Maharashtra to implement JNNURM-like scheme

Via Times of India

PUNE: Taking the cue from the central government's Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme aimed at executing infrastructure projects in major cities and metros, the Maharashtra government has come up with a funding scheme, worked out on similar lines, for infrastructure projects in smaller cities in the state.

The scheme — Maharashtra Suvarna Jayanti Nagarothan Mahabhiyan — aims to support municipal bodies not falling under the JNNURM scheme. It will attempt to raise the standard of living of people in smaller cities by improving transportation, solid waste management, water supply and eliminating slums.

The scheme will be implemented in class 'D' municipal corporations and main municipal councils and nagar panchayats. Speaking to TOI, state urban development secretary (special projects) Manu Kumar Srivastava said the scheme is broadly based on JNNURM to promote planned development.

He explained that the state government has suggested three optional models to implement the scheme. The mission cities will first have to explore the possibility of implementing the projects under public-private partnership (PPP). "If the PPP model does not work out, the state will provide assistance either by 'viability gap funding' or by providing loans at concessional rates," Srivastava said. Funds will be allocated for the approved projects in the state budget.

"A corpus will be formed by contributions from the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA). A loan will be given through the Maharashtra Urban Infrastructure Development Company Limited (MUIDCL)," Srivastava said.

Like JNNURM, the pre-requisite for participation in the scheme is that cities must prepare a City Development Plan (CDP). Subsequently, a project approval and co-ordination committee will be formed to give administrative approval to infrastructural projects. In order to implement the scheme, an independent cell will be set up at the nagar parishad directorate. The director/commissioner of the directorate will act as the state nodal agency to implement the scheme.

The other areas under which the projects can be implemented are energy-saving projects, social amenities, development of hill-stations, conservation of heritage structures or natural water bodies, sewage treatment, basic infrastructure related to school education, infrastructure related to urban health and urban environment.

How China Funds Its Infrastructure?

Via Urbanomics

The Government of India spends $10 bn (Rs 5000 Cr) over three to five years on its flagship programs on urban development (JNNURM) and electricity distribution (R-APDRP). China spends about the same on some of its transport, resettlement or irrigation projects. So Indians used to seeing governments beating the trumpet about $10 bn infrastructure programs wonder where China gets the resources to finance these massive investments.

While the entire Indian fiscal stimulus was a mere $16 bn, the Chinese announced a whopping $586 bn (16% of GDP) stimulus, 75% of which is to be spend on infrastructure. Though the Planning Commission has estimated that India needs nearly $495 bn to finance infrastructure investments during the Twelfth Five Year Plan period (2007-12), annual spending on infrastructure has been in the range of $20-30 bn. The WSJ provides some indication of the source of Chinese funds

"Land sales by China’s local governments generated 1.59 trillion yuan (around $233 billion) last year, up more than 60% from a year earlier... Xinhua attributed the sharp gain in such government income to the surge in China’s real-estate prices in 2009... revenue from the sale of land targeted for property development accounted for 84% of the total for the year... Based on data from the Ministry of Land and Resources, land sale income accounts for at least half of local governments’ fiscal revenue... Many local governments are in such financial dire straits that they simply have to rely on windfalls from land sales as a lifeline to cover basic needs."

State governments in India like Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan too have resorted to windfall incomes from land sales to fund various projects and even bridge their deficits. However, unlike China, these states are constrained by the availability of sufficient lands surrounding the major urban centers and by title disputes and resultant court litigation. Further, the bursting of the property bubble has dented their ability to raise the massive amounts required. And again unlike the Chinese, the State does not exercise the sort of power required to keep property prices artificially at a higher plateau.

National Workshop on National Mission mode Project (NMMP) on E-Governance in Municipalities as Part of JNNURM

Via: Press Information Bureau, Government of India

Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) conducted a National workshop to discuss e-Governance in municipalities under JNNURM. The programme is being implemented as a National Mission Mode Project (NMMP) under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of Government of India. The programme is being implemented in 35 mission cities across 15 States with more than million population on pilot basis. The services covered for e-Governance reforms at the State/ULB level under the scheme include : Registration and issue of Birth & Death certificate, Payment of Property Tax & utility bills, Citizen Grievances, Building plan approvals, e-Procurements and monitoring of projects, Health, Licenses, Solid Waste Management, Accounting System and Personal Information System.

Dr. M. Ramachandran, Secretary, Urban Development, in his key note address, emphasized the leveraging of ICT opportunities for sustained improvement in efficiency and effectiveness, both for internal and external functions, with respect to the delivery of municipal service to all its stakeholders, thereby bringing about transparency and accountability in the governance of urban local bodies. He also highlighted the need for States to take more initiative and support ULBs in provisioning of skills in Information Technology to ensure success of this important initiative in line with the NMMP overall objectives.

While sharing the other initiatives under NeGP, particularly the projects involving creation of common infrastructure, Sh. S.R.Rao, Additional Secretary (DIT), emphasized the need for centralized implementation at State level to ensure seamless integration and inter-operability. Secretaries of Urban Development and Information Technology of State Governments, Commissioners of Urban Local Bodies, Representatives of Planning Commission, Department of Expenditure were eminent participants of the workshop and gave their valuable inputs and suggestions. The service level benchmarks in e-Governance in municipalities relevant to basic services as part of JNNURM to be achieved were discussed with the participating states.

The workshop concluded with an in-depth discussion on issues related to implementation, scaling of the projects at state level, capacity constraints, integration, interoperability, and standardization.

PROOF Charter

PROOF stands for Public Record of Operations & Finance. PROOF is focused on the processes of public disclosure to improve the overall quality of public governance. Its purpose is to facilitate nation-wide transparency of all government operations and finances by making them available in the public domain through a suo motu mechanism for dissemination of information. The outcome is accountability of all government organs to citizen-stakeholders and improved service delivery through measurement against pre-determined standards.

PROOF will initially concentrate on local governments, and specifically city governments, since they are “closest” to the citizen. PROOF will seek to involve citizens in all of its activities.

All public institutions prepare budgets, maintain accounts and subject themselves to statutory audit. Public disclosure of the budget and the audited accounts is a statutory obligation, but is often not done in a timely manner. In addition to ensuring that these documents are released periodically, PROOF sees three essential roles:

· Ensure that the technical details of what is being disclosed can be clearly deciphered by the public and the implications revealed

· Establish benchmarks or performance indicators by which both quantitative and qualitative comparisons of performance can be made

· Actively involve citizens in assessing their governments. This fundamental feature distinguishes PROOF from the traditional “auditor”.

It is this combination of demanding statutory compliance, demystifying technical details, developing performance benchmarks, and including the citizens that makes PROOF unique and extremely relevant to governments as well as to citizens.

CHARTER

We ARE CONVINCED that beyond citizens having the Right-to-Information, our governments must have an obligation to disclose information about their performance on a regular basis. Specifically, governments should be obligated to provide to citizens quarterly audited statements of operations and finance. We believe that such rigorous disclosure is an essential ingredient of good public governance.

We BELIEVE that PROOF provides a public platform for various stakeholders to come together to discuss the performance of their municipalities – citizens, elected representatives, bureaucrats, NGOs, businesses, lenders and special interest groups.

Our ATTENTION will always be on how citizens can use such disclosure information from government, on a day-to-day basis. This means that we will always ask questions about value-for-money and outcomes, in various public services – education, healthcare, public works and so on. We will make all efforts to bring citizens across all classes of society – rich, poor and middle-class – onto the PROOF platform in an inclusive manner.

We STRIVE for maximum rigour in how such performance information is provided by government. This means that we will not settle for mere numbers, but demand clear performance indicators for various public services. We offer to work with government to develop such indicators wherever appropriate. We want to create national standards for municipal performance measurement.

We OFFER the PROOF platform as an opportunity for partnership with the local government. Our attempt will always be to emphasise the value of such a platform for local government, and to assist government in building bridges with the people, by building trust through PROOF.

We are COMMITTED to expanding PROOF’s partnerships with likeminded institutions and individuals who share the vision for PROOF and wish to take the idea of PROOF across India.

We RECOGNISE that this is an effort that will take serious and sustained effort. We are committed to this process of making PROOF a national platform for transparency, accountability and disclosure in government.