India and the developing coun-tries have been witnessing a major demographic boom, with strong and irreversible trends in urbanisation. The Indian population is set to double from 28 crores in 2001 to 56 crores in 2025. Cities have been contributing to more than 70% of GDP for vibrant eco-nomic development. However, the same have been bursting at the seams with deficiencies in urban infrastructure, cit-izen services, as well as gov-ernance mechanism for mak-ing cities safe and liveable. In many cases, it has reached cri-sis level situations.

With the above scenario in view, Municipalika 2013, the 11th International Conference and Exhibition on Good Urban Governance for Safe, Healthy, Green, Inclusive and Smart Cities – Making Cities Work, is being organised from 13th to 15th March, 2013 at India Expo Centre in Delhi-NCR, India’s largest and the world’s second largest urban agglom-eration, with a population of 22,157,000. Municipalika 2013 is being organised with the active support of Government of India, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of

Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and under the patronage of UN Habitat as well as other state, national and international urban stake-holder institutions.

Government of Rajasthan is Partner State of Municipalika 2013. Government of Odisha and Government of Jharkhand are the Feature States. Amda-vad Municipal Corporation and Raipur Municipal Corpo-ration are the Partner Cities while Ranchi Municipal Corpo-ration and Municipal Corpora-tion of Greater Mumbai are the Feature Cities. Among the lead partners are the Sumer Group, United Technologies Corpo-ration and Organic Recycling Systems Pvt Ltd. Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) are Knowledge Partners. Urban News Digest is the Official Pub-lication, while the Online Part-ner is Magic Bricks.

Municipalika 2013 has a Conference Segment, with 10 Technical Sessions (Pro-gressive and Working Cities, Safe, Secure and Resilient Cit-ies - Gender Sensitive Public Safety, Healthy Cities, Green

Cities, Vibrant Cities, Inclu-sive & Humane Cities, Smart Cities, Integrated and Self Con-tained Cities) covering impor-tant and critical areas of sus-tainable urban development, management and governance, with challenges, case studies, best practices, and solutions.

Delegates from 100 cities of India and abroad, compris-ing Ministers, Secretaries to State Governments, Mayors, Municipal Commissioners, City Managers, Town Plan-ners, Architects, Engineers, Urban Transport Specialists, E-Governance Experts, Urban Utility Managers, Private Sec-tor and Citizen’s Group are participating in the conference deliberations.

It also has an Exhibition Segment displaying and dem-onstrating the use of equip-ment, machinery, technolo-gies and services for the above areas. Over 100 technology pro-viders are showcasing their technologies and solutions. Visitors get free entry into the exhibition, which is open on all three days from 10 am to 6 pm.

As part of new initiatives in Municipalika 2013, Urban Inno-vation Challenge, a Design Idea Competition, was launched for the first time, inviting innova-tive solutions for urban chal-lenges, from students of engi-neering, architecture and planning from all over India. Excellent response through 53 entries has been received cov-ering Macro issues on Sustain-able Cities and Townships and Micro issues on Green Build-ings and Habitats. Innovative solutions for the urban chal-lenges on water supply and waste water treatment, sanita-tion, solid waste management, urban mobility, housing, build-ing materials, green building technologies and sustainable township development have been received.

The winners, selected by an eminent jury will receive the Urban Innovation Challenge Awards during Municipalika 2013.

Municipalika has over the last 10 years been organ-ised in New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmed-abad, Bangalore and Chen-nai. The conference segment is organised by Good Governance India Foundation, while the exhibition logistics are handled by Fairfest Media Limited.

The curtain goes up...`50 / us $5 march 2013Volume II l Issue 1 Pages 32 www.urbannewsdigest.in

Special Features

Focus Cities

Progressive and Working Cities 04

Safe, Secure and Resilient Cities 06

Futur

e Citie

s 08

Green Cities 12

Vibrant Cities 14

Smart Cities 18

Delhi-NCR 22

Chandigarh 26

Mohali 28

Lucknow 29 Kanpur 30

Panchkula 27

Supported by

Under the patronage of

Organised by

SPECIAL FEATURE 04 FOCUS CITY 22

Integrated and Self-Contained Cities 20

Inclusive and Humane Cities 16

Healt

hy Ci

ties

10

2 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGEST

Urban News Digest is printed and published by Sanjiv Kumar Agarwal on behalf of Fairfest Media Ltd.

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Published at 216 A/1 Gautam Nagar, Gulmohar Park, New Delhi-110 049.

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….……………………………………………Volume II - Issue 1For feedback and information, write in at info@urbannewsdigest.in

Editor & Publisher Sanjiv Agarwal

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Editorial DirectorGazanfar Ibrahim

International EditorJill Cartwright

Editorial TeamMayuri BhattacharjeeSuvodip Chatterjee

General ManagersNitin TelangR MaheshRajarshi DeSubhash Rana

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front Page contd.

The CategoriesPost Graduate entries addressing Macro issues - SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND TOWNSHIPS Post Graduate entries addressing Micro issues - GREEN BUILDINGS AND HABITATS Under Graduate entries addressing Macro issues - SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND TOWNSHIPSUnder Graduate entries addressing Micro issues - GREEN BUILDINGS AND HABITATS

The Criteria for Evaluation • Innovation• Problem Identification and definition• Focus and Depth, Replicability and Scalability• Commitment towards Vulnerable sections of society• Clarity of Expression & Presentation

The Jury Dr. Prem C JainChairman AECOM and Chairman, Indian Green Building Council

V SureshDirector HIRCO Project Companies

Tanmay TathagatDirector, Environmental Design Solutions

Neeraj KapoorDirector, Kalpakrit Sustainable Environments

The ResultsPost Graduate MacroJoint Winner - Pragnya Prakash, Neelanjan Ganguly and Sagar Fulari from School of Planning & Architecture, New DelhiEntry Title - Tool to judge sustainable development in cities

Joint Winner - Gaurav Dilip Arbooj from CEPT University, AhmedabadEntry Title - Parivartan- redefining the meaning of urban development in Kathputly Colony

Special Mention - Priyanka Prakash Bhalekar from CEPT University, AhmedabadEntry Title - Urban supply chain- urban agriculture

Post Graduate MicroWinner - Santanu Das, Somreeta Das and Maitreyi Yellapragada from IIT, KharagpurEntry Title - Tessellation Models to tackle issues in slum housing programmes

Under Graduate MacroWinner - Bhavin Kantilal Patel from Sir JJ College of Architecture, MumbaiEntry Title - Urban Refuse Recycling Project

Special Mention - Jaynish Shah, Karan Sancheti and Vedika Tulsiyan from SVKM’s NMIMS University Balwant Seth School of Architecture, MumbaiEntry Title - ‘Mumbai Walk Kar’- an important east-west connect

Under Graduate MicroWinner - Amruta Chandrakant Thakur from Sir JJ College of Architecture, MumbaiEntry Title - Affordable housing for mill workers

Special Mention - Ankit Shah, Anushree Varadkar and Manjiri Shinde from Sir JJ College of Architecture, MumbaiEntry Title - A new design to develop Shivajinagar

Design ideas competition for professional students

UN-Habitat’s initiatives for a better urban futureUN-HABITAT helps the urban poor by bridg-ing the urban divides and transforming cities to cleaner, greener, safer, smarter and more equitable places with better opportunities where everyone can live in dignity. UN-HAB-ITAT works with organisations at every level, including all spheres of government, civil soci-ety and the private sector to help build, manage, plan and finance sustainable urban develop-ment. Two flagship initiatives of UN-Habi-tat for building a better urban future are: The World Urban Campaign and the ‘I am a City Changer’ campaign.

The World Urban Campaign (WUC) is a global advocacy to form a network of partners from public, private and social sectors work-ing together to share information and best practices to achieve resil-ient, sustainable urban communities worldwide. The WUC seeks to ensure that the world stays alert to the problems of rapid urbanisa-tion and all its ramifications, especially in the developing countries.

While, the ‘I am a City Changer’ campaign aims to inform citizens and raise their awareness on urban issues; as well as share informa-tion on individual, corporate and public initiatives that improve urban living conditions and support sustainable development.

New partners Partner State : Rajasthan

Feature States : Jharkhand, Odisha

Partner Cities : Ahmedabad, Raipur

Feature Cities : Mumbai, Ranchi

Platinum Partner : Sumer GroupAssociate Partners : United Technologies Corporation, Organic Recycling Systems

Country Participation : France (UBI, The Trade Commission of the French Embassy in India)

Strategic Partner : GIZ

New conference sessions incorporatedCS 02B : Gender-sensitive Public Safety

CS 03B : Urban Sanitation and Waste-water Management

CS 07 : Vibrant Cities — Living Heritage

CS 10 : Integrated Township Development, Including New-Towns, SEZs etc.

Special eventsUrban Innovation Challenge Competition for students of Engineering, Architecture and Planning from reputed institutions spread across the country.

Atkins to launch source book on low carbon master planning approach.

GenNext Cities Open House: Interaction of students and youth with city managers and urban stakeholders.

Highlights and Updates

3 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | March 2013 front Page contd.

SPECIAL FEATURE

India’s urban population will reach close to 600 million

by 2031, and this is not merely a shift of demographics. It places cities and towns at the centre of India’s development story. In the coming decades, the urban sector will play a critical role in the structural transformation of the Indian economy and in sustaining the high rates of economic growth. Ensuring high quality pub-lic services for all in the cities and towns of India is an end in itself, and it will also facilitate the full realisation of India’s economic potential.

Urban policy actively shapes the ways in which peo-ple live in cities. It also reflects the contemporary understand-ings of the role of cities in eco-nomic and social development. Thus, the rate at which India is urbanising calls for policies and strategies to make our cit-ies progressive and ‘working’.

The Report on Indian Urban Infrastructure and Services brought out by the High Powered Expert Commit-tee (HPEC) for estimating the investment requirements for urban infrastructure ser-vices, argues that the challenge of managing urbanisation will have to be addressed through a combination of increased investment, strengthening

the framework for gover-nance and financing, and a comprehensive capacity build-ing programme at all levels of government.

At the centre of this approach is the role of cities and towns in an interdepen-dent federal system. The Com-mittee is of the view that urban local bodies (ULBs) need to be strengthened as local self-government with clear func-tions, independent financial resources, and autonomy to take decisions on investment and service delivery. These bodies must also be made accountable to citizens. The Committee said that the ele-ments of this shift can be seen in the local government frame-work as reflected in the 74th Constitutional Amendment, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), and the empha-sis placed on the urban sector by the 13th Central Finance Commission.

The ULBs in some of the larger cities may be well equipped to take on the responsibility for all the func-tions, while many other ULBs may not be ready for assum-ing the responsibility of deliv-ering even the basic services. In such cases, the Govern-ment of India will have to

Progressive and Working Cities

Best Practices

Ranchi: Door-to-door tax collectionThe Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) has introduced a door-to-door tax collection service recently, offering much relief to senior citizens and those who are pressed for time. The Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) is arguably the first civic entity in the country to have introduced this kind of an initiative.

The dedicated van is equipped with a WLL phone. Citizens willing to pay their holding tax from home just need to dial the number 2100164 and register their address.

Civic officials collect the money from the doorstep and also issue a receipt on the spot. The best thing is that no additional charges are levied for the service.

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proactively push them to dis-charge these responsibili-ties. The urban infrastructure augmentation scheme, Jawa-harlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) launched in 2005, was a step in this direction.

New JNNURMRecently, it was announced that the official launch of the second phase of JNNURM, is likely to occur after the next parliamentary election. How-ever, as a stop-gap arrange-ment, the Centre has decided to provide about ₨15,000 crore for the scheme till 2014. The states would pump in another

₨10,000 crore for fresh proj-ects to be covered under this scheme.

Also it has been decided that with only few states utilis-ing the money released to them under the JNNURM-I, the central government will now release money based on their performance. Earlier, the pop-ulation of a city was a major criteria in receiving the funds aimed at improving infra-structure, transport, drainage and housing in urban sectors. According to the data available with the Ministry of Urban Development, only13 out of 30 states were able to utilise more than 50% of the money sanc-tioned to them since 2006.

Speaking at the meeting of elected representatives of ULBs from all over the coun-try in New Delhi last March, Urban Development Minis-ter Kamal Nath stated that in the next phase of JNNURM, there would be enhanced focus on smaller towns and cities. He said that the lack of human capacity was the sin-gle most important reason for the inability of the ULBs to benefit significantly from JNNURM-I. He stated that the state governments must set up dedicated municipal cadres to avail of funds under JNNURM Phase II.

The thrust areas of the new scheme, which will receive increased investment — nearly 75% more than the phase ending — will be

development of slums, acces-sibility to basic public ser-vices such as drinking water, sewerage, solid waste man-agement, roads and street lights to all, including the poor and focusing on urban planning.

The scheme will also emphasise better gover-nance, including setting up an urban utility regula-tor, use of e-governance, set-ting up Indian Institutes of Urban Management in dif-ferent places of the country, allowing urban local bodies to impose ‘exclusive’ taxes, introducing parking fees to enhance revenue streams and promote the use of public transport and collecting trade licensing fee on the basis of a self-assessment return.

At present 63 cities are cov-ered by JNNURM-I. In the sec-ond phase the number will go up and the list will include smaller ones spread across the country. Urban Develop-ment Minister Kamal Nath said that as the urban areas are expected to grow further, the new scheme would cover areas not covered by the first JNNURM.

Under the JNNURM Phase II , the government is planning to invest over ₨2 lakh crore, is much higher than the current scheme which is around ₨1.2 lakh crore. The new mission programme will give thrust to areas identified by the High Powered Expert Commit-tee (HPEC) for estimating the investment requirements for urban infrastructure services.

Best Practices

Bhubaneswar: Vending zones The vending zones of Bhubaneswar have gained a lot of popularity among town planners across the country and representatives of urban local bodies of different states have been visiting the city at regular intervals to take tips to introduce similar vending zones in their respective areas.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation gets a two-way benefit out of the vending zones. Once the vending zones are set up, the number of demolition drives comes down, thus providing the corporation an opportunity to save funds. Demolition drives cost the corporation coffer a lot of money. At the same time the corporation generates revenue through trade licences provided to street vendors settled in the vending zones. The common people get the benefit of cleaner and neat environment.

6 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGEST

The State of the World’s Cit-ies report brought out by

UN-Habitat last year says that more than half the human race lives in cities and the numbers are only likely to increase in the future. Thus, the world’s future prosperity largely depends on the ability of cities to reduce risk and build resil-ience to both natural and man-made disasters.

All over the world local government officials are faced with the threat of disasters on a daily basis and need bet-ter access to policies and tools to effectively deal with them. Being closest to people, local governments play the first role in responding to crises and emergencies. But, they can only function well when all stakeholders, such as national governments, international, regional and civil society organisations, donors, the pri-vate sector, academia and pro-fessional associations as well as every citizen are engaged in disaster risk reduction and mitigation strategies. All of the stakeholders must play their part in contributing to building disaster resilient cities.

According to the 2011 Revi-sion of the World Urbanisa-tion Prospects report brought out by the UN, almost 890 mil-lion people globally live in cit-ies that lie in at least one major natural disaster zone—at risk

of events such as flooding, drought, cyclones or earth-quakes. Among the 450 urban areas having a population of at least one million in 2011, almost 60% are exposed to the risk of a natural disaster and Asia is home to two-thirds of these cities, according to the report.

Tokyo lies in a region with a high risk of flooding and cyclones; Delhi has a high risk of flooding and medium risk of droughts; Mexico City has a high risk of flooding; the region of New York-Newark has a high risk of flooding and medium risk of cyclones; and Shanghai, too, is at a high risk of flooding.

The most frequent natu-ral disaster is reported to be flooding, which affects 633 urban agglomerations. At least 233 cities are located close to regions with a high risk of flooding, which affects almost 663 million people, according to the report. Drought is the second-most frequent hazard, affecting 132 cities, followed by cyclones affecting 68 cit-ies. “The more governments, UN agencies, organisations, businesses and civil society understand risk and vulner-ability, the better equipped they will be to mitigate disas-ters when they strike and save more lives,” said Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General.

The adverse impacts of hazards often cannot be pre-vented fully, but their scale or severity can be substantially lessened by various strategies and actions. Mitigation mea-sures encompass engineering techniques and hazard-resis-tant construction as well as improved environmental pol-icies and public awareness.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is the nodal ministry for handling man-agement of natural disas-ters (e.g. earthquakes, floods, cyclones, tsunami, landslides etc) and man-made disasters (e.g. fires, chemical, biologi-cal, radiological, and terrorist attacks etc). It has undertaken several initiatives for building disaster resilient communities in India. In the recent past, several steps have been taken for strengthening existing preparedness, mitigation and response mechanisms of the state governments and local authorities in the country.

In India, the NDMA, headed by the Prime Minis-ter, is the apex body for disas-ter management in the coun-try. Its vision is to build a safer and disaster resilient India by developing a holistic, pro-active, multi-disaster and technology-driven strategy for disaster management through collective efforts of all govern-ment agencies and non-gov-ernmental organisations.

The Disaster Management Act, 2005 has made the statu-tory provisions for the consti-tution of the National Disas-ter Response Force (NDRF) for the purpose of specialised response to natural and man-made disasters. According to Section 45 of the Act, the Force has to function under the gen-eral superintendence, direc-tion and control of the National Disaster Management Author-ity (NDMA) and under com-mand and supervision of

Director General, NDRF. In lieu with the Section 44 (i) of the Act that states NDRF a spe-cialist force, the force is grad-ually emerging as the most visible and vibrant multi-dis-ciplinary, multi-skilled, high-tech force of the NDMA capa-ble of dealing with all types of natural and man-made disasters.

For the past few months the NDMA has been conduct-ing mega mock drills to gener-ate greater awareness among

Safe, Secure and Resilient Cities

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The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) is the first plan to explain, describe and detail the work that is required from all different sectors and actors to reduce disaster losses. It was devel-oped and agreed on with the many partners needed to reduce disaster risk - governments, international agencies, disaster experts and many others - bringing them into a common sys-tem of coordination. The HFA outlines five priorities for action, they are:

• Ensure that disaster risk reduction is a national and a local priority with a strong institutional basis for implementation.

• Identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and enhance early warning.

• Use knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels.

• Reduce the underlying risk factors.

• Strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response at all levels.

Hyogo Framework for action (HFa)

7 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | March 2013 SaFE, SECURE aND RESiLiENT CiTiES

people about earthquakes. NDMA in association with state administration of Him-achal Pradesh, Punjab, Hary-ana and Union Territory of Chandigarh conducted mega mock drills in the tri-cities of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula, and Shimla in Feb-ruary. This mega mock drill is designed to test the system capabilities for an effective coordinated response to an earthquake having impact on multiple states.

At the local level, efforts are being made to involve cit-izens. Mumbai local bod-ies are addressing flood risk through infrastructure and

engineering projects. Time and again mass earthquake drill are being organised in Delhi, which is classified as a high-risk seismic zone, ranking four on a five-point scale by the United States Geological Sur-vey. To tackle crime and vio-lence, again, local bodies must work on governance, planning, technology, resources and citi-zen awareness.

Ahmedabad is implement-ing an ambitious closed-cir-cuit television (CCTV) cam-era surveillance system at public places. The surveil-lance project includes installa-tion of CCTV cameras at civil hospitals, traffic signals, Bus

Rapid Transit System (BRTS) and Ahmedabad Municipal Transport Services (AMTS) buses and bus routes, bridges and parks. These points have been selected after consult-ing the city police and taking into account past incidents of blasts, thefts and violation of traffic rules.

Several other small security elements like -3D GIS Map-ping of the City, GPS based patrol services, capacity build-ing and modernisation of var-ious paramilitary forces, traf-fic management, better urban design and planning can also help in creating safe and secure cities.

Urban areas are perceived to provide women with bet-ter employment opportuni-ties than rural areas. Data from the 2011 census reveals that the population of urban women in India grew by 34% in the decade spanning 2001 to 2011. Unfortunately, in many Indian cities women and girls still have a lot to worry about when it comes to their personal safety.

According to a survey con-ducted in December by the

Associated Chambers of Com-merce and Industry in India (ASSOCHAM), around 92% of working women felt insecure, especially at night, in all the major hubs of economic activ-ity, especially in the business process outsourcing, informa-tion technology, hospitality, civil aviation, health and gar-ment manufacturing sectors.

The random survey, con-ducted among working and non-working women in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR), Mumbai, Kolkata, Banga-lore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune and Dehradun revealed that almost all the respondents felt that the problem of insecu-rity faced by women was big-ger than any other challenge in India.

Policy planners are adopt-ing inclusive urbanisation as a means to create gender-friendly public spaces in cit-ies. A safety audit by Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre, or Utti-pec under the Delhi Devel-opment Authority has iden-tified four vulnerable areas in the capital—Dwarka sub

city, Nehru Place district cen-tre, the Dhaula Kuan clover-leaf and the outer ring road (Munirka-Mahipalpur). Based on the existing situation, prob-lem areas or unsafe patches will be identified and then all government bodies responsi-ble for maintaining that area will work towards making it safer in the best way possible. Measures undertaken in the pilot will be replicated in other vulnerable or unsafe areas in the city.

According to UN-HABI-TAT local authorities and city management have a crucial role to play in the prevention of violence against women in public spaces. Local author-ities can improve the city’s physical environment through better street lighting, building better alternatives to dark and secluded walkways, or even positioning bus stops in safer areas. Effective interventions often promote consultation and participation from women themselves.

Local governments can also make cities safer by main-streaming gender in their crime prevention policies and pro-grammes, especially through sensitisation campaigns, train-ing and development of ser-vices for women affected by violence. These programmes have a role in changing atti-tudes and behaviour that often end up condoning violence against women. By including women in decision-making, local governments will be in a better position to fulfill their responsibility to ensure the safety of their residents, espe-cially women and girls.

Gender sensitive public safety

8 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGEST

Almost half of the world’s population currently lives

in cities, and by 2050 that is pro-jected to increase to 75%. India will be at the forefront of this urban rise. But urbanisation in India poses an urgent and dif-ficult challenge, too often char-acterised by widespread pov-erty, poor urban infrastructure and environmental degrada-tion. This requires us to act fast or we will have to deal with social and environmental crisis of disastrous proportions. Thus, the question arises: What is the vision we can have for our cities in the future?

The problems the world pres-ently faces in the realms of envi-ronment, poverty and health; demands that Indian cities craft a vision of an entirely new devel-opmental model. The manner in which cities have grown in the past thousand years has been acceptable up till now. But we are at a critical juncture and we need to choose a new path.

According to architect Hafeez Contractor, in the current devel-opmental model – we seem to talk about a host of non-renew-able resources. But we miss the most important resource – land. Arable land that grows food and nurtures the planet earth and its inhabitants (both humans, and other flora and fauna) is limited. Without food, humankind can-not survive; people will die of hunger. The current model of urbanisation is threatening our food supply and the existence of our planet. We need to conserve land desperately and come up with a new type of developmen-tal model. Instead of converting hundreds of acres of farmland into development zones, future cities will have to create farms and forests in already devel-oped zones.

Multi-layered high density

towers will be the way to achieve this development model as they are the best way to ensure com-pact urban centres. The high-rises of the future should be dif-ferently designed; they should be small cities in themselves and multiple levels of gardens, parks and farms in the sky.

Greener futureSustainability experts pre-dict carbon-neutral cities full of electric vehicles and bike-sharing schemes, with greatly improved air quality. Instead of just using energy, Indian

cities should also be produc-ing energy. The cities of the future will conserve every drop of water. In essence, the cities of the future will have to increase the resources of our planet instead of reduc-ing them. The key task of the infrastructure provider of the future will be about adding to bio-productivity of the planet. For selected stra-tegic urban key components — “green structures”, “water systems” and “energy effi-ciency” — effects and impacts will be combined for surplus effects. The single effects will

be enhanced and economic effi-ciency is improved, for example by using green structures and the water system for cooling instead of energy-consuming air-conditioning.

Cities of the future will make a total shift to renew-able energy. Right now, thin-film solar technology is being used in a limited way. Win-dows can be used as solar pan-els and awnings or aluminum sidings can be coated with thin film solar technology that cap-tures and generates electricity.

Future cities will use the next generations of this solar

technology on a widespread scale and this technology will be integrated within the archi-tecture of new buildings and retrofitted into older buildings.

Future cities will also rely on wind farms on the outskirts of the city for power. In order to even out fluctuations caused by wind, water will be electro-lysed, stored as hydrogen then run through a fuel cell to cre-ate electricity as needed, on-demand. This will all be inte-grated into future smart grid technology along with other types of energy sources.

Cities that are above ground

FUTURE CiTiES

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Future Cities

9 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | March 2013 FUTURE CiTiES

will have vast underground net-works that may be subterra-nean cities in themselves with their own identities and cul-tures. Subways, cargo trains, stores, computer data centers and many other businesses will be located underground, using the Earth’s natural heat-ing and cooling systems to con-serve energy.

Digital futureTechnology companies such as Siemens, IBM, Intel and Cisco, believe the cleverest cities of

the future will be those that are hooked into the network. Guru Banavar, IBM’s Chief Tech-nology Officer says, “If I were to build a city from scratch, I would build in the digital infra-structure of sensors, networks and data analytics as metic-ulously as the physical infra-structure of buildings, roads, and utilities. In a modern city, a

robust digital infrastructure is essential to manage the phys-ical resources and ensure the city will be liveable and sustain-able over the long term. A well designed digital infrastructure will support decision-making by public managers as well as private citizens.”

However, a modern city would go far beyond simply sensing what’s going on all around. Good decisions are based on a good understand-ing of information, which means that city data from many sources will need to be inte-

grated and analysed rapidly. For example, city leaders will need high-quality insights to manage a carbon neutrality programme, a social and health services pro-gramme, or an innovative pub-lic transportation programme.

The digital infrastructure can provide the insight and foresight needed to support the right operational decisions,

drive long-term plans, and help evolve the city towards its goals, whether they are social, eco-nomic, or environmental.

GovernanceCities of the future will require a whole new way of thinking, a whole new set of rules and laws. Citizens will not have land rights but have space rights since land will be extremely precious. The political reality will be differ-ent too, with democracy being truly ‘by the people, for the peo-ple and of the people’. The low-est strata of our society will be treated with a greater level of respect and discriminatory

tendencies thrown up by the current model of urbanisation will be a thing of the past. Future cities will offer residents more power, control, security, flexibil-ity and health than at any other time in history.

In the future – the world’s people will be global citi-zens due to huge levels of inter geography – migration; and collaboration between people of different regions paving a way for a world with little con-flict. There will be tremendous intermingling of peo-ple from different cities much like global cities of today and a new global state will evolve.

This vision for future cit-ies may seem far-fetched, but if one just looks back into history and observes where humans have reached at pres-ent, and how cities have devel-oped, one only needs a lit-tle imagination to see how future cities and the technol-ogy behind them will play out ahead of us. However, those building the cities of the future should also remem-ber the words of the Ameri-can author and urbanist Jane Jacobs, “Cities have the capa-bility of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are cre-ated by everybody.”

Masdar United arab EmiratesM a s d a r, w h i c h m e a n s “source” in Arabic, is a city that stands in the middle of the desert of Abu Dhabi in the

United Arab Emirates. It is designed to be one of the most sustainable on the planet. With a solar power station at

its heart and wind farms pro-viding energy for it, it aims to be carbon free.

Everything in the city, from water to rubbish, is mea-sured and monitored, becom-ing a source of information.

It is pedestrian-friendly and entirely car free. The city is experimenting with a network of electric driverless podcars.

SongdoSouth KoreaSongdo, is a $35 billion project, located on reclaimed land near the Yellow Sea, was widely con-sidered to be a model for smart

cities around the globe when it was started in 2005.

Also known as a ubiqui-tous city or U-city, Songdo’s

information systems are all linked to each other. Every home has a telepresence system built in like a dishwasher. As well as allow-ing users to control the heating systems and locks, it offers video conferencing and is intended as a way to deliver education, health care and government services.

Offices and schools are also con-nected to the network.

The digital mastermind behind Songdo is Cisco, which supplies all the network-based technologies. The city is due for completion in 2015, by which time it will be home to 65,000 people and 300,000 workers.

The ‘future’ is ‘present’ in these cities

10 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGEST

The population in Indian cities is growing rapidly

and exerting considerable pressure on urban services. Some of the basic services cru-cial to ensure citizens a healthy living are water supply, urban sanitation, waste water man-agement and integrated solid-waste management form. But, the challenge for Indian cit-ies is not solely to make these basic services available to all citizens, but also to ensure these services are of an accept-able quality.

water supplyThe simultaneous attainment of financial, environmental and social sustainability of urban services is an impor-tant requirement of develop-ment. Given the huge invest-ments that are being made in the improvement of urban infrastructure and services in India, it is of the utmost importance that these invest-ments are made in a manner that brings about the greatest good to the greatest number in a sustainable manner. Within urban infrastructure the sup-ply of water has become one of the most problematic aspects of planning and management.

In the past few years there have been efforts by civic bod-ies in different parts of India

to implement 24x 7 supply in their jurisdiction. According to the World Bank 24x7 sup-ply is achieved when water is delivered continuously to every consumer of the ser-vice 24 hours a day, every day of the year, through a trans-mission and distribution sys-tem that is continuously full

and under positive pressure. Recently, the successful run of Pimpri Chinchwad Munici-pal Corporation’s pilot project, providing 24×7 water supply to Yamunanagar area in Nigdi-Pradhikaran, gave the civic administration the confidence that the project can be planned and replicated in the entire city. A total of 2,376 house-holds are benefitting from the project which was started on a trial basis in June, 2012.

Executive Engineer of PCMC’s water supply depart-ment Pravin Ladkat said that, for the project, Yamunanagar area was first isolated from the rest of the water supply sys-tem. Water was supplied to the area through double stage pumping – first from the water treatment plant in Sector 23 to an elevated storage reservoir (ESR) at Triveninagar and then from the ESRT to houses in Yamunanagar.

In cities where water short-age is acute there is a need to explore methods of water con-servation too because the civic body may not have enough water to implement 24x7 water supply. The most cost-effective method to do so is rainwater harvesting. One of the success stories in rainwater harvesting is Chennai. In 2003, rainwater harvesting was made compul-sory by law, throughout Tamil

Nadu, in all buildings, not only new but also existing ones.

In Chennai, the decentral-ized availability of drinking water saw the paradigm shift from a system wholly con-trolled by engineers and the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board to a level of co-management.

Providing such services with people’s participation is a model for all large urban cit-ies to consider in the plan-ning and managing of their drinking water. Thus, Chen-nai serves as a precedent and model for other cities suffering from water scarcity.

Last December, the draft National Water Resources Policy, 2012, was adopted by the National Water Resources Council chaired by Prime Min-ister Dr Manmohan Singh. The policy lays down a few rec-

ommendations for water sup-ply in urban areas. According to the policy urban domestic water supplies should pref-erably be from surface water and urban domestic water systems need to collect and publish water accounts and water audit reports indicat-ing leakages and pilferages, which should be reduced tak-ing into due consideration

social issues. It also says that in urban and industrial areas, rainwater harvesting and de-salinisation, wherever techno-economically feasible, should be encouraged to increase availability of utilisable water.

Last month, the much-awaited second desalination plant along East Coast Road,

at Nemmeli, 36 km south of Chennai, was inaugurated by Chief Minister Jayala-lithaa. Nearly 15 lakh people of southern Chennai and the expanded areas — especially Velachery, Thiruvanmiyur, Pallipattu and areas adjoin-ing the IT Corridor such as Karapakkam — will be sup-plied desalinated water from the plant that has a capacity to treat 100 million litres of sea water per day (mld). Nearly 265 million litres of sea water are drawn through a pipeline that

runs up to one km into the sea. The waste water is disposed through a 740-metre-long pipe at a depth of 8 metres below sea level. The new source of water has been commissioned at an opportune moment as a water crisis looms large with the four major reservoirs that cater to the city’s drinking water needs drying up fast for want of rain.

Urban sanitation and waste water managementSanitation and waste water management are major prob-lems in most Indian cities. Even today, millions of Indi-ans are subjected to grave ill health, increasing threats

to safety, lower spending on education and nutrition, reduced productivity and lower income earning poten-tial resulting in a deepening cycle of poverty – all for want of a basic sanitation facil-ity. This is especially true for urban India. Growing slum population and lack of ade-quate sanitation force over 50 million men, women and chil-dren to defecate in the open every day. The poor bear the worst consequences of inad-equate sanitation in the form

of ailing children, unedu-cated girls and unproductive people, making these popu-lations even more vulnera-ble and costing India 6.4% of its GDP.

Dasra, an Indian strate-gic philanthropy foundation, brought out a Forbes Marshall funded report on urban san-itation ecosystem. The study says that in India, urban san-itation cannot be provided by any one stakeholder. While the size of investment under-scores the critical role of the Government of India, equally important is the role of the communities that will be ulti-mately responsible for mak-ing sanitation a sustained reality.

The fact that along with

HealthyCities

HEaLTHY CiTiES

The Sewage Treatment Plant at Delawas (STP) was included in the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) best practices projects list last year. To promote similar practices in other countries, ADB had sent teams to study the model. The 125 million litre per day (MLD) capacity plant is currently operated by the Jai-pur Municipal Corporation. Delawas STP has two units, both with a capacity of 62.5 MLD each. The first unit was funded by the ADB and established by the Rajasthan Urban Infrastruc-ture Development Project (RUIDP) in 2006. The second unit was started in 2012 by the JMC with the assistance of Jawahar-lal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) funds.

The novelty of the project lies in the fact that it not only treats the waste water but also generates bio gas which is used for power generation. Apart from power and bio gas, the unit also produces manure. The manure along with the treated water is then used for farming and irrigation purposes in the nearby areas of STP.

According to officials, the STP at Delawas will be able to treat at least 60% of the waste water of Jaipur in the coming days. This will not help in addressing the challenges of treating the waste water but also make JMC financially strong.

Jaipur: Sewage Treatment Plant at Delawas

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11 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | March 2013 HEaLTHY CiTiES

the government and commu-nities, non profits also have a pivotal role to play in the san-itation framework has been proved by Sulabh Interna-tional Social Service Organ-isation. Construction and maintenance of public toilets at public places and in slums on a ‘pay & use basis’ is a land-mark of Sulabh in the field of sanitation. So far it has con-structed and is or maintaining over 8000 such public toilets in India. For the construction, operation and maintenance of these complexes, the organi-zation plays the role of a cat-alyst and a partner between the official agencies and the users of the toilet complexes. The system of operation and maintenance of community toilets evolved by Sulabh has proved a boon for the local bodies in their endeavour to keep cities clean and improve the environment.

According to a Centre for Science and Environment estimate in 2011, kitchen use, shower and laundry consume more than 70% of the 920 litres of water supplied per house-hold per day. Building systems seldom trap this wastewa-ter for non-potable use such as toilet flushing, fire fight-ing and gardening. Instead, they drain it out along with sewage, burdening the sys-tem. More important, the pre-cious water is lost. In contrast, countries such as Japan exten-sively recycle water and suc-cessfully tide over their water deficit. Through a combina-tion of strategies involving small treatment plants and closed loop water supply at building level, Japan reuses more than 53 million litres of water every day.

Non-collection of wastewa-ter and discharge of untreated wastewater into low-lying areas or various water bod-ies causes severe water and land pollution problems. This

situation reduces the availabil-ity of usable water for water supply. The demand for reli-able, efficient and low-cost wastewater treatment sys-tems is increasing worldwide, especially in densely popu-lated urban regions where adequate wastewater treat-ment systems do not exist and uncontrolled discharge of wastewater endangers envi-ronmental health and water resources. Many govern-ments have passed new envi-ronmental regulations stip-ulating that dischargers of wastewater such as small and medium enterprises and hous-ing estates will be held respon-sible for wastewater pollution and must therefore treat waste-water adequately on-site before it is discharged into the envi-ronment. Decentralised Waste-water Treatment Systems (DEWATS) applications are designed and dimensioned in such a way that treated water meets requirements stipulated in environmental laws and reg-ulations. The biggest advan-tage of DEWATS technology is it provides treatment for domestic and industrial waste-water at low initial investment costs as no imported materials or components are needed.

Recently, the UN-Habitat commenced a new global con-sultation to reiterate the cru-cial role of wastewater man-agement in the water cycle and explore policy options for a sustainable future. “The global population is expected to exceed nine billion by 2050 with majority of growth expected in developing coun-try urban areas with inade-quate infrastructure. The pace of urbanisation is a critical issue. The management of all forms of water and especially waste water is often conve-niently forgotten in the politi-cal debate while in reality it is a time bomb waiting to explode,” Dr Clos, Executive Director of

the United Nations Human Settlement Programme (UN-HABITAT), says.

integrated solid-waste managementIntegrated solid waste man-agement refers to the strategic approach to sustainable man-agement of solid wastes cover-

ing all sources and all aspects, covering generation, segrega-tion, transfer, sorting, treat-ment, recovery and disposal in an integrated manner, with an emphasis on maximising resource use efficiency.

Although considerable efforts are being made by many governments and other entities in tackling waste-related problems, there are still major gaps to be filled in this area. The World Bank estimates that in develop-ing countries, it is common for municipalities to spend 20-50% of their available bud-get on solid waste manage-ment, even though 30-60% of all the urban solid wastes remain uncollected and less than 50% of the population is served.

Hence, developing coun-tries face uphill challenges to properly manage their waste with most efforts being made to reduce the final volumes and to generate sufficient funds for waste management. If most of the waste could be diverted for material and resource recovery, then a substantial reduction in final volumes of waste could be achieved and the recovered material and resources could be utilised to generate revenue to fund waste management. Accord-ing to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) this forms the prem-ise for Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) system based on 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) principle. The 3R’s of reduce, reuse and recycle have been considered to be a base of environmental awareness and a way of promoting ecological balance through conscious behaviour and choices.

Recently, after the Bru-hat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP’s) ‘Wake Up, Clean Up Bengaluru’ cam-paign, many commercial and residential associations have come forward with commit-ments to clear garbage by hav-ing their own solid waste man-agement (SWM) and scientific disposal systems.

Industrial layouts, apart-ment complexes, commercial establishments and hospitals

are among bulk generators who have made such commit-ments. As many as 134 com-panies, big and small, 2,500 to 3,000 industries in various layouts and about 40% of the apartments in Bengaluru have committed themselves to dis-pose their waste on their own over the next three months, a senior BBMP official said.

The Palike expects con-crete result by the end of June. “Most of the companies, including Infosys and Bri-tannia, have expressed their intent to dispose their waste by recycling and using waste disposal mechanisms on their own campus. Even residential apartments have given us such assurances,” he said.

The Federation of Karna-taka Chamber of Commerce

and Industries said that the industrial belt will have a practical waste disposal mechanism by June 2013. BBMP officials are optimis-tic that the burden of collect-ing and disposing garbage will be reduced if the commitments are honoured.

Better administration and public infrastructure are an immediate necessity in lower income countries, and pub-lic attitude needs to change as soon as possible. Unless there is a shift towards a more responsible attitude, no enduring solution is possible. Municipalities can encourage people to form groups, segre-gate waste and process it at their end. Repairing, donat-ing, selling and reusing prod-ucts when possible, especially in the case of e-waste, is also essential.

Government policy is also required to handle the ever- increasing mounds of waste in Indian cities. Putting the onus of re-cycling of electronic wastes (e-waste) on the pro-ducers, the Ministry of Envi-ronment and Forest (MoEF) had introduced the E-Waste (Management And Han-dling) Rules, 2011, which rec-ognises the producers’ liabil-ity for recycling and reducing e-waste in the country. Under these rules personal com-puter manufacturers, mobile handset makers and white

goods makers are required to come up with e-waste collec-tion centres or introduce ‘take back’ systems.

At the micro-level every individual in a city has a role to play when it comes to han-dling solid waste. The citi-zens of a ward in Powai, eager to make their area a zero-waste zone, have chalked out a plan for a more efficient waste disposal system which includes special attention to garbage on roads and coop-erative housing societies. Cit-izens were educated on gar-bage segregation by the chief of Advanced Locality Man-agement (ALM). ALM is local management of solid waste by citizens who orga-nise themselves to manage their waste.

Gargantuan growth of pop-ulation has thrown up a

lot of challenges for cities. Some of the challenges that threaten to disrupt urban productivity are deterio-rating environment and an unsustainable urban trans-port system. One of the ways to tackle these challenges is

to move towards a low-car-bon economy (LCE), an econ-omy that has a minimal out-put of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions into the environ-ment biosphere. As a first step towards LCE, cities can make a switch to greener and sus-tainable building and trans-portation choices.

Low carbon, energy-effi-cient, sustainable built-environment According to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) buildings use about 40% of global energy, 25% of global water, 40% of global resources, and they emit approximately one-third of GHG emissions. Yet, build-ings also offer the great-est potential for achieving significant GHG emission reductions, at least cost, in developed and develop-ing countries. Furthermore, energy consumption in build-ings can be reduced by 30% to

80% using proven and com-mercially available technolo-gies. In developing countries, new green construction yields enormous opportunities. Pop-ulation growth, prosperity and increasing urbanisation fuel building and construc-tion activities, which repre-sent up to 40% of GDP.

Investment in building energy efficiency is accom-panied by significant direct and indirect savings, which help offset incremental costs, providing a short return on investment period. Thus, sus-tainable buildings, or in other words green buildings, will result in healthier and more productive environments.

A practical and climate conscious approach is taken while designing a green build-ing. Various factors, like geo-graphical location, prevail-ing climatic conditions, use of locally available and low embodied energy materials and design parameters rel-evant to the type of usage of the building are normally taken into consideration. There are four main areas in green buildings — material efficiency, energy efficiency, water efficiency and reduc-tion of waste.

There are three primary rating systems in India that are applied to assess build-ings: GRIHA, IGBC and BEE. GRIHA stands for “Green Rating for Integrated Habitat

Assessment” and has been developed keeping in mind the various conditions and requirements specific to the design and construction of green buildings in India.

IGBC stands for ‘Indian Green Building Council’ and provides the LEED (Leader-ship in Energy and Environ-

mental Design) ratings for green buildings devised in the United States in India. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) launched a Star Rating Programme in 2009, for office buildings in order to acceler-ate the energy efficiency activ-ities in commercial buildings. The programme developed by the Bureau of Energy Effi-ciency, BEE is based on actual performance of the building, in terms of specific energy usage (in kWh/sq m/year).

The Indian green building

movement is now deepening its roots in India and it prom-ises to change the course of the construction industry. The CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre, housed in a green building, was the first LEED Platinum rated green building outside the U.S. and the third in the world.

The country has 1.2 billion square feet of green build-ings being built or ready, and pre-certified by Leader-ship in Energy and Environ-mental Design (LEED). It has another 105 million square

feet of Griha-certified build-ings ready or being built. India’s total built-up space is 25 billion square feet, and it is expected to increase to 80 billion by 2030. The share of green buildings in this con-struction boom could be as high as 20%. New cities, such as those coming up along the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Cor-ridor (DMIC), would have a substantially higher green building component.

Zed Earth, a residential enclave about 20 km from the

heart of Bengaluru, is a good example of a green habitat in India. This 20-acre enclave has been developed for around 130 villas that do not rely on the external world for basic needs, barring 15% of its power requirements. No sew-age or water or waste is let out of the enclave, except things like old electronic equipment or some recyclable items.

Most of its electricity needs are met by solar panels, and unused electricity is given to the grid. All the water is recy-cled, biological waste com-

posted, and clinical waste used in ‘scientific landfills’ inside the enclave. Recycling agencies take care of the rest of the waste. The villas them-selves are marvels of low-foot-print design, bringing nature inside as much as possible. It restricts water and energy use by nearly 60% as compared to non-green homes. Zed Earth is built by Biodiversity Conservation India Ltd (BCIL), which built India’s first platinum-rated green home in the city.

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Atkins will launch a ‘Planning and Design Sourcebook for Integrated City Development’ at Municipalika 2013, showcasing the results of a pilot low carbon master planning approach undertaken over the past 18 months in Mysore and Madurai.

The project, led by Atkins, one of the world’s largest infrastructure planning consultancies and with support from All India Institute of Local Self Government (AIILSG), is funded by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office of

UK through its Prosperity Fund programme to develop and tailor a low carbon master planning approach to the India context.

The objective of the project is to show how the carbon intensity of urbanisation in India can be managed in an integrated way using low carbon master planning tools, developed by Atkins.

With support from AIILSG, Atkins worked closely with key stakeholders from the two pilot cities to develop and tailor a low carbon master planning approach in the Indian context.

atkins to launch source book on low carbon master planning approach

Sustainable urban transportation and traffic managementRapid growth in the number of motor vehicles in urban areas has resulted in severe traffic congestion and air pollution in many Indian cities. A sustain-able transport system should provide mobility and acces-sibility to every urban neigh-bourhood in a safe, sound and environment friendly way. The concept of transportation plan-ning or transport planning is gaining currency in develop-ing countries. This approach follows the rational planning model of defining goals and objectives, identifying prob-lems, generating alterna-tives, evaluating alternatives and developing plans. How-ever, planners are increasingly expected to adopt a multi-dis-ciplinary approach, especially

due to the rising importance of environmentalism.

This year, the Ministry of Urban Development asked the state governments to introduce congestion pricing in central business areas and congested parts of cities. Most of these areas are congested due to the rising use of private vehicles and are bursting at the seams from parking lots and blocked roads. Congestion price means charg-ing every vehicle a fixed price to allow it to enter a particular business district or road.

The ministry has sent a let-ter to the chief secretaries of all Indian states to identify the most congested areas in its cities and get a proper study done to “consider adopting congestion charging system as a measure to decongest the central busi-ness districts”.

The ministry has also asked the state governments to explore electronic options such as online

payment, SMS payment and prepaid system. “Charge a price to allocate a scarce resource for its most valuable use,” the letter sent by the Secretary of the min-istry Dr Sudhir Krishna read. He also emphasised strength-ening the public transport sys-tem as a precedent to the intro-duction of congestion pricing.

The National Urban Trans-port Policy (NUTP), formu-lated in 2006, seeks to give a boost to non-motorised trans-port (NMT) modes in order to address the environment con-cerns of cities. The key goal of transport projects under the NUTP is “moving people not vehicles”. The policy recognises that non-motorised modes are exposed to greater risk of acci-dents as they share common roads with motorised vehicles.

The policy says that first of all, the safety concerns of cyclists and pedestrians have to be addressed by encouraging

the construction of segregated tracks for bicycles and pedes-trians. Apart from improving safety, the segregation of vehi-cles moving at different speeds would help improve traffic flow, increase the average speed of traffic and reduce emissions resulting from sub-optimal speeds. Such segregated paths would be useful not only along arterials, to enable full trips using NMT but also as a means of improving access to major public transport stations. Such access paths, coupled with safe bicycle parking places, would contribute towards increasing the use of public transport. Cre-ative facilities like shade giving landscaping, provision of drink-ing water and resting stations along bicycle corridors would

also be encouraged as they can mitigate, to a large extent, adverse weather conditions.

In India, the Chennai Cor-poration is all set to identify circular corridors for non-motorised transport particu-larly around metro stations with the support of Traffic Police, Highways Department and Chennai Metropolitan Devel-opment Authority. Roads forming a loop around the proposed super-specialty hospital in Omandurar Gov-ernment Estate are likely to be the first to have civic infra-structure for non-motorised transport in the city. The non-motorised transport infra-structure would include bicy-cle and partial pedestrian tracks in the city.

URBAN NEWS DIGEST | March 2013 13 GREEN CiTiES

Singapore’s congestiontax system

Singapore introduced a road con-gestion tax way back in 1975 and implemented it first through the Area Licensing System which levied a flat charge on all vehicles entering the central business dis-trict. In 1998, this was replaced by the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system which leverages technol-ogy to allow for a more effective and flexible method of congestion charging. The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology used also allows automatic deduc-tion of the charge on any vehicle passing a road pricing gantry.

After its introduction, Singa-pore’s Land Transport Author-ity reported that road traffic has decreased by nearly 25,000 vehi-cles during peak hours, with average road speeds increas-ing by about 20%. Within the restricted zone, traffic has gone

down by about 13% during ERP operational hours, with vehicle numbers dropping from 270,000 to 235,000. Car pooling has increased while the hours of peak vehicular traffic have also gradu-ally eased, suggesting a more pro-ductive use of road space. Aver-age road speeds for expressways and major roads have remained the same, despite rising traffic volumes.

The process of levying the tax is automatic. A device known as an in-vehicle unit (IU) is fixed on the lower right corner of the front windscreen within sight of the driver. A stored-value cash card is inserted into it for payment. The tax gets deducted depending on location and time. It is mandatory for all Singapore-registered vehi-cles to be fitted with an IU if they wish to use the priced roads.

Case study

Micro-surfacing is a polymer modified cold-mix paving system that can remedy a broad range of problems on today’s streets, highways, and airfields. An independent standards develop-ment organisation has verified the findings of an eco-efficiency analysis (EEA) of asphalt pavement technologies, which shows micro-surfacing to be more economical and to cause less envi-ronmental impact.

Micro-surfacing performs best in all main categories on a weighted basis because it requires less than 50% of materials. Micro-surfacing scores lowest in resource consumption—the most relevant environmental impact—because of its significant reduction in the amount of binder and aggregate used. Micro-surfacing also scores lowest in energy requirement—the second most relevant environmental impact—because of its lower over-all consumption of asphalt binder, lower manufacturing and application temperatures, and reduced logistical impacts due to shipping less material to and from the job site. Hindustan Colas Limited will showcase this technology in Municipalika 2013.

Hindustan Colas to promote micro-surfacing for maintenance of roads

14 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGESTVibRaNT CiTiES

Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live with

today, and what we pass on to future generations. Urban her-itage refers to the built legacy of the city’s history and includes protected and unprotected monuments, individual and groups of buildings of archae-ological architectural, historic and cultural significance, pub-lic spaces including landscapes, parks and gardens, street lay-out defining identifiable neigh-bourhoods or precincts, which together identify the visual, spa-tial and cultural character of the city.

indian Heritage Cities NetworkThe rapid urbanisation wit-nessed in recent times in India has accelerated the pace of change in all aspects of life, particularly in urban environ-ments. A majority of Indian cities and towns are exposed to strong extraneous and fast-growing agents of change that disturb the delicate balance that exists between the physi-cal, social, cultural and ecolog-ical aspects of the urban settle-ments. In order to strengthen Indian cities and towns to cope

with these changes that threaten to destroy India’s diverse heri-tage, UNESCO took the initia-tive to form this national net-work. The UNESCO led Indian Heritage Cities Network intends to bring together the represen-tatives of various Indian historic cities and towns on a common platform to discuss their prob-lems and share experiences and good practices for sustain-able development and conser-vation of their unique cultural heritage.

The Indian Heritage Cities Network (IHCN) was founded as a programme by UNESCO

New Delhi Office at an interna-tional conference on Indian Cit-ies of Living Heritage in Septem-ber 2006 at Jaipur, Rajasthan. Established with the endorse-ment of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, together with 10 Indian cities, several institutions and non-governmental organisa-tions (NGOs) and seven French cities as well as the French her-itage cities association Associa-tion Nationale des Villes et Pays d’Art et d’Histoire (ANVPAH), IHCN has since grown to encompass more than 20 cities, and has gained the support of

major Indian and international institutions, NGOs and individ-uals in the field of urban devel-opment, heritage preservation and capacity building.

importance of Urban HeritageHeritage is an important resource for cities. In a bid to ensure this resource main-tains its importance and place in the economic and cultural profile of the city, it is neces-sary to ensure that infrastruc-ture it requires, is adequate and

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properly equipped and main-tained. It should also be noted that the overall environment of the city is an important factor in heritage promotion.

With the intention of pre-paring a conservation plan for heritage protection and devel-opment, it is essential to begin by recording and analysing the role that heritage plays in the socioeconomic and cultural life of the city, by using such indica-tors as the number of visitors, number of persons dependent for their livelihood on heritage, income that heritage generates for the city etc.

indian Cities and their HeritageMysore Master Plan 2031 has put in place a mechanism to conserve heritage environs of the city even as the city skylines are increasingly being dotted by highrises.

The city with the majestic Mysore Palace, the royal man-sions, heritage public build-ings, gardens, water bodies and planned markets show-case an indelible impression of the vision of the Maharajas, their Dewans and other bril-liant luminaries on the City Municipality as early as 1862. The total synchronisation of buildings, sites, lakes, parks and open spaces of Mysore and the surroundings of Chamundi hill adds to city’s magnificent beauty.

Mysore is called the City of Palaces as a number of palaces are situated in the city. Mysore Palace or Ambavilas Palace, the main palace of Mysore is one of

the most visited monuments in India. Mysore is a tourism hot spot and also acts as a base for other tourist places in the vicin-ity of the city.

Mysore can boast of over 200 historical structures and most of them are properly maintained. A few years ago the Government of India chose the royal city as a beneficiary under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mis-sion (JNNURM), giving it a her-itage city tag, for the conserva-tion of its heritage character and profile.

The JNNURM implement-ing authorities undertook₨2.9 crore project for improving the heritage structures and ₨51.82 crore project for the develop-ment of the heritage core zone.

R e c e n t l y C o n g r e s s announced that the prime land near Chamundi Hills will be declared as green zone and con-served by the central govern-ment. It also promised to get additional funds from the Con-gress-led UPA for the develop-ment of the city.

It announced to promote Mysore as Heritage City to get additional funds—both for tourism promotion and pres-ervation of vintage monuments dotting the city.

There are many other cities in India famous for their heri-tage architectures.

Delhi is one of the few met-ropolitan cities with a high con-centration of heritage struc-tures: 155 national monuments and another 1,000 culturally important places. Various his-torical periods have left their imprint and turned the city into

a remarkable mosaic. Shahjah-anabad is a magnificent exam-ple of 17th century Mughal urban planning; Mehrauli, built around the 12th century Qutub Minar, is the oldest urban settle-ment in the city; and New Delhi or Lutyen’s Delhi is an amazing expression of 20th century gar-den city principles.

Udaipur also known as the City of Lakes is famous for its Rajput-era palaces. Udaipur is a popular tourist destination in India. The lakes, palaces and vibrant culture attract many foreign and domestic visitors. The well-known Lake Palace covers an entire island in the Pichola Lake. Many of the pal-aces have now been converted

into luxury hotels. The city is often called the “Venice of the East”.

During the British colonial era from 1700 to 1912, when Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) was the capital of Brit-ish India, Kolkata witnessed a flurry of frenzied construction activity of magnificent build-ings largely influenced by the conscious intermingling of Neo-Gothic, Baroque, Neo-Classical, Oriental and Islamic schools of design. Unlike many north Indian cities, whose construc-tion is predominantly based on simplicity, the layout of much of the architectural variety in Kolkata owes its origins to orna-mental European styles and

tastes imported by the British and, to a much lesser extent, the Portuguese and French.

The buildings were designed and inspired by the tastes of the English gentleman around and the aspiring Bengali rich men. Many of the major buildings of this period are well maintained and several buildings have been declared as heritage structures.

Currently, the Archaeolog-ical Society of India (ASI) in case of heritage regulated and controlled by them, and the CPWD and PWD in case of properties under the con-trol of governments, provide funds for the conservation and m a i nt e n a n c e o f h e r it age structures.

16 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGEST

The policies of urban development and hous-

ing in India have come a long way since the 1950s. Initially, the general perception of the policy makers was that India is pre-dominantly an agricul-tural and rural economy and that there are potent dangers of over urbanisation that will lead to a drain of resources from the countryside to feed the cities. This perception has changed with cities in India emerging as engines of growth. But, a shift in demo-graphics caused by migration from rural to urban areas has resulted in the mushroom-ing of slums and shanties in cities.

As per the report of the Technical Group on Urban Housing Shortage (2012-17) constituted by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, there is a short-age of 18.78 million dwelling units out of which nearly 96% belong to the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Lower Income Group (LIG) households.

The union government has introduced various measures for urban areas to tackle this scenario. The Basic Services

for the Urban Poor (BSUP) is a mandatory urban poverty reform for all local bodies supported under JNNURM and one of its proposed out-comes says: “Urban poor communities will have better access to legal and affordable housing with in-house basic services that will allow them to live as legitimate citizens.”

The BSUP says that pro-viding affordable housing with tenure to poor families will make them less vulner-able and more secure. Secure tenure (patta) encourages urban poor families to invest and upgrade their housing. It also encourages them to con-nect and pay for municipal services inside their homes, i.e., metered water connec-tions, toilets with sewerage, metered power supply, etc. This will also mean signifi-cant reductions in the oper-ation and maintenance costs of urban local bodies (ULBs) for common and free services such as community toilets and community stand-posts. Legal housing made avail-able to women independently or jointly with men will help empower them and improve their status. Over time the

poor can be fully integrated into cities and be included in the property tax net, adding to revenues.

Major initiativesThe union government is seeking to mitigate the huge shortage of housing in cities around the country by pro-posing to set up an Urban Housing Fund with an ini-tial allocation of ₨2,000 crore in 2013-14. While pre-senting the Budget 2013-14, Finance Minister P Chidam-baram announced that the Urban Housing Fund will be set up by the National Hous-ing Bank and it will help in creation of new homes in the budget and affordable hous-ing categories, helping bridge the shortage homes in the country.

“The Urban Housing Fund has been created for the first time. We will be formu-lating a scheme for it soon. These funds will be utilised to give refinance to banks and housing finance compa-nies for their retail loans in urban areas and the thrust will be on lower loan slabs,” said RV Verma, Chairman of NHB.

“The setting up of the Urban Housing Fund by the NHB with an allocation of ₨2000 crore will infuse liquidity for urban housing, thereby boosting demand,” said Anuj Puri, Chairman and Country Head, Jones Lang LaSalle India.

The Credit Risk Guarantee Fund Scheme for low income housing was launched by the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) Minis-ter, Ajay Maken last year. The fund trust would be man-aged by the National Housing Bank, which will facilitate and oversee the operations. The scheme aims at facili-tating flow of credit to low income households from the formal financial sector. To mark the launch of oper-ations, three major lending agencies–State Bank of India, Central bank of India and HDFC–entered into agree-ment with the Credit Guar-antee Trust.

Recently, the Housing and Urban Development Corpo-ration (HUDCO) announced that it is planning to finance the construction of at least 5 lakh affordable housing units in the current financial year and is targeting to increase this number by 10% annu-ally for the next five years. “We have already financed 3.8 lakh housing units this year and we hope to cross 5 lakh units as against financ-ing 4.3 lakh units in 2011-12. More than 90% of these have been in the affordable hous-ing segment for economically weaker section,” said VP Baligar, Chairman and Man-aging Director of HUDCO.

Private players like the Value and Budget Housing Corporation (VBHC) are also playing a major role in the affordable housing market.

Recently, the VBHC launched Phase II of its affordable homes project, comprising 1462 apartments, in Benga-luru. Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao, Chairman, VBHC, said, “The launch of Vaibhava Phase II will provide home buyers homes at reasonable prices. The project is set to raise the standards of affordable housing, with several ameni-ties catering to the multiple needs of the residents here.” He said the company was able to deliver the first proj-ect in less than 24 months and was the fastest devel-oper in the affordable home segment.

Last December, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed real estate develop-ers and housing finance com-panies to raise up to $1 billion through external commer-cial borrowings (ECBs) in the current fiscal to promote low-cost housing projects. The funds raised through ECBs could be used either for developing low cost hous-ing projects or for provid-ing loans up to ₨25 lakh to individuals for buying units with a price tag of ₨30 lakhs or less.

Besides developers, the central bank said housing finance companies (HFCs)/National Housing Bank (NHB) can also raise ECBs for financing prospective owners of low cost, afford-able housing units. The RBI circular said slum rehabil-itation projects will also be

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eligible for raising ECBs to fund affordable hous-ing projects. ECBs are con-sidered attractive as cost of raising the loan overseas is lower than that of domestic borrowings. Besides, they provide an additional ave-nue to access large amounts of funds from global financial markets.

Towards a slum-free indiaThe Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) for the slum dwellers and the urban poor envisages a ‘Slum-free India’ by encour-aging States/Union Territo-ries to tackle the problem of slums in a definitive manner. It calls for a multi-pronged approach focusing on: • Bringing existing slums

within the formal system and enabling them to avail of sim-ilar level of basic amenities as

the rest of the town/city; • Redressing the failures

of the formal system that lie behind the creation of slums; and • Tackling the short-

ages of urban land and hous-ing that keep shelter out-of-reach of the urban poor and force them to resort to extra-legal solutions in a bid to retain their sources of livelihood.

An important instrument for cities to attain the objectives of RAY is the ‘Slum Free City Plan of Action’ (SFCPoA). This citywide plan consists of two parts: a plan to bring about the improvement of existing slums through participation of the existing dwellers and strategies for prevention of future slums. In so doing, the ‘City Slum Free City Plan of Action’ takes into consideration the pres-ent status of slums, priorities of slum dwellers, the resources and capabilities of the city in

improving the quality of life of the urban poor and the capacity of the urban poor to be partners in this development process.

To make RAY more inclu-sive and participatory, the Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Ministry announced it will make community par-ticipation in the programme mandatory. People who ben-efit from the programme will be involved in planning and designing and maintenance of houses and other facili-ties built under the scheme. The ministry will also ver-ify biometrics and Aadhaar unique identity numbers to ensure that the programme, under which 1 million houses will be constructed in the next four years, benefits those it is meant for. “The guide-lines on community participa-tion for RAY will now become mandatory before we sanc-tion any project in any state,” said Ajay Maken.

The National Buildings Organisation (NBO) was established as an attached office under the Ministry of Housing &Urban

Poverty Alleviation (the then Ministry of Works and Housing) for technology transfer, experimentation, development and dis-semination of housing statistics. Over the years it has evolved into a capacity building and training organisation, mandated to build capacity of State Governments, Municipal Authorities/R&D Institutions and Urban Local Bodies in areas related to collection and dissemination of data on urban poverty, slums, housing, building construction and related urban statistics.

D S NegiDirector, National Buildings Organisation (NBO)speaks to Urban News Digest

Q. A report prepared by the Ministry of HUPA on urban housing shortage for the 12th plan has pointed out that the shortage in urban housing takes place mainly due to migration from villages leading to proliferation of slums. What should be the appropriate policies apart from the existing ones (eg: Rajiv Awas Yojana) to tackle this problem?

A. The appropriate policy intervention would be to stra-tegically address this problem by planning for prevention of future slums, which is also integrated with the flagship pro-grammes of Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alle-viation like RAY. Further, schemes like Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA), a programme initiated by Ministry of Rural Development is a welcome move to discour-age migration to cities by strengthening the rural areas.

Q. Given the complex and multi-dimensional issues pertaining

to urbanisation in the country, what are the challenges faced by NBO regarding data collection for effective design, implementation, mon-itoring and evaluation of schemes?

A. NBO is a centralised agency mandated to collate and collect information from various States. Hence, data building is centralised but depended entirely on the decentralised func-tion of the States to collect State level information. However, the States are often found lacking in capacity to collect and col-late relevant data and transmit the same to NBO. There is also multiplicity of agencies at the State level and lack of co-ordi-nation amongst these agencies resulting in receipt of disaggre-gated data by the NBO.

Q. The central government will launch a fund for urban hous-

ing with an allocation of ₨2,000 crore in 2013-14 to mitigate the acute housing shortage in the country, as Finance Minister P Chid-ambaram said that in the budget. The National Housing Bank (NHB) will be asked to set up the fund. How can NBO help this venture?

A. NBO is the central monitoring agency for the flagship programmes of M/o HUPA viz. JNNURM and RAY. It sup-ports the ministry in monitoring the disbursal of funds to the various States. It could support fund management on similar lines for the urban housing fund.

18 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGEST

A Smart City is efficient and faster in identifying and

solving basic essential city issues. It’s meticulously con-nected by wireless devices and a network of sensors, cameras, data centers and analytics. It provides a high quality of life, better economic opportuni-ties, safety and good health. It also enables optimum sav-ings in energy, cost of trans-port, buildings, etc. and effi-cient governance. It creates a self-sustainable habitat with wiser use of natural resources, reduced pollution levels and low carbon print.

In the 21st century, cities require a system where every field is digitised to cope with irregularities and malfunc-tions in real time. Problems need to be monitored and resolved not just efficiently but quickly to keep the ball rolling. The National e-Gov-ernance Plan (NeGP) has been formulated by the Depart-ment of Electronics and Infor-mation Technology (DEITY) and Department of Admin-istrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in this regard. The union government approved the NeGP, compris-ing of 27 Mission Mode Proj-ects (MMPs) and 10 compo-nents on May 18, 2006.

The NeGP aims at improv-ing delivery of government

services to citizens and busi-nesses with a vision to “make all government services acces-sible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transpar-ency and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man.”

Recently, the union gov-ernment launched GI Cloud, a national cloud initia-tive, to help the government leverage cloud computing for effective delivery of e-services. The project by the DeitY has been initiated to support the implementation of the NeGP and aims to create a private cloud environment for the use of government departments and agencies at the centre and state levels.

According to DeitY, the adoption of cloud computing will accelerate the delivery of e-services to citizens, and support other objectives such as increasing standardisa-tion, interoperability and inte-gration, pooling of scarce and underused resources, and the spread of best practices.

Cloud computing provides tremendous scope of speed-ing up the development and roll out of e-governance appli-cations while increasing the government’s Information and

Communications Technol-ogy (ICT) efficiency. A road-map to GI Cloud was released by DeitY, assessing the ICT infrastructure currently in place in India and defining an implementation plan for GI Cloud. The roadmap declares that cloud computing envi-ronments will be established at the national and state lev-els, starting with one National Cloud, using new and existing data centres.

indian cities become ‘smarter’Switching to smart cities is no longer a matter of choice but a necessity. With wide range of equipment, ICT enables the capacity of ULBs to address problems with minimum effort in a short span of time.Different technologies are already being used by some cities for various urban appli-cations such as property tax management, city sanitation, town planning, vehicle track-ing and fleet management, disaster management, crime mapping and analysis, etc. Some of the states are trying to use ICT tools for prepar-ing land information system, agricultural mapping, natu-ral resource management, etc. Rajkot will be the first city where every property

— commercial, residential and institutional — will have a unique property identification number. Using the Geographic Information System (GIS), a map-based information arrangement, Rajkot Munic-ipal Corporation (RMC) has completed a comprehensive survey and charted all build-ings in the city. “All informa-tion, including photographs of building units are now avail-able. Details regarding prop-erty which have not been assessed for property tax and buildings that have undergone a change of designated use, are also readily available,” said Municipal Commissioner Ajay Bhadoo.

Technologies like GPS (Global Positioning System) handsets and DGPS (Differen-tial Global Positioning System) handsets enable civic bodies to map and access the cities’ nooks and corners accurately, may it be the water supply sys-tem, sewage network, power stations, street lighting, man-holes path, etc.

The Mangalore City Cor-poration’s vehicles used in electrical and underground drainage (UGD) sections are tracked. The initiative called vehicle tracking system or geo-fencing is helping authorities keep a watch on as many as 20 vehicles used in these sec-tions. With the installation of GPS on these vehicles, MCC officials are monitoring their movement online on real time basis.

The advantage of fenc-ing vehicles geographically with use of GPS ensures that

the civic body’s land fill site at Pachchanady on the city’s outskirts will receive only the 200 tonnes of solid waste gen-erated across 60 wards in the city and not from other urban local bodies, which can put pressure on the space there.

An emerging concept is that of smart grid, which is the integration of informa-tion and communications technology into electric trans-mission and distribution net-works. The smart grid deliv-ers electricity to consumers, and also enables efficient use of the grid by identifying and correcting supply-demand imbalances instantaneously, thereby reducing costs and improving reliability and quality of service. Electricity flow and generation can also be monitored using various sensors and mapping. These technologies can trace energy usage patterns, reduce black-outs, quickly isolate problem-atic points on the grid before it affects larger areas (islanding), check energy losses or thefts by sensing exact point of loss, calculate consumers’ usage and with a set of processed data help the ULB devise effi-cient power supply plan and power tariffs. An extension to the same technology is the introduction of smart meters, which is used widely across the world.

The road aheadThe Ministry of Urban Devel-opment is also planning to develop two ‘smart’ cities with a host of modern features like

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intelligent transport and car-bon neutral status in each of the states in the second phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mis-sion (JNNURM).

Kamal Nath, the Minister for Urban Development, said medium-sized cities with half a million to one million pop-ulation will be developed as smart cities and the govern-ment has sought the exper-tise of the Austrian Institute of Technology for the pur-pose. Recently in his bud-get speech, Finance Minis-ter P Chidambaram indicated that work on the first two smart industrial cities along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) — Dholera in Gujarat and Shendra Bid-kin in Maharashtra — will start soon. This announce-ment certainly bodes well for other smart city projects on the pipeline.

According to a McKin-sey and Company report, investment of about $1.2 tril-lion is required over the next 20 years in areas like trans-portation, energy and pub-lic security to build cit-ies of tomorrow. However, smart city projects have been seeing partnership between local bodies and major IT giants that have the expertise and experience to implement huge projects.

Cisco and IBM have received the contract to develop Dholera as a smart city. Dholera will have central-ised digital control of all infra-structural facilities through an underground sensor

system reporting to a central control room. Chief Executive Officer and Managing Direc-tor of DMIC, Amitabh Kant says, “With a proper sys-tem in place, for instance, no one who lives in Dholera will

ever get stuck in a traffic jam, because the system will auto-matically sense where traffic is being held up. It will ask trav-ellers via SMS to avoid certain roads. There can be no theft or wastage of water or power, because the advanced systems will assess how much water and power one actually uses.”

The Japanese technology major, NEC, is planning to cater to the market created by the plans of smart cities,

offering a variety of solutions including the biometrics engine that is currently being used by UIDAI, fingerprint-ing technology for police and forensics departments, etc. NEC, which has already done a few smart city projects in countries like Argentina, Sin-gapore and various nations in the Middle East plans to implement some of ideas learned through those experi-ences in India.

aadhar Project

The Aadhar Project, a big part of the national e-governance plan in India, earlier known as Unique Identification Number or UID aims to make our welfare systems more accessible and fair to every citizens of India. For this purpose, the Government of India (GOI) has constituted the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) which will provide every resident a unique iden-tification number that will serve as a universal proof of identity, allowing them to establish their credentials anywhere in India.

This ID will be assigned on the basis of the uniqueness of the resident’s biometrics. Accordingly, the fingerprint and iris-related biometrics of each resident will be captured. This will enable correct identification of an individual by linking the UID number to the demographic and biometric information. The authority envisions issuing a unique identification num-ber (UID) that can be verified and authenticated in a cost-effec-tive manner, and that is robust enough to eliminate duplicate and fake identities. The UIDAI would ensure residents across India can easily access the benefits and services meant for them. Moreover, this unique number would be critical to the govern-ment achieving its goals of social justice and welfare.

20 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGEST

Land is a limited resource and with the booming pop-

ulation, the gap between the demand and supply for indi-vidual plots, apartments or sites is increasing. In the past few years developers have been cashing in on developing inte-grated townships in suburban areas. A McKinsey Global Insti-

tute report, ‘India’s urban awak-ening: Building inclusive cities, sustaining economic growth,’ states India would need 25 new townships to house about 590 million people by 2030.

Integrated township is the new buzzword with realtors planning huge investments in projects that would reduce pres-sure on city infrastructure and bring in crores of investment into the housing sector. But the key question is what exactly is an integrated township? What are the key features that get it bracketed that way?

Interestingly, some proj-ects that in fact are small stand-alone and residential, also end up adding to the baseline of inte-grated townships. To qualify for that kind of rating, a project ideally has to be self-sustained in most aspects and be able to address at least the basic needs of residents.

“The residential parcel should be integrated with com-mercial and entertainment and ideally also corporate space. In busy central business dis-tricts (CBD), a five-acre site could come up with limited

facilities for there is no other way in terms of land availabil-ity. But ideally a critical mass of 20 acres is what is needed for an integrated township,” says S Pochender, Chief Executive Officer, Lanco Hills.

Ravi Ahuja, Executive Direc-tor, Agency, Cushman & Wake-field, defines integrated town-

ships as self-sustained ones with a number of develop-ments that include residential, commercial, retail, educational, as well as industrial areas in some cases. They should have a

balanced mix of residential and commercial spaces along with well-developed infrastruc-ture and recreational amenities besides green and open spaces. They should encompass all aspects of modern day living within the gated community.

For an integrated township, the key parameters while mix-

ing residential and commer-cial space can also have res-idential properties varying from 1BHK to 5BHK, duplexes, penthouses and even detached, semi-detached villas. “Ideally,

those living in these townships should be able to walk down to their offices thereby saving time, energy and cost,” Ahuja says.

There is a significant num-ber of consumers living in major urban centres, who are becom-ing interested in the idea of liv-ing in one of the many planned townships that are being built away from major urban hubs and chaos. Integrated town-ship projects are slowly gather-ing momentum as the concept of walking to work is picking up among city dwellers. Apart from the change in family structure (from joint family to nuclear family), growing income lev-els have led to a change in con-sumer profile. More consumers want a plethora of amenities; such as swimming pools, clubs,

landscaped gardens, 24 hours security and housekeeping. Due to huge demand coupled with economies of scale, an inte-grated township offers all these amenities and at a relatively low

and affordable price.Since such projects have

their own infrastructure, they do not depend heavily on ame-nities provided by the local civic body. These townships usually have their own sewage manage-ment, water supply and overall maintenance of the immedi-ate surroundings. The mainte-nance of integrated townships is centralised and managed very well. Also, since such residential projects have strong security measures to protect the entire area under township, people are assured of much higher lev-els of safety for themselves, their families and possessions. Since all the construction work is cen-tralised there is very little room for variation in construction standards.

As we see integrated town-ship development is one of the most progressive concepts to have entered the Indian real estate arena in recent times. While stressing on sustain-able mobility practices, Rajat Malhotra, COO - Integrated Facilities Management (West Asia), Jones Lang LaSalle India points out, “Most people are aware of and worry about the evils of climate change, but do not consider how much motor vehicle use is contrib-uting to it. The future may hold technological solutions to this menace, including Tata Motors’ ‘air car’, but for now the obvious counter-measure is reduced vehicle use.

“Because of the country’s huge industrial thrust and significant share of offshore IT / ITeS business, many of the townships taking shape today are centered around manufac-turing and information tech-nology hubs. Naturally, they attract home buyers who are also employed in these centres - primarily for the inherent walk-to-work option. Because these townships also offer

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shopping, entertainment and healthcare facilities within their premises, motorised traf-fic is vastly reduced.”

To make townships more viable, the Maharashtra gov-ernment has introduced some reforms in the township policy. According to the fresh policy

as approved by the Chief Min-ister, the state government has decided to make it mandatory for special township projects to set aside up to one-fourth of the land for economic activity.

A hike in floor space index (FSI) for township projects has also been proposed. Depend-ing on the size of the plot and its location, an FSI of 1.3-1.7 will be provided under the new policy. Welcoming the initia-tive, Ramesh Nair, Managing Director – West, Jones Lang LaSalle India says, “Without commercial space, no town-ship can be called fully suc-cessful. The two most suc-cessful townships in India – Hiranandani Garden in Powai and Magarpatta City in Pune both have a significant amount of office space within the townships. The govern-ment should increase FSI for commercial construction within the townships to make it more viable for the develop-ers. FSI should be at least 2.5 in townships given the increasing land costs across the country.”

The Hiranandani Group’s first flagship project was the sprawling Hiranandani Gar-dens in Powai – an integrated

residential cum commercial township. The complex hosts a business park, an ICSE School managed by Hiranan-dani Foundation Trust, Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital, shop-ping complexes, food courts, a hotel, and entertainment cen-tres in lush green settings.

Magarpatta is a satellite township of Pune. It was built over 400 acres in the erst-while village of Hadapsar, on the outskirts of Pune. The Government of India granted approval to Magarpatta City for development, operation and maintenance of an SEZ for Electronic Hardware and Software, including Informa-tion Technology Enabled Ser-vices in 2006. The area covered under SEZ is 11.98 hectares.

This SEZ is a part of the Magarpatta City with residen-tial, commercial and IT devel-opment along with proper emphasis on environment, education, healthcare, fit-ness, recreation and security. Large floor plates are provided for office space with high effi-ciency and offer seamless scal-ability options. Buildings are designed as per international norms, state-of-the-art ameni-ties are provided, such as mul-tiple Internet Service Provid-ers and telecommunications providers, 100% power back-up, ample parking space, high-end security system etc.

The new integrated town-ships of Mahindra Life space outside Chennai, Jaipur as

well as by HIRCO for Palace Gardens townships outside Chennai and Panvel would create self -contained town-ships for economic and social

development built on sustain-able development options.

Thus, if properly planned and executed, integrated town-ships are definitely the answer

to India’s growing housing woes, because they are effi-cient vehicles of social integra-tion while offering the neces-sary infrastructure.

New Towns

The term new town refers to planned commu-nities of the new towns movement in particular, mainly in the United Kingdom. The New Town Movement was derived from the Garden City Movement, founded by Ebenezer Howard in the late 1800s, as an alternative to the over-crowded, polluted, chaotic and miserable industrial cities that had appeared in Britain.

Such planned communities, or planned cities, are carefully planned from their inception and are typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area. This contrasts with settlements that evolve in a more haphazard fashion. Land use conflicts are less frequent in planned communities since they are planned carefully.

India’s first planned city was Chandigarh and it is known internationally for its architecture and urban design. The city has projects designed by legendary architects such as Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Jane Drew, and Maxwell Fry. Other major planned cities in India are Durgapur, Bhu-baneswar, Navi Mumbai, Noida, Greater Noida, Panchkula, Mohali, Pimpri -Chinchwad, Jam-shedpur etc.

India has a feather in its cap in the form of Navi Mumbai, which is arguably the largest planned township in the world. After it was created, CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corpo-ration) was the only authority that looked after the development and maintenance of the city. CIDCO prepared a developmental plan for Navi Mumbai covering 95 villages. In 1991, Navi Mumbai Munic-ipal Corporation (NMMC) was constituted by the Maharashtra government for maintaining some

of the developed nodes of Navi Mumbai. CIDCO has also contributed to creation

of many new towns in Maharashtra like new Nanded, new Nashik, new Sholapur etc. HIDCO in West Bengal has contributed richly to the cre-ation of Rajarhat new vibrant town for 1 million + population on the outskirts of Kolkata. The Naya Raipur Development Authority is creating the Naya Raipur, new capital city development adja-cent to Raipur. The satellite towns of Yelahanka, Kengeri and Hosakote by Karnataka Housing Board outside Bengaluru has helped decongest mother city well. DMIC efforts for creation of the Delhi- Mumbai new towns development ini-tiative on the Delhi- Mumbai economic corridor would also see the creation of many smart cities. In the Budget announcement the Finance Min-ister had mentioned about new townships for Chennai- Bengaluru corridor, Bengaluru-Mum-bai corridor.

The Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) located in the nodes of Dronagiri and Kalamboli is planned to provide commercial growth and employment to the city. Positioned en route the proposed Navi Mumbai Airport, this megaproject has attracted investments close to ₨40,000 crores.

Many SEZ and private sector driven new and large integrated and self- contained townships are coming up in different parts of the country. This is as it should be considering the doubling of urban population and the need to create 500 GEMS for the economic and social development needs aris-ing out of the urban demographic growth.

FOCUS CITIES

Delhi NCR (National Cap-ital Region) is the met-

ropolitan area of Delhi that includes satellite cities like Faridabad, Gurgaon, Ghazi-abad and Noida.

The concept of National Capital Region was mooted in the first master plan of Delhi, notified in 1962. The predomi-nant aim was to lessen the bur-den of burgeoning population in Delhi and satiate the demand for more space owing to large scale industrialisation. There-fore Gurgaon, Noida, Ghazi-abad and Faridabad were the names that came up for devel-oping the whole NCR region.

Noida and Greater Noida are well planned and executed industrial townships with good utility, social and com-mercial infrastructure and housing for all groups with very fast growth and settle-ment pattern and fast connec-tivity. These new towns have also very progressive gover-nance mechanisms for speed-ier building regulatory con-trol as well as support to green building initiatives.

Delhi comes under the gov-ernance of NCT, called the National Capital Territory. However, the Central Govern-ment does have some control

over the administration and other departments.

With the inception of NCR region, the demand for expan-sion and a better infrastruc-ture was solved to a great extent. With the development of satellite cities like Gurgaon and Noida, most of the govern-ment offices found their place in these satellite cities includ-ing international and domestic companies.

Large MNCs and corpo-rate bodies from all over the world are focusing on Delhi as a manpower and skilled labour resource. NCR region is now home to major international and domestic companies, such as IT, ITES, BPOs and other manufacturing and service industries.

Better connectivity through various trans-port and improved infra-structure between Delhi and NCR make it easier for commuters to reach their workplace. New roads and fly-overs make sure people don’t face difficulties in travelling from Delhi to any of the satel-lite cities.

Owing to the proximity with New Delhi, there has been a tre-mendous growth in the infra-structure and economy of these

cities. States like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have benefitted a lot from the recent develop-ments in sectors like real estate, IT, ITES, manufacturing and other service industries.

The National Capital Region Planning Board [NCRPB], under Government of India Ministry of Urban Develop-ment is playing a stellar role in the planning of integrated spatial development and infra-structure build up for the national capital region of NCT of Delhi and nearby satellite towns of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Bahadurgarh, Rohtak, Bal-labgarh, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and influence towns of Sonepat, Panipat, Meerut, Alwar, Daruhera, Bhi-wadi, etc in states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh , Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and working closely with the respective state governments and the planning and development agencies in a co-ordinated and integrated manner.

TransportDelhi Transport Corporation or the DTC is the main trans-portation medium in Delhi. DTC buses run all through the city including the National

Capital Region (NCR). DTC is the world’s largest compressed natural gas bus service. The service has come a long way since its inception in 1984. Now all buses have been converted

into CNG to control the pollu-tion level of the city. Apart from the bus service of the DTC, there are Blue Line services controlled by private operators.

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Greater Noida’s exponential growth

In the early 1980s the Gov-ernment of India planned to develop residential and indus-trial areas around the capital to reduce the burden of rapid development on the Capital. The two areas which were developed were Gurgaon and Noida. A decade later due to population growth the Govern-ment of Uttar Pradesh decided to incorporate Greater Noida, as an extension to Noida.

Greater Noida was planned to be situated approximately 25 km from Noida. This fast- growing planned township

has sectors named by letters of the Greek alphabet and Alpha, Beta and Gamma are the oldest sectors of this city.

Since the NCR has emerged as a hub for IT industry, Greater Noida is emerging as an IT destination of the future leveraging its proximity to the national capital and avail-ability of quality urban infra-structure including hous-ing. This year Municipalika 2013 is being held at the India Expo Centre, which is situ-ated at KnowledgePark-II in Greater Noida.

23 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | March 2013 DELHi-NCR

As one of the most popu-lous regions in India, Delhi NCR region demands an effi-cient transportation system that is fast and reliable. With the advent of Delhi Metro Rail Service, the transport system has become very smooth and efficient.

Delhi Metro is a world-class metro. To ensure consis-tency and safety in train oper-ations, it is equipped with the most modern communica-tion and train control system. It has state-of-art air-condi-tioned coaches. Ticketing and passenger control are through Automatic Fare Collection Sys-tem, which was introduced in the country for the first time in 2002. Travelling in Delhi Metro is a pleasure, with trains ulti-mately available at three min-utes intervals. Entries and exits to metro stations are con-trolled by flap-doors operated by ‘smart-cards’ and tokens. For convenience of commut-ers, adequate numbers of esca-lators are installed at metro stations. The key to the suc-cess of Delhi Metro is its inte-gration with other modes of public transport, enabling the commuters to conveniently interchange from one mode to another.

Recently, in a bid to make public transport convenient, reliable and safe across the NCR, the parliamentary com-mittee on transport called senior officials from all the four constituting states. The authorities listed the steps they are taking, such as installing CCTV cameras and sensitising drivers and conductors, partic-ularly with regard to safety of women passengers.

The International Airport of Delhi, popularly known as Indira Gandhi International

Airport, is located 24 kilome-tres south of New Delhi. It is a three-terminal airport used by major airlines from across the world. The new Termi-nal 3 has become India’s and South Asia’s largest and one of the most important aviation hubs, with a current capacity of more than 46 million pas-sengers and plans for handling more than 100 million passen-gers by 2030.

Green initiativeIn a new move many of the office buildings in Delhi NCR region are opting for eco-friendly workplaces. Employ-ees at an office block in Greater Noida’s Ecotech City do not need any artificial lighting. Not even a CFL bulb. Sunlight floods into their workspaces, and the play of light and fresh air ensures an almost ideal temperature inside.

This office block at Greater Noida is one of 80 such green buildings in the NCR, which together occupy 121 million sq ft. The building draws 100% of its electricity from a photovol-taic plant, and consumes 50% less power than comparable buildings in the region.

The new building for the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) at Jor Bagh is another such example. The building, which is expected to be ready by next year, is being constructed in a way so that it gets both the GRIHA 5-star rating and the LEED India Platinum rating. A major feature of the building will be zero tolerance to surface-park-ing. A three-level underground parking is being constructed with preference given to CNG or electric vehicles as well as car-pools.

business and EconomyThe economy of Delhi has grown at a fast pace over the past few years. Delhi has a robust and vibrant economy, evident from its Gross Domes-tic Product (GDP). Being the largest commercial centre in northern India, it has an esti-mated net State Domestic Prod-uct (FY 2010) of ₨157,817 crore

($28.72 billion). As of 2010, the per capita income of Delhi was ₨135, 820 ($2,471.92), the third highest in India after Chandi-garh and Goa. Delhi’s GDP, on average, grew by 10.7% between 2007 and 2012, making it one of the fastest growing cities in the region.

The sectors that have wit-nessed massive growth are trade, real estate, hotels, res-taurants, financing, banking, insurance, business services

and other service centred industries.

Over the past few years, Delhi has become the hub of business processes being out-sourced by companies in the U.S. and the UK. Thousands of graduates are nowadays work-ing in the Indian call-cen-tre industry which has seen and unprecedented boom in the capital. It has also opened

doors of employment for thou-sands of eligible graduates from all over India.

Top BPO companies in Delhi and NCR include EXL, Xansa, IBM, I-energizer, Eval-ueserve, Integreon, Market RX, V-customer and HCL Technol-ogies BPO.

Among the wide array of services and outsourcing units in these call centres, the main services include online query processing, back office

operations, customer service, technical support services, transaction processing, collec-tions and knowledge process outsourcing.

Real Estate and HousingRecently the investment in property and real estate has become the most popular and

important trend in the region. Property or real estate invest-ing or dealing has also become a major source of making money.

As the capital Delhi NCR has become the investment destination for the new devel-opers like Tata Housing, Chin-tals, Shobha Developers etc.

In Gurgaon, new projects by Emaar MGF, Ireo, Bestech, Unitech, The 3C Company, Vatika, Vipul, Central Park, Shobha are all coming up with

24 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGESTDELHi-NCR

premium living housing proj-ects. These developers are con-structing luxury apartments, villas, independent bungalows and duplexes with the price ranging from ₨1.5- 7 crore. The maximum housing especially for the middle income and other groups are coming up in Noida, Faridabad, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.

More projects were launched in 2012 in Delhi than in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. Delhi NCR has in the last year emerged as the most preferred location for inves-tors and end users because of the high rate of appreciation and ease of resale of property.

waterDelhi Jal Board (DJB) is pre-dominantly responsible for production and distribution of drinking water in Delhi. The Board is also responsible for collection, treatment and dis-posal of waste water/sewage in the capital.

The board is fully commit-ted to providing efficient and prompt services to the citizens of Delhi. Delhi Jal Board has also been meeting the needs of potable water for the National Capital Territory of Delhi.

The shortfall in water dis-tribution is fulfilled by pri-vate and public tube wells and hand pumps. At 240 MGD, the Bhakra storage is DJB’s largest water source, followed by the Yamuna and Ganges rivers.

Last November, the avail-ability of water in Gurgaon was enhanced by almost four times after the construction of

the NCR channel of 800 cusecs capacity.

TourismNew Delhi, the capital and the centre of country’s adminis-trative activities, has always been the main tourist attrac-tion of India. Tourism in Delhi has shown a robust growth in recent years as tourists from all parts of world throng to the city.

For tourists visiting Delhi, there are a number of attrac-tions to see. Historical monu-ments, museums and temples are some of the sightseeing places in Delhi. Lal Quila (Red Fort), Humayun’s Tomb, Qutab Minar and Jama Masjid are among the most popular desti-nations to visit in Delhi. There are also other attractions like Akshardham Temple, Lotus Temple, Iskon Temple, Birla

Mandir, Rajghat, India Gate, Rashtrapati Bhawan, Chandni Chowk, Connaught place etc.

The capital has a stunning mix of old and new world. On one side there are old archi-tectural sites, buzzing streets and exotic markets, and on the other side, Delhi has magnif-icent malls, bridges, modern swanky high rise buildings and lots of greenery.

EducationEducation in Delhi is provided by a large number of public and private institutions. The NCR region is predominantly known as a centre for research in technology and the informa-tion technology in India.

Education in Delhi has seen a remarkable growth over the last few years with the estab-lishment of several world

class colleges and research institutes.

Delhi has always been the education hub of India with the reputation of producing great talents. Delhi has universities, colleges and schools that can compete with the top in the country.

Delhi is home to some of the world’s premier institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology, National Institute of Technology, All India Insti-tute of Medical Sciences, the National Institute of Fashion Technology, AJK Mass Com-munication Research Centre under Jamia Millia Islamia Uni-versity and the Indian Institute of Mass Communication.

ChallengesOver the past few years over-population and the consequent

overuse of meagre resources such as water has put heavy pressure on the capital’s environment. Water pollution and a lack of solid waste treat-ment facilities have caused serious detrimental effect to the river on whose banks Delhi grew, the Yamuna. Other envi-ronmental pollutions like air pollution and sound pollution have severely affected the well-being of the city’s and area’s inhabitants as well as the flora and fauna.

The growing level of toxics like nitrogen dioxide, PM10 and PM2.5 (Particulate Matter) has made the capital’s children more vulnerable to respiratory dis-eases. A recent study has revealed that 32% of children sought medical help after being diagnosed with respira-tory problems.

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26 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGESTCHaNDiGaRH

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Chandigarh is a well-planned city in India, with

an infrastructure that can match the best in the world. It is a city and union territory (UT) in India that serves as the cap-ital of two states, Haryana and Punjab. The city is well-known for its world-class architecture and urban design and its run-ning is under the control of the administrator who is appointed under the provisions of Article 239 of the Constitution of India. The administrative control of Chandigarh is under the Minis-try of Home Affairs. Currently Shivraj V. Patil is the adminis-trator of Chandigarh.

TransportChandigarh has the largest number of vehicles per capita in India. CTU (Chandigarh Trans-port Undertaking) buses run throughout the city. There are two major bus terminals: ISBT Sector 17 and ISBT Sector 43. CTU also offers frequent bus services to neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana, Him-achal Pradesh and Delhi. The Chandigarh Transport Under-taking functions under supervision of the Home Secretary who is also the Transport Secretary.

Freedom fighters, war wid-ows, visually challenged indi-viduals, thalassemia patients along with one attendant with each category and journalists can access free travel in CTU buses within UT Area. Con-cession has also been extended to senior citizens and students within the UT area.

Recently, to discourage the growing use of private vehi-cles, the UT administration has decided to add 100 buses to the existing fleet of Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU).

Chandigarh is well con-nected by road by NH 22 (Ambala — Kalka — Shimla — Kinnaur) and NH 21 (Chandi-garh — Leh). Traffic is properly

monitored by the Chandigarh Traffic Police.

Chandigarh is a major rail-way junction of North India. Trains to Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Lucknow, Amritsar, Ambala, Panipat, Kalka and major cities are available. At present the Chandigarh Air-port caters to the domestic sec-tor, but the work is underway for an international airport.

In a bid to make the city’s transport system more effi-cient, the Punjab cabinet recently approved the ambi-tious Chandigarh-Mohali metro rail project. The total length of the metro rail cover-ing Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali is 37.57 kms, to be

completed at a cost of ₨10,900 crore. It is expected to start working by 2018.

E-GovernanceE-Governance is the most sig-nificant aspect of the IT Policy of Chandigarh Administration. The vision of the administra-tion is to create a knowledge based society, wherein every citizen of Chandigarh shall be able to excess the benefits of IT. E-Governance is being used as a medium for effective communi-cation between the administra-tion and the general public so that the exchange of informa-tion and access to government departments becomes speedy and easy. There are various e-Governance initiatives like e-Sampark, e-Jan Sampark etc.

In another new develop-ment, the introduction of the online grievance cell in Chandi-garh guarantees to make things much easier for residents who will now be able to get building plans approved while sitting at home. A scanned copy of the plan will be sent online to the estate department of the Chan-digarh Municipal Corporation, which will generate an online receipt in the name of the offi-cial concerned and the tentative time frame for approval.

waterThe Engineering Department of Chandigarh Administration is responsible for providing the water supply in the entire city. The city has been struggling with inadequate water over the last five years. Recently, it was decided that Chandigarh’s

upcoming master plan will cover improvisation of basic infrastructure for the city in the coming decades, including the supply of canal water through-out the city. At present, most of the city, including several south-ern and northern sectors, over two dozen villages and many colonies, are supplied with tube-well water.

Chairman of the Water Sup-ply and Sewerage Disposal Committee, Mukesh Bassi said they will soon figure out a fea-sible solution for the city’s water woes.

ChallengesDespite having a well- planned infrastructure for the city’s transport, Chandigarh is still struggling with traffic prob-lems. The UT administration has approached the World Bank for funds to boost public trans-port and resolve traffic prob-lems in the city. A detailed pro-posal is being worked out and will be submitted soon.

With almost 86% of city res-idents preferring to use private vehicles instead of public trans-port, the current scenario is not favourable for the introduction of the mass rapid transit system and metro rail in the city. Even after addition of low floor and air conditioned mini buses, peo-ple still prefer to travel by their own cars.

A UT administration offi-cial revealed that the trans-port department is working on a multi pronged approach, which will include addition of luxury buses on the local grid to attract those who have their own vehicles.

ChandigarhMarvel of planning

27 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | March 2013

Panchkula, the satellite city of the Union Territory of

Chandigarh, is probably the most well planned and mod-ern city of Haryana. The city is meticulously designed with the right blend of modernisa-tion and preservation of the ecological environment. Most of the development in the city has taken place in the western side of the Ghagghar River. The city’s different areas have been earmarked as residen-tial areas, markets, industrial sectors, parks and diplomatic areas that have helped plan-ning of the city.

Panchkula is also the entry-way to many famous hill sta-tions of the region. The city lies very close to the hill sta-tions of Kalka, Pinjore, Nahan, Chail, Shimla and Kasauli. Some of the tourist attractions very close to Panchkula are the Mansa Devi Temple, the Cactus Garden, Pinjore Gar-dens and Nada Sahib.

TourismNamed after five irrigation canals that collect water from the Ghaggar River and dis-tribute it from Nada Sahib to Mansa Devi, Panchkula has several famous tourist attrac-tions. Panchkula is home to the National Cactus and Suc-culent Botanical Garden and Research Centre, Asia’s larg-est outdoor landscaped cacti and succulents garden, whose

collection of Indian succulents is considered the largest in the world. The chief architect of the garden is Dr JS Sarkaria. The main intention of the gar-den is to preserve and con-serve this endangered species of cacti and succulents. With over 2500 species, this unique garden attracts a large number of tourists as well as botanists.

Another well-known attraction of the region is the Ramgarh Fort, believed to have a history that can be traced way back to 360 years. The fort was under the aegis of Chan-del Rajputs who came to the

plains from Bilaspur in Him-achal Pradesh.

Constructed by Maharaja Gopal Singh, the ruler of Man-imajra in 1815 AD, Mansa Devi Temple is inundated with the devotees who believe the god-dess has magical power to transform people’s life.

The holy site of Gurudwara

Nada Sahib is another famous place in Panchkula on the bank of Ghagar river. Tens of thousands of devotees visit the Gurudwara on the full moon day of every month.

Pinjore Gardens (also known as Yadavindra Gar-dens) is another preferred des-tination among tourists in the city of Panchkula. It is said to have been made by Fidaikhan in the 17th century. The Hary-ana tourism department has developed the whole complex, with lighted fountains, a res-taurant and a mini zoo.

Many people also visit the

famous Sector 5 of Panchkula. Sector 5 has some commercial shops, as well as parks and the-atres. It has Yavanika, an open air amphitheatre, Indradanush, a theatre, Vatika, a garden with a water body as well as dining spot. Sector 5 has vast num-ber of government offices also including the Haryana State Cooperative Supply & Market-ing Federation (HAFED), Cen-tral Board of Secondary Educa-tion’s Regional office, Haryana state board of technical educa-tion and many more.

EconomyThe city now has an impor-tant place in the industrial map of Haryana. Panchkula urban estate, Pinjore and Surajpur are important industrial centres in

and around the city.The city is also well-known

for its activities in animal hus-bandry, fisheries and forestry, which plays a subsidiary but an important role in agriculture economy.

Irrigation in the district depends on tubewells. The per-colation wells are also located in plain areas where sub-soil water is not too low.

Recently, in order to address the issue of land scarcity in Chandigarh, the UT Administration has advised Panchkula and Moh-ali to pool in land to meet infrastructural needs Advisor to UT Adminisration, K K Sharma stressed that land was a major problem and its solution could be found only if the three areas of the tricity worked together.

ChallengesThe upcoming metro rail project of 37.57km covering Chandigarh, Panchkula and SAS Nagar has encountered some difficulties.

The Ministry of Urban Development (MUD) has sought clarifications from the Chandigarh administra-tion regarding certain issues pertaining to the ambitious metro rail project.

The MUD is enquiring whether all the stakehold-ers—Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh—have given their approval to the project. The UT administration has also been asked to give details of the fund-shar-ing formula with Punjab and Haryana.

Panchkulamodernisation meets nature

PaNCHKULa

28 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGESTMoHaLi

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Mohali, a vibrant city with modern infrastructure, is

located next to Chandigarh and along with Chandigarh and Panchkula, forms a part of the Chandigarh Tricity. Last year Mohali was officially rechris-tened as Ajitgarh by the Pun-jab government.

Green initiativeIn a new initiative to reduce the pollution in the city, eco-rick-shaws are to be soon be avail-able on the roads of Mohali. The Deputy Commissioner of Mohali, Varun Roojam, recently distributed 21 eco-rickshaws among the beneficiaries, who can get the loan sanctioned from all the prominent banks at only 4% interest. Moreover, they would be free the control of private financiers.

The eco-rickshaw is made of iron pipes and no wood is used, hence it is light-weight and non- polluting. The authorities claim they will continue to provide such rickshaws to the poor in the near future.

business and EconomyMohali’s reputation as a hub for multinational corporations is slowly emerging. Mohali is home to many big companies like PTL (Punjab Tractor Lim-ited), ICI Paints, and the Godrej Group. Mohali is also develop-ing into an IT hub, with the headquarters of many brands such as Dell, Quark, and Phil-

ips being located there. In a recent development, the

first cluster of high-end elec-tronic industries in the country will come up in Mohali as the state government has offered the Centre 40 acres of land in the city for the implementation of the Electronics Manufac-turing Clusters Scheme. “We are the first state to do it. The Union IT Minister Kapil Sibal announced the scheme dur-ing his visit to Punjab and this was followed by Chief Minis-ter Parkash Singh Badal’s deci-sion to offer land for imple-mentation of the scheme,” says Punjab Financial Commis-sioner and Principal Secretary, IT, AR Talwar.

The 40 acres of land ear-marked for the purpose falls in Sector 101A of the Greater Moh-ali area sectoral grid. “These 40 acres are part of the 600 acres kept aside here for the develop-ment of IT and non-polluting industries in Mohali. The land has already been acquired,” says Manjit Brar, Additional Chief Administrator, Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA).

QuarkCity project is another major development in Mohali’s business scenario. It is a 51-acre multi-purpose development project that includes a Special

Economic Zone (SEZ). The first building in the SEZ, Landmark Plaza, is a 14-storey 600,000 sq ft building that became opera-tional in 2011.

TourismMohali is well-known for its international cricket stadium, which is also home to the Kings XI Punjab, one of the teams in the prestigious Indian Premier League (IPL). Mohali has many famous gurudwaras like the Amb Sahib, Gurudwara Singh Shaeedan and Gurudwara Sant Mandal Angitha Sahib. The city is also dotted with numer-ous shrines and has been vis-ited by various Sikh gurus. The

Rose Garden, the Sukhna Lake and Chhatbir Zoo are some popular tourist spots in the city.

The Rock Garden founded by Nek Chand is another popu-lar attraction of the region. The garden is an open air exhibition that sprawls over an area of sev-eral acres. Popular for its art-work made of discarded waste materials and stones, the gar-den exhibits such structures made to resemble temples, monkeys and humans.

TransportTransport in the city of Mohali is controlled by the Transport Department of the Government of Punjab.

By a new initiative of the city’s municipal corporation, hiring a cab in Mohali will no longer be difficult. The munic-ipal corporation has decided to earmark space for a taxi stand in each phase and sector. The decision comes up in the wake of recent findings of a survey conducted by the corporation,

which found that 26 taxi stands out of 34 were operating from illegally occupied spaces.

Officials involved with the proposal said, by allotting a taxi stand for each phase, the civic body is adopting the Chandi-garh model wherein each sec-tor has at least one taxi stand. “We plan to allot a designated space to the taxi stand in each phase and sector of Mohali, on the Chandigarh pattern. Besides, there is also a pro-posal to enhance the fee or rent of the taxi stand as it has not been revised for the past two decades,” said Municipal Com-missioner A K Sinha. According to Sinha, this will help remove unauthorised taxi stands and bring about greater uniformity.

In another development, Mohali residents can soon expect to get relief from road-side snarls on narrow roads. The municipal corporation has decided to relocate road-side mechanics and auto spares shops to one centralised loca-tion. For this, two areas at each

corner of the city have been identified.

According to a survey car-ried out by the civic body, there are 180 mechanics and sellers who deal in auto parts and need to be rehabilitated to another place. At present, one can find mechanics and spares shops in most sectors and phases of Mohali. Vehicles are often repaired on the adjoining roads or on footpaths thus dis-rupting movement of traffic and pedestrians.

ChallengesAlthough Mohali is aspiring to be a major IT hub of the coun-try, it is still struggling with various infrastructural prob-lems including poor lighting, potholed roads, non-existent public transport and lack of security for women. The road leading to the industrial area is also full of potholes, causing inconvenience to commuters. The paucity of signboards, too, is a problem.

Vibrant Mohali

29 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | March 2013

Lucknow is the capital of India’s most populous

state Uttar Pradesh and is surrounded by a number of small towns.

The position of the city as the only predominant urban centre amid a number of small towns in the surrounding districts makes it an attractive destina-tion for job seekers and those wanting higher education and health facilities.

Lucknow has always been popular as a multicultural city and flourished as the cultural and artistic capital of north India in the 18th and 19th cen-turies. Today it stands out as an important hub for commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceu-ticals, technology, design, cul-

ture, tourism, music and poetry. As the seat of the government of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow is the site of State Assembly, the High Court and numer-ous government departments and agencies.

Hindi is the city’s official language. However, the most prominent language spoken in Lucknow is colloquial Hin-dustani. The city’s design and architectures were heavily influenced by the ancient rul-ers and reflect the essence of its royal past, earning Lucknow the title of the “city of nawabs”.

business and EconomyThe major industries in Luc-know include aeronautics, machine tools, distillery chem-icals, furniture and chikan embroidery. Lucknow has tra-ditionally been well known for chikan embroidery work on ready-made garments, sarees, etc. with most units being smallscale, household-based and located in the old city area.

The economy of Lucknow city is based on the service sec-tor with the majority of the workforce being employed as government servants.

Large-scale, capital inten-sive industrial establishments are few compared to other north

Indian state capitals like New Delhi. Currently, the economy is developing with the contri-butions of skilled professionals in the fields of IT, manufactur-ing and processing and medi-cal/bio-technology. Business-promoting institutions like Confederation of Indian Indus-try (CII) and Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII) have a strong presence in the city.

Lucknow has a great poten-tial in the handicraft sector and accounts for 60% of the total exports from the state. The

major export items are marble products, textiles, handicrafts, art pieces, gems and jewellery, textiles, electronics, software, computer, hardware and soft-ware, apparel, brass work, silk, leather and leather goods, glass items, art metal, chemi-cals etc. The city has promoted public private partnerships in a big way in sectors such as power, roads, expressways and education.

EducationLucknow is one of the leading cities in India in terms of educa-tional facilities, with many pres-tigious universities, technical universities, polytechnic insti-tutes, engineering institutes and industrial training institutes.

Lucknow is also a major cen-tre for research and develop-ment (R&D) activities. Prom-inent R&D centres located in the city include the National Milk Grid of the National Dairy Development Board,

Central Drug Research Insti-tute (CDRI), Central Institute of Medical and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Industrial Toxicol-ogy Research Centre (ITRC), National Botanical Research Centre Institute (NBRI), National Handloom Devel-opment Corporation (NHDC) Ltd., Pradeshik Cooperative Dairy Federation Ltd (PCDF), Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) and UP Export Corporation.

The major educational insti-tutions in the city include the University of Lucknow, King George Medical College, Indian Institute of Management, Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeo-Bot-any, Board of Technical Edu-cation, Institute of Engineer-ing and Technology, Institute of Judicial Training and Research, Sanjay Gandhi Post Gradu-ate Institute of Medical Sci-ences (SGPGIMS), Bathkhande University of Indian Music, Indian Institute of Sugarcane Research, etc.

City beautification The Lucknow Municipal Cor-poration (LMC) recently con-ducted an eight-day long drive to remove unauthorised hoard-ings and notice boards from var-ious places in the city. The drive was conducted zone-wise. The LMC had earlier issued notices in newspapers asking advertis-ers to remove all illegal hoard-ings within three days.

In another recent initia-tive, the Lucknow Municipal Corporation has announced that no government depart-ment, agency or even telecom

company would be allowed to cut roads for almost one year, once they were constructed and repaired.

The LMC has currently started repair and construction of roads on an extensive scale across the city through funds received from Samagra Vikas Yojna, infrastructure funds and central grants.

Challenges The growth of Lucknow in recent years has resulted in immensely increased demand for transport and a dramatic rise in the number of vehicles. Transport infrastructure, how-ever, has not grown likewise and is therefore highly inadequate.

With the number of regis-tered vehicles rising by about 40,000 vehicles per year in the past decade, the roads and parking spaces in the city have become extremely congested, especially during peak hours.

To solve this problem, the Municipal Commissioner has given strict instructions to the Lucknow Nagar Nigam officials to tow all vehicles parked in ‘no parking zones’ of the city.

The drive is soon to be implemented across the city in a phased manner. In the first phase, the most crowded and commercial areas of the city are to be dealt with on a prior-ity basis, covering Hazratganj, Lalbagh, Charbagh area, Mah-anagar, Chowk and Aminabad.

Vehicle owners will have to shell out ₨2,200 for flouting parking rules in Hazratganj, whereas for other areas, the amount is of ₨1,100.

Lively Lucknow

LUCKNow

30 March 2013 | URBAN NEWS DIGESTKaNPUR

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Kanpur is the biggest city in Uttar Pradesh and the hub

for commercial and industrial activities. Once known as the Manchester of the East, it is one of the oldest industrial town-ships of North India. It has an approximate population of 3 million inhabitants in its area. It is also renowned as Leather City as it contains one of the largest and finest tanneries in India and in South Asia. The city is situated on bank of holy river Ganges and is about 126 meters above the sea level.

business and EconomyKanpur has emerged as the top ranked city across Uttar Pradesh in terms of industrial growth rate. The number of industrial units in the city was at its lowest in 1998, number-ing 14,222. The figure doubled to 28,872 by 2010. This clearly points at the rapidity of devel-opment in the city.

Kanpur is one of the lead-ing producers of textile and leather products, which are

exported in bulk to various national and international des-tinations. Apart from the leather and textile industries, the fer-tiliser, chemicals, two wheel-ers, soaps, pan masala, hosiery and engineering industries are also operating in the city. The private sector has also set up large units such as factories of the JK Industries group, Lohia machines, Duncans, etc.

Kanpur has also begun to emerge as the preferred desti-nation among the outsourcing sector with several new start-ups setting up units owing to cheaper costs and a readily available talent pool.

EducationKanpur is home to several pres-tigious educational institutions of the country, including one of the Indian Institutes of Tech-nology, Central India Regional Council of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Harcourt Butler Technological Institute (HBTI), CSJM University, Uni-versity Institute of Engineer-ing and Technology, Chan-drashekhar Azad Agricultural

University, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Memorial Medical College (GSVM), etc.

waste Management Kanpur Nagar Nigam (KNN) and the state government of Uttar Pradesh have revamped Kanpur’s solid waste manage-ment system through a pub-lic-private partnership model. Old garbage dumping grounds have been turned into beautiful

parks with the help of local communities.

In June 2008 KNN offered a BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) contract for the entire overhaul of the garbage man-agement system to a private company. Of the total project cost of ₨110 crore, ₨56.6 crore came from central JNNURM fund and the rest from the pri-vate partner. New techniques were introduced in collection and compaction of garbage.

Each vehicle dealing with gar-bage was equipped with a GPS system for monitoring the entire process.

To run the entire system nominal monthly charges were imposed. Kanpur has set a rare example in solid waste man-agement for the entire country. No wonder the Kanpur Nagar Nigam received the prestigious JNNURM Award of Excellence for Best City for Improvement in Solid Waste Management from the Prime Minister in 2011.

Challenges Due to various heavy industries, the pollution levels have risen dangerously in the city. A few months ago the Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board wrote to the state government asking it to shut down 21 tanneries in the city for violating orders prohib-iting discharge of polluted water in the Ganges.

The board mentioned that it has consistently served notices to the tannery units to install primary treatment plant to discharge polluted water but instead they are discharging water directly into the river.

A senior official of Pollu-tion Control Board said 80 tan-nery units had been shut for not installing the treatment plants. It has also been found that 21 tanneries have been pro-ducing beyond their treatment plan and permission has been sought from the Board to shut these units.

Kanpurthe industrial hub

31 URBAN NEWS DIGEST | March 2013

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Study and survey of socio-economic aspects of housing, collection, collation, co-ordination, analysis and dissemination of building and housing statistics.

Organisation and setting up of a Management Information System to monitor implementation of National Housing Policy.

Organisation and co-ordination of activities relating to housing census and sample surveys on housing condition.

Statistical and socio-economic functions connected with housing and urban development and proper upkeep of data through computerised data bank, etc.

Maintaining linkages with Central, State, local agencies, financial institutions and all statistical agencies in order to collate, store, retrieve and disseminate information on shelter indicators and housing schemes on a continuous basis and to network with UN and other internal agencies on exchange of information relating to shelter.

Functions

The Central Sector Scheme of “Urban Statistics for HR and Assessments (USHA)” aims at the development and maintenance of a national database, MIS and knowledge repository relating to urban poverty, slums, housing, construction and other urbanization-related statistics.

Contact

Office of DirectorNational Buildings Organisation (NBO), Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of IndiaG Wing, NBO Building, Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi-110108 Tel: +91-11-23061940, Telefax: +91-11-23061542, Website: www.nbo.nic.in

NBO’s Role as Nodal Agency for JNNURM & RAY

NBO is designated by the Ministry of HUPA as the Central Nodal Agency for coordination of capacity building, handholding in DPR preparation, appraisal, sanction, monitoring and review of projects under JNNURM (BSUP & IHSDP) and Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY).

Housing Start-up Index (HSUI)

Slum, Slum Household and Livelihoods Profile Survey

Establishment of BPL unit in NBO

Development of HSUI, BRIKS and Slum Survey MIS

Data Centre and a National Resource Centre

Technical support in the Conduct of Socio Economic Caste Census-2011 (SECC)

Conducting Capacity Building Programmes

Technical Group on 12th five year plan for Estimation of Urban Housing Shortage

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NATIONAL BUILDINGS ORGANISATION

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

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