Volume III l Issue 6 Pages 32 www.urbannewsdigest.in `50 / us $5 august 2014

Gandhinagar to host confluence of urban leaders Ministry of Urban Development outlines goals for urbanised India

working cities 06

progressive cities 07

smartcities 08

techcities 10

plannedcities 12

vibrantcities 14

greencities 15

healthycities 19

humanecities 22

connectedcities 25

resilientcities 28

happeningcities 30

E-waste management market in India to expand over next 5 yrs

P# 19

Urban Physics helps in studying structure of cities

P# 10

Green homes planned along Yamuna Expressway

P# 24

Green Building Congress maintains lead as flagship event

P# 15

Gujarat: GIFT estimated to create 10,00,000 jobs

P# 12

Singapore, France to aid India in Smart Cities project

P# 09

Government to set up Diamond Quadrilateral of high speed trains

P# 25

Government schemes for women’s safety in Indian cities

P# 29

Kolkata Eye set to be built in Millenium Park

P# 14

P# 07

Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015 to promote inclusive development, social and business transformation

The 7th Vibrant Gujarat Summit is set to be held from January 11-13, 2015 at Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The Government of Gujarat has started off preparations for the event inspired by the success of Vibrant Gujarat 2013. The brand ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ which was conceived as an ‘investors’ summit’ in its inception has now evolved into an exemplary platform for knowledge sharing, social and business transformation.

The core event entitled ‘Global Seminar on Unveiling Urban Development’s Emerging Trends’ will be hosted on January 12, 2015 which includes main themes covering Urban Infrastruc-ture and Sustainable Cities, Housing and Slum-free cities and improved Urban Mobility. Three other main events will be pre-sented including the 2nd Asia BRTS Conference 2014 that is set to take place in Ahmedabad from September 29 to October 1, 2014 and Urban Design and Planning (including Smart Cities) sched-uled for October 2014.

This year Municipalika 2014, 12th International Conference & Exhibition on Sustainable Habitat and Integrated Cities is also a part of the grand Vibrant Gujarat Summit series of events and will be held in Gandhinagar from November 13-15, 2014.

Gujarat Chief Minister Smt Anandiben Patel confirms presence at Municipalika 2014

The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Smt Anandiben Patel has confirmed her presence at the Inau-gural Session of Municipalika 2014. She has stressed on the need for practical, actionable solutions to urban challenges. The CM has fur-ther drawn special attention to three problem areas, solutions for which she hopes would be drawn during the event. These are as follows:

• Planning and management for storm-water drainage and creating city capabilities for combating disasters

• Development and management of infrastructure and services in ‘outgrowth’ or peri-urban areas

• Coordination and integration between the various parallel urban mobility projects being pursued

In addition to the above, Municipalika 2014 will focus on best prac-tices, policies, strategies, technologies and solutions in the areas of urban reforms, financial management, safety, security and disas-ter management, heritage conservation, integrated water and waste management, transport and traffic management, energy efficiency, affordable housing, slum-free cities, e-governance, IT applications and smart cities, integrated cities and new vision.

As the spirit of enterprise persists, Gujarat today is leveraging its equity through knowledge, skill and global competence to drive future development.

Municipalika + CAPEx 2014 gathers support and momentum

Municipalika 2014 is being organised alongside CAPEx, the trade show that promotes Construction, Architecture, Planning and Engineering to initiate best practices on sustainable built environ-ment and good urban governance. Eminent leaders and experts from within the country and abroad will assemble to explore the vital question on the ideal approach to planning, designing, build-ing and maintaining a sustainable built environment.

Municipalika will be an ideal platform for sharing the latest strat-egies and solutions to address various urban challenges through its conference and panel sessions. More than 850 delegates from 112 cit-ies from India and abroad had gathered at the conference last year to discuss an array of subjects including Urban Reform Agenda, Integrated Solid Waste Management and Integrated Township Development.

The exhibition at Municipalika will showcase the most recent technologies in materials and products and services. For instance, at last year’s event there were 11 segments, 100 exhibitors in approx-imately 7,000 sq m floor space, witnessing a footfall of 3,900 pro-fessional visitors from both trade and government sectors. At the event, contributions from built environment and urban gover-nance will also be acknowledged and a special challenge held for students to put forward their ideas on innovation and technology in the sector.

12th International Conference & Exhibition onEmerging Trends in Sustainable Habitat & Integrated Cities

13, 14, 15 November 2014Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar

Gujarat, India

Co-located with

Supported by

Vibrant gujarat series of Events No Event Month

1 2nd Asia BRTS Conference September, 2014

2 Urban Design & Planning October, 2014 (including Smart Cities)

3 Municipalika, 12th International November, 2014 Conference & Exhibition on Sustainable Habitat & Integrated Cities

4 Global Seminar by Urban Development January, 2015 & Urban Housing Department, Government of Gujarat

Host State

2 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 Cover story

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UN-Habitat renews support to Municipalika 2014 UN Habitat’s two flagship initiatives the World Urban Campaign and I am a City Changer dedi-cated to improving the urban future were show-cased at Municipalika 2013. The World Urban Cam-paign (WUC) is a global platform for public, private and social sectors to encourage dialogue and knowledge sharing centred on ways to improve the urban future. I am a City Changer campaign focuses on informing citizens through creating

awareness and knowledge dissemination. The Executive Director of UNCHS (more popularly known as UN Habi-

tat), Dr Joan Clos, is likely to attend the Inaugural Session of Municipalila 2014 as a Special Guest, and also deliver the Vision Address in the eve-ning on the opening day. Dr Clos had also addressed the audience last year, through a video message from Nairobi. He spoke of cities being prime centres for economic growth despite the strains caused due to high urbanisation rates and also highlighted the importance of National Urban Policies.

Gujarat has always been a pioneer in carrying out reforms and encouraging private enterprise

participation in all sectors. The State has taken several steps to strengthen urban infrastructure in order to improve the quality of lives of the citizens. Through innovation and structured as well as institionalised approach we have converted the daunting challenges of urbanisation into meaningful opportunities for the people.

Municipalika 2014 being organised at Gandhinagar’s state-of-the-art Mahatma Mandir Convention and Exhibition Centre, from November 13 to 15, 2014, along with co-located CAPEx will see convergence of technology and innovation, and will provide a platform to showcase best practices in the fields of reforms, water and sanitation, waste management, traffic and transportation, affordable housing, energy efficiency, e-Governance, building and construction etc.

As the Host State, I urge all professionals from India and abroad in the field of urban infrastructure development including engineers, planners, architects, developers, city managers, government and non-government organisations to participate, display and demonstrate the best practices and urban solutions, in order to take the sustainable urban infrastructure developmental agenda forward.

g R aloriaAdditional Chief Secretary

Urban Development & Urban Housing DevelopmentGovernment of Gujarat

The Urban Innovation Challenge is back this year to showcase the innovative ideas and designs of under-graduate and postgraduate students across diverse dis-ciplines. Young innovators will find the ideal medium through which to showcase their innovative solutions from delegates and subsequently receive feedback from members and stakeholders at the event.

As part of the competition, the students are required to develop solutions for challenges in specific areas of Indian urban centres. Teams of students will propose solutions through presentations that include draw-ings, site, plans, tables etc. Participants will be judged on problem identification, focus and depth, commit-ment towards vulnerable sections of society along with clarity expressed during the presentation. The theme for this year is Smart and Green Buildings and Smart Cities.

Last year, Pragnya Prakash, Neelanjan Ganguly and Sagar Fulari from School of Planning & Architecture, New Delhi won the first place for the post graduate macro project on Sustainable Cities and Towns while Santanu

Das, Somreeta Das and Maitreyi Yellapragada from IIT, Kharagpur won the award for micro project on Green Buildings and Habitat. In the undergraduate section, Bhavin Kantilal Patel from Sir JJ College of Architecture,

Mumbai and Amruta Chandrakant Thakur from Sir JJ College of Architecture, Mumbai won the awards for macro and micro projects respectively.

Visit www.municipalika.com/uic

Winners of GGIF Municipalika Urban Innovation Challenge 2013

Call for 2014 Urban Innovation Challenge Entries opens

3 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 Cover story

state governments have a major responsibility in the compliance of the recommendations of national mission on sustainable habitat (nmsh)

You have previously held top positions in the informa-tion technology and e-governance department. This is a key aspect of building smart cities and Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi has announced his vision for devel-oping 100 smart cities in India. How do you aim to develop and link this sector with urban development towards building smart and vibrant cities?

Use of IT and E- Governance are important aspects while developing the smart cities. Of late, there has been lot of awareness amongst the urban local bodies to intro-duce e-governance, with regard to online registration of deaths and births, online payment of property taxes and other charges / tariffs. The use of e-governance has streamlined the administration of the urban local bod-ies and the citizens have actually been benefitted.

The Ministry will always be proactive in encouraging IT applications in the governance of smart cities. Use of GIS and Remote Sensing Technology would be used to prepare base map and Master Plan would be prepared to ensure planned and regulated development. Further, smart cities will also ensure benchmarking in the ser-vice delivery like 24 x 7 power and water supply, 100% underground sewerage, robust drainage and efficient public transport. Further to discourage use of personal vehicles, introduction of mobile based application and working in Wi-Fi environment, will be encouraged to the maximum, so as to reduce the need of travelling. Smart technologies include a central command centre to monitor the citywide IT network and respond quickly during emergencies, energy-efficient cooling systems instead of air-conditioning and high-tech waste collec-tion systems.

Certain aspects of the "Smart City" concept, such as the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Intelligent Transport System (ITS) will also be taken up in respect of urban infrastructure and urban transport.

Women and children constitute the vulnerable sec-tions of the society. Safety and security of cities has become a burning issue nowadays. How do you envi-sion developing safe, resilient, gender-sensitive, and child-friendly cities?

This will require adequate lighting of public spaces and development of parks and playgrounds. Similarly, pedestrianisation of congested areas of the cities will also be taken up so as to promote pedestrian movement. It may be stated that Delhi Metro is now considered to be very safe mode, especially for women. Ministry will also advise other cities to ensure that travelling for women will be safe. However, the cities have to ensure proactive role of law enforcement agencies.

Transport and infrastructure are vital aspects of urban development. The new Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has mentioned the impor-tance of transit corridors while in the Union Bud-get considerable funds have been allocated towards extending metro rail networks and introducing high speed rails across the country. How is the government seeking to achieve this goal going forward?

Extension of Metro especially to satellite towns would be a priority, so that the burden on metropol-itan cities is eased. The Transit corridors will also be designated as Zones of Intensive Development, so as to encourage mixed land use with the provision of com-mercial space, office space and housing along the corri-dors. This will optimize the travel pattern within the city and ultimately lead to reduction in the dependence on personal vehicles. As far as introducing high speed rail across the country, the Ministry of Railways is address-ing the issue.

The Swachh Bharat Mission for "Sanitation for all by 2019" is an ambitious programme launched by the new government. Would you like to elaborate on this mission and how it will go beyond being a mere slogan?

To ensure that our cities and towns attain a certain level of cleanliness, efforts will be made to prepare city sanitation plan, so that the city adopts scientific way of disposing the solid waste and develop, efficient sew-erage and drainage network. Further all efforts will be made to ensure that there is no open defecation.

While cities continue to grow and contribute sub-stantially to the nation's entire GOP, environmental issues remain a concern. How are you planning to balance the two objectives of economic growth and sustainable development?

There is no doubt that cities and towns are gen-erators of economic momentum and in coming years their contribution to GDP would be around 65 - 70%. Environmental issues especially the impact of climate change would always be a matter of concern for the Ministry. The National Mission on Sustainable Habi-tat (NMSH) which is being implemented by Ministry focuses on the steps to be taken for ensuring environ-mental sustainability in cities and towns. However, the State Governments have a major responsibility in ensuring the compliance of the recommendations of NMSH.

Vibrant Gujarat has a prime focus on inclusive devel-opment with key areas being identified as innovation and knowledge sharing. The Gujarat Model is being discussed on the international stage as well. How do you plan to spread the takeaways of Gujarat Model to other states?

The Government of Gujarat has been very proac-tive in urban development. The development of GIFT city by the State Govt. is an example which can be fol-lowed by other States. Similarly, Ahmedabad BRTS which is running very successfully and development of Ring Road in Surat without depending on exter-nal budgetary support are some of the examples which can be replicated in other cities/towns of the country.

Shankar Aggarwal has been recently appointed as the new Secretary for the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India. The Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer completed his BE (Electronics and Communication) from IIT Roorkie and M. Tech (Computer Technology) from IIT, Delhi. Aggarwal has had 35 years of service and is a member of the Indian Administrative Service (1980 batch). He was Secretary, Union Ministry of Women and Child Development prior to joining the Urban Development Ministry. He has further held posts both in the Uttar Pradesh Government and at the Centre in areas of Housing and Urban Development, Information Technology, Finance, Energy, Technical Education, Small Scale Industries, Transport and Defence. As Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India reinforces its support towards Municipalika 2014, Shankar Aggarwal speaks to Urban News Digest about some of the important urban issues the country is facing at the moment.

11.15 – 13.00 Hrs

13, 14, 15 November 2014 Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India l

Conference Inaugural Session

Exhibi�on Inaugura�on & Walk around by dignitaries and delegates

Networking Lunch

10.00 – 11.30 Hrs

11.30 – 13.00 Hrs

13.00 – 14.00 Hrs

14.00 – 16.00 Hrs

18.30 – 20.00 Hrs Vision Address : Future Ci�es

Networking Dinner20.00 – 21.00 Hrs

THEME : Progressive, Working & Safe Ci�es

Day 1, 13th November 2014Inaugural Session

09.30 – 11.00 Hrs

13.00 – 14.30 Hrs Networking Lunch and Visit to Exhibi�on

Day 2, 14th November 2014THEME : Healthy, Green & Connected Ci�es

Conference Sessions Schedule

Conference Session CS 02 : Safe and Resilient Ci�es

Disaster Mi�ga�on and Management for

Natural�Manmade Calami�es

Fire Safety and Protec�on

An�‐terror capabili�es, Homeland Security

Gender sensi�ve and child‐friendly Ci�es

Policing and Community based Security Support Systems

Sanita�on for All by 2019

Waste Water treatment op�ons

Waste Water Recycling and reuse

Conference Session CS 04 : Health� Ci�esIntegrated Water Management

Water Supply, Treatment and Distribu�on

24x7 Water Supply

Metering

Reduc�on of T&D losses

Water Conserva�on

Rainwater harves�ng, Aquifer Recharging

16.00 – 16.15 Hrs Tea Break

Conference Session CS 01 : Progressive and Wor�ing Ci�es

Land Markets and Property Rights

Reforms and Financial Management

New Urban Mission and Best Prac�ces

Launch of 100 New Ci�es

Conference Session CS 05 : Health� Ci�esIntegrated Solid Waste Management

Domes�c Municipal, Ha�ardous waste, E‐waste

Bio‐Medical employing Hydroclave, Autoclave

and Microwave

Collec�on, Transporta�on, Treatment

and Disposal of various types of wastes

Hygienic, Safe and Sanitary Landfills

Waste to Energy

Swachch Bharat Mission ‐ 2019

16.15 – 18.00 Hrs Conference Session CS 03 : Vibrant Ci�es �Heritage Issues)

Conserva�on of Heritage Zones

Linking Heritage Buildings and Precincts as City Tourism

Heritage Walk

Capacity Buildings for Heritage Conserva�on in Ci�es

18.00 – 18.30 Hrs Visit to E�hibi�on

Co-located with

Building Vibrant Cities

th12 International Conference & Exhibition onEmerging Trends in Sustainable Habitat & Integrated Cities

09.30 – 13.00 Hrs

13.00 – 14.00 Hrs Networking Lunch

14.00 – 15.30 Hrs

16.00 – 17.00 Hrs Valedictory Session and Awards Distribu�on

Day 3, 15th November 2014THEME : Inclusive, Smart & Integrated Ci�es

Conference Session CS 10 : Integrated Ci�es and �ew Vision

Integrated, Self‐Contained Ci�es

New Town Development, Twin Ci�es, Satellite Ci�es

18.00 – 20.00 Hrs Site Visits, Dinner and Entertainment

17.00 – 18.00 Hrs Par�cipa�ve Ci�es‐�pen House Ci��en Interface: Special Interac�ve session with Mayors, City Managers, RWA, NGO, CBO

14.30 – 16.45 Hrs Conference Session CS 06 : �reen Ci�es

Low Carbon, Energy‐Efficient,Sustainable Built‐Environment and Communi�es

Sustainable Development op�ons

Passive Designs for Energy Efficiency

Ac�ve Design and Applica�on for Energy Efficiency

Use of Renewable Energy

Solar Ci�es

Conference Session CS 07 : Connected Ci�es

Sustainable Urban Transporta�on, Traffic Management &Networked Ci�es

Paradigm Shi� in Urban Mobility with Effec�vePublic Transporta�on

Transits Oriented Development

MRT, BRT, LRT

Non‐Motorised Op�ons, Walkability

Transport and Traffic Infrastructure

Parking

Conference Session CS 08 : Inclusive � Humane Ci�es

Housing for all by 2022

Slum‐less Ci�es

Op�misa�on of Resources for Land, Building Materials

and Technology, Finance

Delivery System through Partnership Op�ons

Conference Session CS 09 : Smart Ci�es

Next Level E‐Governance Solu�ons for City Level Services

Geo‐Spa�al Technologies

GIS‐GPS Applica�ons

Retro Fi�ng

12.30 – 14.30 Hrs Visit to Exhibi�on and Networking Lunch

13, 14, 15 November 2014 Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India l

Conference Inaugural Session

Exhibi�on Inaugura�on & Walk around by dignitaries and delegates

Networking Lunch

10.00 – 11.30 Hrs

11.30 – 13.00 Hrs

13.00 – 14.00 Hrs

14.30 – 16.00 Hrs

18.30 – 20.00 Hrs Vision Address : Future Ci�es

Networking Dinner20.00 – 21.00 Hrs

THEME : Emerging Building Blocks and Technologies for Na�on Building

Day 1, 13th November 2014Inaugural Session

09.30 – 12.30 Hrs

Day 2, 14th November 2014THEME : Emerging Building Blocks and Technologies for Na�on Building

Technical Sessions Schedule

International Conference & Exhibition onEmerging Trends in Sustainable Habitat & Integrated Cities

Co-located with

Building Vibrant Cities

Build Materials and Products Super Market /Malls/ Retail outlets ‐ a la Home Stores

Technical Session TS 02 : Tecno‐ legal regime for acceptance of new products and approval systems including Standards,Tes�ng � Cer��ca�on

Strengthening Tes�ng and Valida�on Facili�es for Quality Assurance

17.15 – 18.30 Hrs Tea & Visit to Exhibi�on

Technical Modern Construc�on Systems, Prac�ces and Technologies Session TS 03 : Fast Track Construc�on Solu�onsPrefabricated and Precast Construc�on in Building and InfrastructureInnova�ve Construc�on Prac�ces using Modern Form works and Reducing Slab cycle Composite Steel‐ Concrete Construc�onModern Developments in High Strength Concrete Construc�onUnderground Buried U�lites and infrastructure and NO DIG and Tunnel Boring TechnologiesCost Effec�ve Housing and Building Technologies

14.30 – 17.00 Hrs

18.00 – 20.00 Hrs Site Visit Dinner & Entertainment

17.00 – 18.00 Hrs Visit to Exhibi�on

Technical Session TS 04 : Green Building Technologies and Products

Thermal Efficient products for Walling, roofing Energy Efficient Fenestra�onsWater Saving and conserva�on products, low flow fi�ngs, fixtures and equipmentsEnergy Saving Star Products for Building ServicesSolar Thermal and Photovoltaic ProductsEnvironment Friendly and Func�onal Paints and Surface Treatments for various situa�onsBuilding Automa�on & Smart Buildings

Technical Session TS 01 : Innova�ve Building Materials and Technologies for Building and Infrastructure Applica�onsWalling & Roofing op�ons

Innova�ve use of Industrial Waste like fly ash

Doors, Windows, Shu�ers & Fenestra�on op�onsWater Proofing and damp proofing op�onsFlooring and external hardscapes

Structural systems including composite materials

16.15 – 17.15 Hrs

ConferenceOrganised by

ExhibitionOrganised by

Supported by Powered byHost StateSupported by

Institutional Partners

Partnering Organisations of Municipalika + CAPEx 2014

urban news digest | august 2014 • 6SpecialFeatures workInG CITIES | special feature

Salient Features of Narendra Modi’s 100 Smart City Project

• Data Centre: various forms of information about all cities will be recorded here

• Automatic Traffic Signal and better public transport system: regulating traffic congestion

• Reduction of accidents: use of CCTV cameras to come to aid of people in accidents etc

• Integrated Control Room: which will be satel-lite-based, helping to improve systemisation of health, transport services and provide better assistance to citizens

• Solar Energy Devices: generating power on streets and homes and includes solar panelling of buildings for energy-efficiency

• Internet Facilities: free wi-fi availability for the public

• Improved Sanitation: automated garbage-col-lection, water treatment and recycling facilities

• Inclusivity: promoting citizen participation, e-governance

Smart Cities: Paving the way for the future in India

According to Caragliu et al, 2009, Smart Cities are those in which investments in traditional

and ICT communication infrastructure, human and social capital, have resulted in sustainable eco-nomic development and subsequently a high quality of life. Technology is put to use to address the various needs and issues faced by the city’s residents. This is reflected in the significant use of modern devices to regulate water levels, energy usage, traffic flows and even safety of cities through installing security cam-eras and the like.

In India, the term has more so come to the fore-front recently with Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing the ambitious plan of building 100 such cities across the nation. “Cities in the past were built on riverbanks,” he stated, “They are now built along highways. But in the future, they will be built based on availability of optical fibre networks and next-generation infrastructure.” As per the Union Budget announcement, funding of ̀ 7060 crore has been allo-cated for this mission. The Union Ministry of Urban Development has urged officials of states to sug-gest locations in the country that can be turned into Smart Cities. It has further expressed plans of utilis-ing ‘brownfield sites’, which although were previ-ously used for industrial purpose are often left aban-doned due to adverse effects of pollution and waste. Meanwhile ‘greenfield sites’ at new locations offer the advantage of lowered costs involved and may also be an option that is considered.

Given the fact that it takes often decades to build a new city, the Urban Development Ministry is looking towards both transforming existing cities into ‘smart ones’ through retrofitting smart technology as well as creating new planned urban centres. GIFT city in Gujarat is likely to emerge as India’s first ‘smart

city’ that is built from scratch. On its completion, GIFT city will incorporate several aspects typically associated with Smart Cities. This includes a com-

mand centre with information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure that will regulate daily activities like transport movement etc. It will have cooling towers using the energy-saving cooling technology and in terms of waste management, solid waste will be collected from homes and offices at 90 km/hr using pipelines that open up to a waste pro-cessing plant. Other attributes include solar panels installed in the buildings, efficient garbage collection and traffic alerts sent as text messages to commuters.

The first set of three smart cities is set to be estab-lished in Gujarat, Mumbai and Delhi-Mumbai corri-dor (DMIC) over the next five to seven years including Shendra-Bidkin in Maharashtra and Global City in Haryana. Framework for DMIC entails underground utilities for parking and sewage, dedicated bus and light rail corridors and mixed use transit-oriented,

polycentric city development so that residents may live close to their place of work. Lavasa, an upcom-ing ‘new town’ further has a City Management Ser-vices team with the Citizen Contact Centre as a sig-nificant feature that can be accessed by citizens for information on billing, amenities etc. It also is India’s first city to use a 3D Geographic Information System with Global Positioning System to implement daily operations.

The hi-tech and energy efficient cities along with connected communities will take inspiration from the Barcelona City Model executed by Cisco Systems. Tie-ups with technology giants such as IBM and CISCO and collaboration with officials from coun-tries like Singapore and France further have been a vital aspect of the project. One of the prime goals would be to focus on developing the ‘economic poten-tial of the area’. Several of the cities that come up will include Special Investment Regions or Special Eco-nomic Zones that create a conducive environment for local industries and provide a business-friendly cli-mate with relaxed rules and lowered taxes to attract investment such as in Dholera in Gujarat.

A distinct feature of Smart Cities is its robust focus on citizen involvement in public policy with promotion of e-governance. ISO 37120 has been rec-ommended to assess performance of cities and fur-ther evaluate changes brought forward by the local government. Making cities inclusive is a strong high-light of the agenda and is set to ensure greater trans-parency and accessibility in the provision of civic ser-vices. India can expect further progress in this area as the government continues to emphasise on devel-oping this aspect as a priority.

As technology continues to advance, cities aim to deliver not only the best hard infrastructure or physical capital but also are striving to provide adequate social infrastructure or social capital. Smart Cities are hence being designed to incorporate both such features within the same structure and relies greatly on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The factor that distinguishes Smart Cities from Intelligent Cities and others is its stronger emphasis on social and environmental capital. Lowering carbon emissions and habitat protection, for instance, is a crucial part of the action plan.

Our mission is to build 100 smart cities across the country with GIS (Geographic Information Systems)-based town planning, using the

latest technology and infrastructure, integrated waste management and advanced transport system.

M Venkaiah NaiduMinister of Urban Development

Government of India

urban news digest | august 2014 • 7progressive cities | policy, reform, finance

At the National Conclave of Min-isters of Urban Development from states and UTs, Union Urban Development, HUPA and Parliamentary Affairs Min-ister, Venkaiah Naidu addressed the gathering. In his speech, the Minister mentioned the impor-tance of looking into the oppor-tunities and challenges of urban governance and housing for all and pledging for ‘inclusive and sustainable development’. With 30% of the citizens residing in urban area, the need to make cit-ies as planned hubs of economic growth was stated. As cities contribute to more than 60% of entire GDP, these need to be viewed as symbols of efficiency. The Minister stated that urban-isation could be further devel-oped better through use of GIS and satellite imagery, appropri-ate solid waste management, efficient of use of energy, rain-water harvesting, people’s par-ticipation in managing public spaces and protecting natural

bodies. Cities need to be enabled such that its entire potential can be developed and depending on the specialities, various types of cities can emerge. These catego-ries include tourist city, educa-tion city, health city, holy city, business city, industrial city and nature city.

In terms of transporta-tion, Naidu mentioned various initiatives such as dedicated cycling tracks and transit corri-dors (Metro/mono rail, BRTS, Ring Road) that attract eco-nomic activities. Transit ori-ented development policy and city wide street vendor survey being implemented and devel-oping city street vending plans by providing expenditure were further encouraged.

Poverty alleviation through skill development and skill upgradation as well as 100 smart satellite/twin cities are some of the other measures to be set in action. To provide housing for all, the Minister

also highlighted action points including Real Estate Regu-lation Bill, Automated Single Window Approval Systems, fast tracking of approvals of housing projects etc.

The Minister stated that there was no ‘single fit all for-mula’ and that constant inno-vation for localised solutions was required. A Draft National Declaration incorporating

consensus on Housing and Urban Rejuvenation was fur-ther adopted as a ‘guiding light’ to attain the goals and preserve long-term policy perspectives.

Ministry of Urban Development outlines goals for urbanised India

In order to improve quality of life in cities, the budget for the Urban Development Ministry has been increased by 251.44%. The plan outlay has increased from `6561.34 crores to `16,496 crores. Along with this, the government is also aiming to

provide tax and non-tax incen-tives to promote investments in the urban infrastructure and housing segments.

Grants for the Metro rail projects in Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai and Kochi have been

increased by `2265 crores to `8,025 crores. New Metro proj-ects in Lucknow and Ahmed-abad are also in the pipeline.

The government has further set aside a fund of ̀ 50,000 crore to promote and finance infra-structure projects on shared risk basis under ‘Pooled Munic-ipal Debt Obligation Facility’ over the five year period.

In terms of housing, the ‘Mission on Low Cost Affordable Housing’ will be introduced. This is a `4000 crore project that is geared towards making cheaper credit available for affordable housing to econom-ically weaker section and low income groups through the National Housing Bank.

budget for urban development ministry increased by 251.44% state bank of india to add 5000 atmsThe State Bank of India is set to add 3000 to 5000 additional ATMs in the upcoming fis-cal year with aims of improv-ing the ratio of ATMs per cus-tomer. SBI’s total ATM count is 43,515 units. At present the bal-ance is one ATM for every 2500 debit cards that are provided by the bank. For other banks, the average is around 1,500 to 1700 clients.

It further speculates saving significant amount of inter-change fees by lowering the lines at the ATMS, and popu-larising transact in-network among customers. In 2013, the

bank had paid interchange fees amounting to ̀ 991 crore due to the difference in ATM ratios between itself and other banks.

Several citizens have voiced wanting to apply free transac-tions in remote semi-urban and rural areas apart from the larger cities.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is to prepare new set of guidelines for on-tap and differentiated banks. The Finance Ministry has announced that more players are to get bank licences in the near future as the RBI pres-ents the fresh norms on new banking licenses. “Hopefully, in next few months RBI will start inviting applications. RBI will take 4-5 months for preparing the new set of guidelines for on-tap and for differentiated banks,” said Financial Services Secretary G S Sandhu.

Earlier in April, the RBI out of 25 applications already issued bank licences to IDFC and Bandhan Financial Ser-vices. According to RBI Gov-ernor Raghuram Ranjan, “The RBI can take more of a chance with new players if they get the licence to open only a small bank or to con-duct only one segment of

banking business. Such dif-ferentiated licences – licences with restrictions on the geo-graphical reach or the prod-ucts offered by a new bank – can generate more organisa-tional variety and efficiency”.

Ranjan further explained that small banks were better at catering to local needs includ-ing those of small and medium businesses. A payments bank which will provide payment and remittance services but be constrained to investment in safe instruments including government securities could prove to be mutually benefi-cial. The country has 27 pub-lic sector banks and 22 private sector lenders.

RBI to prepare guidelines for new bank licences

Slum redevelopment, road safety awareness and consumer protection are to be clubbed together as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activi-ties as per the latest statements from the Ministry of Corpo-rate Affairs. The Ministry has clarified that slum redevelop-ment or housing for econom-ically weaker sections would fall under the CRS segment as ‘measures taken for reducing inequalities faced by socially and economically backward groups’.

Spreading of road safety awareness through print, audio and visual media is to be termed as ‘promoting education’, while providing trainers to drivers would be ‘promoting vocational skills’. Social projects includ-ing medical and legal aid would fall under ‘promoting health

care’ segment with government scheme meals being part of CSR for alleviation of poverty and malnutrition. ‘Environmental sustainability’ would include all ventures in renewable energy.

Normal business activities would not be included as part of this venture. According to

The Companies Act, 2014 the large companies with particular financial criteria are required to adhere to the CSR or report non-compliance from April 1. The firms are to spend two percent of their mean net profit over the last three years on CSR related activities.

Corporate Social Responsibility activities designed to reduce inequality

urban news digest | august 2014 • 8smart cities | it, gis & gps application, e-governance

The Municipal Art Society of New York has launched a new tool that could be used to identify the areas where development could be most applied to bring about change in the city’s bor-oughs. This is a part of the existing ‘Accidental Skyline’ initiative that allows relaxed regulations for developers

and has resulted in some of the tallest skyscrapers for New York.

The map displays areas of available floor area ratio in each borough and parcel of land. Developers often look out for these so that they can buy their rights and utilise them for further building development. However the

makers of the tool also aim to provide this information to local residents and encour-age appropriate utilisation of unused, vacant spots.

The ultimate goal is fur-ther to protect parks from being hidden by tall build-ings and implement a sys-tem with greater transpar-ency for communities.

Mapping tool created to spot areas for development

A new app has been designed to alert the New Delhi Munic-ipal Council (NDMC) about issues such as streetlights that need to be fixed or garbage lit-tered on roads. All citizens have to do is click the site and send the image to the agency using the photo-based mobile application. Locals only need to download the app and on seeing any civic amenity issue, they need to send it to the authorities.

The app is going to be released to ensure the griev-ance redressal system under the jurisdiction of NDMC is improved and revamped. “This is one of the best prac-tices being launched soon to improve the quality of life in the NDMC area for residents and tourists with the help of state-of-the-art and glob-ally competitive technology,”

NDMC Chairperson, Jalaj Shrivastava explained.

Additionally, a smart card is to be launched for use for parking, water and electric-ity and pay-and-use drinking water ATMs. These will be

installed in public place, gov-ernment staff colony, slums and public schools. A token or card will allow the citizens to buy drinking water from these though rates for this will soon be fixed.

Website launched to issue flood warnings

The government has launched a website where one can get online updates and information on the likelihood of floods in the area. The Central Water Com-mission (CWC) has worked on the web portal and encouraged people from all over the nation to directly access the informa-tion that includes flood fore-casts, trends and warnings on a real-time basis.

Anybody who has an inter-net connection or a smart-phone can access the portal for flood forecasts. CWC chairman

A.B. Pandya explained that the website would be particu-larly helpful for those living in flood-prone areas. The web-site — http://www.India-water.Gov.In/ffs — was launched after several trial runs and contains data on water levels recorded at 175 flood forecasting stations of CWC situated in inter-state river basins throughout the nation. Details of the river net-work will also be given.

Colour coding has been pro-vided on the portal to repre-sent the intensity of the floods.

Green stands for below flood-level, yellow for moderate flooding and red for high flood levels.

Further arrangements have been made to issue flood fore-casts through bulk smses to officials of state disaster man-agement agencies. “We have also set up a bulk SMS ser-vice with the help of MTNL, wherein all emergency plan-ning officers with state disas-ter management agencies are sent SMSes about flood fore-casts,” said Pandya.

revolv releases android app for home automation controlRevolv has launched an Android app for monitor-ing devices through Linux-based Revolv Hub home automation controller and added Nest-Thermistat sup-port. Revolv is a CABA mem-ber. It started out two years back under the name ‘Mobi-plug’ and provides a wide array of third-party prod-ucts and automation eco-

systems. The free Revolv app can be found on Google Play for Android 4.1 devices.

The Nest Learning Ther-mostat from Nest Labs, under Google is the lat-est addition to the array of Revolv smart devices like Sonos music players,

Honeywell thermostats, GE smart switches. Revolv has begun the ‘Works with Nest’ program, enabling the set-up of automated actions for Nest Thermostat according to the user’s particular loca-tion and daily routine. An action plan can be designed to switch off the house lights and turn down the temper-ature on the thermostat.

According to the firm, the feature employs Revolv’s “newly enhanced” GeoSense technology, which “knows when the homeowner leaves the house — and automates device control, even if the smartphone is in his or her pocket.”

app launched by ndmc for citizens to report civic amenity issues

CISCO expresses interest in developing Smart Cities in IndiaCisco Systems has shown keen interest in partnering with India to develop smart cities and there is a strong possibility of the firm mak-ing its presence strong in the electronic manufacturing sec-tor in the country. To achieve this, it has further sought con-sistent tax policies and market access for its expansion plans.

Cisco Chairman and CEO, John Chambers met with DIPP Secretary Amitabh Kant to discuss further the agenda. Cisco’s plans of smart cities are close to the concept expressed in the BJP mani-festo which aims to develop 100 cities with the latest tech-nology and infrastructure, in reference to ideas of sustain-ability and walk-to-work.

In February 2012, CISCO had announced that devel-opers and communities in Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) along with Ecuador and Toronto, Can-ada are seeking to place Cisco and its partners as an important part of urban planning initiatives.

9 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 it, gis & gps application, e-governance | smart cities

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘100 smart cities’ is to be developed through use of foreign expertise. To achieve the goal, the Prime Minister met with foreign ministers from France and Sin-gapore to discuss the scope of the project. He sought urban exper-tise from France in particular for urban planning and heritage conservation. France had in the past provided technical assis-tance for the Ahmedabad Heri-tage Project.

Singapore Foreign Minis-ter, K Shanmugam meanwhile met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to offer assis-tance in key infrastructure

projects such as the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. This would include IT manage-ment of cities and use of new technology for sewerage treat-ment. Smart Cities concept as

developed in Singapore includes energy savings of 30% and low-ering carbon emissions and developing Smart Energy Grids for co-ordinating electricity demand and supply.

Singapore, France to aid India in Smart Cities project

MoT launches app to help tourists explore 16 Indian citiesThe Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has released a mobile application to allow its users to independently travel and look around 16 cities in India. The app called ‘Incred-ible India Walking Tours’ has been released by the Ministry in partnership with Genesys International Corporation and will include 16 Indian cit-ies – Agra, Amritsar, Ahmed-abad, Bengaluru, Bho-pal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Patna, Pune and Surat. By December 2015, the services are expected to extend to 36 cities.

The app is currently available on Blackberry

mobile-Blackberry Z3 but will soon be released in other versions too. The app will allow users to calculate free of cost at their own pace with the aid of walking tours organised by travel experts. “We are extremely excited about this because it is the first time an app can enable users to discover India on their own. It’s free, easy to use and, most importantly, comes with 360° street views and information put together by a panel of experts. It’s like having a local take you by the hand and show you his city, at your convenience,” Tour-ism Minister Sripad Naik explained.

video games used to design urban projectsA United Nations body con-cerned with urban planning in countries affected by poverty or natural disasters started to develop a sports field in the slums of Kibera, Kenya and have created it using the popu-lar sandbox video game, Mine-craft. The game allows play-ers to construct structures in 3D medium that enable proj-ect leaders to design a visual that can be shared with the

neighbourhood residents and easily understood by them.

“The game makes every-thing transparent,” said Pon-tus Westerberg, Digital Proj-ects Officer at the programme, UN-Habitat. “It gives the com-munities we work with more agency and helps everyone see what’s going on.”

The project is known as ‘Block by Block’ and was an important feature of the

Games for Change Festival in New York that publicises video games that contribute to social change. Such games are known as ‘Serious Games’ and are focused on education, and encourage students to learn through digital play.

GIVE A MISSED CALL AT 080-3303 8303or Email: Prashant@ASAPPmedia.com

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urban news digest | august 2014 • 10tech cities | built environment, engineering, construction

Franz-Josef Ulm, Engineering Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology analyses properties, patterns and envi-ronmental potential of concrete structures. Cities when looked from a distance appear as a clus-ter of molecules. Ulm began studying cities and observed factors such as arrangement of buildings, the building’s cen-ter of mass and how they were arranged near each other. The conclusion was cities could be put into categories: Boston’s structure can be compared to ‘amorphous liquid’. Chi-cago meanwhile is designed on grid, resembling glass while New York reminds viewers of a highly ordered crystal.

Ulm refers to his work as ‘urban physics’ and this puts him on a list with other scien-tists who now use physics as a tool to evaluate the vast amount of data that cities have generated in the 21st century from popu-lation density to the number

of patents made to energy bill charges. Ulm’s colleague at MIT, physicist Marta González recently used cellphone data to analyze traffic patterns in Boston.

Ulm and his colleagues have utilised freely available data, including street layouts and building coordinates, to draw the structures of 12 cit-ies and compare them to exist-ing complex materials. In phys-ics, an ‘order parameter’ is a number between 0 and 1 which states how atoms are arranged

in relationship to other atoms nearby. Ulm uses the same idea for city layouts for instance Bos-ton has an order parameter of 0.52, similar to liquids.

The work has two potential applications. First it helps to predict and mitigate heat island effects and secondly, to detect the vulnerability of cities to cli-matic changes “We need to deal with the complexity of cities,” Ulm said, “The aim of this is to have tools to make predictions without reproducing the whole complexity.”

Navratna status given to National Building Construction CorporationThe National Building Con-struction Corporation (NBCC) has recently been awarded the ‘Navratna’ status. The CPSE under Urban Development Ministry even witnessed a rise in its share price after the announcement.

The NBCC has become the 15th ranked company among 250 central public undertakings in India. NBCC Chief A K Mit-tal remarked, “We, now, plan to increase our footprints in global market, beginning with Middle-East and CIS countries.”

The NBCC provides civil engineering construction ser-vices in wide range of projects both at home and overseas. NBCC has been functional in the infrastructure sector also and has executed projects like chimneys, cooling towers and

other works related to power plants.

Recently, NBCC has devel-oped expertise in executing redevelopment works of old and decrepit government colonies.

The corporation has also con-structed New Moti Bagh Com-plex and another on-going mega project under this segment- East Kidwai Nagar Redevelopment is also underway.

bricks used to transform modern landscapeAt the Imperial horse sta-ble, Vienna, Austria, a discus-sion was held about the oldest construction material-bricks. Awards for best brick archi-tecture in the world were also given. The Imperial Stables, made during 1724, known as Museumsquartier (MQ), is one of the 10 largest cultural quar-ters in the world.

Heimo Scheuch, World CEO, Wienerberger Group, said,“Brick is sometimes over-looked in ‘modern’ architecture despite its countless creative design possibilities and excel-lent energy efficiency.”

John Lin, Professor of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong won the award under the residential category. Lin believes in sustainable development for China and this is incidentally one of the biggest markets in bricks.

“Bricks are often associated with rural areas. Our challenge is to make it urban. The impact of climate change has brought in more interest in natural building materials,” said Mar-tin Kasa, Head of Product Man-agement (wall and house solu-tions), Wienerberger Group. “The last brick producing vil-lage in Thailand, for instance used 600,000 bricks to build the Kantana Film and Anima-tion Institute. The whole idea of using bricks in modern archi-tecture is to innovate and give it a new appearance,” explained Martin.

Urban Physics helps in studying structure of cities

Grove Towers: A building inspired from mangrove treesThe Grove Towers, a mixed-use, 77,000 sq m multi-tower project in Mumbai is being developed by Ornate Spaces. The 136 m tall project has been designed by 3XN who conceptualised the build-ing based on Mumbai’s man-grove trees. Inspired by the structure of mangrove trees to cluster and intertwine at the roots, the two towers too intersect at the lower retail floors. These then rise up to the podium or space for ame-nities. As the building rises further into the sky, it offers two primary views. One is northwards, looking towards

the mangroves that are found there while the other is facing towards the Indian Ocean on the west.

The building’s design has also been created keeping in mind environmental con-cerns and aspires to qualify for LEED Gold Certification. It is designed to lower direct solar gain, increase natural ventilation and additionally, has 2500 sq m of vertical gar-dens. Such features have been included in hopes of reduc-ing the CO2 level in Mumbai’s crowded environment, due to much pollution from traffic and industries.

Under the Grameen Sadak Yojana, Khadanza pavements have been developed with FaL-G bricks and blocks par-ticularly for rural roads with a century-long guarantee. Use of brick in infrastructure applica-tions has reduced over time due to deterioration of clay and fall in manufacturing standards. FaL-G is set to bring this trend back nonetheless with an aim to preserve technical virtues and reasonable cost factors. FaL-G bricks and blocks can be produced at the village level by employing local labour and thus generates rural employ-

ment. The plant and machin-ery are available at a cost of `5.50 lakhs.

Flexible pavements with bitumen are expensive to use as withstanding monsoon rain and cost maintenance leads to rising costs. FaL-G bricks on the other hand, pro-vide a suitable alternative to this with brick production being currently considered as a huge area of fly ash utilisa-tion. As a practical test for this, INSWAREB Building Centre had laid khadanza pavement in 1994 with FaL-G bricks on trial basis at Sheelanagar,

Vishakapatnam, an area rich in black cotton soil. Funding for the project was provided by Housing and Urban Devel-opment Corporation (HUDCO) under R&D grant assistance. The design of khadanza pave-ments involves the orientation of bricks in a particular manner such that headers make a per-pendicular angle with stretcher that then makes another right angle with the header. The orientation then persists in an ascending or descending arrangement till the last brick reaches the edge of road.

Khadanza pavements pro-

vide several advantages such as offering maximum strength as long as fully cured bricks are used, being a convenient sub-stitute to concrete pavements in case where concrete mixers and vibrators are unavailable or in slum roads and bylanes where entry of road rollers is not possible and these further require no expansion joints because expansion stresses are absorbed by mortar joints. Khadanza pavements are cost effective by 40% over con-crete pavements with cost of steel as dowels, screed bars etc being saved.

Fal-g bricks provide cost effective means for road construction

11 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 built environment, engineering, construction | tech cities

Arabian Construction Com-pany maintains its strong pres-ence in India with its latest announcement of building the tallest skyscraper in the north-ern region of the country.

ACC, the company from UAE stated that it has received the contract from Brys Group to build an 81-storey tower in Noida. “The awarding of this important contract has allowed ACC to further estab-lish itself as a significant con-struction operator in the Indian

subcontinent and is recognition of the high standards of design and build that we deliver,” said the ACC director Rasheed Mikati. Construction work is to begin in October 2014.

ACC entered the Indian market in 2011 with a joint ven-ture with Lodha Group for construction of the World One Skyscraper in Mumbai. Some of its other current projects include high-rise buildings in Mumbai and a 60 storey tower in Kolkata.

Arabian Construction Company to build tallest building in north India

A 26 storey skyscraper is regarded as the tallest building

in Mangalore, the main Port City of Karnataka. The building

known as the ‘Inland Wind-sors’ was opened in May and has been inspired by the shape of sea waves and its design seeks to offer the privacy that resi-dents seek. The location is near upscale shops, recreational ame-nities and other conveniences.

An inaugural ceremony was held to honor the first sky-scraper in Mangalore. “It is my dream project; it took some time to see this glorious day. I feel extremely proud when people call this project as a monument of Mangalore. We have put lots of hard work and efforts into it, but looking at the finished proj-ect, it gives me enormous plea-sure. Our entire In-Land team has put its efforts in realising this dream,” said Founder and MD, Siraj Ahmed, on comple-tion of the mega project.

REX has been assigned the new project to design the headquar-ters of two sister media com-panies. The tower will have retractable sunshades and measure approximately 15 m in diameter. The sunshades will alter the buildings’ glass facades into ‘blossom-like’ shaded tower in a matter of few min-utes.In the evening, the build-ing will transform into a huge television screen with help of the translucent exterior that is set to have an ‘X-ray effect’. The

tv screen will display the works of the occupant companies to the public in real time. Above the broadcast and news studios, at the upper half of the com-plex, space will be provided for offices. Large studios that need permanent blackout will be sub-merged below grade.

Meanwhile on the lower half, there will be several other facili-ties including an amphitheatre, agora, cafe, fine dining, gallery, employee lounge and health clubs.

India’s cement demand predicted to reach 600 MTPA by 2025The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has announced that India’s cement demand is set to reach 550 to 600 million tonnes per annum by 2025 due to infrastructure and hous-ing needs as urbanisation rates continue to grow in the country.

“Cement demand is pro-jected to grow to 2.5 to 2.7 times the current volumes and reach 550 to 600 MTPA by 2025,” according to a study led by the CII on cement industry of India. The industry body has come up with a ‘Cement Vision 2025: Scaling New Heights’.

As part of the 12th Five Year Plan, $1 trillion is to be spent on infrastructure develop-ment and the cement indus-try will thus be catering to the infrastructure demand of the nation.CII has speculated that the cement industry is set to require a massive increase in volume with a sharp increase in available resources. Per capita cement consumption

is to increase from 185 kg to 385 to 415 kg in 2025. As per the report, ‘this growth will likely be led by investments in the infrastructure sector, with sub-sectors such as roads, power, and irrigation leading the charge.’

The ratio of large and direct buyers (contractors and devel-opers) is to increase from 30% to 70% by 2025. A greater vol-ume between 330 to 380 MTPA for cement would be required for a matched investment close to `300,000 crore.

construction sector in india expected to boom in 2015Experts estimate that India’s construction sector will be growing at rate of 7-8% over the next ten years. The coun-try is expecting to see high economic growth and fewer barriers to foreign investment in the next few months with the new reigning government according to PwC reports.

Approximately $1 tril-lion would be the expendi-ture for infrastructure over the next three years. Much of the increased investment

would be in industrial proj-ects undertaken by the gov-ernment with private hous-ing sector being a key focus area. Infrastructure con-tributes to 49%, housing and real estate for 42% and industrial projects 9% in the construction market. The total construction market in India for fiscal year ending March 2014 was calculated at $157 billion. This was a rise of $4 billion over the previous year.

mangalore: tallest skyscraper takes inspiration from sea waves

towers with retractable facade to be designed for media house in doha

urban news digest | august 2014 • 12planned cities | architecture, planning, design

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has announced the names of the regional winners for the best tall buildings in the world for 2014. These include build-ings from U.S., Australia, the Netherlands and the United Arab Emirates. An overall winner will be further named from the current shortlisted buildings, based on presen-tations from the owners and architects of each building, at the CTBUH 13th Annual Awards Symposium. This is to take place at place at the Illi-nois Institute of Technology, Chicago, on November 6, 2014.

The Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building from U.S. is the one of the regional winners. It is a renovation of an existing tower of the 1970s that has been transformed into a more lightweight ver-sion with more floor space than before.

One Central Park from Australasia region is note-worthy for the plants that are grown around the sides of the building at all levels using technologies of hydroponics and heliostats.

De Rotterdam, the win-ner from Europe, although is reminiscent of an imported American skyscraper, it is characteristic of the off-center experimentalism of modern Dutch art of the earlier cen-tury. It is the largest building in the Netherlands.

The final winner from the Middle East is the Cayan Tower. It is a 75-story luxury apartment building with a distinct helical shape, turning 90° across its 304 m surface. Although each of its floors are identical in plan, these are set 1.2° clockwise from the floor below, thus the tower has a dis-tinctive form with an innova-tive, efficient structure.

CTBUH announces the regional winners for Best Tall Buildings 2014

Government aims for integrated planning of all cities in Uttar PradeshThe government of Uttar Pradesh aims to develop inte-grated planning of all the cit-ies in the state on the basis of mapping using Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Former Secretary, Urban Development Ministry, Government of India, Sud-hir Krishna, said “State gov-ernment wants all 630 cities of UP to be covered under the massive urban development plan which includes develop-ment of housing, road con-nectivity, modern infrastruc-tures and services like water supply, sewerage, drainage, etc.” He visited the state to review the status of the proj-ects initiated under the Jawa-harlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission which has already been implemented in the cities of Lucknow, Vara-nasi, Agra, Kanpur, Meerut, Allahabad & Mathura.

The comprehensive plan considers future devel-opment of housing settle-ments, roads, employment opportunities, proper drain-age and sewerage system,

parks and conservation of water bodies across all cit-ies. All of this information is to be represented on maps and be available for public use. In UP, around 33 proj-ects were started in 2007-08 in various areas including sewerage work, storm water drainage, solid waste treat-ment plant, water-supply, of which more than half have been completed.

Most projects were found to be delayed due to land disputes and legal arbitra-tions. In response, the Urban Development Ministry is now further pushing for-ward the trenching system for laying new underground infrastructure.

Government draws out plans to beautify DelhiThe government in Delhi has launched an action plan prom-ising improvement of civic ser-vices and greenery in the capi-tal city through collaboration with NDMC, MCD, CPWD and DDA.

Initiatives include creating bio-digester public toilets, con-version of Barapullah drain into green zone, automatic wash-ing machines at dhobi ghat,

cleaning and lighting of public buildings and increasing capac-ity of parking lots.

“We have finalised a detailed action plan to beautify the city and all agencies concerned have been given responsibilities to do it in a coordinated way,” said for-mer Urban Development Sec-retary Sudhir Krishna. “Delhi is beautiful and it has a lot of greenery. But we want it to be

more beautiful and green.”As per the plan, cleaning of

market places will be held on a regular basis and all unauthor-ised road side kiosks will be removed with further steps to construct port cabins for secu-rity posts as part of the beautifi-cation drive.

Delhi Metro Rail Corpo-ration (DMRC) is set to be responsible for decongesting and beautifying the entry and exit of Metro stations. Garbage and construction wastes will be cleared faster as well as civic agencies will build bio-digester toilets at public places in mar-kets with 376 green toilets being constructed across the city. Desilting before the monsoon, reconstruction of roads with potholes are some of the other plans being considered.

The new master plan 2031 of Lucknow aims to help town-ships and housing projects that are being established on the city’s periphery. Lucknow Development Authority has decided to develop the area and include 197 villages in the mas-ter plan. Much focus is on road connectivity. The Inner Ring Road of the city will be incor-porating many private projects mushrooming around Sul-tanpur that includes Hi-Tec Township.

According to the proposed plan of 2021, the new projects in the area will move to Faiz-abad, as contrary to the previ-ous plan. There is also a canal

which will support develop-ment on either side of it. The

plan has been created based on surveys and satellite images.

New master plan for Lucknow highlights infrastructural facilities

Gujarat: GIFT estimated to create 10,00,000 jobsAccording to official estimates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s project Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) is to create over 10 lakh employment opportunities by 2022. GIFT is being developed by the Gujarat government that aims to bolster India’s financial services sector by offering multinational compa-nies infrastructure and facilities of global standards. It has been conceptualised as a global finan-cial and IT services hub much like centres in Paris, London and Tokyo. The project is being devel-oped by a joint venture between the Gujarat Urban Develop-ment Company Ltd (GUDCL) and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd (IL&FS).

The `65,000 crore project has been spread over three phases of development that is set to

completed by 2022. GIFT com-prises of two main elements- domestic financial centre and international financial services centre.

It is being developed on 886 acres of land, of which 673 acres is in possession of GIFT. It has a multi-services Special Economic Zone (SEZ) of 250 acres

and domestic finance centre and an associated social infrastruc-ture on 423 acres.

GIFT will have external con-nectivity by roads, metro and BRTS. The project is located on the banks of Sabarmati River and is at a distance of 12 km from Ahmedabad International Airport.

13 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 architecture, planning, design | planned cities

While the search for See-mandhra’s capital city is still ongoing, town planners have shown preference for devel-oping a new capital instead of choosing one from the exist-ing cities. This is because most of the cities have certain disad-vantages such as Kurnool being prone to floods, as it is a low –lying region. It also has a further problem of shortage of drink-ing water. Vishakapatnam too has been cited as having certain issues although other experts believe it to be one of the ideal locations, being the sole city in residuary AP with rail, road, air and water connectivity with the rest of the state and country.

DTCP Additional Direc-tor, V Narender Rao explained that a viable alternative was to instead build a new capi-tal between Nagarjunasagar and Macherla in Guntur dis-trict. The location has several

advantages including an aban-doned old airport, road and rail connectivity as well as drink-ing water source. To build a new city however 10,000 hect-ares of land would be needed and under the Land Acquisi-tion Act, 20% of this would have to be offered to the owners and affected families. Nonetheless, most planners believe financ-ing the project would not be an issue and instead greater focus needs to be paid to developing

the infrastructure in the region.A few town planners have

already submitted presenta-tions on the new capital which have reached the Sivaramak-rishnan Committee through the municipal administration and urban development depart-ment. Parameters like availabil-ity of government land, forest land, population, rainfall data, nearest water dams has been included in the report for pro-files of the districts.

the search for a new capital in andhra pradesh

The New Chandigarh Town-ship that is being developed near Chandigarh has been given in-principle approval by Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. AECOM presented plans of the entire township, its layout, landscap-ing and development. Sukhbir sanctioned the ‘green necklace’ creation that is to increase nat-ural trails and bicycle paths and would include the commercial district as well as residential areas of New Chandigarh. He also approved the construction of a water front along the com-mercial district along with the 50 hectares lake.

Grids created to promote efficient planning of residen-tial areas were also autho-rised. High-rises in the city

centre as well as group hous-ing areas were given the green signal except for areas where it obstructed the Shivalik Moun-tain view.

Developers aim to support emergence of Chandigarh as an ‘intelligent city’ and ensure that the city’s pollution levels would be reduced with low carbon emissions. The new township is set to have a unique land use mix in which 75 acres for city centre and 79 acres for commer-cial centre have been allocated.

As part of the efforts of incor-porating global standards in town planning and urban development in Kolkata, a seminar was recently organ-ised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on urban design and town planning. Also under the venture, cur-rent government of the city is planning to collaborate with French and British architects and town planners. The del-egates also had visited Eco Park in New Town. Officials

of state urban development department, KMDA, NKDA and HIDCO also had a meet-ing during this session.

Further, the State Urban Development Secretary Debashis Sen met with Flor-ence Bougnoux, the famous French town planner to dis-cuss further ideas. Meanwhile, HIDCO officials met with Scott Furssedon-Wood, British Dep-uty High Commissioner, at HIDCO Bhavan.

Among the various topics

discussed, the French dele-gates recommended construc-tion of pedestrian subways and over-bridges across wide roads so that children and elderly can cross with greater ease and safety. Consultation on solid and liquid waste man-agement, smart city structure and efficient modern trans-port system were also on the agenda. The city is addition-ally considering getting World Bank funding to develop the Hooghly riverfront.

singapore uses latest technology for transforming urban development sectorSingapore’s Urban Redevel-opment Authority (URA) has been utilising GIS and 3D mapping technology to trans-form its urban development sector. Recently the URA announced that it is collabo-rating with Esri, the GIS firm to develop a new planning tool that will let planners to pro-gramme Singapore’s diverse land use laws into the soft-ware itself. Esri’s CityEn-gine platform will be used to change the two-dimensional town planning data into inter-active 3D models, by record-ing data about the nation’s planning and urban design rules into the computer programme.

Victor Chua, Senior System Analyst at URA addressed an audience of 15,000 pro-fessionals at Esri’s Interna-tional User Conference in San Diego. He explained that “urban planning is a compli-cated and iterative process because it requires the abil-ity to quickly simulate and

evaluate multiple scenarios which conform to planning guidelines”.

Various applications of City Engine could be used to execercise rules of buildings of different heights to cre-ate a realistic simulation for instance of the Jurong Lake District. The software could identify ‘corridors of visi-bility’ or linear zones along which development could be prevented.

Data could be further trans-ferred to other planning tools to predict how development

could affect traffic flows or population density.

“As one of the world’s fast-est growing cities, it is impor-tant that Singapore leverages smart technologies to ensure ongoing developments meet the needs of citizens, now and in the future”, Thomas Pra-motedham, Esri Singapore Chief Executive Officer said. “URA’s approach to using 3D GIS technology is incredibly progressive, and serves as a benchmark and inspiration for other countries around the world”.

Biophilic city model gains popularityBiophilia refers to love of life or a passion for life. Erich Fromm, the Swedish psy-chologist used the term first in 1964 to describe being drawn to nature. Biophilic cities are different from green cities as the former focus on well being and health more than simply environmental conservation. Biophilic design takes inspi-ration from natural patterns and landscape processes as well as the human factors such as historical, cultural, ecological influences.

Singapore has been con-sidered as an ideal proto-type of a biophilic city with the government investing in parks, green spaces and

canopy walks. These parks are linked through 200 km of park connectors. It seeks to balance nature with the increasing population density rates. Planting trees, commu-nity gardens and green walls and rooftops are all part of the efforts made in achieving the balance.

Several cities have also been involved in the Bio-philic Cities Project, a global research initiative led by Pro-fessor Tim Beatley at the Uni-versity of Virginia’s School of Architecture. Along with Sin-gapore, other cities that are part of this project include San Francisco, Oslo, Helsinki and Capetown.

New Chandigarh granted in-principle approval

Kolkata seeks consultation from global experts to improve town planning

urban news digest | august 2014 • 14vibrant cities | heritage, conservation, tourism, culture, public spaces

Kolkata is set to have its own version of the giant ferris wheel, the ‘Kolkata Eye’ as modelled on the ‘London Eye’. This structure provides a panoramic view of the city from a height of 120 m. According to the Urban Devel-opment Ministry, this will be built at Millennium Park on River Hooghly bank. This is expected to be a special attrac-tion for the tourists. The `300 crore project would have 36 air conditioned capsules that would rotate slowly to provide an exciting view.

“It will be an icon of the great city of Kolkata and will enrich the ongoing river-front beauti-fication project,” Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee said. “This project, the first of its kind in size and magnitude in India,

is already underway and is expected to be ready in a year’s time,” she added.

Kolkata Eye set to be built in Millenium Park

Taj Mahal to be cleansed off pollution effectsOne of the world’s seven wonders, Taj Mahal will be receiving a ‘mud pack treat-ment’ to restore the natu-ral sheen of the white mar-ble which has been adversely affected by increasing pollu-tion levels. Archaeologists from the Archaeological Sur-vey of India (ASI) have started a mud-pack treatment and in order to achieve this they have been using multani mitti (Fuller’s earth). The lime-clay

will be plastered over dam-aged areas of the monument and left overnight. As this starts to dry, it will be washed off with grime that coats the monument.

The 17th century white marble mausoleum has already been given this treat-ment thrice before in 1994, 2001 and 2008. The parts par-ticularly not exposed to rain and naturally cleansed are most likely to be full of grime.

Rani-ki-Vav secures UNESCO World Heritage Site tagAt the 38th session of UNES-CO’s World Heritage Com-mittee (WHC) in Doha, Rani-ki-Vav obtained the world heritage status. The stepwell

of the Solanki era had been placed on UNESCO’s cov-eted list almost ten years back in 2004. It was built as a testi-mony of Queen Udyamani’s

love for her husband Bhimdev I in the period 1063-1068 AD. The site is located two hours away from Ahmedabad and is typical of Gujarat-style archi-tecture. The intricate carvings on the wall indicate apsaras, sculpted walls depicting ava-tars of Vishnu and Mother Goddess. The stepwell entered the tentative list of UNESCO’s world heritage list in July 1998.

The Archaeological Sur-vey of India (ASI) then pre-pared a dossier for the step-well for UNESCO’s approval. Following the submission, the International Council on Mon-uments and Sites (ICOMOS) team conducted a detailed study. The locals of the area were also consulted on the project.

A floating hotel, known as floa-tel has recently opened in Ban-dra jetty Mumbai. ‘AB Celestial’

is claimed to be the first lux-ury floating hotel in the coun-try. In efforts of boosting the

flow of tourists to the state, Maharashtra Tourism Devel-opment Corporation (MTDC) is set to partner with WB Inter-national Consultants and AB Hospitality. AB Celestial, cre-ated in the U.S. will be docked at the Maharashtra Maritime Board’s jetty at Bandra under the Bandra-Worli Sea Link. The hotel has a luxury dining floa-tel with a sky deck, two galleys, two multi-cuisine restaurants, including club lounge with a 24-hour coffee shop. The total volume of guests that can be accommodated within the floa-tel is 660.

State Tourism Minis-ter Chhagan Bhujbal inaugu-rated the floatel, expressing that the floatel was intended to be the ‘jewel in the crown of Maharashtra.’

AB Celestial: First luxury floating hotel opens in Mumbai

varanasi to be developed as world heritage cityPrime Minister Narendra Modi has stated plans of applying a ‘Banaras model of development’ in Varanasi city and further to implement the same model for other cit-ies. The model seeks to merge the ancient with modern and develop the city as a World Heritage City. The Prime Min-ister aspires to clean and reju-venate the Ganga River, as well as preserve the cottage indus-tries, sari industry and cop-per and brass utensil industry while strengthening the city as a tourism hub.

Experts also state that res-toration of a city with a rich history would revive the city’s local economy since the build-ings are constructed out of Chunar stone. Several build-ings had earlier been created

out of Chunar stone but as its popularity dwindled, artisans working with this were also put out of business. Restora-tions plans are thus expected to re-establish the business of artisans who work on gate-ways and doorways of struc-tures in the old city.

In 2012, Varanasi was included as part of the heritage conservation programme that was organised by the Union Urban Development Ministry and the World Bank. The focus was on combining urban her-itage resource management with overall city development. However according to local administration authorities, one of the problems in achiev-ing development is the strain that is put on the city’s fragile infrastructure.

urban news digest | august 2014 • 15green cities | environment, energy, ecology

Green Building Congress maintains lead as flagship event of the industry

The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) of CII in col-laboration with all its stake-holders has been leading the green building movement in India, since 2001. Today, India is the second country in the world to have more than 2 billion square feet of green building footprint with proj-ects spread across five cli-matic zones of the country. As per IGBC reports, India with more than 2111 regis-tered green building projects is ranked as one of the top five countries on the world green map. Around 319 projects are in Mumbai, 199 in Delhi, Bengaluru with 198 followed

by Pune with 197. The growth has been possible with the commendable support of all the stakeholders.

The Council’s vision is ‘To enable a sustainable built environment for all and facil-itate India to be one of the global leaders in sustainable built environment by 2025.’ The place we live, study, play, work, travel etc should be environmentally-friendly and through these efforts quality of life can be consid-erably improved. IGBC orga-nises annually the Green Building Congress, India’s flagship event on green buildings with the aim of

promoting a healthy and greener life.

Green Building Congress

is held in various cities every year with the goal of educat-ing, informing, networking and uniting all the stakehold-ers to spearhead the green building movement in India. The 12th Green Building Congress 2014 will be taking place on September 4-6, 2014 at HICC, Hyderabad. IGBC hopes to highlight to the var-ious stakeholders includ-ing students, home makers, architects the way in which green buildings will help build a healthy, vibrant and robust India. The event will also provide the platform to explore new growth opportu-nities and facilities in forging new partnership and collabo-rations. IGBC will achieve this through the key events-Inter-national Conference on Green

Buildings scheduled on Sep-tember 4 and 5, 2014 and the Exhibition on Green Build-ing Materials and Equip-ment on September 4-6, 2014. Several concurrent sessions will be held on September 6, 2014 including conferences on Green Homes, Existing Buildings, Green Schools and Green Hospitals.

The three-day event will be a vital opportunity for stake-holders of the construction sector to update themselves about the new trends in global green building practices. Experts from India and other countries will gather to share their ideas, views, and per-spectives at the event which will further propel forward the green building movement in the country.

It is to become mandatory for all state governments to implement the minimum requirements for energy-efficient design and con-struction as per the order of the central government to tackle the challenges of depleting resources, increased urbanisa-tion and fast construction.

Shifting the focus to con-structing energy-efficient struc-tures, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) of the Power Ministry has made it necessary to follow the Energy Conserva-tion Building Code (ECBC).

Elements include build-ing envelopes (wall, roofs, and

windows), lighting, heat venti-lation and air conditioning and electrical systems.

ECBC standards are designed so that cities would be

able to mitigate climate change by lowering energy consump-tion in construction, mainte-nance and refurbishment of buildings.

The National Building Code of India 2005 ver-sion, brought out by Bureau of Indian Standards has done the pioneering work in including Green Build-ing and Sustainability ele-ments in the Built Envi-ronment sector, as the new Part 11 of the National Building Code.

This is history. Among the Global Building Codes, India is the first to add the Green building require-ments, as part of the NBC. With the NBC serving as the major compliance document, referred to in most of the

Building Bye-laws, Building Rules, Development Con-trol Rules, Planning Stan-dards of the City Municipal Corporations, Municipali-ties and other urban local bodies and Special Plan-ning Authorities, it can be hoped that green building movement will receive a fur-ther impetus, as part of the approval process for build-ings. It is also seen that some states and few cities have already introduced Green Building Incentive schemes with speedier and fast track processing for green chan-nel approvals, increased

FSI/FAR, reduction in Infra-structure Charges, reduction in Property tax and reduc-tion in Water and Energy tar-iffs, due to continuous reduc-tion in Water and Energy consumptions and improv-ing quality of life of citizens and enhanced environment.

NBC 2005 to be modernised as NBC 2015

It is also a good augury that BIS will be bringing out the next revision in National Building Code of India 2015, work on which has started on fast track mode to incor-porate many innovative

changes and additions to deal with the changing sky line and other urbanisation challenges to deal with the fast paced building develop-ment needs, not only from all safety considerations point of view but also energy, environment and ecological

aspects.Good things are thus to

come for the Built Environ-ment sector.

V sureshVice Chairman

National Building Code of India

energy saving code use by 2017

Green Building needs now part of NBC of India

The National Green Tribunal’s zone bench was inaugurated at Rajarhat Town recently. The bench has been established for prompt addressal and effective justice on cases related to envi-ronment in the eastern region consisting of twelve states that include West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, the seven sister states and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Principal bench of the tribunal was set up in Delhi. It is also present in Bhopal, Chennai and Pune.

Subhas Datta, a green activ-ist explained that the green tribunal has been helpful in addressing the issues of the eastern region of the country in the last two years.

national green tribunal east Zone in kolkata

Event Title Dates

International Conference on Green Buildings 4 & 5 September 2014Exhibition on Green Building Materials& Equipment 4 - 6 September 2014Conference on Green Homes 6 September 2014Conference on Existing Buildings 6 September 2014Conference on Green Building Products & Equipment 6 September 2014Conference on Green Schools 6 September 2014Conference on Green Hospitals 6 September 2014Advanced Training Programme on Green Buildings 2 - 3 September 2014Workshop on Energy Simulation in Buildings 2 - 3 September 2014

event schedule

16 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 green cities | environment, energy, ecology

CO2 levels reach new high: UN ReportsConcentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have surpassed new thresh-olds according to the United Nation’s weather agency. The UN World Meteorolog-ical Organisation (WMO) reported that monthly con-centrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 400 parts per million (ppm) throughout the northern half of the globe.

“This threshold is of sym-bolic and scientific signifi-cance and reinforces evidence that the burning of fossil fuels and other human activities are responsible for the continu-ing increase in heat-trapping greenhouse gases warming our planet,” was stated in the WMO. The agency predicts

the annual CO2 concentra-tion will exceed the thresh-old in 2015 or 2016. The WMO Secretary-General Michel Jar-raud stated that ‘time is run-ning out’.

“This should serve as yet another wake-up call about the constantly rising levels of greenhouse gases which are driving climate change. If we are to preserve our planet for future generations, we need urgent action to curb new emissions of these heat-trap-ping gases.”

Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is scheduled to meet at a climate summit on Septem-ber 23 with leaders in gov-ernment, business and civil society to discuss the issue in greater depth.Viability Gap Funding likely to be used

for India’s National Solar MissionThe first 750 MW from Phase II of India’s National Solar Mission (NSM) has recently been assigned to developers using the Viabil-ity Gap Funding (VGF) mech-anism for the first time. This has caused key developers to question the scope of the VGF scheme. Policies are soon to

be announced for Madhya Pradesh and Punjab among other states.

2GW of utility scale PV has already been installed in the nation and now another 750 MW has been awarded. The winning bidders were those who wanted minimum possible funds to make projects

viable. However much scepti-cism remains about the proj-ect and developers were seen to bid aggressively for the project.

VGF essentially is a capital subsidy that narrows the gap between the project cost influ-enced by the current electricity rate and the price suggested by the developer. Experts however have expressed their concerns about viability gap funding (VGF) leading to establishment of inefficient solar projects.

Tarun Kapoor, Joint Secre-tary, MNRE, explains, “VGF is one of the financing options that we are trying out as we tried bundling in the first phase of JNNSM. This is to demon-strate how different financ-ing models work. Besides, it is only for 750 MW of proj-ects. We may try other financ-ing models like GBI in the com-ing batches. We have also put in safeguards.”

India’s capital, New Delhi has become the first ‘kerosene-free city’ in India. Under the ‘Delhi: A Kerosene-Free City Scheme, 2012’ scheme, no subsidised kerosene is being issued in the national capital, allow-ing the country to save upto `200 crores per year.

The programme was launched in 2012 in collabora-tion with three oil marketing companies and union Min-istry of Petroleum and Nat-ural Gas. The Delhi govern-ment bore expenses worth `62 crores.

It is hoped that this step will help in environment

conservation and keep pollu-tion levels low in the city. As use of kerosene is lowered in

the capital, there is less pollu-tion and toxic fumes with less likelihood of fire accidents.

Delhi becomes India’s first kerosene-free city

eco-sensitive buffer zones around guindy national park to be reviewedThe state government of Tamil Nadu seeks to remove eco-sen-sitive buffer zones around the protected forest area creating more pressure for the Guindy National Park (GNP). This has led to many environmen-talists being concerned as it implies institutions like IIT Madras will be allowed to con-struct more buildings without restrictions.

In a letter addressed to the Principal Chief Conser-vator of Forests (PCCF) by Syed Muzammil Abbas , Spe-cial Secretary to Government (forests), it has been stated that removal of the eco-sen-sitive zone around GNP needs to be considered. The let-ter mentions, “The state gov-ernment has taken a stand in 2013 to keep eco-sensitive zone around Guindy National Park at ‘nil’ because the national park is located in the heart of Chennai city and no area is available immediately outside this park to be declared as an eco-sensitive zone and many number of developmental

projects are expected to come up in the area surrounding this park.”

In 2011, the Ministry had issued guidelines about buf-fer zones around protected forests that play the role of a ‘shock absorber’. This acts as a transition zone too from areas of high protection to regions that are not as well protec-tion. Wildlife wardens were to decide on the boundaries of the eco-sensitive zone.

The feasibility of buffer zone around the park will be checked and not followed as a rule. This has been decided keeping in mind the fact that the city is developing, creating a lot of pressure on the officials to meet needs of the growing population.

Government aims to generate solar power to light every homeThe new government aims to generate enough solar power so that every home can have at least one light bulb by 2019. With 400 million Indi-ans lacking electricity, the new government promises to achieve this target through use of more green energy and reducing the reliance on coal and gas. According to the latest trends, most of the coal and natural gas power gener-ation is currently clustered in the western region of the country where the population densities and power demand is one of the highest. One of the most severe challenges the country faces is that of frequent power shortages. Utilisation rates at power

plants have fallen since 2004 because there is not enough fuel, implying the scope of improvement for the nation’s centrally-planned energy sector.

The government plans to

use solar power to reduce the power cuts in the next five years. If the programme is successful then each home would receive enough solar power to power cookers and televisions also.

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 environment, energy, ecology | green cities 17

Hamburg authorities aim to substitute roads with additional green spaces like parks and rec-reational areas and integrate these through an integrated green network or ‘gruenes netz’ which would ultimately help in reducing the dependence on cars.

In 15 to 20 years, authori-ties aim to develop the city such that a green network would cover the area from outskirts to the city centre and the entire city could be explored by just

walking around. 40% of Ham-burg’s city already comprises of parks, playgrounds and green spaces.

Hamburg is vulnerable to rise in sea levels as these have risen 20cm in recent decades, leaving the city exposed to mas-sive storm surges. Also the aver-age temperature in the city has been observed to rise over the past 60 years. Eliminating cars and improving green network could thus help to reduce the impact of natural disasters.

Hamburg aims at being car-free by 2035 to reduce pollution

Jakson Group is set to launch DG sets as per the new envi-ronmental norms CPCB-II. Jakson and Cummins are set to develop the products. Execu-tion of CPCB-II jobs indicates the trend forward to cleaner technology that would prove to be an advantage to consum-ers along with promoting envi-ronmental sustainability.

Jakson has also secured an order from Chandigarh Renewal Energy, Science, Technology Promotion Society (CREST) for fixing 265 KWp of Grid Connect Solar System at 5

government schools in Chan-digarh. The project is set to include design, manufacture, supply, testing and commis-sioning and will be completed within a four month period.

Jakson Group has taken part in RENERGY 2014 at Chennai. At this event, the firm showcased its complete solar expertise. The three day exhibition gave industry play-ers a common platform to allow sharing of ideas on sus-tainable power generation, promoting concepts and lat-est trends in renewable energy.

The U.S. has brought forward a new large scale off-grid alter-native energy initiative with India to ensure clean energy is brought to the country and ‘advanced space cooling tech-nology’ is made available. The venture is part of Obama administration’s efforts to involve major economies in the arena of climate change.

With the launch of a prog-ress report on the Adminis-tration’s comprehensive Cli-mate Action Plan, the White House stated that the venture with India was to develop clean energy particularly for those not receiving ser-vices from electricity grid along with the initiative to help India.

Mega solar power project to be set up in West BengalThe state government has pre-sented a proposal to the Cen-tre for establishing a 250 MW solar power project near the Purulia Pumping Storage Project (PPSP) at Baghmudi. The project would cost an esti-mated `1700 crores. It will be the largest solar power project in the world if the state govern-ment can sort land availabil-ity issues. Around 700 acres will be needed for the proj-ect and matters of the location have to be decided on. Barren land near the demarcated land may also be taken up for the purpose.

Funding issues are a con-cern as the proposal has to be approved by the state finance department and the state cab-inet. The state seeks funding under national clean energy funds for execution of the project.

The PPSP site has been cho-sen as it has a natural source of water and the plan is to pump water through solar power. It will be made into a natural water pumping system hence using water and solar power.

Funding worth `22 lakhs have also been approved through DFID to Ashden India

to prepare a rooftop solar power policy. Rajarhat New Town is recognised as a solar city, with the New Development Author-ity making it compulsory to install rooftop solar panels for both commercial and residen-tial buildings. These have been designed to meet at least 20% of the electricity load of the city.

India, U.S. launch new clean energy technology

Jakson group develops solar power projects across the nation

1000 MW of solar power to be added to state grid of KarnatakaEnergy Minister DK Shiva-kumar has stated goals of increasing solar power to the State Grid by 1000 MW of solar power within 15 months. At the recent press confer-ence, tenders for establishing solar plants with a capacity of 450 MW were announced. Fur-ther the Federation of Karna-taka Chambers of Commerce and Industry organised the Green Summit 2014 from June 5-7 to showcase investment opportunities in the State’s renewable energy sector.

Out of the total 1000 MW capacity, 300 MW has been allotted for farmers who have been encouraged to set up plants on a smaller scale, gen-erating 1 to 3 MW on the farm-land. The government is set to create ‘solar farms’ and protect land ownership of such farmers as well as guarantee that they

receive remunerative rents.Further the solar energy

policy also was to promote set-ting up of grid-connected roof-top solar units among indi-viduals and companies. Such rooftops would become the primary means of transform-ing Bengaluru into a solar city. “Even those having a house on

a 30x40 ft site can set up a solar plant on their rooftop and sell the excess power, which is left after taking care of their own requirements, to Escoms. They would have to install a two-way meter which would mea-sure the flow of power in both the directions,” explained Shivakumar.

18 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 green cities | environment, energy, ecology

Renewable Energy Ministry designs policy for developing the sectorThe Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) is preparing a policy that would combine and include all aspects of the renewable energy sector. At the 13th edi-tion of the ‘Green Power 2014’ international conference on renewable energy organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Chennai, Alok Srivastava, Joint Sec-retary, MNRE said the pro-posed policy would provide all the required guidance to the states.

Various state electricity regulators are already dis-cussing and considering range of ideas by collaborating

with each other. As for issues that remain, MNRE has been working alongside the industry, regulators and Union ministries to help find solutions.“Some of the prob-lems and bottlenecks have to be addressed at the national level to explore the potential of renewable energy in India. A renewable energy law should be enacted to address the pol-icy and regulatory issues. There should also be stricter enforcement of renewable energy purchase obliga-tion (RPO) across the states,” explained Ramesh Kymal, Chairman, Renewable Energy Council, CII – Godrej GBC.

Cocoons used as batteries to generate energyExperts at the Indian Insti-tute of Technology- Kanpur (IIT-K) have made devices from silk cocoon membranes (SCM) that can generate electricity to operate low-power electronic systems, through use of water vapour. IIT-K’s Department of Biological Sciences and Bioen-gineering (BSBE) and Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering have collab-orated on the project and also observed that the electricity increases with temperature.

“The devices comprised pieces of SCM, cut into pieces of regular sizes, sandwiched between electrodes. The proj-ect’s goal was to generate elec-tricity cheaply and in a sus-tainable, eco—friendly way. The water vapour content (humidity) was never less than 80-90%. When the tempera-ture was made to go up (around

80°C), the current also went up,” Mainak Das, Leader of the study and Assistant Professor, BSBE.

“The LED is powered by extracting the electrical energy from cocoon. In the device, the cocoon has been treated as the circuit component. Interest-ingly, in the absence of humid-ity, the cocoon failed to produce

electricity,” Das added.The thermo-electrical prop-

erties of silk, essentially natural protein-fibre allows for use of the natural products for clean energy. These could operate as batteries offering endless energy reserves. Production of such bio-materials could be further increased through bio-technological interventions.

The Society for Automotive Fitness and Environment (SAFE), a venture by the Soci-ety of Indian Automobile Man-ufacturers (SIAM) celebrated World Environment Day at 4700 car distributors through-out the nation. SAFE arranged several activities concerning environment safety and con-servation with intention to spread awareness about envi-ronment preservation, suste-nance and growth centred on environment through several campaigns.

Activities such as arranging free of cost PUC check-ups and issuing free certificates, organ-ised at various dealers across the nation were carried out so

as to lower pollution levels and protect environment.

Activities such as drawing competitions for kids, envi-ronment conservation advice to customers, sapling distri-bution, tree plantations, rallies and processions centred on environmental concerns were also organised. Campaigns witnessed public participa-tion from several stakehold-ers such as Transport Depart-ment, Traffic Police, Research

Institutes, NGOs, Petroleum Conservation Research Asso-ciation and Automotive Com-ponent Manufacturers.

S V Suderson, President, SAFE, remarked, “SAFE is proud to organise Free PUC Camp programmes during World Environment Day in association with automobile manufacturers and their deal-ers network with the objective of giving proper knowledge to customers for proper mainte-nance of their vehicles which will provide benefit to them as well as to environment. This activity is just a step further to our continuing commitment towards a clean and green environment initiative.”

saFe organises event to spread environmental awareness among car dealers

desert power plan to help renewable energy share increase furtherWith the integrated Plan for Desert Power Development being executed, renewable energy capacity in India might finally hold a larger share than coal-based capacity by 2040-50. The ‘Desert Power India- 2050’ plan aims to add 455GW for renewable energy to meet India’s grow-ing demand for electric-ity. Over 60% of this 455 GW energy is to be fixed in the desert wastelands of north-ern and western India. Areas for the project would include Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, That Des-ert of Rajastan and Kutch in Gujarat.

5-15% of the wasteland is to be used to harness solar and wind energy capacity. With further harvesting 95% of the solar and wind energy

potential available on 10% of the area can be installed. This would translate into 271 GW of solar energy capacity and 29 GW of wind energy.

Renewable energy cur-rently results in 12% of India’s installed capacity base with a capacity of 32 GW. Addition of 485 GW would push the contribution to 35% and thus outweighing the coal-based power capacity that is at 32%. Apart from the power gener-ated in the desert areas, the remainder balance is to come from other states already with large renewable energy resources. These include Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra who generate capacity though bio-mass, waste-to-power, roof-top and small hydro projects among other.

Dubai invests to transform into a Green ParadiseDubai Municipality has allotted AED 6 billion ($1.63bn) to help remodel the emirate into a ‘Green Paradise’ by 2025. As per experts the investment has been identi-fied for soft landscaping and irri-gation network in the city.

“We have plans for giant proj-ects by 2025, which include the expansion of sewer lines and the irrigation network,” said Salah Abdul Rahman Amiri, Assistant Director-General of the Munic-ipality. “These are mainly con-centrated on preparations for Expo 2020 as we want to make Dubai a green paradise,” Amiri added.

Further laws are also being passed so that developers are involved in efforts of expanding

the green belt in the city. AED 3 billion would be allocated for improving the irrigation net-work by 2025 which would support landscaping proj-ects. Approximately 45 million shrubs and trees were planted

in 2013 and the municipality expects a further 5-10% increase depending on the latest proj-ects. The city at present has 7000 hectares of green space but additional plans of 30 small park projects are also in the pipeline.

urban news digest | august 2014 • 19healthy cities | water, sanitation, waste management

Fish farms to be created in Rajarhat’s waterbodiesTo make West Bengal more self-reliant and reduce the volume of imports from other states, the state gov-ernment is preparing to breed fish in water bodies of Kolkata. The Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) has designed a plan that includes several varieties including Chitol and Bhetki in an area more than 200 hectares.

This will also create the adequate supply for the township’s growing demands. It has been calcu-lated that if used in the right way for pisciculture, close to 87% of Rajarhat New Town’s fish demands would be met and invested capital could be recovered.

If implemented prop-erly in all water bodies, the

city and surrounding areas would not have to depend any longer on other states for its fish supply. A report has been developed and presents recommendations. Three action areas of appropriate sizes have been identified. This includes 70 hectares in Action Area 1,88 hectares in Action Area 2 and 48 hect-ares in Action Area 3. The revenue generated from the pisciculture will be used to maintain Eco Park and greeneries in the state.

punjab to get solid waste management wings soonThe Punjab government aims to set up solid waste management wings at the local bodies depart-ment to rid cities and towns of garbage and further to utilise this for power generation.

The Deputy Chief Minister

of the state said the government sought not to have any of the existing green cover removed, especially in the cities and hence also aimed to establish horticul-ture wings. These wings would seek to plant two saplings for a

tree cut for road widening apart from the preservation of green spaces.

The government further expressed that it was commit-ted to developing Amritsar as a smart city with best infrastruc-ture and new flyovers. Proj-ects include construction of Golden Temple Plaza, Central Jail project, District Admin-istrative Project, Amritsar-Rajasansi and Amritsar-Ajnala roads with flyovers. These infra-structure projects include the 500 crore Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), widening of Tarn Taran road, solid waste management plant, sewer-age and water supply projects. Trees would also be prevented from being felled so that roads could be widened.

Water Wheel gains recognition from Grand Challenges Canada

Cow manure converted into drinking water by scientists

Water Wheel is the brainchild of Cynthia Koenig, a social entre-preneur from New York, who came up with the idea on real-ising that millions of women around the world spend hours trying to collect water daily. The Water Wheel enables people to roll water in a 50 litre container rather than carrying it in 5 gal-lon jugs. Koenig speculates the device will allow for 35 hours per week in time savings and pre-vent physical exertion of balanc-ing weight of up to 40 pounds on the head for hours every day.

Women and girls usually spend approximately 200 mil-lion hours to fetch water from distant places. The Water Wheel will instead allow the women to use their time more effectively

for educational and income-gen-erating activities instead. These would in turn help to lessen inter generational poverty.

Koenig further founded the social enterprise company called Wello, which recently received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Canada prize for the Water Wheel. The company is in its initial stages of development and has already been piloting the Water Wheel in rural communi-ties in India. The entrepreneur has further plans of improving the device by adding in filtration, drip irrigation kits and a cell phone charger that allows bat-tery of cell phones to be charged by the rotation of the wheel, thus widening the scope of education and communication.

Scientists in the U.S. have recently discovered the tech-nology for converting manure into water. The McLanahan Nutrient Separation System has been developed by the Michigan State University. It is an anaerobic digester which converts waste into energy, along with ultra filtration, air-stripping, reverse osmo-sis system.

The manure turns into clean water for livestock to drink through this mecha-nism and makes it suitable to be disposed in an environ-mentally friendly way. This would prove to be a benefi-cial step as the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency has claimed that poorly managed manure has adverse effects of poisoning drinking supplies, algae growth in water systems and air pollution.

“If you have 1,000 cows on your operation, they pro-duce about 10 million gal-lons of manure a year,” said Steve Safferman, Associate Professor of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering at Michigan State University. “About 90% of the manure is water but it contains large amounts of nutrients, carbon and pathogens that can have an environmental impact if not properly managed.”

System produces approx-imately 50 gallons of water per 100 gallons of manure but it is hoped this would be increased to 65 gallons in near future.

E-waste management market in India to expand by 30.6% over next five yearsAccording to the ‘India E-Waste Management Mar-ket Forecast & Opportuni-ties 2019’, the nation’s e-waste market is set to grow at a CAGR of around 30.6% in the next 5 years. Observations show that southern and cen-tral regions have been con-tributing most to the market. This has been attributed to the presence of the various IT centres of Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

“The enforcement of E-Waste management laws by the government of India for proper and regularised man-agement, disposal and recy-cling of E-Waste is setting a new trend in the market. Since, in India, majority of the E-Waste is processed by the unorganised sector, introduc-tion of stringent regulations is expected to significantly ben-efit the organised players over the next five years,” said Karan Chechi, Research Direc-tor with TechSci Research, a

research-based global man-agement consulting firm.

The country’s e-waste mar-ket is divided into several seg-ments that comprises of IT and telecom, large household appliances and consumer electronics. Some of the major products in the market include refrigerators, washing

machines, laptops, televisions etc. Further attempts to nar-row the gap between organ-ised and unorganised e-waste management market in India are being made. Majority of the waste generated imposes health risks and thus its ade-quate disposal and recycling is of concern.

20 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 healthy cities | water, sanitation, waste management

The Agra district adminis-tration has plans of executing the ban of use of polythene or plastic packets in the city, with aims to control the level of pol-lution. For similar reason, the municipal authorities are set to place barricades at Yamuna ghat to refrain locals from dis-posing garbage into the river.

The civic body has been given particular instructions concerning the use and sale of plastic bags near the Taj Tra-pezium Zone. Orders include keeping waste bins near bath-ing ghats for people to deposit polythene bags and other waste items. Local citizens have also been urged to change their mindset and lifestyle and

co-operate with the govern-ment for the right imposition of the rules and laws.

Agra overall generates more than 1000 tonnes of

waste per day. The Agra Municipal Corporation has been able to process only 50% of the total through various recycling ways.

Agra bans use of polythene bags Vijayawada: Water meters to be fixed for householdsWater meters may soon be fixed to Household Service Connections (HSCs) by the Vijaywada Municipal Cor-poration (VMC) so as to match increased consump-tion with appropriate pay-ment to support provision of the facilities.

The civic body has been trying to install water meters for last seven years but this has not been achieved as cus-tomers have opposed to it. At the moment, only consumers who reside in apartments have meters with water tar-iff being estimated according to the property tax paid.

Earlier the VMC planned to increase the number to 50,000 from the current 7,885 and ensure all house-holds had water connections. However the Corporation could not proceed with the plans due to political uncer-tainty, change of guard and the elections.

Social media to play key role in water conservation campaign by BMCIn order to make citizens more informed about the impor-tance of water conserva-tion, Brihanmumbai Munic-ipal Corporation (BMC) has designed a mass awareness drive with the use of social media. Its media campaign extends from the print to tele-vision, radio and the internet. It has implemented 20% water cuts owing to reduced water supply. A further 10% reduc-tion may be levied if the rains continue to create havoc.

Posters and hoardings have

been used to spread and pub-licise the message. The topic is also to be added to the school curriculum whereby children will be taught about the role water plays. Essays and art competitions centred on the topic will be held to promote further interest among the students.

The campaign would also involve text messages being sent out to 1.35 lakh citizens of Mumbai while a short film on water conservation will be uploaded on You Tube.

The Tamil Nadu government has initiated a programme of installing 50,000 water harvest-ing structures at various places in the city of Chennai. “It has been decided to set up 50,000 RWH structures near the Storm Water Drains (SWD) in city roads at an estimated cost of `25 Crore besides linking

SWDs to water bodies includ-ing temple tanks,” Mayor Saidai Duraisamy announced to the Corporation Council.

The work is set to be com-pleted on priority basis before start of monsoon and is expected to improve the current ground-water level. Plans to establish RWH structures in 4700 places

like office and school buildings owned by the Chennai Corpo-ration are underway. There are 5000 RWH structures that have been built at the cost of ̀ 3 crore by the civic body. During the approval of the plan, the gov-ernment also took measures to ensure that new buildings have RWH amenities.

New rain water harvesting structures to be set up in Chennai

Karnataka government has prepared City Sanitation Plan (CSP) for 26 urban centres in five of the lagging districts of Karnataka from the All India Institute for Local Self-Gov-ernment, Pune. The State Institute of Urban Develop-ment (SIUD), a Mysore-based urban sector apex state train-ing institute, has primarily developed these plans. It is to use capacity building and research to establish good governance.

The National Urban San-itation Policy 2008 has pre-pared CSP to overcome sani-tation issues. Four towns have already started to implement the plan.

According to most recent

census, only 31% of the urban population has safe sewerage while 53% has clean drinking water. At a two-day national level workshop organised by Administrative Training Insti-tute (ATI) and SIUD, Director General Amita Prasad empha-sised on urban denizens to come out to assist the govern-ment in resolving the urban sanitation issue.

Karnataka’s Urban Devel-opment Additional Chief Sec-retary Satya Murthy said at the workshop both short and long term planning was required, citing the example of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Mandur agitation which drew focus upon solid waste management.

“Urban functionaries like engineers and commission-ers have to discharge their duties consciously keeping

in mind their responsibili-ties. The system of not work-ing has to be converted into a working system. We cannot

create resources like water, but can manage better to save, use and reuse water in a sus-tainable way,” he added.

Karnataka: City Sanitation Plan designed for five towns

21 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 water, sanitation, waste management | healthy cities

A man in Medford, Oregon has been taken in custody for viola-tion of a 1925 law, for what state managers call as having ille-gal reservoirs on his property. Gary Harrington was charged with nine misdemeanours with 30 days in jail and a $1500 fine for having collected rain-water and runoff on his land. According to the Oregon Water Resources Department, Har-rington has broken the state’s water law by altering the direc-tion of water that runs from

streams into Big Butte River. However, Harrington claims he is not diverting water of the state but rather is simply col-lecting rainwater and snow-fall that flows into his prop-erty. He continues to maintain his stance and has even vowed to fight against the law and gov-ernment’s decision for consti-tutional rights.

The incident has brought up the debate on government monopoly of water and taxation through use of water meters.

Incident on water collection sparks debate on water laws of Oregon

Bottled water plants to be set up across West BengalThe government is set to estab-lish eight bottling plants –known as ‘Pran Dhara’ in var-ious districts to supply safe bottled drinking water. This would include the districts of South 24 Parganas, Cooch Behar, Malda and townships of Siliguri,

Barrakpore in North 24 Par-ganas, Lalbag in Murshidabad among others. The state public health and engineering depart-ment will be mainly responsible for the project.

Urban and local bodies have been instructed to prepare a

report on their daily require-ments of bottled water, as gov-ernment offices will also be supplied with these. Goals of introducing it with the low-est price have also been made. Bottled water will be available in the market in 500 ml and 1000 ml containers with a price of `7 per unit and `12 per unit respectively.

Hidco also has schemes of working on bottled water plants with a capacity of about 1000 litres per day such that drinking water can be provided to visitors of the Eco Park, Rabi-ndra Tirtha and other tour-ist attractions in Rajarhat New Town. The state government also had plans to sell water to other bottled water manufacturers.

In response to the continu-ously expanding pile of e-waste, Thiruvananthapuram city has a deal with a private company for waste collection from firms in Technopark where maximum e-waste is produced.

“We have contracted a pri-vate company to collect e-waste from the park. Their agents come here for collection every quarter. The individual compa-nies are given advance notice,” said M. Vasudevan, Senior Manager of Technopark.

Hyderabad –based Earth Sense Recycle Company, col-lects 70 tonnes of e-waste per annum from Technopark. Thirty tonnes of waste is also collected from hospitals, banks and other organisations of Thiruvananthapuram.

“The majority of it is old computer systems. Then there are tube lights, CFL lamps, and old mobile phones, which com-panies throw out in bulk when they replace them with new ones. We erase the data from the hard disks and memory cards and send it to a collection facil-ity in Palakkad. From there, it is taken to the processing centre

in Hyderabad, where the useful materials are segregated from the hazardous waste, which comes to around two percent. A part of the collected waste goes to landfill,” said John Robert, Chief Executive Officer, Sense Recycle Company.

Inspite of such measures, for the city as a whole, an adequate system of collecting e-waste from houses and apartments is lacking. “Some of the resi-dential associations had dis-cussions with Kudumbasree to collect e-waste from their areas. But without a system to

process the waste, there is no use in just collecting it,” said Paraniyam Devakumar, Gen-eral Secretary of the Federa-tion of Residents’ Associations, Thiruvananthapuram.

The obstacle that lies here is primarily the huge costs of col-lection and transport. The con-sequent adverse effect is that e-waste from house gets mixed with regular garbage and lands up in dumpyards where it is burnt with other waste mate-rial. This in turn results in air pollution and leaching of chem-icals into groundwater.

thiruvananthapuram seeks ways to manage e-waste

puri: national green tribunal to monitor sewerage systemThe National Green Tribu-nal has asked for the inspec-tion and evaluation of plans of improving the sewer-age system in Puri. Pro-fessor Makarand Madhao Ghangrekar from the civil engineering department of Indian Institute of Technol-ogy, Kharagpur has been approached for the project. The Odisha government has assured the NGT the proce-dure to locate structures in Puri that do not comply with

coastal regulation zone (CRZ) has already been started.

“Secretary, urban devel-opment department, has informed us that the govern-ment is very serious and sin-cere about establishing anti-pollution measures in Puri. According to him, sewer-age treatment plants, suction pumps, sewerage lines and all other related anti-pollution measures have been installed and made functional from June 15, 2015,” the NGT said.

Himachal Pradesh to get tech assistance from Holland for upgrading recycling facilitiesThe Himachal Pradesh gov-ernment aims to give spe-cial focus to basic amenities in townships and importing of new advanced technology from Holland for collection and recycling of biodegrad-able waste. Former Urban Development Secretary Sud-hir Sharma had stated that amenities like solid waste management, sewerage, drainage, toilets and roads will be given special facility. Dharamshala and Sunder-nagar towns have been iden-tified for being developed as model towns on the basis of

community participation.“There is vast potential

for infrastructure develop-ment through public pri-vate partnership (PPP) and possibilities would be explored in all urban local bodies to identify new proj-ects, besides expediting the already existing projects,” Sharma explained. Greater attention would be given to transforming cities and towns into modern town-ships by developing path-ways, streets, rain water drainage system, sewerage system and utility ducts.

urban news digest | august 2014 • 22humane cities | habitat, housing, real estate

Jaipur housing sector looks ahead to higher future demandAccording to National Hous-ing Bank, housing prices in Pink City corrected by 3.8% from January –March quarter marking a year of falling prices that have dropped by 10%. In the last two and half years prior to 2013, housing prices in Jaipur had risen and prop-erty developers had expressed that current phase of correc-tion could be the consolida-tion that the market requires before starting a new cycle.

“The recent assembly and general elections had an impact hurting demand as investors looked for pol-icy cues from the new gov-ernments both at the state and Central level. While the buyers’ sentiment cannot be described as bearish, expec-tations have tempered a bit which is normal after a steamy appreciation. But demand will come back in the couple of

months before Diwali which will drive the price apprecia-tion,” said Vinay Joshi, pres-ident, Rajasthan Afford-able Housing Developers Association.

Nonetheless the pipeline of developments still remains healthy and 500 projects that cover all segments and sizes

are under different stages of planning and development. The state government is likely to increase District Level Com-mittee (DLC) rates which are set to push the property prices that lower demand. However the industry feels the differ-ence between DLC and mar-ket rates need to be narrowed.

The Pune Municipal Corpo-ration (PMC) will have to con-sider providing houses to 40% of its population that presently lives in slums. With 50% of the country’s population expected to live in cities by 2050, the Union urban development department has been exploring planned housing with facilities. The 36.63% decadal growth in urban population and budget limited to `35,000 crore make it even more difficult for the ministry to provide affordable housing.

Key areas of focus for the Ministry include public-private partnership, corporate social responsibility initiatives and an emphasis on financial insti-tutions and banks to delve into affordable housing market. The civic body has so far been strug-gling to meet housing demands. The city development plan has

attributed high rate of immigra-tion and lack of formal access to appropriate housing to growth of unauthorised colonies in the city. Much of the unauthorised settlements are found along hill slopes and water bodies. The slum population has been ris-ing gradually and consists of 40% of the city’s population.

Inspite of the 18% vacancy rate in the housing sector, much

of the poor are found to still live in the city’s slums. This indi-cates that housing options are out of the league of most, often due to high expenses. Certain measures have been adopted to improve the situation which includes, upgrading of slums, provision of incentives and subsidies, capacity build-ing awareness and training programmes.

Pune Municipal Corporation to develop affordable housing

delhi: development work implemented in unauthorised colonies

women in odisha to pay reduced stamp duty for property deals

The Lok Sabha has announced that development work in 895 unauthorised colonies in Delhi is under-way. Union Urban Develop-ment Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has stated that Delhi government issued orders for development work in the col-onies which have been iden-tified for regularisation. The Minister informed that the

Centre has already outlined rules for regularising unau-thorised colonies inhabited by members of non-affluent sections in Delhi. The official gazette of March 24, 2008 was used to notify the members of the colonies.

Better roads, drinking water and sewerage systems are some of the services being improved in these colonies.

The Odisha government has introduced a new policy of reducing the stamp duty for registration of house or land bought in the name of a woman of gift deeds of immov-able property.

At present, citizens are paying five percent of the total value of the land or building as stamp duty on registra-tion. The Odisha State Pol-icy for Girls and Women 2014 that was approved by the Cab-inet has the goal of reserving 4 decimal of homestead land in

rural areas for women belong-ing to low-income groups and not owning any house or flat and to widowed, unmarried, divorced or separated women over 45 years of age.

Women who are over thirty years with more than 40% dis-ability would also get 4 decimal homestead land. Senior offi-cials who have been part of the process of drafting the policy stated that the objective is to prolong the land lease at nom-inal rates for the betterment of women’s groups.

It has been proposed that the only building that is at present under construction for Mum-bai’s Dharavi redevelopment plan is to be allowed to be built at a height of 18 floors or 75 m in spite of being closely placed to the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport.

The project is located in sector five of Dharavi and is a part of the area redevelop-ment plan and has been cre-ated with goals to establish

9600 tenements for low-income tenants. The building will have 21 tenements and houses 358 slum dwellers free of cost.

The Maharashtra Hous-ing and Area Development Authority is in-charge of development of the sector. The authority has stated that construction of the building has slowed over the past nine months and is currently at 13 floors or 56 m.

As the airport is located close by, it is important to receive a ‘No Objection Certifi-cate’ from the Airport Author-ity of India that ensures that the airspace around is free of obstacles and tall buildings that could block radio sig-nals or flight paths. As other buildings in the 5 km radius around the airport are already at a height of 84 m, engineers expressed that the project is likely to go ahead.

Mumbai: Building height for affordable housing to be approved

23 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 habitat, housing, real estate | humane cities

The latest measures as stated in the Budget is set to revit-alise the real estate sec-tor. Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley has announced that `4000 crore is allocated to the affordable housing for urban poor through the National Housing Bank (NHB) and plans to lengthen incentives for housing loans will also be set in place.

Reduction in size of proj-ects suitable for FDI from 50,000 sq m to 20,000 sq m

and reduction of minimum investment limit for FDI by half to $5 million are some of the other initiatives.

“The opening up of FDI will bring in opportunities for cheaper capital for smaller projects as well, improving quality and delivery of low cost and affordable housing projects,” explained Getam-bar Anand, Managing Direc-tor of ATS Infrastructure and also the President of the Confederation of Real Estate

Developers Association of India (Credai).

According to the Housing Ministry, there is a deficit of approximately 18.78 million

houses in India. Out of these 96% is in the economically weaker and low income sec-tion. This step in easing FDI limit will lead to increase in

development of low-cost and affordable housing support-ing the government’s vision of providing housing for all by 2022.

Real estate sector to benefit from relaxed FDI limit

Mahindra Lifespace has entered the affordable hous-ing segment through a busi-ness vertical called ‘Happin-est’. The firm has goals of launching projects in the price range of ̀ 10-20 lakhs in Boisar on the outskirts of Mumbai in July and Avadi in Chennai in August.

Anand Mahindra, Chief Managing Director, M&M Group stated that the afford-able housing segment was a $150 billion opportunity for private firms. In total, the com-pany aims to build 2200 homes in Chennai and Mumbai.

Although the idea for Hap-pinest was in the pipeline for some time, the approvals took some time to come through. However it has come at a time

when the current government too seeks to ‘provide housing for all’.

Arun Nanda, Chairman of Mahindra Lifespace hopes that the land acquisition pro-cess becomes easier as it is a huge opportunity for the low-cost home segment. “The cur-rent shortfall in the segment is by around 20 million homes and the potential is enormous and I don’t think that one com-pany can meet the need for 20 million homes,” he remarked.

Delhi government seeks to emulate Hyderabad and Greater Noida by taking action against constructions that violate building laws along with fire and structural safety norms. It is considering increasing the monthly power and water tariffs for such properties.

Hyderabad has made pro-visions in the water and elec-tricity tariff as well as prop-erty tax so as to regulate unsafe constructions through imposi-tion of higher charges which in turn, has resulted in effective compliance to safety norms. In

Greater Noida, only licensed builders are to execute con-struction in accordance to building bylaws. If such laws are violated, then subse-quently the builder’s licence is cancelled.

Officials have also instructed corporations to issue adequate notices to make the public more informed about earthquake-prone areas. Also the need to cate-gorise residential colonies on the criteria of structural vul-nerability through visual sur-veys and safety audits has been stated.

Real estate sector set to grow with home buyers showing greater interestBuilders are witnessing a grad-ual rise in the number of poten-tial home buyers, with prop-erty brokers stating that home sales have increased by 5-10% already in the past two months. 10-15% increase in enquiries for home loans has also been observed in the recent months compared to the first quarter of 2014. The real estate market has benefited from a stable gov-ernment and rising stock mar-ket. Rise in property prices over past few months and greater buying potential among buy-ers, particularly in the mid-income bracket are also factors to consider.

Further with the new gov-ernment and the new bud-get announced, there is the

expectation of higher invest-ments in business. This sub-sequently creates jobs and improves consumption across

the nation resulting in higher office space leasing by com-panies as they look towards expansion.

High-rise panel to be reconstituted as per state orders in Mumbai

The state government has issued orders to re-organ-ise the high-rise panel for all structures in Mumbai that are taller than 70 m. The orders were announced by the state urban development depart-ment panel under the leader-ship of Justice P S Patankar, former Judge of Bombay High Court. The orders have been issued following a case hearing where the Court made it com-pulsory to have open spaces at

the ground level of buildings primarily for safety reasons. The panel would also consider projects by looking at the exist-ing infrastructure and corre-late with the traffic situation.

The panel will be given the task of filtering all propos-als for high-rise buildings in Mumbai that are taller than 70 m and have a slender-ness ratio more than 1:9. The panel is set to have two addi-tional functions. First of these

is making recommendations to the state government the twenty-year Development Plan that is at the moment being drafted for Mumbai city. The second function involves the scope of the panel being further stretched to address any issues regarding Development Control Rules, housing for those dislo-cated, cluster redevelopment schemes and slum redevelop-ment schemes.

Unsafe buildings in Delhi to be subject to higher taxes

Mahindra Lifespace enters affordable housing sector

24 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 humane cities | habitat, housing, real estate

Communities working towards supporting the homelessHomelessness continues to be a problem especially in times when economic recovery is slow and income equality gap has increased. Numerous groups have contributed par-ticularly in the U.S. and Can-ada in bringing about a posi-tive change for those in need. These groups are helping peo-ple using their own resources and through various inge-nious approaches.

Gregory Kloehn, a Califor-nia-based artist who used to sell expensive sculptures is now building mini shelters for the homeless using mate-rial from garbage. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, RainCity Hous-ing has created two types of benches to provide a tem-porary shelter with a make-shift roof, including one that has glow-in-the-dark text so as to create awareness about its objective. “Simply put, our society cannot expect home-less people to just go away.

They need a safe place to sleep and a base from which to stabilise their lives,“ Spring Advertising’s Creative Direc-tor, Rob Schlyecher explained.

Community First Village in central Texas is a 27-acre mas-ter planned neighbourhood that aims to provide afford-able housing and a co-oper-ative community for helping 200 homeless people. The vil-lage has micro-houses for the

residents and garden and on-site medical facilities, along with other amenities.

Other initiatives for those who are homeless include LA’s Homeless Education Program to support home-less students, Detroit pio-neers at Cass Community Social Services who encour-age the homeless to attend gyms and take other health measures and a couple in Day-tona Beach’s drive to cook and serve food to the homeless locals.

Infrastructure and REITs developments to boost affordable housing sectorInvestors have shown much enthusiasm about the real estate sector and since May the S&P BSE Realty Index has risen thrice due to the current rul-ing party’s focus on providing affordable housing.

DLF Ltd stated that tax breaks for residential property with less than 1000 sq ft would prove to be an advantage. As the government cannot reduce tax collections, a suggested via-ble option is to lower tax bene-fits on rental assets and increase tax breaks for first-time home purchases.

Infrastructure is also a main concern as there has been stress on fund resources, relaxed for-eign direct investment (FDI) lim-its and capital asset investment

such as malls and IT parks.REITs or real estate invest-

ment trusts are also important to consider as these have higher unit value than mutual funds

and invested in operating and income-generating real estate assets. Experts believe that such measures could allow for re-rat-ing of sector as whole.

Greater Hyderabad Munici-pal Corporation (GHMC) com-missioner Somesh Kumar has instructed officials of the hous-ing department to prepare detailed project reports (DPRs) on two-bedroom houses for poorer members of the popula-tion in upcoming projects.

The commissioner arranged a review meeting with officials

of the engineering wing in Greater Hyderabad. All houses will be constructed by maintain-ing strict adherence to the Chief Minister’s instructions.

Somesh Kumar announced that according to records there were 1478 slums under GHMC limits of which 680 slums were on government land, 72 on land of local authorities, 502 on

private land and 125 on private land while 12 on government-owned land that included rail-way, defence and airport.

Engineering wing officials further stated there were three types of housing colonies –INSITU, INSITU upgradation and Relocation. In the case of the first, existing structures in the same location were to be removed, INSITU Up-grada-tion- where there are some con-crete structures along with huts but without infrastructure and Relocation-where slums in dan-gerous sites will be shifted to safer places.

Officials are set to identify 15 slums so that construction of housing colonies can be taken up on pilot basis and divide the slums according to the type of housing that has been taken up in the slum.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation to prepare housing plans for poorer sections

Affordable Housing becomes cheaper with new RBI regulationsHome loan seekers can now look ahead to cheaper afford-able housing projects and several options from banks as the Reserve Bank of India has announced several mea-sures that promote banks to lend more to the sector. Home loans to individuals of upto ̀ 50 lakhs in large cities and loans of upto ̀ 40 lakhs in other cities will fall under the affordable housing category. Following grant of such loans will enti-tle banks to issue infrastruc-ture loans for up to 7 years. Money earned through these will be exempted from reserve requirements such as cash

reserve ratio (CRR) and statu-tory liquidity ratio (SLR).

According to the RBI, “Apart from what is techni-cally defined as infrastruc-ture, affordable housing is another segment of the econ-omy which both requires long-term funding and is of criti-cal importance. Accordingly, the Reserve Bank intends to ease the way for banks to raise long-term resources to finance their long-term loans to infra-structure as well as affordable housing. This will help pro-mote both growth and stabil-ity, as well as improve the sup-ply side.”

The Yamuna Expressway Development Authority (YEIDA) has brought forward a distinct eco-friendly afford-able housing project in sec-tor 22 D for middle and lower income groups. Since early 2014, YEIDA has started allotting apartments to citizens in three housing complexes, spread over approximately 65 acres.

The 8220 green flats in three housing complexes will be avail-able from 2016. The homes will encourage health, conserve nat-ural resources, provide easy access to services and allow res-idents to make savings worth hundreds of rupees in energy costs.

25% of the total site area of these has been kept aside for green spaces so that maximum

sunlight can be attained. The schemes of these are such that these apartments are affordable for all income groups. Plots vary from 30 sq m to 100 sq m and the complexes have community centres, playgrounds, commer-cial spaces and nursery schools.

Green Building Certifica-tion by LEED has been sought, and these multi-storey apart-ments have special features

including heat-reflective roof plant for reflecting solar radi-ation back to the atmosphere, rainwater harvesting system, low-flow water fixtures to reg-ulate water flow and sewage treatment plant to recycle waste water. Some other features include smoking free common areas and provision for organic waste composter to convert food waste into manure.

Green homes planned along Yamuna Expressway

urban news digest | august 2014 • 25connected cities | urban mobility, mass rapid transport, communication

Hi-tech buses to be introduced in KolkataHigh-tech AC buses are soon to be introduced in Kolkata, as part of plans of the intelligent transport system. The govern-ment hired Urban Mass Tran-sit Company Limited, a PSU, to compile a detailed report on this venture. Under the new system, a commuter will be able to locate the bus with help of the GPS (global positioning system), with the exact loca-tion of the bus being displayed on their own mobile phone.

The intelligent transport system (ITS) has the goal of doing away with the ‘uncer-tainty factor’ in passenger transit across the city. Two

private telecom operators have even collaborated with the transport department to pro-vide cost-free services. This will encourage users to plan their journeys by knowing the exact location of their bus.

There will further be an integrated control room to monitor the movement of the vehicles. “It will track the movement of GPRS-fitted buses with the help of satel-lite linkage and the feed will be flashed on electronic dis-play boards at bus stops,” explained Principal Sec-retary (Transport) Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

Water buses proposed as a solution for traffic congestionA new study by KTH Royal Institute of Technology’s Department of Aeronauti-cal and Vehicle Engineering recently explored the idea of water buses as a solution for traffic congestion, so that tran-sit times could be effectively

reduced. The study reveals that travel time could be reduced up to 33% for the trips.

The Waterway 365 proj-ect-new research investigated the various ways that water buses could be incorporated into Stockholm’s mass transit

system. Researcher Karl Garme, KTH Royal Institute of Technol-ogy’s Department of Aeronau-tical and Vehicle Engineering found that water buses could lower the weight on land-based transit, adding volume to city’s transit system and changing transport flows.

Some key points for the sys-tem to be effective include the fact that these water buses need to be connected with land infrastructure, physically and in terms of payment ser-vices. The boat is expected to work as a subway or bus that facilitates easy boarding and disembarking.

Jim Young Kim, President of World Bank has stated that India would be able to save more than 27,000 lives and generate 128,000 jobs if 1000 km of new bus rapid transit lanes are built over the next 20 years. It would also help in the reduction of the number of accidents and air pol-lution by 42 million tons. Tran-sit options would in particular be needed for access to work place, education and health ser-vices as well as for movement of goods.

The report particularly focuses on Brazil, China, India, Mexico and U.S. along with the EU and highlights the potential economic, health and other ben-efits from increasing climate-smart policies as well as proj-ects that are already in place in countries like Brazil, India and Mexico. Policies particu-larly promoting transport and energy efficiency will result in global growth.

“That’s a 1.5% increase over a business-as-usual scenario

that assumes average eco-nomic growth where emission reductions are not pursued. Annual gains would come from improved productivity and effi-

ciency, including saving almost 16 billion kilowatt-hours,” Kim said.

According to World Bank research, the combined cost of outdoor and indoor air pollu-tion has been to be estimated at more than $40 billion annu-ally. Mentioned in the report is “Well-designed and -enforced bus rapid transit (BRT) is a rel-atively inexpensive way to get

people out of high-emitting vehicles and to reduce traffic congestion and pollution. In 2009, the World Bank approved a sustainable urban transport

project for India that included BRT in three pilot cities.”

The Pimpri-Chinchwad BRT was cited as a model to repli-cate. The results of the Pimpri-Chinchwad BRT analysis and a Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) study of more than 87 routes were used to calculate the length of the viable bus routes as well as the costs and benefits of the project.

1,000 km of brt lanes to save 27,000 lives in india: world bank

new eco-friendly, electric delivery vehicle launchedGreen Automotive Company announced that its European based subsidiary, Liberty Electric Cars, has successfully finished construction of the first fully functioning exam-ple of “DELIVER” – an elec-tric delivery vehicle funded by the European Commissions’ 7th Framework Programme. This initiative brought together ten partner compa-nies from across Europe.

The DELIVER Proj-ect began in 2011 with aims of reducing adverse envi-ronmental impact by up to 40% and therefore an elec-tric light commercial vehicle was designed which addresses issues of inner-city traffic and pollution from

greenhouse gas emissions.Consequently a light

weight commercial car of 2200 kg GVW and a pay-load of 700 kg and 18% addi-tional capacity has been man-ufactured. With a range of at least 100 km and top speed of 100 km/hr, DELIVER pres-ents a viable option for light commercial cars, particu-larly in context of urban and intra-urban services includ-ing postal, parcel, supermar-ket and city council service operations. Features such as in-wheel motors with 2-speed transmission, 80 prismatic Li-NMC cells in its battery pack increases the energy efficiency and total range of the car.

The new government has decided to replicate the suc-cess of railways by construct-ing the Diamond Quadrilateral network for high speed trains. Transforming the railway net-work is the government’s top infrastructure agenda and includes massive emphasis on public-private partnership (PPP).

Apart from upgrading cur-rent service quality, the gov-ernment seeks to make the railways a significant part of the logistics hub that will make the economy more competitive. Network of freight corridors are also on the agenda.

Apart from coal and steel use for the corridor, there are plans also for specialised agri-rail networks for perishable

agricultural products that will move potatoes or toma-toes from where it is found in surplus in the country to where it is deficient and thus help in lowering prices. The

government has stated that investment in railways will be expanded using innovative financing methods and the net-work will cover hilly states and the northeast.

Government to set up Diamond Quadrilateral of high speed trains

26 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 connected cities | urban mobility, mass rapid transport, communication

Bengaluru: Phase 1 of metro to be constructed by September 2015Bangalore Metro Rail Corpo-ration’s (BRMC) reports indi-cate that the train from Byap-panahalli to Mysore Road will run from April 2015. The aver-age ridership on day-to-day basis on MG Road-Byappana-halli and Malleswaram-Peenya routes is 40,000. Land acquisi-tion for the Metro network is also near complete, although efforts have been made to min-imise this as much as possible with traffic diversion being an alternative. Transport Minis-ter R Ramalinga Reddy, MLA NA Haris, Information Min-ister Roshan Baig and BBMP corporators also examined the ongoing underground works at Cubbon Road Station.

Pradeep Singh Kharola, Managing Director, BMRC, said, “The trial runs of the trains in the underground

section and western corri-dor will begin from Decem-ber 2014. Track-laying work begins in September.”

R Ramalinga Reddy said, “Progress of work shows BMRC will be able to achieve its September 2015 deadline for the entire Phase I. The Peenya-Hessarghatta exten-sion on the northern corridor will be ready in three months. The southern stretch towards RV Road, Jayanagar and Put-tenahalli is almost complete. But the wait is for Majestic station.”

The annual budget for the first time since Indepen-dence has a separate NLCPR statement for the northeast region. ̀ 53,706 crore from the non-lapsable central pool of resources (NLCPR) has been reserved for the northeastern states in efforts to develop the region further as announced by Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley.

Jaitley has nominated road and rail connectivity- two crucial but underdeveloped

sectors for remodelling. ̀ 3000 crores has been provided to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to build roads in the states apart from the ̀ 200 crore being allo-cated to DoNER for construc-tion of roads through NE Roads Corporation.

For improvement in rail connectivity in the northeast, along with the amount from the interim and rail budget, `1000 crore has been allocated.

Line 2 of Delhi Metro to begin operations by end of 2014By the end of 2014, Delhi Metro is set to achieve the goal of completion of the Jahangiri to Samaypur Badli Corridor with the bridge being opened for the crowd at 2015 year end. 10 to 25% remain to be completed at the three Metro stations on the 4.3 km long corridor. The sta-tions are Badli Metro, Rohini Sector 18 and Samaypur Badli that cater to residents

of neighbouring areas such as Jahangirpuri, GT Karnal road, Rohini, Transport Nagar and Badli in northwest Delhi.

Public Works Department (PWD) has been consulted for the planning of the metro while Delhi Metro Rail Cor-poration (DMRC) has been involved in its construction. The elevated bridge which is part of this corridor crosses

Northern Railway (NR) tracks of Delhi-Ambala route between Adarsh Nagar and Badli stations and for this DMRC will be working on a 45 m steel bridge on both lines. The bottom part of the steel bridge will be greater than 12 m on top of the exist-ing railway track level and steel girder bridges are also in the pipeline.

Kolkata Metro set to come under the Urban Development Ministry

The Kolkata Metro railways project is set to be handed over to the Urban Develop-ment Ministry that is respon-sible for all other Metro rail projects in the nation. This is due to several concerns of the Metro falling under the urban development department. Key government sources stated that

although the proposal has not been confirmed it has already been discussed. At the budget discussion, the Railway Min-ister, Sadanand Gowda dis-cussed the Kolkata Metro rail project with its plans for upgra-dation and maintenance of the Metro rail network.

Kolkata Metro is the only

metro rail project that is under the Rail Ministry while all other projects are taken care of by the Urban Development Minis-try. There are three stakehold-ers for the second phase of the Kolkata Metro which includes Railways and Urban Develop-ment Ministry and the state government.

Funds allocated for road and rail development in northeast Indian states

The Vice-Chairman and Man-aging Director of City and Industrial Development Cor-poration (CIDCO), Sanjay Bhatia has announced that the first phase of the proposed global airport project at Navi Mumbai would be completed by December 2018. CIDCO is developing a 600 sq km township for the airport and as such smooth land acqui-sition and settlement of land disputes are on the organisa-tion’s top agenda.

Apart from the `14,500 crore project, CIDCO has also started infrastructure devel-opment project worth ̀ 20,000 crores. Other major proj-ects in the Navi Mumbai area which are to be completed soon include metro rail one, Nerul-Belapur-Uran railway

one and the Balganga dam which will facilitate in

drinking water being pro-vided to the entire city.

Phase-I of Navi Mumbai airport to be completed by December 2018

27 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 urban mobility, mass rapid transport, communication | connected cities

UP Chief Secretary Alok Ran-jan has announced that the Lucknow Metro is to make its maiden journey on an 8km long elevation track from Transport Nagar to Charbagh. Tenders have already been floated for the project and pre-bid confer-ence will soon be held in Delhi. The process for land acquisi-tion has also been started off. The 8km track marked as pri-ority sector is set to have 8 sta-tions and be completely ele-vated. It is set to be functional from December 2016.

“The metro would cover almost 22 km from airport to

Munshi Pulia crossing and will have 22 junctions. The state government has made a provision of ̀ 95 crore in its lat-est budget and the remaining

fund for an estimated cost of over `4,500 crore would be managed through interna-tional loans and the Centre,” explained Ranjan.

Lucknow Metro to begin operations in 2016

PPP model to be used to revitalise Railways sectorAt the first Rail Budget pre-sentation, Railway Minis-ter Sadananda Gowda advo-cated construction of logistic parks and private freight ter-minals using the public-pri-vate partnership (PPP) model. Gowda stated that PPP would be employed to fund majority of the upcoming projects that also includes high-speed rails which require large invest-ments. PPP would further be used for connectivity to ports

and procurement of parcel vans. Stations are to be devel-oped as per global standards using the PPP model.

Public-private partner-ships and greater FDI have been seen to support infra-structure development and create more employment opportunities. Foreign Direct Investment would help the Railways sector to get access to better funding and develop world class rail infrastructure.

Unified Traffic and Trans-portation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineer-ing) Centre, led by Lieuten-ant Governor Najeeb Jung,

has approved two vital infra-structure projects for New Delhi. The first of these is the RTR parallel flyover for which work will start after the monsoon around Sep-tember or October with a detailed report already hav-ing been prepared for it.

The second project is road widening between Andheria Mor and Mahi-palpur. Work for this proj-ect already started in Janu-ary 2013 but was interrupted due to citizens complain-ing about trees being cut down without informing

the forest department. The case even was submitted to the National Green Tribunal. The body asked officials to modify the design such that

fewer trees would have to be felled. Appropriate changes have been made which fur-ther incorporates connect-ing AIIMS with Barapul-lah elevated road. Also an U-turn is to be included in the green space adjacent to the DND flyway which will be a viable alternative to the current long route. The car-riageway width of the Vikas-Meera Bagh road is further to be reduced from 13m to 12m, so as to create space for 70 trees, keeping in mind health concerns of local residents.

E-rickshaws to be used with fewer regulationsUnion Transport Minister, Nitin Gadkari has announced that battery-operated vehi-cles will not fall under the Motor Vehicles Act imply-ing that licences would not

be required to drive these. This year has seen introduc-tion of 90,000 e-rickshaws on city roads with several being

placed on arterial roads, lead-ing to serious traffic issues. The government seeks to make e-rickshaws legal through use of battery power of upto 650W without the need for

proper registration etc. This is in comparison to vehicles under 250W that run at speed less than 25kmph which are

eligible for exemption.However Gadkari has

declared the vehicles as being eco-friendly although more than four passengers will not be allowed on e-rickshaws at once with a luggage limit being set at 50kg. “In the next three years, we want e-rick-shaws to ply in all major cities in India. We don’t want people to manually pull rickshaws to earn their livelihood when we have such a convenient and environment-friendly mode of transportation available,” explained Gadkari.

“The registration of e-rick-shaws will be done by civic agencies. Each driver will be issued an identity card at the time of registration for which they will have to pay ̀ 100. The state police and municipal commissioners will frame the policy to regulate e-rickshaws and also decide on the ceiling limit,” added Gadkari.

Metro Rail Network to be expanded to more citiesIn support of the Metro Rail Network, Finance Minis-ter Arun Jaitley highlighted the need for decongesting ‘two million plus cities’. The Centre has decided to employ the Metro for the purpose of rapid and planned urban development. He has allo-cated ̀ 100 crore for two new Metro projects in Lucknow and Ahmedabad.

The Minister emphasised on how Urban Metro Proj-ects have played an impor-tant role in decongesting large cities and planning for this needs to begin imme-diately. The government is pushing for the develop-ment of Rail Metro systems

that includes rail systems in public private participa-tion mode, which is to be

supported by Central gov-ernment through Viability Gap Funding.

New Delhi: Flyover project gets clearance

urban news digest | august 2014 • 28Resilient Cities | disaster mitigation, safety, security

At the 6th Asian Ministe-rial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR), Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju led a high-level delegation to share the precautionary steps it took that helped in saving the lives of nearly one million peo-ple when a deadly typhoon- Cyclone Phailin hit Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in 2013. The theme for this year’s event was ‘Promoting Invest-ment for Resilient Nations and Communities.’

At the conference, the Min-ister highlighted the steps taken by the Indian govern-ment in evacuating the one million people in the two states in October 2013. Rijiju spoke about the innovative use of high-end technology includ-ing satellite imagery and accu-rate weather forecasting tools.

India’s Ambassador to

Thailand, Harsh Vardhan Shringla explained that over the years, India has invested in technology and mechanisms to prevent life and property dam-age from disasters. The nation has also been leading efforts in co-operation with other Asian countries in lowering risk of

disasters in Asia.India is set to attain the

goals set under the Hyogo Framework of Action through systematic and sustained efforts. 168 countries have sup-ported this framework as the global plan structure for disas-ter risk reduction.

India highlights measures for disaster management at AMCDRR

Guwahati: Traffic jams identified as major obstacle in disaster managementTraffic jams and narrow roads in Guwahati have been iden-tified as major obstacles in disaster management mea-sures during high magnitude earthquakes. NDMA Vice Chairman M Sashidhar Reddy has expressed that traffic bot-tlenecks were found to cause delay in disaster situations during surveys held as part of the multi-stage mega mock drill.

64 narrow roads in the bus-tling city have been recognised for widening to facilitate effec-tive management of disasters like earthquakes. ”We will take

up the issue with the Planning Commission and the Prime Minister for providing funds to the state government to widen the roads,” said Reddy.

As part of the survey, five locations in the city assessed based on their earthquake preparedness. These included schools, hospitals, shopping malls, government offices and commercial and residen-tial buildings. The purpose of multi-stage mock drill was to investigate areas that are lag-ging behind, generate pub-lic awareness and build a first response team.

Various agencies collaborate to protect Mumbai’s coastlineBrihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Mumbai Police and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have come together to position sol-diers across the city’s beaches this monsoon as pre-cau-tionary measures for reduc-ing deaths from drowning. BMC lifeguards and Fire Bri-gade have been given rescue operations, NDRF has been delegated the task of provid-ing expert assistance while the police will be in charge of controlling the crowd at the famous beach stretches.

15 security guards have been deployed at the Gate-way of India from 10 am to 6 pm to prevent people from the sea while six teams have been organised for the sen-sitive areas in the city prone to water-logging during high tide. Each team will include

members of the fire brigade, NDRF and lifeguards. As per the Disaster Manage-ment Cell, around 40 guards have been stationed at Dadar, Aksa, Gorai, Versova, and Juhu beaches.

In north Mumbai, police have also connected with res-idents for improved co-ordi-nation during emergency cir-cumstances as locals who swim in open seas are particu-larly vulnerable to drowning.

Kolkata has been displaying signs of the Heat Island Syn-drome. Urban heat islands occur as a result of high atmo-spheric and surface tempera-tures, mostly due to presence of a vast amount of heat-radiating materials like con-crete and bitumen. Accord-ing to a study by National Environment Engineering Research (NEER) in Kolkata, heat absorbed during the day cannot escape at night due to massive concretisation, high-rises sprouting in the city skyline and depleted green spaces. As per the survey there is a difference of 3-4°C between the city centre and the

peripheral areas.The temperature is 39°C at

Dalhousie Square and above 35°C around Howrah as by reports from India Meteo-rological Department (IMD) in Kolkata. The heat island is also moving towards the east where urban growth is

taking place at an increasingly high rate.

Particles laden with hot air circulate at height of 10 feet while the air velocity in the city too is 2km/hr although it ideally needs to be 7km/hr. Low green cover and tall buildings have restricted the speed of winds. Earlier the East Kolkata Wetlands offered respite during summer but with high urbanisation rates that too is changing.

The heat islands can also lead to illness and death, and causes an increase in demand for energy and air-condition-ers, leading to high green-house gas emission.

kolkata: urban heat islands cause rise in temperatures

world alliance of cities against poverty promote resilient citiesThe Executive Steering Committee of the World Alli-ance of Cities Against Pov-erty (WACAP) has stated that Alliance’s secretariat and institutional home will now fall under UN Office for South-South Cooper-ation (UNOSSC) from UN Development Programme (UNDP). New plans devel-oped under the initiative include setting up of a pri-vate sector advisory coun-cil for sustainable, inclusive and resilient urban devel-opment. WACAP has been developed as a platform and network that allows the exchange of knowledge and best practices among may-ors, civil leaders, municipal civil servants, businesses, civil society representatives, women’s organisations and NGOs.

Nader Ghazal, Mayor of City of Tripoli and mem-ber of WACAP network explained, “It will be good for the cities of the North and the South for the latter to be more involved in the inter-national development archi-tecture. We need to break the stereotype of the South being a region in need, but rather a region that is contributing to

its own development, and to the development of its sister cities of the North.”

The UN Secretary-Gen-eral’s Envoy on South-South Cooperation and UNOSSC Director, Yiping Zhou, remarked that his office is honored to take on the stew-ardship of WACAP. “The mandate given by the UN General Assembly to pro-mote, facilitate and coor-dinate efforts in support to South-South and triangular cooperation on a global and UN-wide basis, gives this office a unique role in pro-moting city-to-city collabo-ration for mutual benefit,” he said.

He emphasised on the fact that “WACAP will ensure mayors from all regions can engage in meaningful contri-butions to make our cities – especially those in the Global South – cleaner and safer, more resilient and sustain-able, more affordable, acces-sible and livable for all.”

29 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 disaster mitigation, safety, security | resilient cities

A Safety for Women on Pub-lic Road Transport Scheme has been announced that seeks to ramp up the security provided in buses and other public trans-port for women. The scheme is to be implemented in its pilot phase this year, with `50 crore being allocated for it as funding. A further `150 crore has been reserved for safety of women in larger cities as announced by Finance Minister Arun Jait-ley. Crisis Management Centres in all districts of the national

capital territory (NCT) have also been announced in all gov-ernment and private hospitals.

A further scheme called ‘Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao’ is to be set up with the goal of improving efficiency in delivery services for women. These campaigns would sensitise people towards issues revolving around the girl child and women. Plans to include within the school sylla-bus a chapter on awareness of gender equality and rights are also underway.

Government introduces schemes for women’s safety in large cities in India

cities develop climate change strategies for protection of business: cdp reports

Protecting our Capital, the recent report from CDP, for-merly Carbon Disclosure Project, AECOM and C40 Cit-ies Climate Leadership Group (C40) has revealed that the major cities of the world identi-fied climate change as a threat to the businesses that function within them. The report pri-marily states how cities and firms have become increas-ingly aware of the financial risks of climate change and how city action on climate change can help reduce these for the businesses.

Larissa Bull, Head of CDP’s Cities Program said, “Local governments are storming ahead to protect their citi-zens and businesses from the impacts of climate change, but further collaboration with business is needed to increase city resilience.”

Cities contribute to more than 80% of the global GDP, with half of the global popula-tion living in them. Cities con-sume over 60% of the world’s energy and are concerned with climate change issues. 207 cities including Johannes-burg, London, New York, Syd-ney, Sao Paulo and Tokyo have described their action plan for adapting to climate change in the CDP report. This is more than the 110 cities that reported the same last year, implying the significance city govern-ments associate with envi-ronmental preservation. This is largely the results of many

cities recognising the potential of damage to local economies as a result of extreme weather conditions as property, cap-ital assets, transport, infra-structure , citizens’ health are all vulnerable. Further taking pre-cautionary measures also result in financial savings for cities.

Kerem Yilmaz, C40 Head of Research said, “The need to understand and act upon cli-mate risk is a growing prior-ity. That’s why these cities are taking steps right now to help create more climate-resilient communities, economies and infrastructure. ”

AECOM has done the required analysis for the report and has united with CDP’S partner C40 to present it. Data from 50 cities was col-lected with 78 firms expressing that they do perceive climate change to have a real, physical impact on their operations. Disasters such as drought, intense rainfall, storms, floods, heat waves and sea level rise were all considered.

Gary Lawrence, Chief Sus-tanability Officer for AECOM said, “Three quarters of the cities that have taken part in CDP’s cities programme this year identified substantial benefits that flow to both pub-lic and private economies from climate adaptation initiatives. These benefits can be ampli-fied through closer collabora-tions and sharing of knowl-edge and technical resources.”

Resilient Cities group releases short film on climate changeResilient Cities group has brought out a short film entitled ‘Knowledge and Action- Cli-mate Change Impacts in Asian Cities and Ways to Adapt’. The video shows city officials, cit-izens, scientists and ICLEI experts from India, Europe and the Philippines express-ing their opinions on the impact of climate change at the local level. Several stories included are about how the local gov-ernments and stakeholders in the two Asian countries han-dle working with research-ers and several stakeholders.

It particularly focuses on good communication, forward plan-ning and the actions to support communities in managing cli-mate change impacts in tough urban conditions.

The film has been produced by Climate Media Factory in Potsdam (Germany) in rela-tion to ICLEI- headed Asian-CitiesAdapt project in which

many ICLEI offices in col-laboration with Indian Insti-tute of Technology Delhi and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research encourage adaptation of planning meth-ods in eight cities in India and the Philippines. Asian-CitiesAdapt, also a partner in the International Climate Ini-tiative, is supported by the Federal Ministry for Envi-ronment, Nature Conserva-tion, Building and Nuclear Safety in reference to Parlia-ment of Federal Republic of Germany.

community volunteers identified as crucial element of disaster managementCommunity Response Teams have been created in light of the disasters occurring in the East Godavri district that required immediate action. Accord-ing to former member of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) N. Vinod Chandra Menon, authorities need to select youth volunteers at the local level and provide them with training for disaster preparedness.

“It has come to light that the corroded pipeline was not reg-ularly monitored. Moreover, people living in such vulnerable

areas must remain extremely alert all the time. Mock exer-cises must be taken up at least once every six months to make the locals aware of the intensity of such accidents,” he said.

Involving local NGOs as crucial members in the cam-paign along with making Dis-trict Disaster Management Authorities more active would help to reduce the impact of disasters.

“We need to move from the culture of reaction to culture of preparedness as far as safety of the common man is concerned.

What we saw at Nagaram was a man-made disaster. In projects like these, three key aspects—construction, maintenance and operation– are important, which was ignored,” says Vikas Gora, Member, Sub-group on Disaster Management of the 12 Five Year Plan of the Plan-ning Commission. “Disaster preparedness is the need of the hour. There is an urgent need to build a culture of safety,” he added.

battery powered vehicles launched for defence of citiesIndia’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has brought out mini armoured vehicles, charged by batteries which are capable of going into bustling cities and towns. These are three-ton vehi-cles run by fully equipped com-mandos moving effortlessly through narrow alleyways such as in hotel lobbies, office, apart-ment buildings, airport termi-nals and train stations apart from terrorist hide-outs.

DRDO’s Vehicles Research and Development Establish-ment (VRDE), Ahmednagar has developed low noise electric anti-terrorist vehicles (ATVs) so that defence requirements can be met. All the vehicles will

support all round protection including small arms and hand grenades, these being deployed easily in the narrow passages of hotels and dangerous settings where to travel in normal vehi-cles is next to impossible. These tracked vehicles were ballisti-cally tested by Central Reserve Police Force at Dausa, Rajasthan and underwent a successful gre-nade trial at Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh.

urban news digest | august 2014 • 30happening cities | events

Construction Chemical Inter-national Seminar branded C3 was held in Chennai ear-lier this year at Grand Venue Chennai Trade Centre and was attended by over 550 del-egates. C3- a unique seminar – covering Effective use of Construction Chemicals for enduring structures in the field of Construction Chemi-cals was inaugurated by Chief Guest Professor Dr. Nagesh Iyer, Director CSIR and Dr.

Prabhat Kumar, CMD, Bha-vini was the Guest of Honour.

In the grand inaugu-ral session, Samir Surlaker,

President CCMA-Con-struction Chemicals Manu-factueres Association, wel-comed all delegates to play an

interactive role. Dr.Nagesh Iyer in his inaugural address, informed the audience as well as CMA members about the tremendous growth of Con-struction Chemicals in India. Dr.Prabhat Kumar explained the usage of Construction Chemicals in Nuclear struc-tures and encouraged CCMA to actively take part in tech-nological development. Upen Patel introduced CCMA activ-ities and G Manari, Convenor

and CMD, Cerachem pro-posed the vote of thanks.

C3 was addressed by many international speak-ers from BASF, Sika, Chryso, MC-Bauchemie etc along with Indian experts from the field such as Cerachem, Fairmate, Ultratech etc. The programme while being technical, blended all other aspects and participants appreciated the dissemina-tion of knowledge.

Construction Chemicals International Seminar held in Chennai

India Concrete Institute and Ultratech organised a function in Metropole Margao Goa. It was well attended by over 200 engineering professionals of Goa. Pascal Noronha, Chair-man ICI Goa welcomed the par-ticipants and the function was inaugurated by Chief Guest M. Radhakrishnan, Secretary Gen-eral of ICI while Keshav Tayde, VP (West) ICI was the Guest of Honour.

Samir Surlaker, Presi-dent of Construction Chemi-cals Manufacturers Associa-tion, Chairman of ICI, Mumbai and Director of ICACI made

a technical presentation on ‘Recent Advances in Construc-tion Chemicals.’ He is the co-author of Handbook of Concrete Technology and has presented over 800 lectures and writ-ten over 150 technical papers. Surlaker also was awarded Outstanding Concrete Engi-neer Award at the hands of Dr. Manmohan Kalgal- Head Tech-nical Services, Ultratech.

Other awards included Outstanding Concrete Struc-ture award for New Airport

Terminal of Goa, Jury Applica-tion award for Irrigation Depart-ment of Bhandara on remote river in Usgaon and Outstand-ing Concrete Structure-Build-ing Category to Space building in Patto.

The function concluded with a Presidential address by Tayde and a vote of thanks by Jennifer Kamat, Secretary, ICI Goa. The function was held under the stewardship and guidance of M. Ramachandra, Vice-President, Technical South of Ultratech.

The second-edition of the annual Survey of India’s City Systems by Janaagraha was held on June 7, 2014 in New Delhi. A panel discussion on city-systems and systems framework was part of this event, which had speakers such as Arun Maira, Mem-ber, Planning Commission, Rajiv Lall, Executive Chair-man, IDFC, and Ramesh Ramanathan, Co-Founder, Janaagraha.

A further session on Building 21st Century Cit-ies: Rethinking City Plans & Design was organised with Liu ¬Thai Ker, Former Chief Executive and Chief Planner

Singapore Urban Redevel-opment Authority. Biou Kerina Wong of the World Bank Group also discussed the topic of ‘Connecting Cit-ies and Citizens: The need for Radical Openness.’ The important subject of getting urban citizens to vote also featured as a topic of discus-sion with Michael Caudell-Feagan, Vice President, Gov-ernment Practice, The Pew Charitable Trusts. The event concluded with the release of V.O.I.C.E Survey & Awards ceremony.

samir surlaker wins outstanding concrete engineer award at ici goa event

annual survey of india’s city-systems held in new delhi

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31 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | AUGUST 2014 events | happening cities

The Skyscrapers and Pre-fab India Summit, organised by the Fleming Gulf was held from July 24 to July 25, 2014 in Mumbai. The summit entitled ‘Raising the Skyline of Modern India’ provides a platform for infrastructure and real estate

industry peers for upcoming development of skyscrapers and prefabricated buildings. This year’s conference included top-ics such as Requisites of Urban Planning for Skyscrapers, Impact of Globalisation on Real Estate Industry, Understanding

Seismology and High Winds affecting Skyscrapers.

Speakers included Lalit Kumar Jain, Chairman, CRE-DAI; Raj Pillai, Director at Sobha Developers Ltd; Vasude-van Suresh, Director, HIRCO Project Companies, Vice

Chairman, National Build-ing Code; Pradip D.Bangaali, HBS Realtors Pvt.Ltd; Satish Bhujbal, Director, Kalpataru Limited and Vagish Sharma, Programme Development, National Skill Development Corporation. Knowledge

sharing sessions, network-ing opportunities along with an exhibition was showcased at the event. Promoters, devel-opers, builders, architects, real estates and infrastructure con-sultants from the industry all participated at the event.

Skyscrapers and Prefab India Summit held in Mumbai

smart cities summit focuses on various aspects of technology driven citiesSmart Cities Summit was held at the Hotel Four Sea-sons in Mumbai on August 22 and 23, 2014. The two day summit aimed at providing an effective knowledge shar-ing platform that offered the opportunity for stakehold-ers to network and brain-storm, bringing forth new innovative perspectives in the country. This year’s summit closely followed the appear-ance of Smart Cities in the

mainstream as the new gov-ernment has proposed to develop this idea further and use smart city protocols and operating platforms. Fur-thermore use of technology as the norm in energy, devel-opment, transport and secu-rity will be widespread.

There were 50 speak-ers, more than 300 dele-gates and 8 sessions at the event. The speakers included Karuna Gopal, President at

Foundation for Futuristic Cities, Ameer Azami, MD, Cisco Systems, David Sweet, Executive Director, World Alliance for Decentralised

Energy, Ravi Kamisetti, Associate, OMA, Ram-nath Venkateswaran, Busi-ness Development Man-ager, EnVaC among other

notables. Sessions were held on smart buildings, smart mobility, smart utilities, smart energy and safety and security.

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