Pe
14th
er Expe
N
Septembe
MinistryNationa
rience a
North Ea
er 2010 Ve
y of Urbaal Institut
CEP
and Re
ast Citi
enue: Work
Org
an Develote of UrbPT Univer
flectiveFor
ies Grou
kshop roo
ganized by
opment (Man Affairrsity, Ahm
e Learn
up Wor
m, Polo To
y
MOUD), s (NIUA),medabad
ing (PE
rkshop
owers Hote
Govt. of , New Ded
EARL)
el, Shillong
India lhi &
g
1
Acknowledgement We sincerely acknowledge the valuable inputs, support & cooperation rendered by individuals during the course of this assignment.
We would like to express our deep gratitude to: * Mr. P. K. Srivastava, Mission Director, JnNURM & Jt. Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development
(MoUD), Govt. of India * Mr. Chetan Vaidya, Director, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) * Prof. V. K. Dhar, HUDCO Chair Professor, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) * Mr. Panda, Director Urban Affairs, Meghalaya Government * Mr. Tariang, Secretary UD, Government of Meghalaya * Mr. Prakash Kumar, Director CISCO * Mr. V. Swarup, , National Coordinator, Technical Advisory Group * Mr. Ajay Suri, Regional Representative Cities Alliance * Ms. Chandrima Sinha, Vice president, IDFC India PPP Capacity Building Trust (I‐Cap) * Mr. Abhilash Verma, Sr. Analyst, ICRA Management Consulting Services Ltd., Urban and
Infrastructure Finance
And to all other participants, speakers, NE Group City Commissioners and Officers, NIUA team and CEPT Team for their presence at the workshop.
2
Contents Acknowledgement 1
Introduction to the NorthEast Cities Group workshop 3
Inaugural Plenary 4
Technical Session I 4
Technical Session II 7
Technical Session III 9
Closing remarks 11
Annexure 13
3
North‐East Cities Workshop Plenary under PEARL Project
1. Introduction to the North‐East Cities Group Workshop Peer Experience and Reflective Learning (PEARL) was initiated by the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) to create manageable networks between Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) cities for cross learning and sharing knowledge on projects, urban reforms and city governance. Under the PEARL network, cities are grouped based on their characteristics and level of development. Such groups are as follows: ♣ Group A ‐‐ Mega Cities, with Global Character in Socio‐Economic Profile ♣ Group B – Industrial Mega Cities ♣ Group C – Mixed Economy Cities Service/Trade/ Institutional functions ♣ Group D – Cities of Cultural and Religious Significance ♣ Group E – Hill Cities Several capacity building workshops and workshops have been held for all these groups. However, participation from North‐East (NE) cities had been substantially low. To generate awareness and to bring NE cities together, PEARL workshop was held on the 14th September 2010 at Shillong. The workshop was organized by MoUD, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and Center for Environment and Planning Technology (CEPT) University. The workshop was attended by representatives from Guwahati (Assam), Gangtok (Sikkim), Shillong (Meghalaya), Aizwal (Mizoram), Kohima (Nagaland), Agartala (Tripura) and Itanagar (Arunachal Pradesh). Besides the city officials, the workshop was attended by representatives from Cities Alliance (World Bank), Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited (IDFC), Technical Advisory Group (TAG), Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India (ICRA) and Cisco Systems, India. The workshop was designed as an interactive session for a day covering different aspects of PEARL initiatives, city‐to‐city learning, use of information technology, etc. Each session of the workshop addressed issues on knowledge sharing and management.
4
Mr. P. K. Srivastava
Prof. Chetan Vaidya
Mr. K. L. Tariang
Mr. Panda
2. Inaugural Plenary The inaugural plenary was graced by Mr. P.K. Srivastava, Mission Director (JNNURM) and Joint Secretary, Urban Development (UD), MoUD; Mr. Panda, Director Urban Affairs, Meghalaya Government; Prof. Chetan Vaidya, Director NIUA; MR. Tariang, Secretary UD, Government of Meghalaya and Prof. Saswat Bandyopadyay, Faculty and Program Coordinator, CEPT University.
Prof. Vaidya, welcomed all the participants and gave a brief background about the workshop and the agenda. Mr. K. L. Tariang, thanked MoUD to organise the workshop in Shillong. Expressing his gratitude, he mentioned how important and helpful it would be for NE cities in future to be associated with PEARL activities. Mr. Panda, brought out special problems in reference to NE cities in implementing urban reforms. He discussed on problems of dealing with diverse issues of urban planning, association with academic institutes, selection of right consultants for urban planning / development projects etc. He also suggested a need for guidance from activities like PEARL workshops to select the most suitable and appropriate way to initiate urban planning projects in NE cities. Mr. P. K. Srivastava, IAS, gave the keynote address. He stated that the purpose of PEARL is to improve planning and implementation of projects and reforms under JNNURM. He also mentioned that the total allocation for JNNURM cities in NE was about Rs. 1,000 crores and projects have been approved. However, utilization of funds in this region has been low, NE cities to learn from each other, learning from other cities and sensitize national urban organizations about specific problems of the region. He also mentioned that regional institutions in the NE region should be integrated with urban sector. He added that the network should be sustainable which can go beyond present JNNURM period i.e. March 2012. 3. Technical Session I The first technical session was on PEARL activities and knowledge management. The session was chaired by Mr. Ajay Suri, Regional Representative, Cities Alliance. The session contained three presentations by Prof. V.K. Dhar, NIUA; Prof. Saswat Bandyopadhyay and Dr. Shravan Kumar Acharya from CEPT University.
5
Mr. Ajay Suri
Prof. V. K. Dhar
Dr. Shrawan Acharya
Prof. Saswat Bandyopadhyay
The first presentation made by Prof. Dhar was on the objectives, purpose and activities of PEARL. He gave a detailed overview of PEARL activities, news‐letters and the PEARL website (www.indiaurbanportal.in). He stressed the need to encourage all the cities to visit the help desk set up under PEARL and participate in knowledge sharing activities. The second presentation was jointly made by Dr. Shrawan Kumar Acharya and Prof. Saswat Bandyopadhyay. After giving out a brief introduction to CEPT University, Dr. Acharya elaborated on the regional issues in the NE cities. He further presented urbanization trends and urban issues in the context of NE cities. He also talked about the typology of such cities in terms of economic trends. At the end, he discussed development challenges and opportunity in NE cities. The issues presented are summarized below: ♣ Terrain, physiographic, climatic conditions and accessibility ♣ Environment hotspots and rich bio diversity ♣ Ethnic diversity, unique culture and traditional institutions ♣ Political environment predominance of indigenous attributes ♣ Increase in built up area and decrease in open and green areas ♣ Higher Cost of Infrastructure Development and Maintenance ♣ Regional plan –Local Area Planning linkages absence ♣ Rapid horizontal and vertical expansion in the city core ♣ Road centric development linear settlement pattern ♣ Low density sparse Urban Sprawl ♣ High risk to natural hazards like earthquake and lands slides ♣ Varied land management practices and property rights regimes ♣ Existing Planning norms and DCRs ‐ their
appropriateness/Suitability
♣ Technological challenges in Urban Infrastructure Provisions due to local conditions, etc.
The presentation ended with self explanatory photographs portraying urbanization in NE cities.
6
Second Session of the PEARL North‐East Cities Workshop
Participants from North‐East Cities
Prof. Saswat Bandyopadhyay focused his presentation on knowledge management and lessons‐learnt from pearl heritage cities network. He broadly spoke about the purpose of the PEARL program and explained geographic locations of cities on a map under the PEARL program. He then gave an overview of network activities for Heritage Cities Group. He briefly explained past & upcoming events of Group D Cities in terms of Knowledge sharing through workshops and workshops, direct exchange of ideas through exposure visits to cities and also talked on city learning as the most powerful tool for cities to learn from each other. He further added how city‐to–city learning and exchange of ideas can help each other through the example of Rajkot Municipal Commissioner delivering a brief lecture on best practices of Rajkot Municipal Corporation in Jorethang as a part of one of the training workshop and subsequently invited Gangtok Municipal Commissioner to Rajkot to gain detail understanding of on‐site work. Prof. Bandyopadhyay also shared few photographs of heritage walk at
Ahmedabad as an example of knowledge sharing activity where commissioners, NGOs and subject experts came together and discussed many important issues and concerns of the city in informal set up. He also discussed examples of Puri and Varanasi, whose knowledge sharing with Ahmedabad city officials and experts, the initiatives of identifying Puri Heritage walk and Heritage Mapping for Varanasi was done. He ended his presentation by sharing some of the important steps NE –group must take into consideration to make it more active and effective.
7
Mr. P. Swarup
The suggestions included:
♣ Establishment of PEARL Hill Cities Network‐facilitated by a dedicated Knowledge Manager ♣ Creation of Regional Platform for information, knowledge and experience ♣ Creation of theme specific Subgroups ♣ Linkages/Partnerships with the other initiatives, networks ♣ Identifying ‘change agents’ and facilitating on line interaction amongst the cities and the
change agents ♣ NE Think Tank / Expert Support Group ♣ Evolution of a Network of Academic Institutions, Cities and Local Resource Persons 4. Technical Session II The second technical session was focused on experience sharing and different ways of making PEARL more effective and workable. The session included two presentations. The first presentation was on City Volunteer Technical Core (CVTC) by Mr. P. Swarup, from Technical Advisory Group (TAG), JNNURM and the second presentation was on use of Information Technology (IT) in knowledge management by Mr. Prakash Kumar, Director, CISCO. Mr. P. Swarup in his presentation gave broad understanding of JNNURM activities under the mission and then explained the role of City Volunteer Technical Core (CVTC). He explained broad objectives of CVTC and how it could help cities in achieving their planning and development goals. He also highlighted 11 cities Madurai, Coimbatore, Raipur, Ranchi, Jaipur, Surat, Pimpri Chinchinwad, Jaipur, Rajkot, Patna where CVTC’s have been formed and are actively working. In his presentation he focused on guidelines, thematic areas and formation of CVTCs. Few of the thematic areas are mentioned below:
♣ Urban Engineering ♣ Urban Planning ♣ Urban Governance ♣ Heritage ♣ Urban Poverty ♣ Urban Financial services ♣ Urban Environment ♣ Social Audit and
8
Mr. Prakash Kumar
The Second Session of the Workshop
♣ Legal Services In his presentation, he mentioned on how CVTC can be formed and suggested indicative list of institutions from which members can be drawn from. The presentation ended by sharing details about the scope and the nature of such groups and funding arrangements for forming CVTC and thereafter managing the same. The presentation of the technical session II was made by Mr. Prakash Kumar, on the use of Information Technology (IT) applications for knowledge sharing and management. His presentations were divided in to two parts. 1. Technological Innovation in Urban Governance 2. Best Practice Dissemination Platform
He talked about technological innovation in urban governance in addition to globalization and challenges of urban area management. With interesting statistical information he focused on the current Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use in urban governance and explained on how the technological innovation and application can make it more effective. He pointed out that in today’s age, ICT should be looked at as a utility for any Urban Local Body (ULB). He gave examples of communication infrastructure as a platform to improve the flow of knowledge, people, traffic and energy within and between cities. He explained the need of experience sharing for ULB officials and suggested different mediums and methods available for knowledge gain and sharing such as:
♣ Word of mouth ♣ Workshops/workshops/seminars ♣ Print/electronic media ♣ Training programs ♣ Visit to other cities (India or abroad) ♣ Seniors/Colleagues from other states ♣ Internet (ex website of NIUA) etc. ♣ ASCI‐call centre He also showed some examples to make knowledge gain and sharing more effective. Focusing on PEARL activities and its importance for cities to collaborate for better learning in terms of
9
Mr. Anurag Goel
The third Session of the workshop
urban planning and management. He shared some international examples and models on knowledge sharing. At the end of his presentation he shared the new format of PEARL Website (www.indiaurbanportal.in) and briefly explained some new exiting features, more effective helpdesk, question answer forum and many other interesting knowledge‐sharing options included in the new website. 5. Technical Session III The third technical session of the workshop was on NE City presentations. The session was chaired by Mr. Anurag Goel, IAS, Commissioner, Guwahati Municipal Corporation. Participants of different cities shared their views and status of reforms. Presentations were made by representatives from Gangtok, Kohima, Shillong and Agartala cities. Representative of the Shillong Municipal Corporation gave a brief presentation on the Tax Reforms and Computerization efforts taken by the Corporation. Explaining the past exercise of Tax Assessment, he presented the steps taken to enhance the existing system. He further explained the process through the excel file where clear calculation of existing tax value and proposed tax values are calculated based on the reform rules. He then summarized the results of tax reforms.
Second part of the same presentation focused on computerization initiatives taken by the Corporation. He shared some of the screen images and database generated by MapInfo software which allows mapping of each house no, building no, address, location, no. of people, property use, construction type, no. of rooms, water line, no. of toilets etc. for each property of the city. Generated database also gives ownership details of each property, which helps in Tax collection.
10
Mr. Anil Raj Rai
Clippings on GIS System introduced in Gangtok City
The second city presentation was from the Gangtok Municipal Corporation. Mr. Anil Raj Rai, Gangtok Municipal Officer shared a brief presentation on Status of Reforms in Gangtok. He first talked about the ULB Level Reforms including: ♣ e‐Governance Setup ♣ Shift to Accrual Based Double Accounting System ♣ Internal Earmarking of Funds for Services to Urban Poor and
many others such as state level, administrative, structural and Encouraging Public Private Participation reforms. He ended his presentation by stating that the Corporation is quite young and would take some time to come up with a strong structure. However, corporation’s present focus is on dealing with issues of Trade License, Solid Waste Management, Car Parking and Bazaar Contracts, Implementation of Poverty Alleviation Schemes and Civil Works.
After finishing his presentation, Mr. Anil Raj Rai showed a small video clipping made by CEPT students during their visit to Gangtok about some of the challenges of Gangtok as a city, stating which sector needs immediate attention. The clippings were well appreciated by all the participants.
11
North‐East Cities participants making presentations at the Workshop
Mr. P. K .Srivastava delivering the closing remarks at the Workshop
Representative from the Kohima Municipal Corporation gave a brief presentation on status of urbanisation & ULBs in Nagaland. After giving a short introduction to Municipal Act, he focused on the schemes implemented by UD under JNNURM. He shared some of the diverse yet important projects and reforms of the ULB’s such as implementation of 74th Constitutional Amendment Act, Integration of City Planning & Delivery Function, Rent Control Reform, etc at the State Level and Municipal Accounting, Property Taxation, e‐Governance, Internal Earmarking of Funds for the Poor, Provision of Basic Services to Urban Poor, etc at ULB Level. He ended his presentation by sharing that Model Building Bye‐Laws has been incorporated by the Corporation which would be beneficial to the Corporation in the future.
Last presentation in technical session III was made by Mr. Anurag Goel, Commissioner, Guwahati Municipal Corporation. He talked about urban innovations in the city and successful implementation of four projects supported by community participation fund in Guwahati. He showed pictures of several such small projects including landscaping, reconstruction of existing building, etc. 6. Closing Remarks Each technical session turned in to discussions and many interesting things came out of the same. Mr. Srivastava while giving closing remarks clarified certain issues raised by the cities/states on the availability and utilization of funds under JNNURM. He suggested that the NE group should meet every 3‐4 months and MoUD will facilitate this process. He was happy to note that the
12
Gangtok Corporation, despite being very new has clear vision, goals and good project implementation strategies. He ended his note through a powerful statement: do not outsource thinking, but outsource expertise. At the end Prof. Vaidya summarized the discussions and thanked all the participants and resource persons and ended by announcing Guwahati to be Network Convener for the NE cities group and CEPT University to be Knowledge Manager for this group.
13
Annexure Annexure 1: Agenda
14
Annexure 2: List of Participants Sr. Name M/F Designation Organization Contact No. Email ID
No.
1 Mr. Abhisash M Sr. Analyst ICRA Management Consulting +919910098739 [email protected] Verma Services Ltd., Urban and Infrastructure Finance
2 Mr. Ajay Suri M Regional Cities Alliance 01141479167 [email protected] Advisor, South Asia
3 Mr. Anil Raj Rai M Chief Municipal Officer
Gangtok Municipal Corporation, Sikkim
+919593782919 [email protected]
4 Mr. Anurag Goel M Commissioner Guwahati Municipal Corporation
+919864029403 [email protected]
5 Mr. B K Panda M Director Urban Affairs, Meghalaya
6 Ms. Chandrima Sinha
F Vice‐President India PPP Capacity Building Trust (I‐Cap) IDFC, Infrastructure Development Finance Co. Ltd.
+919818061345 [email protected]
7 Prof. Chetan Vaidya
M Director NIUA +919811311436 [email protected]
8 Mr. M Assistant +919863061799 Eddie. G. Binan Engineer Shillong Municipal Board
9 Mr. F. B. Chyne M Executive Engineer
Shillong Municipal Board +919436100719 [email protected]
15
Sr. No.
Name M/F Designation Organization Contact No. Email ID
10 Mr. H. Ette M Dy. Director(HQtr), O/O CE Cum Director, Deptt. Of UD &
Deptt. Of Urban Development, Arunachal Pradesh
+919436638380 [email protected]
Housing, Itanagar, Arunachal
Pradesh
11 Mr. J. B. M Water Works Shillong Municipal Board +919863024481 Lyngdoh Superintendent
12 Mr. Karni Singh M Project ADB (Consultant) +919829119191 [email protected] Rathore Management
Specialist
13 Mr. Keneizezo M
14 Mr. Ketouzo M Assistant Urban Development +919436005484 [email protected] Peseyie Engineer Department, Kohima, Nagaland
15 Mr. M Deputy Urban Development & Poverty +919436154189 Lalthuamlina Secretary Alleviation Department, Govt.
of Mizoram
16
16 Mr. Priyabrata Bhattacharya
M Town and Country Planner
Town and Country Planning Organisation, Urban Development Department, Govt. of Tripura
+919862583757 [email protected]
17 Mr. P.K.Srivastava
M Joint Secretary Ministry of Urban Development +91‐9810329659 jsnurm‐[email protected]
18 Mr. Prakash Kumar
M Director Global Internet Business Solutions Group, CISCO
+919910031719 [email protected]
19 Mr. R. Sanglian M Chief Executive Aizawl Municipal Council, +919862588670 [email protected] Khuma Officer Mizoram
20 Mr. Ram K Dahiya
M Systems Analyst NIUA
21 Mr. S.S.S.B.P.Mishra
M Deputy Director Director of Urban Development, Govt. of Tripura
+919612156028 [email protected]
22 Ms. Sameeha Sheth
F Project Manager
CRDC, CEPT University +91‐9909560082 [email protected]
23 Prof. Saswat Bandyopadhyay
M Professor CEPT University +919426319352 [email protected]
24 Dr. Shrawan Kumar Acharya
M Professor CEPT University +91‐9558124066 [email protected]
25 Mr. T. Lyngdoh M
26 Mr. Tasdiqur M Chief Engineer Guwahati Municipal +919864034376 Rahman Corporation
27 Prof. V K Dhar M Professor NIUA +919990392966 [email protected]
17
28 Mr. V. Swarup M National Coordinator,
NIUA +919911456025 [email protected]
Technical Advisory Group
29 Smt. W.Syiem F Project Meghalaya Urban +919856642271 [email protected] Monitoring Development Authority Officer
30 Mr. Alok Das M Project Associate
CRDC, CEPT University +919426260845 [email protected]
18
Annexure 3: Banner
19
