica-tion to the Master Plan.

The modification was cleared in the last Advisory Group meeting on review of MPD-2021, held on July 3 and chaired by former Lieutenant-Governor Tejendra Khanna.

The modification also stated that rooftops of high rise buildings can be used for construction of swimming

pools, landscaping and related structures. “Intermittent ser-vice floor may be permitted for installation of equipment and services required for the main-tenance of the building, with prior approval of agencies con-cerned is not to be counted in Floor Area Ratio. The height of the service floor is to be decided based on the depth of struc-tural equipment,’’ the minutes of the 10th meeting of the Advi-sory Group stated.

Regarding the provision for stack parking on stilt floor, relaxation of the minimum height for stilt floors, which is now of 2.4 metres, was pro-posed during the meeting.

The Haryana government has announced a policy regarding granting of licences for devel-opment of industrial colonies, Cyber Park and Cyber City in Gurgaon and other districts.

A state government spokes-person said such colonies and projects will also be permitted in the Agriculture Zone out-side the urbanisable zone and also in the de-notified Special

Economic Zones (SEZs) in the state with land measuring 50 acres situated in the controlled areas.

For the purpose of the policy, the de-notified SEZs would be those SEZs which have already been de-notified by the Union Ministry of Commerce or those which might be de-noti-fied within six months from the date of notification of the policy.

Andhra Pradesh’s Labour Department has introduced an insurance facility for auto drivers under the ‘Aam Aadmi’ scheme. The officials of the department recently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Life Insurance Corpo-ration (LIC) of India in this regard.

A total of 3,015 auto driv-ers will be benefited under the

scheme, in force up to one year from June 29, 2013. The bene-ficiary has to pay ₨100 and an equal amount will be borne by the Unorganised Work-ers Social Security Board. The state government will pay ̀ 30,000 for the beneficia-ries in case of natural death, ₨75,000 for accidental death, `75,000 for permanent dis-ability and ̀ 37,000 for partial disability.

The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) has approved the inclusion of two districts of Haryana, Bhiwani and Mahendragarh, and one of Rajasthan, Bharat-pur, in the National Capital Region (NCR).

After inclusion, these dis-tricts in NCR will have access to more funds for development

of infrastructure. “To lessen the burden on Delhi, there is a need to develop selected urban settlements with urban infra-structural facilities, such as transport, power, communi-cation, drinking water, sewer-age, drainage, etc. comparable with NCT-Delhi. To promote sustainable development in the region and to improve

quality of life, these three new districts are included in the NCR,” said Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath.

He also said the NCRPB approved the Rajasthan gov-ernment’s request for iden-tification of Jaipur as coun-ter-magnet area to intercept migratory flows into NCR.

National Capital Region to include three new districts

9 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 policy, reform, finance | progressive cities

The Karnataka government has announced an outlay of ₨9,286 crore for development works in the urban areas of the state. Some of the major infrastruc-ture allocations in urban areas include ₨450 crore for water supply and underground drain-age works in Davangere, Hari-har, Ranebennur and Byadgi, while ₨1,760 crore has been reserved for providing unin-terrupted water supply to Gulbarga, Hubli-Dharwad and Belgaum.

Chief Minister Siddara-maiah has also proposed works worth ₨195 crore to provide uninterrupted water supply in Haveri, Gadag, Betagere, Gokak, Nippani, Shahbad, Yadgir, Bidar, Basavakalyana, Raichur, Sindhanur, Hospet,

Magadi, Nanjangud, Haliyal, Kollegal and Chamarajnagar.

Among other plans, he also proposed 39 different projects under JNNURM at a cost of

₨4,150 crore and 18 new proj-ects under the Basic Services for Urban Poor Programme at the cost of ₨842 crore to be taken up in Bengaluru and Mysore.

Karnataka announces `9,286 crore for urban development

India to seek aid from World Bank, ADB for Uttarakhand

The Indian government will seek financial aid from multi-lateral agencies, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), for reconstruction and reha-bilitation efforts in Uttara-khand, Union Finance Minis-ter P Chidambaram said.

Apart from seeking aid from these agencies, the gov-ernment will soon send a joint team of the Union Finance Ministry and Union Home Ministry to discuss with Utta-rakhand state officials the

redevelopment plan for the state, which has been hit by devastating floods.

“We are trying to develop a financial package for reha-bilitation and reconstruc-tion for which we will go to multilateral bodies, like we did in the case of the tsu-nami. The prime minis-ter has already announced ₨1,000 crore. Different min-istries are using their own funds. The Tourism Ministry has announced ₨100 crore,” said Chidambaram.

Kamal Nath urges French investors to explore urban India

India’s Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath has urged French companies to explore the opportunities presented by India’s booming urban devel-opment sector.

Addressing a gathering of Medef, the French employ-ers association, in Paris, Nath said the Indian growth rate of over 5% was still “very attrac-tive in today’s context”. Most economies were struggling to reach even a 2% growth rate and some others, like France, were in recession.

“I am sure the growth rate will climb back to its earlier rates of about 8-10%. But even today, India is an attractive destination for investments. Everything that is not boom is not gloom either,” he told

French industry leaders at the meeting attended by more than 70 large and medium-sized French companies.

“Basically, we would like to see the French companies participating in a much big-ger way in India,” the minister said.”This is very important as 50% of the urban infra-structure investment has to come from the private sector,” he said. Nath said that one of the key objectives of his visits was to attract medium-sized French companies to invest in India as well.

Nagpur Municipal Corpora-tion is getting ready for a tech-nology leap. The corporation’s Standing Committee Chair-man Avinash Thakre has pro-posed to equip inspectors from the revenue department with tablets with Bluetooth connec-tivity and printers. Such a tab-let will have all details of a par-ticular property, the tax on it and

outstanding dues, if any. After collecting the property tax and updating the records in real time, the official will issue a tax receipt on spot to the property holder.

Thakre also pointed out that there are over 3.50 lakh prop-erties registered with NMC. Besides, many residential prop-erties are converted into com-mercial ones, while the civic

body is collecting tax under res-idential category, he added.

A Regional Representative Office (RRO) of the National Housing Bank (NHB) was inaugurated in Bhubaneswar recently. While inaugurating

the 10th RRO of NHB, RBI Deputy Governor Harun R Khan said, “Housing has been contributing continuously over the years towards gross

domestic product (GDP), and there has been a low mortgage penetration in India at 7% of the GDP with scope for further improvement.”

Khan said he hoped the NHB would continue its advocacy role in Odisha and be involved in dissemination of products like reverse mortgage loan, training programmes for the financial institutions and State Level Bankers’ Committee meetings of the state, and rural housing credit.

property tax collection in nagpur to go hi-tech

nhb regional office inaugurated in bhubaneswar

India signs $60m loan deal with ADB for North K’taka

The Government of India has signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a $60 million loan for improving urban services and strengthening munici-pal and project management capacity in several towns in North Karnataka. The agree-ment is for the third proj-ect under the overall facil-ity of $270 million for the North Karnataka Urban Sec-tor Investment Programme (NKUSIP).

The third tranche loan under the NKUSIP will develop sewerage networks in six towns, and help the

rehabilitation and expansion of potable water systems in two more towns. More than 100,000 households will ben-efit from the improvements. The project is meant for Bidar, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag-Betegeri, Gulbarga, Jamkhandi, Sindhanur and Yadgir.

This loan from the ADB’s Ordinary Capital Resources has a 25-year term, including a grace period of five years, commitment charges of 0.15% and an interest rate to be determined in accordance with ADB’s LIBOR-based lending facility.

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 10healthy cities | water, sanitation, waste management

Sabarmati to flow with recycled and treated sewage waterTo ensure the Sabarmati remains full throughout the year, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) is consid-ering flowing recycled water in it through tertiary treatment.

The decision was taken as many had questioned whether Narmada waters would be available to the Sabarmati Riv-erfront Development Author-ity Limited (SRFDCL) in the future, once the irrigation canals of the Narmada are completed.

The project, the first of its kind in the country, would involve more than 110 million litres of treated sewage water of bathing quality standards being drained into the river every day.

The AMC plans to divert 60 million litres of sewage from the Pirana treatment plant and the sewage within the inter-ceptor drainage lines of the riverfront to a special tertiary sewage treatment facility to be finally drained into the river.

Bengaluru’s Rainwater Club was started in 1994 by a civil engineer and urban plan-ner, S Vishwanath, to help disseminate information on rainwater harvesting. In 2010, the club was awarded by Namma Bengaluru Foun-dation for its contributions to the city, but Vishwanth believes that good implemen-tation of concepts it propa-gates has been rewarding enough.

Among the club’s current projects is one that helps gov-ernment schools access rain-water, procure water safe for drinking, cooking and for use in lavatories. Other proj-ects aim at raising awareness

about rainwater harvesting and water management in schools across India for free and consulting communities and apartments on rainwater harvesting techniques.

The South Delhi Munici-pal Corporation (SDMC) is to engage resident welfare associations (RWA) and mar-ket associations to ensure that public toilets in mar-ket areas remain clean. The public-private-partnership (PPP) scheme will also gen-erate more revenue for the civic body.

The Department of Envi-ronment Management Ser-vices (DEMS) was the body responsible for the mainte-nance of the toilet blocks. “The corporation will bear all the cost of sanitation and the associations are allowed to collect nominal usage

charges from the public. However, the advertisement rights on these public toilets will remain with the SDMC,” said a senior SDMC official.

Pimpri-Chinchwad approves ₨5 crore for installing water filtration units The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation has given the green signal to a pro-posal to release ₨5 crore for installing water filtration units in villages along the banks of the Bhima river. More than 125 villages along the banks of the river in Shirur, Daund and Haveli talukas have been receiving polluted water due to the release of untreated efflu-ents in the river from Pune and

Pimpri-Chinchwad. The Mula and the Mutha

rivers in Pune, and the Pavana and the Indrayani rivers in Pimpri-Chinchwad join the Bhima river. Release of untreated effluents from the four rivers has resulted in pollution of the Bhima. Some 14 municipal councils are also responsible for releas-ing untreated effluents in the four rivers.

Kerala to expand She-toilet coverage

The Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation (KSWDC) is to expand its She-toilet project to more cit-ies across the state. “We have already launched 23 She-toi-lets in Thiruvananthapuram that are hygienic and women-friendly with sanitary nap-kin vending machines and

incinerators to burn napkins after use,” KSWDC Chair-person P Kulsu said. “Now, it has been planned to extend it to 10 schools in Kozhikode, five public places at Pala in Kottayam, 15 in Ernakulum and 10 in Malappuram.”

The cost of installation of each She-toilet is ₨5.37 lakh

and maintenance alone will incur costs of ₨5,200 per month.

KSWDC officials say women are yet to catch up with the culture of using She-toilets as several women have said they find it diffi-cult to operate automated e-toilets.

bengaluru club makes rainwater harvesting its passion

south delhi: rWas and market associations to maintain public toilets

This Durga Puja, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is planning a unique enterprise by placing ‘mobile toilet’ units for the first time at 100 major pandals.

“We are planning to place mobile toilets and temporary urinals at major Durga Puja pandals for public use com-pletely free only to ensure a clean environment,” said Swapan Samaddar, mem-ber, mayor in-council (slum development).

Officials say that apart from 100 spots that will have ‘mobile toilets’ with both latrines and urinals, another 150 temporary toilets would be set up at major puja pan-dals with only urinals.

According to records,

around 3,500 Durga Pujas are organised in Kolkata. But KMC bosses are targeting only major pujas, which get the highest footfalls.

Each unit of mobile toilets

would cost the civic exche-quer between ₨1.25 and ₨4 lakh, while setting up each unit of a temporary toilet would cost the KMC around ₨25,000.

Kolkata: Mobile toilets to make a debut in Durga Puja pandals

11 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 water, sanitation, waste management | healthy cities

Any person or authority found throwing debris in the Yamuna is to face a fine of ₨5 lakh under the “polluter pays” directive of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Those fined for dumping rubble will include the per-son/authority who generated the debris, the owner of the

truck used to ferry the waste and any contractor involved in the process.

The tribunal also directed local commissioners, appointed earlier to inspect the river bed and banks for signs of dumping, to check whether the NGT’s directions were being implemented.

now, a fine of ₨5 lakh for dumping debris in the yamuna

Mechanised cleaning for Varanasi Cantonment stationThe Varanasi Cantonment railway station will be soon equipped with ultra mod-ern machines for mech-anised cleaning. Station Manager, AK Pandey said five diesel-operated high-pressure water jet clean-ing machines have arrived to improve the sanitation

on the station premises. A new agency with 117 cleaning staff has been con-tracted to look after the sta-tion premises. “With the increased work force and added machinery, the san-itary conditions in the sta-tion will improve in next two days,” said Pandey.

Indian e-waste recycling firm goes global with new technologyAttero Recycling, an early entrant in the electronic waste (e-waste) recycling space, is to export its innovative “disrup-tive” technology, said Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Nitin Gupta.

The innovation makes the otherwise expensive process much cheaper, Gupta said. At present only six companies in the world are using smelting

technology to recycle e-waste.However, the minimum

annual operating capacity of

these plants stands at 100,000 tonnes, for which they require $100 million. Attero has been able to reduce both the capac-ity and capital expenditure by 50 times at 2,000 tonnes and $2 million, he added.

The company plans to set up its first plant in Mexico by Jan-uary 2014, followed by a unit in Ireland in April 2014 and in Bosnia.

Every day Chennai generates nearly 5,000 tonnes of gar-bage, including 429 tonnes of plastic. Thus to promote source segregation of gar-bage, the Corporation of Chennai will hold a lucky draw every month and offer 1.5g gold to one resident of a ward, while the next five

people chosen in the draw will get watches where gar-bage is segregated in homes.

“Workers will visit each household on Wednes-day and Saturdays and col-lect plastic waste. Each res-ident will be given a token,” a corporation official said. A committee will be formed to

conduct lucky draws every month. “The winners will be selected at zonal offices in the first week of the month and prizes distributed,” the offi-cial added.

The project will be a pilot scheme for three months and is expected to cost the corpo-ration an estimated ₨6 lakh.

Chennai residents to ‘win’ gold for segregating waste

A machine that turns sweatinto drinking water

Innovation

A machine that takes sweat-laden clothes and turns the moisture into drinking water has been launched in Gothenburg, Sweden. The device spins and heats the material to remove the sweat, and then passes the vapour through a special mem-brane designed to only let water molecules get through.

Since its launch, cre-ators say more than 1,000 people have “drunk oth-er’s sweat” in Gothenburg.

The device was built for the UNICEF to promote a

campaign highlighting the fact that 780 million people in the world lack access to clean water.

The machine was designed and built by engineer Andreas Ham-mar, known locally for his appearances on TV tech show ‘Mekatronik’.

An India-specific online tool, developed by a group of 14 companies in India to help companies manage their water resources has been launched.

The India Water Tool is a free IT-based resource and companies, such as BASF, Bayer, BP, Jain Irrigation, ITC and Pepsi, along with the World Business Coun-cil for Sustainable Develop-ment, have been involved in its development. The soft-ware has been developed by Infosys.

The tool, which can help small and large companies

across sectors to draw water use strategies, has primarily

used data from the Central Ground Water Board of India.

IT tool to aid companies manage water

12 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 healthy cities | water, sanitation, waste management

Aurangabad-based Marath-wada Janata Vikas Parishad and Solid Waste Management Institute of Maharashtra have developed an organic waste converter machine that will help dispose of wet waste at the location. The machine also con-verts wet garbage into manure in 10 days.

Vilas Dhalkari, public rela-tions officer at Solid Waste Management Institute of Maharashtra, said the bulk waste generators could segre-gate the garbage at doorsteps and put wet garbage into the converter machine.

Meanwhile, Executive Direc-tor of Solid Waste Management Institute of Maharashtra, Lax-man Mane, said bulk garbage generators like hotels, insti-tutions, marriage halls and

others could treat their wet garbage using this machine. “This will generate revenue for

them besides bringing in dras-tic change in the city’s garbage management system,” he said.

Demo of unique wet waste converter in Aurangabad

ludhiana plans use of suction machines to clean sewerageThe Ludhiana Municipal Corporaton has proposed the use of super suction and jet type sewerage machines to complete cleaning work to prevent monsoon prob-lems, such as blocked sew-erage and waterlogging.

Executive Engineer, Zone D, Rajinder Singh said, “We have submitted the proposal for eight machines. Four of these are small and can help workers clean sewerage in the shortest time possible. Sewerage is one of the most important problems noti-fied by the chief minister.”

At present, two super suction machines are being

used on the outskirts of Ludhiana to clean sewer-age at Samrala Chowk and Delhi Road. Officials said

when these machines are brought in Ludhiana, sew-erages which have not been cleaned for years will be cleaned immediately and completely.

Thiruvananthapuram Munic-ipal Corporation will soon roll out a mobile helpline service manned by a female 15-mem-ber core team for maintaining and monitoring decentralised waste management plants in the city.

The team will have scooters driven by women. “We are now looking for Kudumbashree workers who own a scooter. They will move around the

city in 25 wards that form the core area,” said S Pushpalatha, chairperson, health standing committee. The core team will also undergo special training before they are initiated into the new project.

The idea to have a mobile core team came after the Urban Affairs Department approved the corporation’s proposal worth ₨7 crore to set up biogas plants at 62 spots in the city.

E-waste rules give a boostto start-upsThe introduction of new rules last year placing the onus on producers and bulk consumers for the safe disposal of e-waste has resulted in the growth of

numerous recycling companies.“Four years ago, the organ-

ised sector handled less than 3% of the e-waste generated in India, but today the figure has

moved up to 7.5%,” said Shan-kar Sharma, director at Gur-gaon-based e-waste company Green Vortex.

Meanwhile, Noida-based Attero Recycling expects to raise nearly ₨200 crore of fresh capital from a group of inves-tors, including Texas-based Waste Management Inc.

“We are seeing start-ups becoming more active after the regulations came into force. The law has made producers as well as bulk consumers to look for recyclers who are licenced and are known for green recy-cling,” said Subrata Barman, a senior operations officer at IFC, the investment arm of the World Bank and an investor in Attero.

goa cm announces major garbage treatment plantGoa Chief Minister Mano-har Parrikar has announced that a garbage treatment plant with the capacity to process 100 tonnes of garbage per shift is to be set up in South Goa.

The project, estimated to cost ₨80-90 crore, will be exe-cuted on a build-own-oper-ate-transfer basis by the Goa State Infrastructure Develop-ment Corporation (GSIDC).

The technology has been finalised and the process cycle of the plant has been approved by the National Environmen-tal Engineering Research Institute (NEERI). While the process of setting up the plant will begin in August, the proj-ect is expected to begin opera-tions within one year.

The process involves seg-regation of mixed garbage.

The solid, biodegradable waste is passed into a hop-per where it is squeezed dry to remove all the moisture

content. The liquid compo-nent is then passed into the aerobic digester where it is converted into gases.

all-women team to monitor waste management in thiruvananthapuram

Now, a ‘toilet’ that turns human waste into clean water

Innovation

A team from Duke Univer-sity’s Pratt School of Engi-neering has developed a self-contained ‘toilet’ unit that is able to turn human waste into usable water.

The receptacle can be transported to loca-tions overseas in a 20-foot container.

In the apparatus, human waste is emptied into a sew-age receptacle, funneled through a series of tubes and pressurised at extreme tem-peratures. The byproduct is usable water, clean enough to drink.

Team head Marc Deshusses, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke Univer-sity, pitched the idea in a Bill and Melinda Gates Founda-tion’s research competition called ‘Reinvent the Toi-let’ two years ago, winning

$100,000 to take it fur-ther. Recently, Deshusses received an additional $1.8 million to continue work on the toilet.

The team plans to test this shipping container system in North Carolina first, and then send in a city in South Africa, India or Ghana in 2014 to see how it works there.

“We have to be aware that there are going to be cultural barriers,” Deshusses said. “We’re not yet saying this will be drinking water. But even if you can recycle water for flushing, that would be very big progress.”

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 13planned cities | architecture, planning, design

The topping-out ceremony for the Gensler-designed Shang-hai Tower, the world’s sec-ond-tallest building, has been completed. The 632 metre-high tower has now reached

its full height and is second only to the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai, which measures 828 metres.

The Shanghai Tower cost an estimated $2.4 billion

dollars and is due to be com-pleted in 2014. Once com-pleted, the tower will contain retail and office space, a lux-ury hotel and possibly even a museum.

Shanghai Tower to be world’s second tallest building after Burj Khalifa

Aurecon’s Melbourne office designed to support a ‘paperless workplace’Global engineering and design company Aurecon’s Melbourne accommodation has been designed by Geyer to increase the efficiency of the organisa-tion, as well as support the tran-sition of the office to a ‘paperless workplace’.

Small changes that will have a big impact on the efficiency and culture of Aurecon include the dramatic reduction of paper usage through the introduction of lockers and central paper locations.

At the same time, individ-ual offices have been removed, and bench desking introduced. Amenity spaces, such as a ded-icated space for learning and

socialising, were also created. Although current technol-ogy does not support the firm’s transition to a full paperless

workplace - hard copy, large-scale engineering plans are still an important tool that technol-ogy cannot yet replace.

Officials in the city of Chengdu unveiled what is being billed as the world’s largest free-stand-ing building. The 18-storeyed

New Century Global Cen-ter may not be very tall, but it boasts 1.2 million square feet of floor space.

The world’s biggest building opens in China

Architects may be allowed to clear building plans To reduce the time required for approving building plans the National Real Estate Devel-opment Council (NAREDCO) has appealed to the Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry to allow empanelment or to delegate powers to practicing and regis-tered architects with the Coun-cil of Architecture.

Currently these approvals are sorted from the planning authority or municipal corpo-rations, which at times result in abnormal delay in the approval of building plans. NAREDCO feels that by allowing the build-ing plan approval through architects, the corruption in

the entire system can be dras-tically brought down or alto-gether eradicated. The munic-ipal corporations can take on the mantel of monitoring these approvals that are granted by Architects, thus saving sub-stantial time.

NAREDCO said if the approval of the building plan is allowed to be given by archi-tects, opposition to the Regu-latory Bill will be minimised and history will be created in the real estate sector.

The National Building Code of India 2005 stipulates associ-ation of Notary Architects and Engineers for approving plans prepared by them.

Japanese architect unveils serpentine gallery pavilion 2013 This year’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion has been designed by Japanese archi-tect Sou Fujimoto. The cloud-like structure on the lawn outside the Serpen-tine Gallery in Kensing-ton Gardens is made from a white lattice of steel poles. The grid varies in density, framing or obscuring the surrounding park by dif-ferent degrees as visitors move around it. Circles

of transparent polycar-bonate among the poles afford shelter from the rain but also create a layer that reflects sunlight from within.

The annual unpaid Ser-pentine Gallery Pavilion commission is one of the most highly sought-after small projects in world architecture and goes to a major architect who hasn’t yet built in the UK.

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 14tech cities | built environment, engineering, construction

The Indian real estate sector is forecast to grow at a CAGR of 3.6% during 2012 to 2016, with a total market for this segment during this period estimated to be $ 380 billion (approximately ₨22,800 crore), according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report. To provide a platform to the large number of interna-tional manufacturers keen on entering the Indian construc-tion market, FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Com-merce and Industry), the Min-istry of Urban Development, Government of India (MUD), and dmg events are organis-ing The Big 5 Construct India, a mega building and construc-tion show in Mumbai from 2nd to 4th September this year at the Bombay Exhibition Centre.

“Construction in India offers huge potential to those looking to develop and expand their business and The Big 5

Construct India is a perfect place to cultivate new oppor-tunities in the region,” said Muhammed Kazi, Project Man-ager, The Big 5 Construct India.

The show will feature a stag-gering range of the latest local and international building material and construction prod-ucts, with several companies

exhibiting their products for the first time in India.

The show has evoked overwhelming response and has received confirmations from 10 international coun-try pavilions including Ger-many, Italy, Spain, Turkey, UK, Iran, Greece, Taiwan, Korea and China.

India’s growing construction market receiving global attention

Engineers India bags ₨670 cr contract from CPCLEIL, one of the leading design, engineering consultancy and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies of the country, has secured a lumpsum turnkey contract (LSTK) worth over ₨670 crore from Chennai Petroleum Corp Ltd (CPCL) for Residuary Upgradation Project (Coker Block).

A coker or coker unit is an oil refinery processing unit that converts the residual oil into low molecular weight hydrocarbon gases, naphtha, light and heavy gas oils and petroleum coke.

The CPCL project “com-prises of Delayed Coker Unit and LPG CFC Treating Unit,” the statement said.

Global market for heavy construction equipment to touch $195 billion by 2018

The spurt in construction activ-ities in sectors, such as airports, dams and renewable-energy projects in the Asia Pacific region have attracted many

international players includ-ing Caterpillar, Komatsu Lim-ited, JCB, Hitachi Construction Machinery, Volvo Construction Equipment and John Deere.

The heavy construction equipment market is set to grow from $131.1bn in 2013 to $195bn in 2018, according to a recent report.

ACC will be putting a stronger focus on product innovation to

strengthen its ready-mix con-crete business. The company

has lined up a series of ready-mix concrete (RMC) products to push sales.

One such product is Buck-etcrete, which contains 30 kgs of concrete in a bucket for ₨250. The mixture, enough to lay out over four square feet, needs to be used within six hours.

Anil K Banchhor, chief executive officer, ACC Con-crete, said a market study to ascertain the problems of small civil contractors and customers, led to the launch of Bucketcrete, which can be transported like any other consumer product.

ACC to strengthen ready-mix concrete business

Demand for cement likely to slacken in the second quarterThe demand for cement is likely to come under pres-sure in Q2 of FY14 with the onset of the monsoon and the lull in construction activ-ity. Cement prices, which weakened during March and April 2013 because of lower demand, saw some recovery from mid-May.

As a result, average whole-sale cement prices increased

by ₨10 per bag in Delhi, ₨17 per bag in Chandigarh and ₨5 per bag in Kolkata between April-June 2013, ICRA said in its latest update on the cement industry. “Cement demand in May-end and June 2013 has been supported by pre-monsoon increase in construction activity and is not likely to be sustained,” it added.

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 15green cities | environment, energy, ecology

The United Nations General Assembly has established a new High-level Political Forum, which will replace the United Nations Commission on Sus-tainable Development, to boost efforts to tackle global eco-nomic, social and environmen-tal challenges.

In a resolution, the 193-mem-ber assembly emphasised the need for an improved and more effective institutional frame-work for sustainable develop-ment. The decision follows up on a key recommendation of ‘The Future We Want’, the out-come document of last year’s UN Conference on Sustainable Development, known as Rio+20.

The forum will convene annually at the ministerial

level under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and it will, every four years, bring together heads of state to provide added

momentum for sustainable development. Its first meeting will be held in September, dur-ing the Assembly’s forthcoming 68th session.

New UN forum to boost sustainable development efforts

Study: Outdoor air pollution kills 2 millionA University of North Car-olina study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, has esti-mated that around two million people die each year because of human-caused outdoor air pollution.

It also estimated that around 2.1 million deaths are caused each year by human-caused increases in fine par-ticulate matter, tiny particles suspended in the air that can penetrate deep into the lungs, causing cancer and other respiratory disease.

“Our estimates make out-door air pollution among the

most important environmen-tal risk factors for health,” said co-author of the study, Jason West, from the University of North Carolina.“Many of these deaths are estimated to occur in East Asia and South Asia,

where the population is high and air pollution is severe.”

World Bank: Environmental damage costs India $80bnPollution and other environ-mental degradation costs India $80 billion a year, nearly 6% of gross domestic product (GDP),

the World Bank said in a report. The study, which assesses the impact of environmental dam-age in India, also said that air

pollution and contaminated water could be responsible for large numbers of child deaths in the country.

“About 23% of child mortal-ity and 2.5% of all adult deaths in the country can be attributed to environmental degradation,” Muthukumara S Mani, a senior economist at the World Bank, said at the launch of the report in New Delhi.

The report states that reduc-ing harmful carbon emissions was possible without a negative impact on economic growth. “India can reduce its emissions at very little cost to the GDP by switching to green technol-ogy, even this loss gets offset by the tangible health benefits,” Mani said.

TERI and Ganga Action Pari-var are collaborating to prepare a report for green development in Uttarakhand.

Foreign experts, who were a part of rebuilding efforts in Japan’s tsunami-hit areas, will also be sought for substantial inputs to the report, which will be sent to the central and Utta-rakhand governments.

“We can no longer have unplanned, unchecked devel-opment and deforestation,” Muni Chidanand Saraswati, head of Ganga Action Parivar and Parmarth Niketan Ashram said. ”A new vision of develop-ment for eco-sensitive, fragile Himalayas is must. Our focus will be on pilgrimage and tour-ism without disturbing the local environment,” he said.

Green development report for Uttarakhand

moef headquarters to generate solar power on site

san francisco implements eco-districts tool for sustainable development

The new headquarters of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), India’s first ‘net zero’ conventional energy consumption multi-storey building, will be com-pleted in Jor Bagh in August.

The building will meet its annual requirement of 14 lakh units of electricity by generat-ing solar power on site.

Engineers who worked on the eight-storey building said the estimated annual energy demand for a conventional complex of this size is 22 lakh units, but in this case thanks to the novel measures, it was reduced by 30%.

Even rooftop areas have

been increased three-fold from 2,000 sqm to 6,000 sqm by building huge cantilevers so that enough monocrystal-line solar PV panels can be installed.

The solar power gener-ated in the complex will be fed back to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation’s grid from where supply will be ini-tially taken.

San Francisco Planning Department’s sustainabil-ity development programme is implementing a tool called Eco-Districts – a community of property owners, busi-nesses and residents within a neighbourhood that col-laborate to develop and initiate sustainable devel-opment projects in their area. The sustainability development programme aims to reduce water con-sumption, reduce waste and enhance community-scale

energy resources.To aid in the fulfillment of

these goals, the programme uses a set of performance metrics so that neighbour-hoods can shape their proj-ects with custom strategies for their community.

The Eco-District is a community-driven develop-ment that has the potential to achieve the smart growth of sustainable ideas but also build local urban identity and enforce a sense of place among its residents.

16 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 green cities | environment, energy, ecology

CII-IGBC joins NHB for green homes

Scientists at Eindhoven Univer-sity of Technology in the Neth-erlands have discovered that special air-purifying pavements on city streets can cut air pollu-tion by almost half.

The team outfitted one street in the city of Hengelo in the Netherlands with paving blocks sprayed with titanium oxide, which removes pollutants from the air and turns them into less harmful chemicals.

After taking measurements for a year, the scientists found that the street paved with smog-eating blocks, also called pho-tocatalytic pavement, reduced nitrogen oxide air pollution by up to 45% in ideal weather

conditions and 19% over the course of a day.

Nitrogen oxides or NOx are a group of poisonous gases

produced by cars and power plants that react with other compounds in the atmosphere to form smog.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Hous-ing Bank (NHB) to promote adoption of energy efficient green homes in the country.

The MoU was signed between Indian Green Builidng Council (IGBC) of CII and NHB during the first edition of Con-ference on Green Apartments.

The MoU, signed in presence of Arun Kumar Misra, Secre-tary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, was inked between Chairman of IGBC Prem C Jain and NHB Executive Director Arnab Roy.

Misra said the ministry would extend all the support to work with IGBC in taking for-ward the green home concept to the mass housing sector.

Scientists develop smog-eating pavements

Ford joins India’s greenhouse gas reporting programmeFord has become the first auto-maker to join a voluntary greenhouse gas reporting pro-gramme recently established in India. This programme has been developed in a collab-oration between the World Resources Institute, the Energy and Resources Institute and the Confederation of Indian Indus-try. As the first automaker to participate in the programme, Ford’s role will be to assist in

the establishment of credible and verifiable greenhouse gas inventories.

“Ford India is committed to bringing fuel-efficient and safe vehicles to India that our cus-tomers want and value. And we are growing our manufacturing capabilities in India in an envi-ronmentally responsible way as part of our One Ford plan,” said Joginder Singh, president and managing director, Ford India.

ATE’s rising presence in clean technology

ATE is a reputed, diversified Indian engineering group, which is on the threshold of celebrating its platinum jubi-lee (75 years) in 2014. The group ventured into the clean technology space in 2006 with its entry into Machine-to-Machine solution business, followed by energy efficient cooling solutions and water and waste water management.

ATE’s foray into clean tech-nology is propelled by its pas-sion. “I have always been pas-sionate about the environment and wanted to get involved in the environment move-ment and socially useful busi-nesses, particularly as I was deeply concerned that India is one country that would be badly hit with climate change,” said Anuj Bhagwati, the head of the ATE Group who is spearheading ATE’s clean tech drive.

Water and waste water management

ATE Envirotech, an ATE group company, offers com-plete wastewater treatment and recycling solutions, including zero liquid dis-charge. The company has already executed over 200 projects in India and other countries that include the U.S., Puerto Rico, Zambia, Philip-pines, Ethiopia, Malaysia and Indonesia.

ATE works in munici-pal infrastructure water and wastewater projects and industry verticals like textiles, dairy, sugar, pharmaceuti-cals, petrochemical, chemical, healthcare, food-processing and building segment and has a base of satisfied customers across these verticals.

The company has also developed the highly suc-cessful ‘AAA’ process that enhances biological treat-ment efficiency and minimises sludge generation. It also

provides VSEP-EVR (Vibra-tory Shear Enhanced Pro-cessing- Evaporation Volume Reduction), a patented mem-brane based system from New Logic Research (for reduc-ing the volume of wastewater going to evaporators in ZLD plants). While the VRM (Vac-uum Rotating Membrane)-based MBR systems from Huber, Germany, can han-dle difficult to treat effluents, the AVR (Anaerobic Venturi Reactor) based biomethana-tion plants offer sustainable and trouble free operations.

For energy efficient water flow management, ATE offers a wide range of pumping solu-tions from some of the world’s well-known brands and ATE’s own ‘BoostStar’ hydro-pneu-matic (HyP) pressure boost-ing systems

Energy efficient cooling solutions

HMX Systems, an ATE group company, offers com-fort cooling solutions, pro-viding comfort with better economy as well as with lower carbon intensity.

The first of the innova-tive products developed by HMX Systems was the

‘HMX-Ambiator’. It is a new generation two stage evapora-tive cooling solution, provid-ing ‘100% fresh-clean-cool air’ and an energy efficient alter-

native to conventional air-conditioners with up to 60% energy saving. HMX has sub-sequently launched HMX-Treated Fresh Air (TFA) & HMX-Economiser.

HMX- TFA is an innova-tive technology product to supply filtered-conditioned-fresh air in designated areas, while HMX-Economiser is an energy recovery device and in turn lowers the TR load on AC. It helps in recover-ing the energy from outgoing air and pre-cools the fresh air. Since there is no rotat-ing wheel, there will be no wear/tear, no deterioration of efficiency over a time and no cross contamination.

Machine-to-machine solutions

“If you can monitor equip-ment of whatever sort or buildings remotely, then you can ensure that they operate at optimal levels, in turn conserving energy and resources” said Abhay Nal-awade, Founder and Man-aging Director of EcoAxis, the ATE group company in the machine-to-machine business.

EcoAxis’ product suite, called SuperAxis, captures various operational data based on the pre-determined parameters from industrial plants, equipment and utili-ties and transmits them to a central server, where the data is analysed and archived. Based on the analysis, the system triggers periodic or emergency notifications to the stakeholders on the machine performance and energy consumption. Just as ‘a stitch in time saves nine’, the timely notifications help stakeholders to take neces-sary corrective/preventive action to not only improve the machine performance, but also optimise resource consumption.

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 environment, energy, ecology | green cities 17

Reliance Power’s 100-MW solar power project in Dhur-sar in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan has received approval for carbon cred-its under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“This is the world’s largest Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) project ever registered with the Clean Development Mechanism Executive Board (CDM - EB),” the company said in a statement.

CDM registration will allow the project to gener-ate and sell Certified Emis-sion Reductions (CERs) internationally. These CERs

translate into direct revenues for Reliance Power. Reliance Power already has CDM

registration for its super-crit-ical technology-based power projects.

UN body okays carbon credits for Reliance Power solar project

ITC expands wind power generation capacityITC Ltd is gradually reducing its dependence on fossil fuels and expanding its wind power generation capacity. The com-pany has installed wind farms with over 70 MW at sites close to its facilities and is in the process of setting up more farms with 63 MW capaci-ties. As a part of its sustain-ability drive last year, it also brought down overall power consumption across all its

business divisions.The new plant includes

a 46 MW farm at its paper unit at Bhadrachalam in Andhra Pradesh. Sanjib Bez-baroa, Head of Corporate Environment, Health and Safety informed that ITC has adopted a low-carbon growth path to address environmen-tal challenges, such as global warming, climate change and depletion of natural resources.

Dutch team unveils world’s first ‘solar-powered family car’

Gujarat announces renewed Wind Energy Policy

Solar Team Eindhoven, based at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, has developed the world’s first ‘solar-powered family car’. The car, named ‘Stella’- Latin for star, is the first ‘energy-positive

car’, with room for four people, a trunk, intuitive steering and a range of 600 kilometres.

The solar cells of Stella gen-erate more electricity on aver-age than the car uses, mean-ing the surplus electricity can

be returned to the power grid, making the car ‘energy-positive’.

The vehicle was developed to take part in the new Cruiser Class category of the World Solar Challenge – a biannual 3,000km race through the Aus-tralian outback from Darwin to Adelaide. Unlike the other cate-gories, where speed is the main concern, the Cruiser Class is judged on criteria including comfort and usability.

“The design of the car of the future has to meet the needs of modern consumers,” Solar Team Eindhoven said. “The car must be capable of transporting a family from the Netherlands to France in one day, it needs to be suitable for the daily commute to work and it needs to achieve all this in comfort.”

Gujarat government has approved its new Wind Energy Policy to encourage development of wind power generation activities in the state, said Gujarat Minister of Energy and Petrochem-icals Saurabh Patel. The existing Wind Energy Policy came to an end in March 2013.

The 25-year policy will exempt the power produc-ers from electricity duty and allow captive use. It also seeks to utilise 1,600 km of state coastline and waste patches of barren land for the generation of wind power.

As per the new Wind Energy Policy the developers of such wind power plants will be able to sell the elec-tricity to Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) or

to any other company hold-ing the license for electric-ity distribution. Among other provisions the policy

also talks about allotment of the state’s vast barren land tracts for the wind energy installations.

Tata Power, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL) will set up a photovoltaic-based solar power plant with an installed capacity of 28.8 MW in the Satara district in Maharashtra.

Tata Power (Distribution), the distribution arm of Tata Power, has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA)

for a 25 year period in order to purchase power from this solar plant, thereby meeting its solar renewable purchase obligations (RPO).

The power generated will be evacuated through Maharashtra State Electric-ity Transmission Limited (MSETCL)’s network. The company intends to commis-sion the entire project capac-ity by December 2013.

Tata Power to set up 28.8 MW solar plant in Maharashtra

Kerala increases hydel power generationThe Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has increased generation of hydro power to avoid spill-over of the water flowing into the reservoirs. The board has generated an average of 20.5872 million units of power at its hydel sta-tions daily during July, against a low level of around 10 million units a day during mid-May.

Small- and medium-sized hydel reservoirs in Kerala are close to the brim, or have

already touched the brim, according to the statistics maintained by the KSEB’s load despatch centre to monitor the operations of the power sector.

18 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 green cities | environment, energy, ecology

NTPC begins work on third solar plant

Greenpeace: Solar energy can meet 16% of Delhi’s power needs

The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has begun construction of a third solar power plant to help lessen the risk of domestic fuel shortages faced by its coal-fired proj-ects. NTPC has awarded the contract to build the 5MW plant at Jhajru village in Haryana to Eversun Energy,

while Enmas GP Power Sys-tem Projects will connect the plant to the grid.

NTPC, which has com-pleted a 5 MW solar plant at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh and another of similar capacity at Port Blair in the Anda-man & Nicobar Islands, has an additional 85 MW under construction.

Delhi has the potential to ful-fil 16% of its yearly power requirement through solar energy, according to the ‘Roof-top Revolution: Unleashing Delhi’s Solar Potential’ report released by Greenpeace India.

The report says the city can generate 4,500 million kilowatt hours of solar power every year by installing pho-tovoltaic panels on 1.6% of the city’s roof space.

“The national capital is fac-ing a serious electricity crisis and tariffs have been rising steeply. Solar energy provides

an alternative pathway,” said Anand Prabhu Pathanjali,

energy campaigner for Green-peace India.

The North Eastern Elec-tric Power Corporation Lim-ited (NEEPCO) is planning to generate at least 1,500MW power from non-conventional sources of energy, especially by tapping solar power and wind, in the next five years.

To achieve this end

NEEPCO has already signed an MoU with Arunachal Pradesh government to install a 3,750-MW capacity hydro-power project, the biggest ever in the county, along with a 240-MW capacity plant in Assam, 176MW in Mizoram and 85MW in Meghalaya.

CSE: Wind energy projects in forest areas may affect ecology

Wind energy projects planned in forest areas may have an adverse impact on the local ecol-ogy, a study from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) reports.

This report documented the environmental impact of wind power in many parts

of the country.The study also states that

commercial wind turbines, which have a height of 100-150 metres, generate noise and shadow flicker that can disturb nearby communities, leading to stress and even epileptic attacks.

“If a wind project is set up

close to human settlements, it may cause significant health impacts,” Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general, CSE, said. “Projects sites on for-est land and hilly areas have a greater impact on ecology and water resources, compared to projects in plains,” he added.

Punjab rides high on renewable energyPunjab’s Deputy Chief Min-ister Sukhbir Badal has announced the state would be declared power surplus by end of this year. Meanwhile, 26 companies have been handed over the letters of awards by the deputy chief minister for setting up solar power proj-ects of 250MW in the state at a cost of ₨2,500-3,000 crore.

“We have set a target to gen-erate at least 1,000MW power from renewable resources of energy in the next four years. After 250MW solar power projects, we will award 300MW biomass power plants shortly,” said Badal.

Punjab’s Non-Conven-tional Energy Minister Bikram Singh Majithia also said fiscal and financial incen-tives were being provided to encourage private sector participation in this area noticeably in terms of assured buy back of power by state utility.

NEEPCO plans to generate 1,500 MW power from renewable sources

An ionic liquid-based thermo-cell technology, developed by researchers at Monash Uni-versity in Melbourne, Aus-tralia, is able to generate more electric power in a proper tem-perature range than any previ-ous power cell design.

The technology is designed to operate in the temperature range required for transform-ing excess heat at power plants into a carbon-neutral source of electricity.

Thermocell technology is based on harnessing the ther-mal energy from the differ-ence in temperature between two surfaces and converting that energy into electricity.

Based on a novel ionic

liquid-based redox electro-lyte, it can be used to gen-erate electricity from low-grade steam in coal-fired power stations at tempera-tures around 130°C by passing the steam over one electrode

and water cooling over another electrode.

The device offers the pos-sibility of a cheap and flexible design suitable for harvesting waste heat in the 100 to 200 degrees Celsius range.

Ionic liquid-based thermocell tech turns excess heat into power

Innovation

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 19humane cities | habitat, housing, real estate

The Gujarat Housing Board (GHB) has planned to build 25,000 to 40,000 houses every year for providing affordable housing to the poor, low and medium income group people, said GHB Chairman Jayanti Barot.

GHB is building flats for low income groups (LIG) and medium income groups (MIG) at Munjka in Rajkot, Tarsali in Vadodara and Ganeshpura in Surat. The flats will be allot-ted at the cost ranging from ₨9 lakhs to ₨19.75 lakhs with the construction area ranging from 681 sq ft to 971 sq ft.

In the next few months, GHB

has planned to build houses in Ahmedabad, Sanand, Mahem-davad, Bharuch, Valsad,

Jamnagar and Bhuj on the land which is already in its possession.

Gujarat Housing Board to build upto 40,000 LIG and MIG houses every year

gujarat govt launches schemes to build 22 lakhs houses in 5 yearsThe Gujarat government has announced four schemes for construction of 22 lakh houses in the urban areas of the state in next five years. These schemes, which are part of ‘Mukhyamantri Aawas Sam-ruddhi Yojna’, include assis-tance to build houses for eco-nomically weaker sections (EWS), slum rehabilitation scheme, interest subsidy for EWS and lower income groups (LIG) for private housing, and

housing for LIGs.The state government has

announced a policy for in situ rehabilitation through public-private-partnership (PPP) mode. These houses will be built on land owned by the Gujarat Housing Board (GHB), the state government, urban local councils and urban civic bodies , such as municipalities, municipal cor-porations and development authorities.

The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board (TNSCB) has asked ₨640 crore in funds from the Chennai River Restoration Trust (CRRT) to construct 18,000 tenements to resettle slum families living on the Cooum riverbanks.

The estimated cost of the river front development, which will have cycle tracks and parks, is around ₨3,000 crore to ₨3,500 crore. However, a public con-sultation, conducted by CRRT, Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastruc-ture Financial Services Lim-ited (TNUIFSL) and the Span-ish technical consultant of the project LKS at the Pub-lic Works Department confer-ence hall, was opposed by civil rights activists. They argued that beautification of the river should not be done by relocat-ing human settlements from the river banks to far-off places.

Chennai: ₨640 crore to resettle slum dwellers living on the Cooum banks

Delhi: Socially backward communities to get free flats

Haryana to spend more than ₨1,000 crore for housing projects

The Delhi government is to allot flats to the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and other backward classes free of cost. The beneficiaries will be given the houses under the Rajiv Ratan Awas Yojana.

Under the scheme, the Ministry of Urban Devel-opment has provided the states with funds to create houses for those belong-ing to the EWS categories. “The beneficiary will have to pay ₨60,000 while the rest of the cost will be borne by

the government. For those belonging to the SC/ST and OBC category, the cost will be borne completely by the Delhi minorities corpora-tion,” said Delhi Chief Min-ister Sheila Dikshit.

The Haryana government has approved ₨329 crore for the construction of 8,799 houses for the Eco-nomically Weaker Sections (EWS) of society. Mean-while, the Housing Board of Haryana has already called

for the registration of 10,215 eligible applicants as part of the project for construction of 50,000 houses in urban areas. The board intends to spend more than ₨1,000 crore on the construction of these houses.

Dr Girija Vyas: AHP scheme to be launched soonUnion Minister of Hous-ing and Urban Poverty Alle-viation Dr Girija Vyas has announced the revised Affordable Housing in Part-nership (AHP) scheme is to be launched very soon. The

scheme will encourage state concessions and create afford-able housing stock for con-struction, said Dr Vyas while addressing the REALTY 2013, Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII’s) flagship

conference on Real Estate. “Through this scheme, the government aims to encourage partnerships between various agencies i.e. central and state governments, housing boards and development authorities and urban local bodies (ULBs) and industry for creation of affordable housing,” she said.

“The scheme offers sev-eral supply side as well as demand side incentives. Some of the key incentives being concessions on develop-ment charges, service tax and direct tax exemptions, encour-aging Foreign Direct Invest-ment (FDI) in affordable hous-ing, reduced stamp duties, increasing Floor Space Indexes (FSIs) in affordable housing projects and encour-aging Transfer of Develop-ment Rights (TDRs) etc.”

20 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 humane cities | habitat, housing, real estate

Official cost of land increased in Karnataka The Karnataka government has increased the guidance value (official cost of land) by 40-50% to fund its populist schemes.

“We have increased the guidance value in 20 dis-tricts,” said Inspector General of Registration and Commis-sioner of Stamps Syed Adoni Saleem. With the hike in guid-ance value, sources said the cost of residential sites has

increased by 50%, commercial properties by 60% and indus-trial properties by 25% in the districts.

₨3,000 crore HUDCO soft loan to UttarakhandThe Ministry of Housing And Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA) has offered a soft loan of ₨3,000 crore to Utta-rakhand to rebuild houses and infrastructure ravaged by the recent floods.

Union Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Girija Vyas said the loan from Housing and Urban Develop-ment Corporation (HUDCO)

will be repayable over 18 to 20 years. HUDCO has sep-arately contributed ₨1.25 crore towards relief efforts in Uttarakhand.

Vyas also announced that all affected municipalities and notified area councils in the state will be covered under the Rajiv Awas Yojana as a special case to support reconstruction of houses for the poor.

Delhi gets India’s largest police housing project Delhi’s Lt. Governor Tejinder Khanna has laid the foundation for India’s largest public-pri-vate partnership (PPP) housing

project worth ₨18, 000 crore for police personnel.

“With a total of 5,202 flats, three kinds of housing units

will be constructed under this project which has its maxi-mum construction time limit of around 885 days. Well known MNC Punj Lloyd will construct the quarters and also maintain them for 25 years,” said Khanna at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the project.

The 13-storey (ground plus 12 floors with lift facilities) build-ings will come up on a 60 acre plot in north Delhi’s Dheerpur. This housing complex which will also have provision for schools, shopping area, com-munity facilities and dispen-sary, will provide a contempo-rary and a modern way of life to the Delhi Police personnel.

America’s real estate baron Donald Trump has announced his first Indian

project: 22-storey residen-tial twin towers in Pune with 44 luxurious single-floor

condominiums.“Trump Organisation’s

first project in India, Trump Towers Pune, will epitomise inspired living and timeless elegance,” said Trump.

Trump Tower Pune is being developed by the city’s leading real estate developer, Panchshil Realty, located in the upscale Kalyani Nagar neighbourhood.

“All residences will have five bedrooms with an addi-tional home theatre room, and host a 360-degree view of Pune cityscape with the sur-rounding Aga Khan Palace and the lush green Jogger’s Park. Trump Towers Pune’s location is envious,” a com-pany statement said.

Expected to be completed by 2015, Trump Towers Pune will also have an exclusive fit-ness centre by Bollywood star John Abraham.

Trump enters India’s luxury real estate market

Delhi eases way for construction on farmlandDelhi has partly lifted restric-tions on the use of farmland for construction activities, which paves the way for the building of flats on agricul-tural land.

As per existing norms under Section 81 of the Land Reforms Act, no agricultural land can be used for con-struction of houses and other purposes.

The move will help vil-lagers have their property registered and carry out

construction works after receiving building permission from the authorities.

Earlier this year, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit issued an order to the revenue department to withdraw all pending cases under section 81 in various courts.

The Cabinet decided to exempt provisions of Section 81 to urbanised areas by way of notification under Section 507 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act.

The Odisha government is to reserve around 100 acres to build affordable houses for the economically weaker sec-tions (EWS) at Gothapatna on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. The government is planning to launch its first such project in the city by August.

“The Khurda district collec-tor has identified the land. We will soon reserve it for starting the project,” Development Com-missioner Injeti Srinivas said.

The government is planning to adopt ‘Model 3’ of the Scheme for Affordable Urban Housing in Odisha-2012 for Gothapatna. Under the model, the govern-ment will allot the land to a pri-vate developer for construc-tion of EWS and low-income

group (LIG) housing through competitive bidding. While at least 75% of dwelling units will be reserved for EWS and LIG

housing, the developer will be free to use the rest of the area in any manner subject to building regulations.

Bhubaneswar puts aside 100 acres for affordable housing

21 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 habitat, housing, real estate | humane cities

In an effort to decongest Ben-galuru and promote the infor-mation technology sector in secondary cities, the Karna-taka government has chalked out plans to set up IT parks in Belgaum, Mysore and Manga-lore on a public-private part-nership (PPP) mode.

“We have come out with a proposal to develop IT parks

in these cities, where there is immense scope to promote the IT industry,” I S N Prasad, principal secretary, Depart-ment of IT, BT and Science and Technology said. “The Karna-taka State Electronics Devel-opment Corporation Limited [Keonics] has in its posses-sion land in Mysore and Man-galore already. We are looking

for a suitable land in Belgaum and we wish to set up IT parks on the model of ITPL in Ben-galuru, in these places,” he added.

The department would invest an estimated ₨60 crore to ₨70 crore on each of these parks and is also looking for private sector companies to partner the government.

Karnataka govt to develop IT parks in Tier II cities

Haryana may impose VAT on real estate projectsThe Haryana government has announced plans to impose value added tax (VAT) on builders, developers and pro-moters of real estate projects in the state.

Most of the builders may fall under the ambit of this tax as it is proposed to be levied on any person or entity with a turnover of ₨5 lakh.

Haryana Excise and Taxa-tion Minister Kiran Choudhry said a survey has been initi-ated to know about builders who could be the potential tax payers.

Initially, the tax will be

levied only on those develop-ers or builders who construct flats or houses on behalf of the purchasers. The build-ers would have two options — to pay at the rate of 4% of the total project cost, under a scheme of Excise and Tax-ation Department, or the builder may produce bills of all inputs like cement or iron bought for the construc-tion, for calculation of VAT to be paid. However, in the second option, VAT won’t be imposed on the cost of land and labour involved in the project.

Developers eye India’s growing senior citizen housing segmentReal estate developers are cashing in on the growing retirement housing segment in India. With the joint fam-ily system in India slowly fading away, retirement housing or senior citizen housing projects are slowly catching on in the country.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle India, senior citizen housing is a $25

billion industry worldwide but India is a relatively younger country in this sector when compared demographi-cally to the U.S. and Japan. The cur-rent estimated demand for senior cit-izen housing in India is approximately 300,000 units.

According to Jones Lang LaSalle India, the prices of the property vary from ₨25 lakh to ₨1 crore. Most of the senior citizen living projects are posi-tioned in the affordable segment, but there has been a gradual shift, with the emergence of financially independent and upscale seniors. This has trig-gered the growth of high-end to lux-ury senior living products in the range of ₨60 lakh to ₨1 crore and upwards.

With a combined investment commit-ment of over ₨1,000 crore, Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd (MLDL) and SCM Real Estate (Singapore) Pvt. Ltd (SCM), the investment arm of Stan-dard Chartered Bank, have entered into a joint venture agreement for developing residential projects in India.

The proposed projects will be undertaken through Watsonia Devel-opers Pvt. Ltd (WDPL), in which both MLDL and SCM hold an equal stake, but all the projects will be mar-keted under the Mahindra Lifespaces brand. The first two projects will be premium residential developments in Gurgaon and Bengaluru.

With a presence in nine cities, Mahindra Lifespaces has already developed 8.3 million square feet and has over 11.3 million square feet of projects in the pipeline including 1.55 million square feet to be developed in the first two joint ones.

Mahindra Lifespace Developers to form JV with SCM Real Estate

MEMBER - CCMA

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 22smart cities | it, gis & gps application, e-governance

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s complaint system goes liveAhmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has launched its much awaited Comprehensive Complaint Redressal System (CCRS). The new user-friendly sys-tem only requires a phone call to the number ‘155303’, which can be dialled with-out prefixing digits, for auto-mated registration of civic complaint. The project was initially launched on a pilot basis in 2009 for the New West Zone area with 34 com-plaint categories.

This time, the software has been upgraded to incorporate 204 different categories of

complaints and will be oper-ational for the entire city. The centre will be functional from 8am to 10pm and have 30 lines. Even if a complaint is registered after 10 pm, it will be done under the Inter-active Voice Response (IVR).

Bhubaneswar: Jan Seva Kendras to help citizens use online civic servicesOdisha’s Housing and Urban Development Department plans to set up 20 Jan Seva Kendras

(common services centres) in Bhu-baneswar to help citizens avail of civic and other services online.

The staff manning these cen-tres will help people use these online services. At present, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corpo-ration (BMC) has one such cen-tre near the entrance to its office.

At present, under the e-municipality service of the state government, people can attain death and birth certifi-cates, marriage certificates, trade licences, pay holding tax and water tax online.

In the first phase, five such Jan Seva Kendras will be developed and later, all 20 locations will be covered.

Property tax records are to be linked with Unique Identifica-tion Authority of India (UIDAI) data to serve as a business intel-ligence tool and define property ownership, said senior informa-tion technology (IT) officials of the Maharashtra government.

The officials said UIDAI data would be linked with the prop-erty tax system of urban local bodies beginning with munici-pal councils.

The pilot project is to begin in all municipal councils in Vidarb-ha’s Wardha district, which has over 95% Aadhaar coverage — the highest in Maharashtra. The state government will also conduct a pilot to link UIDAI data with land record extracts in Wardha and Mulshi talukas in Pune district. This will be a

precursor to a state-wide rollout.Linking UIDAI with mul-

tiple databases like property tax and land records will also

gradually help root out ghost beneficiaries and people who took undue benefits of welfare schemes.

Maharashtra: Property tax records, UIDAI to be linked

UIDAI: e-Aadhaar is a valid identity proof

india launches first gps satellite

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has clarified that all parts of the e-Aadhaar are to be con-sidered valid proof of identity and address.

The annoucement comes after doubt and concern by stakeholders as to the valid-ity of e-Aadhaar and the cut-away portion of the Aadhaar letter.

According to the Informa-tion Technology Act 2000, electronic records with digi-tal signatures are to be legally recognised, meaning e-Aad-haar must be treated as a valid document as it has been digi-tally certified.

According to the UIDAI, the e-Aadhaar document is digitally signed using a cer-tificate issued by National

Informatics Centre (NIC) as per the IT Act. Further, all the data printed in e-Aadhaar, is the same data as printed in Aadhaar letter, making e-Aadhaar a valid and secured electronic document, which should be treated on a par with a printed Aadhaar letter.

A new portal had been launched to allow citizens to download their e-Aadhaar, an electronically generated Aad-haar letter, from the website of UIDAI.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has suc-cessfully launched its first navigation satellite – the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-1A (IRNSS-1A). Normally, GPS satellites are positioned in the Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), around 20,000 km above the earth’s surface. The IRNSS, how-ever, is unique as three satel-lites will be in the geostation-ary orbit (36,000 km above the earth’s surface) and four

satellites in the inclined geo-synchronous orbit.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials also said tests are being car-ried on the satellite’s cryo-genic engine that was mated with its heavier rocket, the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The GSLV is a three-stage engine rocket. The first stage is fired with solid fuel, the second with liquid fuel and the third is the cryogenic engine.

Gujarat accounts for 8.8 crore e-governance transactions out of 37.76 crore in India so far this year, says the statistics revealed by e-Taal (e-Transac-tions Aggregation & Analysis Layer). Transactions related to land records account for the highest number of e-transac-tions in the state.

Gujarat is ahead of Andhra Pradesh, which registered 7.87 crore transactions in the

same period. Haryana is a dis-tant third with 3.20 crore such transactions, followed by Kar-nataka with 2.15 crore, Assam with 1.62 crore, Maharashtra with 1.50 crore, and Rajasthan with 1.10 crore transactions. Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal complete the Top-10 with 77.48 lakh, 60.03 lakh and 50.95 lakh e-governance transactions respectively.

The e-Taal portal is a

national e-services dash-board launched by Union Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, which records transactions of national as well as state level e-governance projects in near real time. The portal shows e-transactions occurring from government to citizens (G2C), government to business (G2B) or government to government (G2G) services.

Gujarat registers highest e-gov transactions

23 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 it, gis & gps application, e-governance | smart cities

Kerala: College students to impart e-gov awarenessThe Kerala State Infor-mation Technology Mis-sion (KSITM), in partner-ship with college students, has designed a new project, e-jaalakam, to extend the scope of the state’s e-gover-nance initiatives.

In its initial phase, the project is designed as a capac-ity-building programme that covers women and school students in Kochi. The pro-gramme includes down-loading of birth, marriage

and death certificates, online tracking of files in govern-ment offices, Aadhaar, ration and electoral roll cards, application for revenue and income certificates and ser-vices provided by the Motor Vehicle Department.

The Department of Eco-nomics at St Theresa’s College in Kochi is KSITM’s partner. So far, 20 students from the department have been trained to impart awareness on e-gov-ernance programmes.

India launches National Cyber Security Policy 2013The National Cyber Secu-rity Policy 2013 for protecting information, such as personal information, financial/bank-ing information and sover-eign data has been released by Union Minister for Communi-cations and IT Kapil Sibal.

The policy has proposed to set up different bodies to deal with various levels of threats, along with a national nodal agency, to coordinate all mat-ters related to cyber security.

The policy has 14 objec-tives, which include creation of a cyber ecosystem in the

country, developing effective public-private partnerships and collaborative engage-ments through technical and operational cooperation, among others. It also empha-sises developing indigenous security technologies through

research and also on creating a workforce of some 500,000 trained in cyber security

The government has also proposed to set up a National Critical Information Infra-structure Protection Centre (NCIIPC), which will act as a 24x7 centre to ward off cyber security threats in strate-gic areas such as air control, nuclear and space. Meanwhile, the existing agency, Com-puter Emergency Response Team (CERT), will handle all public and private infrastructure.

The Maharashtra Informa-tion Technology (IT) depart-ment is planning to promote e-governance as a lucra-tive career option among students through various outreach measures. It will hold seminars for heads of departments of computer science and IT and faculty in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Aurangabad in collab-oration with the depart-ment of higher and technical

education to emphasise the need for electives or short-term courses on the subject. It will also hold a seminar for MBA students in Mumbai to promote the same.

In a global rating by MIT Tech-nology Review, a magazine on innovation brought out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bengaluru has been listed among the eight larg-est technology innovation clus-ters in the world. Innovation clusters are places with dense webs of interconnected tech-nology companies, customers, and suppliers.

The magazine looks at four key factors that improve a cluster’s chance of flourish-ing — strong IP protection, lib-eral immigration laws, entre-preneurial culture and good weather. Bengaluru’s strongest point is its weather, which helps foster a culture of optimism and openness. No wonder, Beng-aluru received $300 million in venture funding in 2012, says

the magazine.Mukund Mohan, CEO of

Microsoft Ventures in India, says Bengaluru has the right mix of talent, great entrepre-neurs and a thriving ecosys-tem that nurtures innovation.

The other seven innovation

clusters are in MIT Technology Review’s list are Silicon Val-ley, Boston, Israel, Beijing, and three government-supported ventures — Tech City in Lon-don, Paris-Saclay in France, and Skolkovo Innovation City, near Moscow.

Maharashtra to promote e-governance courses

Bengaluru among top 8 tech innovation clusters in the world

c-dac develops india’s first wireless road traffic controller tech

The Centre for Develop-ment of Advanced Comput-ing (C-DAC) has developed India’s first wireless road traffic controller technol-ogy— Wireless Traffic Con-trol System (WiTraC).

The WiTraC system runs completely on solar power and it can be mounted on poles without digging roads etc for laying wires. The sys-tem can be controlled from any remote location without

traffic police needign to visit the spot. Built at around one-third of the price of the international product it also comes with a lower price tag.

C-DAC is the R&D wing of the Department of Elec-tronics and Information Technology (DEITY), Min-istry of Communications & Information Technol-ogy (MCIT) for carrying out R&D in IT, electronics and associated areas.

The state legislature of Andhra Pradesh will be the first legislative body in the country to become com-pletely paperless, as part of a ₨16.5 crore project funded by the World Bank and sanc-tioned by the Centre.

Union Information Tech-nology and Communica-tion Minister Kapil Sibal has approved the ‘concept note’ submitted to him by the state.

The computerisation project, which will see a file monitoring and sharing sys-tem set up and integrated with all government depart-ments to ensure paperless administration, is expected to increase efficiency within the legislature and improve transparency in its function-ing. A dedicated team of 30 IT experts will execute the proj-ect, with support from the

Centre for Good Governance in the state.

The project will also include the development of a portal giving legisla-tors access to all informa-tion related to government schemes and public assets across constituencies on their mobile phones.

“All information related to government schemes and public assets in each assem-bly constituency will be made available to the legislators on their mobile phones through the Geographic Informa-tion System,” Speaker of the State Assembly Nadendla Manohar said.

Andhra Pradesh assembly to go paperless

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 24connected cities | urban mobility, mass rapid transport, communication

Bengaluru to introduce differential parking systemThe Karnataka government is in the process of launching a differential parking sys-tem in Bengaluru. Based on traffic flow rate as reflected in passenger car units and available mass transpor-tation facilities, areas will be zoned into A, B and C categories.

The busiest areas in the city, such as Commercial Street and MG Road, will fall under Zone A and will have the highest parking fee. Zone C will comprise areas with

low public transport connec-tivity and vehicle flow, while areas with moderate public transport accessibility will fall under Zone B, where fees will be between those in Zones A and C.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will frame the policy in con-sultation with the Director-ate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), which will not only determine parking modal-ities but also look at decon-gesting the city.

Bengaluru to purchase long buses under JNNURMBangalore Metropolitan Trans-port Corporation (BMTC) is hoping to purchase 25 long

buses under the JNNURM scheme, after a three-month trial run in the city.

The purchase proposal has been made to the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Devel-opment and Finance Corpo-ration (KUIDFC), the nodal agency for JNNURM-related projects.

“The KUIDFC will, in turn, write to the state-level screen-ing committee and then to the Central government,” BMTC Managing Director Anjum Parvez said.

The buses, each measuring 14.5 metres with a capacity for 65 seated and 65 standing pas-sengers, have a turning radius, which is very useful consid-ering the narrow roads and sharp turns in many parts of Bengaluru.

Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) and the Hyderabad Metropol-itan Development Authority (HMDA) are to jointly develop a master plan for the future Metro Rail extensions and new corridors in the extended HMDA limits.

HMR Managing Director NVS Reddy said the HMR-HMDA joint master plan would ensure there was no problem in acquiring proper-ties while extending the Metro Rail services to areas where there was a public demand.

HMR proposes to pre-pare the master plan on heavy traffic routes, such as Miya-pur to Patencheru via BHEL (12.5 km), Jubilee Bus Station Secunderabad to Alwal (6.5 km), JNTU to Shilparamam via Gachibowli (14 km), Fal-aknuma to Shamshabad Air-port (13.5 km) or Raidurg via Gachibowli through Outer

Ring Road (ORR) connecting to International.

At present, the HMR in association L&T Metro Rail

Limited is constructing three corridors spanning a length of approximately 72 km in Phase-I.

Metro expansion plans for Hyderabad

Govt to privatise 15 more airports

Mumbai: Corporate buses with conference rooms to hit the road

The government is to privatise 15 airports, starting with those in Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmed-abad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Guwahati, and is opening for international bidding in the first phase.

“These airports will be operated, managed and fur-ther developed by the PPP players, in which the Airports Authority of India (AAI) will also have a stake. All employ-ees working at these airports

will have to be retained by the new operators as the AAI will not have the capacity to absorb them,” said a senior official of the Aviation Ministry.

Siddhi Vinayak Logistics, a Mumbai-based logistics com-pany, has received permis-sion from Regional Transport Office (RTO) to start daily bus service targeted at cor-porate workers connecting Mumbai with Pune, Bengal-uru, Ahmedabad and Surat. The service will comprise a dedicated concierge service, in-built toilets, pantry and a

conference room equipped with Wi-Fi and a projector for on-road meetings.

Swedish commercial vehi-cles maker Scania is supply-ing 120 buses to which has 4,000 trucks in its fleet. Sid-dhivinayak will create ports at Borivali and Thane, where a lounge area with a check-in terminal for passengers will be provided.

India’s first monorail made its maiden journey with passengers on a trial run between Wadala and Chem-bur in Mumbai. “This mono-rail can do a maximum of 80kmph. We were cruising at 35 kmph so you might have felt the tilt more. At higher speeds and higher passenger loads, you wouldn’t notice it at all,” said the train’s cap-tain, Paul Raj, the Scomi trainer who piloted the monorail on its first journey.

The construction of all the seven stations has also been completed. Accord-ing to Mumbai Metro-politan Region Develop-ment Authority (MMRDA) Commissioner Rahul Ast-hana, the process to get the monorail certified is under way and the state will soon appoint a Safety Certifica-tion Engineer.

Mumbai: Country’s first monorail makes maiden journey with passengers

25 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 urban mobility, mass rapid transport, communication | connected cities

Noida to get pod taxis soonThe Noida Authority has planned to start a pod taxi ser-vice — an elevated Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system. Initially, the authority will construct a four km stretch at a cost of ₨204 crore.

“As vehicular volume is increasing, we will have to introduce hi-tech systems for the betterment of our existing traffic facilities. The pod taxi can save time and help passen-gers avoid traffic snarls. In the first phase, we have planned to construct a 2.6 km stretch from Botanical Garden Metro station to the busiest market

of Sector 18,” said PK Agar-wal, additional CEO, Noida Authority.

The PRT system is opera-tional in several cities across the world. This system is con-sidered passenger-friendly and meant for congested cities with narrow streets and less parking space.

TRAI allows mass porting for corporate mobile numbersThe Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued the Telecommuni-cations Mobile Number Por-tability (Fifth Amendment) Regulations, 2013 to allow mass portability for corporate accounts.

Mobile numbers can now be ported for corporate accounts, as long as there is a letter of authorisation from the autho-rised signatory of the corporate mobile numbers. Now, as many as 50 corporate numbers can be ported out with a single porting request, said TRAI.

TRAI acted after it received

complaints from the subscrib-ers of corporate mobile num-bers that their porting requests had been rejected by the donor operators under the category

“Contractual Obligation” for want of permission or authori-sation from the company or corporate for porting such numbers.

The Telecom Commission, the highest decision-making body in the Communications and IT Ministry, will soon estab-lish two separate regulatory agencies for coordinating all telecom security-related ini-tiatives to shield India’s tele-phone networks from possi-ble cyber attacks.

The Telecom Security

Directorate (TSD) will primar-ily coordinate work relating to security policy and project exe-cution, while National Telecom Network Security Coordina-tion Board (NTNSCB) will be ‘an oversight body’ that will suggest ways to address tele-com security issues in future and also monitor implementa-tion of the new standards.

two telecom security bodies to be formed for india’s telephone networks

India, Vietnam sign MoU on ICTIndia and Vietnam have set up a six member joint com-mittee to outline a plan for collaboration in the field of information and commu-nications technology (ICT). Accordingly, Communica-tions and IT Minister Kapil Sibal and his counterpart from Vietnam Nguyen Bac Son have decided to set up a six-member joint committee to work on a roadmap for col-laboration in the field of ICT. The first MoU was on telecom regulation between the Tele-com Regulatory Authority of India and the Vietnam Tele-communications Authority.

The second was on spectrum management between Wire-less Planning & Coordination Wing (WPC), DoT and the Authority of Radio Frequency Management, Vietnam.

India has also asked Viet-nam to set up an electronics cluster in the country in the form of a city.

The Cochin Municipal Corpo-ration will prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for inte-grating the urban transport system in the city. The DPR

is based on a pre-feasibility urban transport study con-ducted by City Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA).

The civic body will submit

the DPR to the Centre seek-ing funds, especially under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme. In the first phase, the corporation will take up the development of ferry ser-vices which is expected to cost around ₨225 crore. This includes integrating other modes of transport with ferry services from terminals which has park and ride facilities such as the ones in Fort Kochi, Mattancherry and Vypeen.

The construction and ren-ovation of ferry terminals at Ernakulam, Edakochi, The-vara, Kumbalam, Vaduthala, Chittoor, Ponnarimangalam, Sicily, Panchayat jetties which falls under the Greater Cochin area, will also be taken up.

Kochi submits DPR for integrating urban transport system

The Transport Department of West Bengal is planning to introduce a tram route along the bank of the Hooghly between Prinsep Ghat and Bagbazar, and another route in Rajarhat and Sector V.

The state is now looking for funds from the central govern-ment for the project. The sur-vey has been conducted by the Institute of Urban Transport, an agency under the Ministry of Urban Development.

“We are planning to intro-duce the route soon, State Trans-port Minister Madan Mitra said. “Routes have been finalised and we have plans to introduce air-conditioned trams,” he added.

As part of the riverfront beautification project, the state government also has plans to set up a joggers’ park, cafeteria, gar-dens and shopping plazas along the river bank, an official said.

Kolkata to have tram routes along Hooghly, Sector V

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 26Resilient Cities | disaster mitigation, safety, security

An online survey produced by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and part-ners seeks to provide insight into how to reduce risk and help people with disabilities around the world cope with and prepare for disaster events.

This is the first-ever survey of its kind and the data gath-ered could help governments and international organisations make preparedness policies aiming to protect people with disabilities during disasters.

“The survey will focus on a major blind spot in disaster management, the needs of the one billion or more people esti-mated to live with some form of disability. We can expect that as many as 30 million peo-ple living with a disability are

affected during an average year by earthquakes and weather-related hazards,” said the Spe-cial Representative of the Sec-retary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta

Wahlström. The survey results will be

announced on International Day for Disaster Risk Reduc-tion which is marked each year on October 13.

UN survey to help protect persons with disabilities during disasters

Three Rajasthan cities to have tourist police stationsThree cities in Rajasthan will have dedicated tourist police

stations to give extra security to tourists visiting the state. The

cities are Jaipur, Jodhpur and Udaipur.

“Many times, tourists com-plain of cheating and are has-sled by touts and they refrain from approaching the police since they are confused of the jurisdiction of the city police,” an official with the Tourism Department said. “I hope these dedicated tourist police stations will work effectively in provid-ing extra security cover and will amicably solve the problems tourists face.”

To date, the Tourist Assistant Force (TAF) had been helping the tourists in police matters.

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched an all-woman city bus service in Bhubaneswar.

Four dedicated JNNURM city buses for women will be launched on Airport-Nan-dankanan and KIIT-Balakati routes in peak hours daily.

“The buses will transport only women from 8.30am to 11 am and 4.30pm to 7pm on those routes. In other times, male passengers can also board the buses,” said Sudhansu Jena, CEO of Dream Team Sahara (DTS), operator of the city bus service.

Bhubaneswar Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said the bus operator would soon install CCTV cameras in all 125 city buses, including the four rolled out on Monday, running in Bhubaneswar, Puri and Cuttack.

Bhubaneswar launches all-woman city bus service thiruvananthapuram to have

interactive safety portal

coimbatore police to conduct helmet awareness campaignCoimbatore City Police is to conduct a helmet awareness campaign to cut the number of fatalities from accidents in the city, following a recent report revealed that 261 peo-ple were killed in bike acci-dents between January 2011 and June 2013.

“Motorcycle and pillion riders were not wearing hel-mets and many succumbed to severe head injuries. Many lives can be saved by wearing a helmet,” T K

Rajasekaran, deputy com-missioner of police (traffic), Coimbatore city said. He hoped the awareness cam-paign would reduce acci-dent rates.

Thiruvananthapuram is soon to have an interactive safety portal called In Emergency (InE) Safe City network. Tech-nopark-based firm Rain Con-cert Technologies will launch this 24×7 safety portal in asso-ciation with the city police.

The portal will divide the city into 16 clusters and map

all safety resources, such as police, ambulances, fire force, gas emergency services, water requirements for emergencies.

Around 115 young pub-lic safety officers (PSOs), equipped with technology, medical aid kits and other safety resources will also be deployed as support staff.

Pragati Maidan to get armed commando cover

Pragati Maidan, the mega-exhibitions facility in New Delhi, will soon have an armed commando security cover to counter possible terror threats to the events held there.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has ‘in-principle’ approved a proposal submit-ted by the India Trade Promo-tion Organisation (ITPO).

According to security sources, a terror vulnerabil-ity profile of the facility and access points has already

been carried out by experts and paramilitary officials. A special vehicle-borne and arms equipped squad of the force will be deployed at the Pragati Maidan com-plex to respond to any ter-ror-like situation and the access control to the exhibi-tions area will be monitored by another team of the squad. The Central Industrial Secu-rity Force will be in charge of securing the 124-acre campus round- the- clock.

27 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 disaster mitigation, safety, security | resilient cities

Ranchi traffic police has launched a drive against autos carrying passengers precari-ously and to prevent auto driv-ers from carrying passengers on the right side. Traffic SP Rajiv Ranjan said, “Many auto drivers make passengers sit on the right side of their seat. Most of them don’t even have iron rods for safety, which makes it dangerous.”

The first day of the drive was about spreading awareness and no fines were collected. Also, wearing a uniform has been made mandatory for drivers.

Ranchi traffic police ensures safe auto-ride

surat municipal corporation to help bolster railway station’s fire safetySurat Municipal Corpora-tion’s fire and emergency department is to help the authorities of the Surat rail-way station in taking up fire safety measures at the rail-way platforms and ticket booking centre.

According to sources the railway station is equipped with fire safety equipment, but the staff is undertrained to operate the equipment during emergency situ-ations. Also, the current

ticket booking centre and the reservation centre do not have fire safety equip-ment. The fire department has been asked to set up the system.

NDMA, IGNOU educate people in disaster management

National Disaster Manage-ment Authority (NDMA) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) have jointly completed the project on ‘Capacity Build-ing in Disaster Management and Elected Representatives of Panchayati Raj Institu-tions & Urban Local Bodies at District Level’.

Undertaken in 54 dis-tricts in 11 states identi-fied by NDMA on the basis of their susceptibility to

natural and man-made disasters, the project was very well received by the participants as well as other stakeholders.

“The project aimed at building and strengthen-ing the capacity of the target groups in the areas of disas-ter prevention, prepared-ness, mitigation, response and recovery at the grass-roots level; in consonance with the paradigm shift in disaster management in

India from ‘reactive to pro-active’,” said a statement issued by IGNOU.

The training manual was published in English and also translated in Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya and Telugu. An audio and video pro-gramme has also been devel-oped in eight languages. The workshop was undertaken in the wake of the devastat-ing floods and landslide in Uttarakhand.

With a dedicated force of 4,000 personnel, Punjab has become the first state in the coun-try to launch a night policing scheme (NPS). Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is also the Home Minis-ter, launched the scheme at the Khanpur T-point near Mohali, 20 km from Chandigarh.

The coverage of NPS will be extended to all entry and exit points, vulnerable

points, sensitive institutions, and residential areas on the outskirts of cities and towns

to curb crime.The minister said the

objective of the scheme is to boost night commerce and trade and provide a secu-rity umbrella to restau-rants, eateries, street-hawk-ers, industrial labour and other night-shift work-ers such as doctors, nurses, call-centre employees, toll and excise barrier staff and others.

Punjab becomes first state to launch night policing scheme

Hi-tech surveillance system for Mumbai MetroTo ensure that commut-ers, especially female pas-sengers have a safe jour-ney, the Mumbai Metro One Pvt Ltd (MMOPL) is install-ing advanced CCTV cam-eras in the metro trains. An MMOPL spokesperson said, “For the safety and secu-rity of commuters, Mumbai Metro One is installing the world’s most advanced video transmission system, VTS Firetide 7010, in its trains. Of all cities, this will be the only metro line in the coun-try to have the advanced technology.”

The new system will be connected with a central control room (CCR), con-tinuously monitored by the metro officials. The system

will transmit live video to CCR at the depot through surveillance cameras installed in the train com-partments, helping the mon-itoring officials keep a check on the happenings inside the moving train on a big screen. With trial runs underway, the MMOPL is testing all its safety systems, signalling and communications.

UIDAI’s Bengaluru data centre to be blast-resistantA vital data hub of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in Bengaluru will be housed in a building resistant to blasts, floods and earthquakes.

A senior EIL engineer said the building is blast-resis-tant with category ‘C’ rating. “The data storage won’t be impacted in explosions. The 500mm-thick wall makes it a tough structure. In all likeli-hood, no structure in Bengal-uru has such safety specifica-tions,” he added.

The building can also withstand floods and quakes too. “Bengaluru is under Zone 2 on the quake-sensi-tive scale, but the data cen-tre is being built for the next

level – Zone 3 – to make it safer. The building is at an elevation of 2.1 metres from the road level, staying free of flood threats,” a UIDAI offi-cial said.

The data centre will get Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) cover as it will house the primary data (both demographic and biometric) centre for the entire country. The data relates to generation of Aadhaar cards. Engineers India Ltd (EIL) are building this centre, which is coming up next to Tatanagar Main Road, off NH-4, near Saha-karnagar. Spread over 6,245 sqm, the centre has a storage capacity of 6 peta bytes with 4,000 servers.

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 28vibrant cities | heritage, conservation, tourism, culture, public spaces

The Union Minister of State for Tourism Dr K Chiran-jeevi launched the Clean India campaign at world her-itage site Taj Mahal, Agra. The Clean India Campaign is an initiative of the Union Ministry of Tourism under the 12th Five Year Plan with the objective to increase tour-ist arrivals to the country and to improve the quality of ser-vices and provide a hygienic environment in and around tourist destinations across the country.

Meanwhile, the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) adopted Taj Mahal at the launch of the Clean India Campaign held on 24 July

2013. ONGC will take care of providing drinking water facilities, cleaning, provid-ing uniform signage in and around the premises, placing

of garbage bins, various repair and replacement work, land-scaping, tourist help-desks and deployment of volunteers for better management.

Clean India Campaign launched at world heritage site Taj Mahal

chhattisgarh’s heritage to be showcased in a mobile emporium In a bid to provide a better market to traditional crafts-men of Chhattisgarh, Chief Minister Raman Singh has launched a mobile ‘Shabri Emporium’ of Chhattisgarh Handicraft Development Board.

The chief minister said that the country’s first mobile emporium, displaying the traditional artefacts, would

popularise Chhattisgarh’s rich heritage and art among people from other states. Also government officials said that the handicraft devel-opment board has made a cal-endar and according to it, the mobile emporium will travel and exhibit the collection in various parts of the coun-try including metro cities, throughout the year.

Kochi launches year-long cultural festKochi may soon get an image make-over after the launch of the year-long cultural fest, fea-turing cinema, theatre or tradi-tional art forms last month.

“We want art and culture to be accessible to the public, with-out them having to pay exorbi-tant amounts for tickets. There will be film screenings, stag-ing of plays and art perfor-mances every week for the next one year,” said the Kochi Dis-trict Collector. The focus will be on traditional art forms, and through the fest, they hope to give them a boost as well.

The Karnataka Olympic Association (KOA) is in talks with the state government for the setting up of an interna-tional standard Sports City nearly 80 kilometres away from Bengaluru.

Three land sites have been identified on Chikaballapur and Mysore roads and also near Kolar for setting up the proposed city. The project is to be built on a plot of 40 to

50 acres of land on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.

“We do not want the gov-ernment to spend any money on the project, except provid-ing us with land,” KOA Pres-ident K Govindraj said.

He also said the sports city will also house world-class sports academies where young sportspersons will get world-class training.

The city of Incheon in South Korea has been named ‘World Book Capital’ for 2015 by UNESCO and the inter-national organisations rep-resenting the three major sectors of the book industry – the International Publishers Association (IPA), the Inter-national Booksellers Feder-ation (IBF) and the Interna-tional Federation of Library Associations and Institu-tions (IFLA).

The committee attributes this title to a city that has committed itself to promote books and reading, and to highlight the vitality of liter-ary creativity.

Sports City to come up near Bengaluru

Beautification plans for Jammu’s Raghunath Bazar

bhubaneswar: proposal to turn two roads into heritage streets

incheon declared World book capital for 2015 by unesco

Jammu will be developed as ‘heritage city’ and a sum of ₨3 crore has been made available to the agencies concerned for the beautification of the historic Raghunath Bazar so far, said Minister for Roads and Build-ings and Mechanical Engineer-ing, Abdul Majid Wani.

The minister, while reviewing the beautification of the Bazar, said the project envisages to give the market a

new look and showcase it as a local heritage, as it is also the hub of business activity.

The Bhubaneswar Munici-pal Corporation (BMC) has received a proposal from urban planners and citi-zen groups to treat two arte-rial roads of the city as living heritage streets with cultural zones, shopping outlets of tra-ditional crafts and a host of other exhibits.

The two roads, from Ram Mandir to Housing Board Square and from Master Can-teen to Capital Foundation

Square also known as PMG square, are the two stretches chosen by planners to be developed into attractive tour-ism zones.

To boost tourism and local economy, textiles, handlooms and handicrafts, the proposal also includes setting up of cul-tural zones, where visitors can learn how to make tradi-tional artifacts such as Pata Chitra, mask, kites, boats and costumes of the state.

urban neWs digest | august 2013 • 29happening cities | events

The National Symposium on Afford-able Housing, organised by the Minis-try of Housing and Urban Poverty Alle-viation (MoHUPA) at Vigyan Bhawan on July 2, was attended by more than 200 delegates, including an impressive spec-trum of state housing and urban devel-opment ministers, senior officers of state and central government ministries, industry associations, academicians and technical experts.

Dr. Girija Vyas, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoH-UPA), in her inaugural address said that, “Private developers should develop economic models to foster affordable

housing for the economically weaker sections and lower income group house-holds in urban areas.”

She said that in the last two decades,

a majority of the houses were built and purchased by the growing upper and middle classes, while the poorer seg-ments of the society, basically econom-ically weaker sections (EWS) and lower income Group (LIG), have not reaped the benefit of the real estate sector boom. The minister also called upon states to leverage funds provided by the centre to boost housing for low income groups, and claimed that ₨35,000 crore was avail-able to her ministry for the provision of such housing.

Dr. Vyas also released National Build-ings Organisation publication on “Urban indicators: a statistical compendium

2013” on the occasion. This publication is an attempt to provide important data on urbanisation, urban poverty, health, edu-cation, employment and housing ameni-ties in one place and will be very useful for policy makers, planners, administra-tors, researchers, civil society partners and other stakeholders in urban devel-opment and poverty alleviation.

Speaking on the occasion, Arun Kumar Misra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation said incentives for the affordable hous-ing sector included concessions to devel-opment related charges and Service Tax exemptions.

Dr EM Sudarsana Natchiappan, Min-ister of State for Commerce & Industry, inaugurated CII’s 3rd Regional Confer-ence on Infrastructure Management – ‘Enhancing Stakeholder Engagement through Innovation in Real Estate Functions’ on July 31 at Kamal Mahal, Hotel ITC Sheraton, New Delhi. CBRE was the knowledge partner for the con-ference and Urban News Digest was the official magazine partner of the event.

Dr Natchiappan said infrastructure development is a priority for the gov-ernment in order to develop the nation. He further added that people are the biggest asset and the country should develop its human resource.

Anshuman Magazine, Conference Chairman and CMD, CBRE South

Asia Pvt. Ltd said, “While India invests billions of dollars into infrastructure, it needs to manage and maintain the same optimally to maintain the quality and enhance the life of this infrastruc-ture. This will also encourage more investment both locally and globally.”

Toshiba partnered with the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) to launch two ini-tiatives on July 26 in Delhi NCR: Sustain-able Solutions Summit 2013 and ‘Bat for the Planet’. The Sustainable Solutions Summit 2013 started with a Toshiba overview on cur-rent trends and green initiatives. This was followed by a panel discussion on sustain-able technologies and various address notes by industry experts, such as IGBC, Toshiba and UTC, and cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar.

Under the ‘Bat for the Planet’ initiative, more than 11,000 children from class 6 to 10 across 41 schools in the Delhi National Capital

Region (NCR) participated in a painting com-petition, creating works illustrating envi-ronmental stewardship, energy efficiency or greenhouse gases and climate change. The four best paintings from each school were selected and a committee of eminent educa-tors and artists selected one winning entry from each school. The winners were recog-nised by Tendulkar at an awards ceremony.

“The initiative aims to propagate among the student community in Delhi NCR, the idea of preserving our nat-ural habitat,” said Dr. Prem C. Jain, Chairman, Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).

national symposium on affordable housing in new delhi

3rd Regional Conference on Infrastructure Management

toshiba, igbc join hands to promote eco-consciousness; sachin leads the way

Providing a major impetus to the green building movement in India, the first edition of Conference on Green Apart-ments was organised by the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) of CII in Delhi from 12th to 13th July, 2013.

On the first day of the event an important MoU was inked by IGBC and the National Housing Bank with the aim of jointly enhancing and pro-moting the adoption of an energy-efficient and green homes concept in India. Dr Prem C Jain, Chairman from IGBC and Arnab Roy, Executive Direc-tor, NHB inked the MoU in the pres-ence of Arun Kumar Misra, Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Pov-erty Alleviation.

Misra said that going green is indeed an imperative to ensure a sus-tainable tomorrow. He added that green should become a way of life. Misra also mentioned that the minis-try would be delighted to extend all the support to work with IGBC in taking forward the green home concept to the mass housing sector.

conference on green apartments

Sachin Tendulkar leads the way for ‘Bat for the Planet’ initiative

30 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 happening cities | events

Upcoming Events

SOURCE THOUSANDS OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE CONSTRUCTION PRODUCTS FROM INDIA AND ABROAD

2 - 4 September 2013Bombay Exhibition Centre, Mumbai11:00 - 19:00

WHAT: An international and regional showcase of money and time saving construction products including concrete, marble/stone, steel, coatings, water technology, kitchen & bathrooms, HVAC and many more

WHO: If you are an Architect, Consultant, Contractor, Engineer or are involved in the procurement and purchasing of building and construction products then this is a must-attend event

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Platinum partner: In cooperation with:Seminar partner:Associate partner: Knowledge partner: Organised by: Co-organised by:

Workshops

Workshop on future of cities

ICI – CPWD Workshop on Construction & Demolition (C&D) Waste Recycling

The Workshop on future of cities was held on July 19 at Hotel Metropolitan, New Delhi.

The workshop, a joint ini-tiative of Ministry of Human Resource Development, IIT Roorkee and IIT Bombay, initiated continuous dia-logues to evolve a compre-hensive vision and draft a road map for the future of cities in India.

The conference on ‘Construction and Demolition Waste Recycling’ was held on August 5 and 6 at the ICSR Auditorium, IIT Madras.

It was jointly organised by

Indian Concrete Institute (Tamil Nadu Chennai Centre), Cen-tral Public Works Department and Indian Institute of Technol-ogy, Madras.

India Infrastructure Summit is the largest platform for pol-icy debate relating to infra-structure sector in India. The fifth edition of the India Infra-structure Summit is sched-uled to be held on September 23 at Federation House, Tan-sen Marg, New Delhi.

The fourth annual Indian event in International Quality & Productivity Center’s (IQPC) successful façades series, Façade Design and Engineering India will be held from September 23 and 24 at Vivanta by Taj - President, Mumbai, India. This commercially-driven business platform will bring together senior professionals including developers, architects and con-sultants from across the region.

31 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2013 events | happening cities

Upcoming Events

World Architecture Festi-val is the largest festival and live awards programme for the global architecture com-munity, which will be held from October 2-4 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.

Future Cities 2013 will be held from October 8-10 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The event will explore the components of a successful city, and will use these discoveries to drive criti-cal planning across all relevant sectors, internationally.

GreenUrbanScape Asia is to be held on November 7-9 at Singa-pore Expo. The event is to provide a dynamic marketplace for delegates and trade visitors from the region to discover the very best and latest landscape and urban greenery solutions from around the world. Attendees will also be able to learn the best practices, discuss the latest industry trends and network with academics, practitioners and policymakers at the International Skyrise Greenery Conference and the International Landscape Industry Association Summit.

The 4th edition of Fensterbau/Frontale India is scheduled to take place in New Delhi from February 27 – March 1, 2014 at Pragati Maidan. The confer-ence and exhibition will focus on windows, doors and facades. The event is being organised by NürnbergMesse India and supported by the Indo-Ger-man Chamber of Commerce, ift Rosenheim and the International Fenestra-tion Forum.

To advance green building movement in the country, the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) is organising India’s flagship event on green buildings, Green Building Congress 2013 from October 24 - 26 at Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai, India.

The Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference and Expo is an annual event with the overarching theme which runs across all the aspects of urban mobility and is organised by the Institute of Urban Transport (India) under the aegis of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. This year the event will be held from December 3-6 at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi.

Postal Registration No. DL(S)-01/3406/2012-14RNI No. DELENG/2012/41753

Posted at NDPSO, New Delhi - 110 002 on 16th and 17th of every monthDate of Publication 10/11 of every month

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