World Bank to partner Centre in urban renewal mission
The Hindu Business Line, October 29, 2009, Page 21
G. Srinivasan, New Delhi
Buoyed by the tangible success of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in improving civic amenities across the country in urban areas, the World Bank has come forward to partner in the ‘unique urban initiative” of the Government of India.
Disclosing this to Business Line here, the Ministry of Urban Development, Secretary, Dr M. Ramachandran hoped “a $5.2 billion loan from the Bank should work out” soon. He said this would be an additional measure as the Ministry has moved the Planning Commission, seeking more allocation of funds in the backdrop of growing demands from cities. He said as the Plan panel is fully “appreciative” of the huge resources for the tasks on hand, it would be able to signal further resource support sometime during this year itself along with the mid-term appraisal it would be making.
The resources allocated for seven years from 2005 to 2012 would not be sufficient since all of that already stands committed, he said adding that cities were asking for more support. This plea for further scaling up the unique scheme is understandable, given the fact that it has proved to be “a big boon to the cities as the hitherto neglected urban infrastructure.
With the main remit of the implementation of reforms under JNNURM being to foster enabling milieu for the growth of cities by augmenting urban service delivery effectively, land management, financial management and stakeholder participation in governance, Dr Ramachandran said that now cities get used to the much-needed reform agenda, finding additional resources is getting due importance and organised city transport and shift towards use of improved public transport were the notable outcomes of the mission.
He pointed out that when the Mission was approved in 2005 with a provision of Rs 50,000 crore as Central assistance implying thereby about Rs 1 lakh crore of projects would be taken up in the country’s 65 mission cities and some towns out of the total 5161. Now, he said, projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore were under implementation.
Infrastructure projects
As many as 467 infrastructure projects worth Rs 50,339 crore with Additional Central Assistance (ACA) commitment of Rs 23,856 crore with about 81 per cent being in water supply, sewage, drainage and solid waste management were under implementation in mission cities, he said adding another 753 projects worth Rs 12,824 crore with Rs 10,340 crore committed as ACA have been taken up in 636 small towns.
To a specific query about reforms being undertaken under the mission, he said some cities have done well on this. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala figure in this, while cities of Andhra Pradesh, some cities of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu were able to do better compared to other cities. More importantly, he said, 59 out of 65 mission cities have been credit rated, most of them for the first time with as many as 36 having investment grading now.
The Hindu Business Line, October 29, 2009, Page 21
G. Srinivasan, New Delhi
Buoyed by the tangible success of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) in improving civic amenities across the country in urban areas, the World Bank has come forward to partner in the ‘unique urban initiative” of the Government of India.
Disclosing this to Business Line here, the Ministry of Urban Development, Secretary, Dr M. Ramachandran hoped “a $5.2 billion loan from the Bank should work out” soon. He said this would be an additional measure as the Ministry has moved the Planning Commission, seeking more allocation of funds in the backdrop of growing demands from cities. He said as the Plan panel is fully “appreciative” of the huge resources for the tasks on hand, it would be able to signal further resource support sometime during this year itself along with the mid-term appraisal it would be making.
The resources allocated for seven years from 2005 to 2012 would not be sufficient since all of that already stands committed, he said adding that cities were asking for more support. This plea for further scaling up the unique scheme is understandable, given the fact that it has proved to be “a big boon to the cities as the hitherto neglected urban infrastructure.
With the main remit of the implementation of reforms under JNNURM being to foster enabling milieu for the growth of cities by augmenting urban service delivery effectively, land management, financial management and stakeholder participation in governance, Dr Ramachandran said that now cities get used to the much-needed reform agenda, finding additional resources is getting due importance and organised city transport and shift towards use of improved public transport were the notable outcomes of the mission.
He pointed out that when the Mission was approved in 2005 with a provision of Rs 50,000 crore as Central assistance implying thereby about Rs 1 lakh crore of projects would be taken up in the country’s 65 mission cities and some towns out of the total 5161. Now, he said, projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore were under implementation.
Infrastructure projects
As many as 467 infrastructure projects worth Rs 50,339 crore with Additional Central Assistance (ACA) commitment of Rs 23,856 crore with about 81 per cent being in water supply, sewage, drainage and solid waste management were under implementation in mission cities, he said adding another 753 projects worth Rs 12,824 crore with Rs 10,340 crore committed as ACA have been taken up in 636 small towns.
To a specific query about reforms being undertaken under the mission, he said some cities have done well on this. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala figure in this, while cities of Andhra Pradesh, some cities of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu were able to do better compared to other cities. More importantly, he said, 59 out of 65 mission cities have been credit rated, most of them for the first time with as many as 36 having investment grading now.
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