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Urban Development

City development plan on the cards

Wednesday, 21 December 2011 07:31 administrator
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The Hindu           21.12.2011

City development plan on the cards

S. Ganesan

The Tiruchi Corporation would soon draw up a development plan to identify basic amenities and civic infrastructure required for the city with expanded areas.

It has planned to request the Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited to identify a consultant to take up the project after the proposal is approved by the Corporation Council.

Though the city had been implementing projects with government grants, loans from financial agencies and its own funds, there was a felt need to develop a long-term plan, sources said.

The Tiruverambur Town Panchayat and Pappakurichi, Ellakdudi, Alathur and Keezha Kalkandarkottai village panchayat areas have been merged with the Corporation. Its geographical spread has increased to 167.23 sq. km. from 146.90 sq.km.

The newly-added local bodies require major developments to bring them on a par with amenities available in the city.

The Corporation had drawn a Vision Plan and a Corporate Plan in 2004 identifying the infrastructure and civic requirements of the city. However, with the merger of the five local bodies, a new development plan is being worked out.

 

 

Six years on, Coimbatore still wrestles with JNNURM

Tuesday, 13 December 2011 05:04 administrator
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The Hindu         13.12.2011

Six years on, Coimbatore still wrestles with JNNURM

Karthik Madhavan

As the Coimbatore Corporation Mayor and Commissioner take off to New Delhi to attend a conference on the eve of the sixth year of the implementation of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, things on the ground are not all that good.

Almost all the projects the Corporation is implementing with funds under the Central Government-funded scheme remain incomplete even after pushing the deadline more than once. Pilloor Phase II and underground drainage projects are a case in point.

A study conducted by the citizens' technical committee on JNNURM identifies the disconnects between city development plan and the urban local body, and the city development plan and the detailed project report as some of the problems in the implementation of the projects.

This cannot be truer for Coimbatore, says S. Baskar, a member of the citizens' technical advisory committee, which oversees implementation of JNNURM projects.

“The city development plan prepared for Coimbatore does not entirely reflect its needs. This is because it has been prepared by consultant hired for the purpose with very minimum or no involvement of the stakeholders, the city's residents.”

“The same charge holds good for the city development plan – detailed project report disconnect as well.”

JNNURM, as the Central Government envisaged six years ago, is a policy-driven, outcome-focussed, mission-mode programme with reforms as an additional objective.

This means that the projects, programmes the Corporation design should confirm to the Government policy – national policy on urban transport, national policy on drinking water, etc.

For this to happen, the Corporation has to have a policy for Coimbatore, Mr. Baskar says and asks, “Is there such a policy?”

Compared to many JNNURM cities, Coimbatore fares rather poorly. In the last five years, the city has implemented only five projects worth Rs. 873 crore, says the citizens' technical committee report.

Ahmedabad has executed 25 projects worth Rs. 2,316 crore, Pune 20 projects worth Rs. 3,420 crore, Surat 25 projects worth Rs. 1,818 crore and Mysore eight projects worth Rs. 1,084 crore.

For Coimbatore Corporation to make mends, implement the projects in time and make a fresh start, he suggests that it should appoint the right people like city planners, project management experts, and have an open, transparent administration.

 

Corpn. pins hope on JNNURM Phase II

Tuesday, 13 December 2011 05:03 administrator
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The Hindu          13.12.2011

Corpn. pins hope on JNNURM Phase II

Karthik Madhavan

Minister has suggested a new mechanism, ‘loan to grant'

There is something new to look forward to for the Coimbatore Corporation, after having drawn flak for the way it went about implementing projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

The new leaf of hope comes from the Central Government, which is planning to bring in Phase II of JNNURM.

Discussions

According to sources in the Coimbatore Corporation, the Government had discussions with representatives of urban local bodies (ULBs) that implemented projects under the Phase I. The aim was to receive feedbacks that would go as inputs in devising the Phase II scheme.

The Government also appointed a High Powered Expert Committee to study the issues in the implementation of the projects under Phase I. After many deliberations, the Government “generally agreed” that the Phase II of JNNURM should address the following:

The need to move away from a project-based approach towards a programme-based approach; consideration of 15 – 20-year programme duration; separate window for weaker ULBs and PPP window for medium to strong ULBs and incentivisation for PPP projects; a one-time incentive of Rs. 2 crore for each area that is urbanised; greater stress on small and medium towns with different reform conditionalities for them; the possibility of making the programme design on the lines of National Agriculture Development Programme and also to explore the possibilities making it more flexible; JNNURM could be a long to grant scheme for which further examination as per the finance regulation ‘Fiscal Regulation and Budget Management' could be examined; and, there should be greater stress on increase of revenues of the local bodies and on capacity building.

Further, a campaign on civic sense could be undertaken with JNNURM funds.

During the deliberations with the High Powered Expert Committee, Kamal Nath, Minister for Urban Development, suggested that a new mechanism, ‘loan to grant', be devised wherein loans would be provided to States/Cities and then converted into grants on achievement of certain targeted reforms by states/cities.

Bankability

He also stressed on the need to focus on small and medium towns as well as increase bankability of local bodies.

As for Coimbatore, the new scheme is a golden opportunity. “The Corporation has yet another chance to improve the city. This time, it must move from implementing profitable projects to viable projects. It must also ensure transparency, which was lacking during the last five years,” says P. Rajkumar, Chairman, North Zone.

The Corporation must involve stakeholders, insists S. Baskar, Co-ordinator, Citizens Technical Advisory Committee, JNNURM. The projects implemented under Phase I did not meet the requirements and confirm to stated specifications because they were done without people's participation.

 
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