Minister for Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism (MLITT) Mr. Takeshi Maeda, Government of Japan along with a high level delegation from the Policy Bureau of the MLITT called on Dr. CP Joshi, Minister of Road Transport and Highways in New Delhi today. Both the Ministers discussed bilateral cooperation in infrastructure sector with special reference to road construction
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is in the process of finalizing a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) proposed to be signed with its Japanese counterpart Ministry for Land, Infrastructure, and Transport & Tourism. The proposed MOC will enable Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to exchange technical knowledge and expertise in the Road Transportation and Highways sector including capacity building and advanced technology for roads road transport management system and intelligent transport system.
Japanese companies have been participating in National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) of India as “Supervision Consultants”. Four projects have already been completed where their performance has been satisfactory. India is also a beneficiary of Japanese cooperation through Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Mr. Maeda’s visit is in the context of State visit by Mr. Yoshihiko Noda, Prime Minister of Japan to India wherein a Joint Statement was issued by both the Prime Ministers, inter-alia recognizing the bilateral co-operation in the infrastructure sector including cooperation in the development of expressways in India and capacity building.

The Mumbai Metro Rail fares will be the cheapest compared to all the best 11 Metro Rail services across the world. The fares for the first Metro Rail corridor from Versova to Ghatkopar will range between rupees 6 and rupees 10. And fares for even the second Metro Rail corridor from Charkop to Mankhurd will range from rupees 8 to 24.

The public transport in India is a priority, as most depend on it to earn their bread and butter. The local trains have served the citizens of Mumbai for a number of years. along with it, the Metro and Mono Rail corridors would be an added facility for the city as another mode of mass rapid transport.

The Mumbai Metro, for  Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor will charge rupees 6 upto first 3 Kms, rupees 8 for a distanace from 3 to 8 Kms. And rupees 10 for more than 8 Kms. The fare for the Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd corridor will be rupees 8 for the first 3 Kms, rupees 10 for 3 to 8 Kms, rupees 12 for 8 to 12 Kms, rupees 14 for 12 to 15 Kms, rupees 17 for 15 to 20 Kms, rupees 20 for 20 to 25 Kms, rupees 22 for 25 to 30 Kms and rupees 24 for more than 30 Kms.

The fares arrived at for the Mumbai Metro Rail corridors stand out when compared with the World’s 11 best metro rail systems. While the Beijing Metro charges a minimum of RMB 2 (Rs.14), the cheapest entry ticket for the Hong Kong Metro is 4 HK dollars (Rs.24). The Moscow Metro asks 26 rubles (Rs.40) to use the service and the Seoul Metro takes 1000 won (Rs.40) for the same purpose. While one has to shell out €1 (Rs.60) to use the Madrid Metro, the Tokyo Metro can be used on payment of a minimum of 160 Yen (Rs.90). The fares for other Metro Rail services are – Paris Metro €1.60 (Rs.95), New York Metro $2.25 (Rs.101), Sao Paolo Metro R$ 4.07 (Rs.110), Montreal Metro $2.75 (Rs.120), London Metro £1.80 (Rs.130).

The plan involves using waste and other resources from the region that the new road will pass through to produce ethanol, other bio- fuels and electricity to keep the most environment -friendly cars on the green highway running. Pumps with fossil fuels will also be available for normal cars.
The project also aims to provide “smart” lighting for the new highway.
The systems would automatically switch off lights at entry points where there are no cars and adjust lighting levels along the motorway to compensate for weather conditions. This would set an example to the world.

The town of Loviisa, located east of Helsinki and near the beginning of where the last leg of the highway will be built, has taken the charge of the project.

By Pallavii Pitale

L E D – The Light Emitting Diode as the term fully known as is a sustainable lighting solution for today’s living. It is applicable for both, the Aesthetic as well as functional lighting.

It is suitable for most of the applications where CFL lamps( Compact Fluorescent Lamps ), Tube lights ( Fluorescent Lamps ) or bulbs (Incandescent lamps) are used like ceiling, floor, table lamps, furniture lights and outdoor / Garden lamps.

The application of LED Lighting can be varied like Architectural lighting, General as well as Accent lighting for Homes, Offices, Hospitality and Retail interior projects, Street lighting, Garden and Landscape lighting as well as Industrial lighting.

There are various advantages of LEDs over the other conventional light sources.

The main advantage is the life span. The LED lamp lasts not less than 10 yrs without any maintenance which is approx.10 times more than the conventional light sources.

With a life of about 50,000 burning hours, It works on a low voltage which is one of the means of safety when used for special applications. After this period, the lamp continues working with at least 70% of it’s initial illumination capacity.

Unlike other light sources it is free from mercury and so is environment friendly.

It can be dimmed with help of dimmers or sensors which allows achieving optimal control of power and energy savings. Due to extremely low power consumption, there are tremendous cost savings.

LED lights and light fitting are extremely light in weight and durable. They do not contain filament which avoids the chances of damages due to external shocks in mishandling or during travels.

LEDs emit cool light with minimal heat .They provide light across the entire colour spectrum without the presence of Ultra Violet rays which minimises distortion of colours.

LED light fittings can easily be installed in the existing sockets that of a bulb or a CFL .

With the development in the technology, the Luminous Efficacy of LED light source have almost reached near to that of a CFL. Also various attractive and efficient luminaires are being designed in order to maximise the use of LEDs for various applications.

Another biggest advantage of LEDs is that different colour effects are possible from a single light source which is achieved by using RGB LEDs along with a special controller which controls the resulting colour output of the lamp. It also provides concentrated and focussed light with higher colour saturation.

Now days different types of Decorative and Accent lights, Night lamps, Strip / Rope lights for ceilings, down lighters for walls, Retrofit lamps for Interior purpose as well as Flood lights, In ground lights, Under water lights, Street lights etc. for Exterior purpose are available in the market.

LEDs are still not a very popular option for lighting with most people except Retail and Hospitality industry in India due to it’s high initial cost.

But the manufacturers of LEDs in India like Wipro Lighting, Philips Lighting and Hafele hope that with the development in the range of cost effective LED products the demand from residential and Industrial sectors will soon increase and reach to it’s peak within next five yrs.

Early in 2007 India joined the select ranks of 12 countries to have a Trillion Dollar GDP (in nominal terms). Predictions by various expert groups indicate that for the next two decades GDP growth in real terms would be in the region of 6 to 9 % on compounded basis. This means that by 2025 the size of Indian Economy would range between 3 to 5 Trillion US Dollars. By that time India’s population would grow to 1.4 billion. More than 67% of this population would be in the productive working age which will be the main driving force of this economy. That means unlike other countries India will be a young country where more than 42% of its population would be below 25. Expert groups also predict that average household disposable income to triple by 2025 registering a higher growth rate that was achieved in last 20 years. India’s middle class would grow to 583 million people which means approx. 41% of its population would be middle class – a class that has triggered this phenomenal growth trajectory.

All these projections will remain merely a dream if infrastructure development does not keep pace with growing economy.

Let us see how Maharashtra State fares with this national scenario:

Gross State Domestic Product is expected to keep pace with the national average and would grow in real terms between 6 – 9 % in the near future i.e. upto 2013.
GSDP at current prices works out to approx. 12% (Rs. 5 Lakh Crore) of National GDP (Approx Rs.38 Lakh Crore) at current prices.
Till July 2007 almost 14000 new industrial projects with a total investment of Approx. Rs. 4 Lakh Crores have been committed to the state thus generating approx. 25 lakh additional jobs.
GOM has approved till July 2007 approx. 4000 projects under FDI with a expected investment of about Rs.70,000 crore.
Population of Maharashtra is expected to be around 11 crores and is increasing at an average of approx. 10% per decade.

This comparison with the national data throws up many interesting challenges for Maharashtra in terms of infrastructure development when one compares the following facts with the All India figures.

9.2 % (5902 kms) of the rail network passes through Maharashtra state.
More than 10% (720 kms) of total coastline is in Maharashtra.
Maharashtra has more than 9% (3.08 L Sq. Kms) of All India’s geographical area.
10% ( 10.80 crores) of the national population resides in Maharashtra.
It has roughly 18% (130 lakhs) of national vehicle population.
It has roughly 8% (2.34 L Km) of national road network.
It has approximately 9% (279 Lakhs) of national cell phone connections of which 115 Lakhs are in Mumbai alone.
Maharashtra alone contributes 18% of the total I.Tax collection and about 30% of the total direct taxes collection.

Infrastructure development in Maharashtra has very close bearing to infrastructure development in Mumbai when we are aiming for world class facilities for Mumbai and are dreaming of making Mumbai an International Financial centre.

We will see where Maharashtra stands in relation to following infrastructure criteria which has propelled India and especially Maharashtra to its present glory and what needs to be done to sustain this momentum in years to come.

Roads and bridges.
Seaports and Airports
Dams, Canals, Waterways, Water Distribution
Sewage, Drainage and waste disposal
Mass Public Transportation
Power Generation, Transportation and Distribution.
Special Economic Zones, Industrial Complexes and IT parks
Telecommunication – Capacity Augmentation, Network Development and Distribution.
Infrastructure related to sports and entertainment.

If Maharashtra’s share of 10% or more in the national GDP parameter is to be maintained for the next two decades then the rate to improve these infrastructure parameters has to be greater than the national average.

Motto for next two decades should be

10% is OK but 15% will be better.

Water Resources

Water is a natural resource and like all natural resources it is scarce. However, what is effectively available for consumption and other uses is a small proportion of the quantity available in rivers, lakes and ground water. The rest is available in lakes, rivers, atmosphere, moisture, soil and vegetation. About 2.7 per cent of the total water available on the earth is fresh water of which about 75.2 per cent lies frozen in polar regions and another 22.6 per cent is present as ground water. Luckily India is endowed with good natural resources in the form of lakes and rivers. Rains cover most parts of India. Human intervention is required for its storage, transportation (to areas devoid of adequate rain water) and distribution to the points of consumption either for household, for industry, for agriculture or for power generation.

World oceans cover about three fourth of earth’s surface. According to the UN estimates, the total amount of water on earth is about 1400 million cubic kilometres which is enough to cover the earth with a layer of 3000 metres depth. However the fresh water constitutes a very small proportion of this enormous quantity. The crisis about water resources development and management thus arises because most of the water is not available for use and secondly it is characterized by its highly uneven spatial distribution. Thus its economical use, effective management and new methods of storage, transportation and distribution assumes greater importance for our country as well as Maharashtra.

Maharashtra is fortunate to have the heighest number of dams (1427) in the country. Since rainfall in the state is confined to only 3-4 months a year, it means that storage in these months has to be sufficient for the yearly water requirements. Actually the storage has to take care for an additional year since there are many draught prone areas in the state. How do we make Maharashtra Sujalam in true sense?

Build an extensive network of canals.
Employ adequate measures to reduce evaporation of water from reservoirs.
Take major initiative for increasing the water table.
Stop leakages in the distribution system.
Take giant steps to increase forest cover in State.
Involve citizens and corporate in the save water drive.
Implement ‘Nagpuri Weir’ pattern every across the state.
Make tree plantation compulsory for citizen and corporate body.
Make rain harvesting compulsory for every new housing project in the state.
Make intentional or unintentional wastage of water a cognisable offence.

If all these initiatives result in even 5% saving in usage / increase in storage it will be a great achievement.

Ensuring adequate rain fall is not in our hands, but conserving and saving available water definitely is. Let us do it. Let every citizen and corporate make a pledge to make Maharashtra a Water Positive State.

Roadways – Life Line to Prosperity

Maharashtra has about 2.34 L Km of road network which is maintained by PWD. This includes national highways passing through Maharashtra, State Highways connecting cities, towns and district places of the state and village roads built through Pradhanmantri Gram Sadak Yojna but maintained by PWD. Around 130 L vehicles which are registered in Maharashtra use these roads and probably equal number of vehicles not registered in Maharashtra use it for reaching various destinations outside Maharashtra.

Effective road network improves the economy of the region substantially was never better demonstrated by completion of Mumbai Pune Expressway. Suddenly Pune which was an industrial city and an important education hub was transformed into an IT destination comparable to Bangalore and Hyderabad. We are sure after completion of 4 laning between Mumbai and Nashik in 2009-10, Nashik will also witness similar phenomenon.

With Better connectivity between Pune and Kolhapur (4 laning already completed) this already prosperous town will start attracting fresh talent, investment and culture from adjoining Karnataka state.

So what initiative should be taken to give all major towns of Maharashtra better and improved connectivity.

Policy decision that all towns and cities on a fixed matrix of human population, vehicle population, industry density and employment generation potential to have a minimum specified road network – e.g. 4 laning.
Industry participation in maintenance of road network in return for advertising rights for a minimum specified duration.
Incentive for setting up industry in these pockets.
Good road network to become drivers of growth.
Concept of guardian minister for every major arterial roads in state.
Every major road in state to be a profit centre.
Annual state award for best maintained road in terms of surface and build quality, facilities for motorists and pedestrians and tree cover.
Grading of road construction and maintenance contractor.

If SGDP growth is required to be maintained in relation to national GDP then the existing ratio of state road network to national road network will not only have to be maintained but also improved during the current plan period. Extensive and well maintained road network has done wonders to Gujarat Economy. There is no reason why it will not strengthen pre eminent position of Maharashtra in the national economy.

Power Generation

What good it is if you have the industry but does not have enough power to rotate the wheels of this industry?

GOI’s motto of Power For All by 2012 is achieved by Maharashtra already to a large extent. The only problem is that cities, towns and villages are electrified but there is no electricity for large parts of the day or in some cases for days together.

Maharashtra has about 13.5% (19944 MW) of the national installed capacity for power generation across all types of power generation and about 20% (852 MW) of the national capacity as regards Nuclear Power. Hopefully with a new agreement with US on Nuclear cooperation this ratio should improve.

Tremendous growth in industry in last 15 years , substantial increase in consumption patterns and no major increases in capacity generation has resulted in Maharashtra becoming a power deficit state from Power Surplus state it was just 10 years back. With State suffering from a peak deficit of more than 5000 MW, the situation has now becoming alarming.

Is there a solution in sight? Yes. Can a common man contribute in reducing this deficit? Of course yes. Will we ever regain our position of a decade back? 100%

So, how do we go about it?

Encourage private generation like Reliance and Tatas and incentivise heavily generation for captive consumption.
Harness wind energy in a big way. Introduce mini wind turbines for installation on high rise building to cover power requirements of common utilities.
Initiate public awareness campaign towards energy saving devices.
Reduce transmission and distribution losses.
Make solar power for water heating compulsory in residential buildings. Incentivise builders with extra FSI for doing this.
Make necessary changes in DC rules to employ energy saving building materials (sandwich walls) and use of natural sunlight in the architectural design.
Employ billing system of sliding scale based on consumption, for all distribution companies.

Many other methodologies can be suggested, however all these measures are going to be at the consumption end and the demand is only going to increase in the years to come. So, augmentation of generating capacity to meet and surpass the peak demand and sell of excess electricity to other states at a premium to recover installation costs is the only real solution.

Sea ports and Airports

Terminology of Living on Wings (and prayer) became true in case of India when the nation opened its skies to private operators. The result is there for everyone to see. In the last 5 years the number of passengers and cargo handling capacity has more than tripled. Just Mumbai and Delhi alone handle more than 1500 landings and take off per day.

Though the air traffic has increased more than three times in last 5 years – the capacity in terms of number of airports has not seen such increase. May be the traffic is concentrated in only certain sectors. Number of airports in the country by the end of 2007-08 were 117 of which 37 were non functional – i.e. not used for commercial purposes.

Maharashtra has only 4 functional airports i.e. having scheduled commercial flights – Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad and Nagpur. So in terms of this parameter Maharashtra has only 5% share of the national airports tally. Other airports with air strips are not large enough to handle passenger traffic of scheduled air lines or just does not have adequate passenger load factor to make operations viable. However, it has been noticed that functional airport attracts domestic as well as foreign investment in that region thus improving its employment generation as well as its economic prosperity, so it is a case of chicken and egg.

India never concentrated on its sea ports and therefore lagged in its foreign trade compared to other tiny nations like Hong Kong and Singapore which have surpassed India in terms of freight traffic. It will be surprising to note that India with a Coastal Line of 7000 kms has only 11 major sea ports out of a total 38.

Compared to this Maharashtra has only 2 major sea ports – Mumbai and JNPT.

This is what Maharashtra needs to do to acquire a bigger pie in India’s growing passenger and goods traffic – domestic and international.

Out of 27 medium and minor sea ports – develop at least two – into full fledged major ports on the lines of JNPT specialising in handling of bulk cargo.
Encourage freight handlers and incentivise use of new ports through competitive / concessional port charges.
Encourage passenger traffic to and from Mumbai from these ports to reduce road traffic congestion.
Activate at least two non functional airports to give boost to these cities and improve commerce in the neighbouring areas – Kolhapur and Nashik appear to be most suited for handling commercial traffic.
Link all ports with consumption centres through dedicated corridors separately for passengers and traffic.

Sewage and Drainage

Effective sewage and drainage facility determines the health and hygiene of the city. Though it is the function of the local administrative body, the infrastructure entails huge funds and the assistance is normally provided by State / Central government.

Solid Waste management in Big cities like Mumbai is also equally important as management of sewage and drainage. If sewage and drainage determines the health and hygiene of the city, effective solid waste management determines the beauty of the city.

MCGM through its 983 strong fleet of owned and hired vehicles, from 1400 daily trips, through 30000 strong dedicated staff, manages approx. 6500 tons of garbage created by its population of 12 million people. It involves a staggering expenditure of Rs.1050 crores ( of which almost Rs.800 crores is on account of revenue expenses). In many respect this is the annual budget outlay of many small local bodies.

Despite these initiatives, we still find filth and garbage in every nook and corner of the city. What can we do to make our Mumbai Healthy, Hygienic and Beautiful ?

Use standardized community bins for waste storage.
Segregate dry and wet waste.
Incentivise deployment of kitchen incinerators in all stand alone buildings having more than 7 floors.
Use solid waste as a food for vermi culture.
Stop discharge of sewage and drainage in open nullahs.
No building completion certificate be given if drainage is not connected to municipal sewer.
Involve NGOs in management of solid waste management.
Reward best kept wards with additional incentives like better pavements, nominal reduction in property taxes, reduced water charges etc.

These initiatives / reforms will definitely help achieve our dream of making Mumbai into a city comparable to Shanghai.

Telecommunications

Remember the days when for talking long distance say to Delhi, you would book a trunk call, keep waiting for hours near the telephone for that trunk call to materialise and when it actually came thro, literally shout since the voice would be so feeble and with so much disturbance. If you could talk within the first three times all that you wanted to convey you could consider yourself fortunate.

All this seems like a bad dream now. Modern generation has not even heard about trunk call system which existed. Mr. Rajiv Gandhi realised that for taking India into 21st century, effective communication is a must and appointed Mr. Sam Pitroda for revolutionising Telecommunication, and in just a matter of few years, India was galloping on Information superhighway and became one of the foremost countries in IT and communication. Telecommunication proved to be a true growth driver for the IT industry – and how.

From a regime which had Telephone waiting period in excess three to five years, we now have the situation that you get the connection on the same day. From a regime where there was waiting for hours for long distance telephone call to a regime where you dial any part of the world from the comforts of your home / office or from those innumerable STD / ISD booth in every nook and corner of the nation. From a regime which saw tariff of Rs.16 / per minute ( even for incoming calls ) for mobile communication to a regime where the rates are as low as 80 paise/minute and incoming calls have long been declared free.

From fixed telephony we have quickly migrated towards wire less telephony. India recently surpassed US in terms of mobile connections and is presently second only to China in terms of Mobile connections. We are now talking about 3G services in mobile which will propel India to even higher levels of IT prowess.

If India’s performance in Telecommunications is to be described in one word, it will be ‘Spectacular.’

How do we further improve this terrific performance?

Unified tariff across all India and across all carriers.
Make local calls free on all networks – fixed as well as wireless.
Introduce services like IP TV, Internet as standards with all fixed telephony.
Remove Telephone bills from the service tax net.
Become the hardware provider for switches to other developing countries.

We salute the achievements of our nation in this field and hope the performance in this sector is emulated by all other infrastructure sectors. When this happens no nation can halt the march of India to being a superpower just like what US is today.

Entertainment

Entrainment of yesteryears and entertainment of today – there is vast difference in terms of content, storage, display and retrieval.

Modern entertainment is through digital media encompassing means of diverse applications – be it personal entertainment, home entertainment or public entertainment.

Theatres, multiplexes and auditoriums have undergone a sea change from what it was just a few years back. We never had a situation that of a theatre complex exhibiting more than 3 or 4 shows a day. Now we have a situation of theatre complexes exhibiting more than 24 shows per day through multiscreens and flexi timing.

Recent advances in digital technology like I MAX and digital surround sound is pushing the boundaries of these entertainment sector.

For a common man this means various means of entertainment avenues. However, India and Maharashtra is lacking in being at the forefront of this digital explosion.

What can we do to change this situation?

Like diamond bourse in BKC develop a digital processing hub in Mumbai , Pune and Kolhapur.
Incentivise the importers to bring in latest equipment for pre and post production.
Give tax holidays for future complexes like film city in Goregaon.
Introduce film production and other related subjects like editing, direction and cinematography and others through technical education boardslike ITI.
Create more film institutes on the lines of one in Pune.
Bring in stringent legislation to curb piracy.

We do not just want to be number one in terms of number of movies that we produce per year but we should also aim for being number one in terms of quality of the movies and entertainment programs that we produce as regards to technology. Our aim is to win an oscar in every department of post production.

Basic concept and architectural design precedes the construction design. Owner of the building normally decides the concept of the building based on the message he wants to send out. This may depend on the location, adjoining structures, company image, product perception by the consumers etc. once this is finalised, then comes the architectural design which again might be based on Plot area, Available FSI, Height restrictions prevalent in the area, Development rules of the local governing body, Present and future space requirement, Safety factor that is required to be incorporated etc.

So construction design can be said to be an amalgamation of various designs like Conceptual design, Architectural design, Environmental Design, RCC design, Shuttering Design, Facilities Design, Landscape Design and finally Maintenance (Free) Design. When all these designs are in perfect harmony – all the agencies involved in the construction have correctly understood the purpose of these designs, and the execution of these designs is as intended, the end result becomes what is normally referred to as the ‘work of art’ or an ‘monument’ or ‘timeless classic’.

Let us now examine, what are the essentials of each of these design elements:

Conceptual design: Association of the Product or the Company with the proposed look of the building is of utmost importance here. Geometric Shape of the building is of utmost importance here e.g. Cylindrical, C Shaped, Pyramid, Hexagonal, Cubical etc. The proposed use of the building e.g. residential, commercial, recreational, religious etc. usually determines the conceptual design.
Architectural design: Many parameters decide the architectural design, however, Elevation is the most important aspect of architectural design. Other factors like space usage, ergonomics, specialised finishing material etc. also play equally important part in architectural design.
Environmental design: Adaptability of the building to local climatic conditions forms the most important aspect of environmental design. Rainfall, Temperature, Wind velocity, Topography are some of the issues that play important part in determining Environmental Design. Optimum utilization of natural resources viz: rain water harvesting, use of solar and wind energy, good natural ventilation and lighting play important part in Environmental Design. Modern concept of Green Building Design also falls in the ambit of Environmental Design.
RCC design: Strength & Durability of the building lies in its RCC design. Reinforcement steel type, its diameter, the epoxy coating, Concrete Grade are some of the factors that determine strength of the structure.
Shuttering Design: The design adopted for shuttering decides the Speed, Economy of Scale & Quality Finish, with which one will complete super structure. Convenience, Cost is the other parameter in this design element.
Facilities Design: Accessibility of having all utilities appropriately placed and spaced is the hallmark of this design. Maximum duration between two services and the ease of servicing each facility without affecting the functioning of other indicates well thought out and well laid out Facilities Design.
Landscape design: Well thought of landscape design takes one as close to nature as possible. Ability to create a feel of Proximity to Nature thus is the essential prerequisite of landscape design. Mix of greenery and water bodies make the right natural ambience.
Maintenance Free Design: Economy is the key word in this design element. Rigidity of construction, finishing materials, facilities design determines the overall Economy that can be achieved through clever Maintenance Free Design.

The main objective of any structure is to offer shelter and safety to occupants and the property from external forces – both natural as well as man made. However, good construction design offers all of the above aspects like unique or pleasing shape, distinguishing elevation, adaptability to withstand natural wear and tare, strength to protect from natural calamities, speedy completion, ease of servicing, natural ambience, minimal maintenance cost over long period, over and above the basic necessity of Shelter and Safety. Good Construction design must make its occupants Happy and at Peace with oneself.

From Taj Mahal to Gateway of India, Qutab Minar to VSNL Tower, Bahai Temple to Portuguese Church – all have adopted sound construction design aspects mentioned above and is the main reason behind its iconic status. Construction thus should not be just brick and mortar affair but involve heart and mind too.

(Writer of this article is ex. Chairman of Builders Association of India – Mumbai Centre, and Executive Director and CEO of New Consolidated Construction Co.Ltd.)

When we talk of Urban Transport, we are mainly talking about the situation of Public Transport in Metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Pune, or basically we are talking about the present state of affairs of these cities as regards their public transport efficiency, adequacy and affordability.

When it comes to Urban Transport or Urban Public Transport efficiency, the name that naturally pops up in mind is Mumbai – the city which has the most efficient integrated Public Transport system, compared to any other city in India. What is more creditworthy to achieve this distinction are the odds that are placed against this city – Most populated city in India, highest density of private vehicles per thousand population, maximum distance covered per trip, city with infrastructure that is bursting at its seams, city with highest percentage of public transport usage and above all a city which has the highest number of outside influx per day compared to any other city in India.

So what makes Mumbai’s Public Transport system most efficient?

Integration

Mumbai has the best integration of rail and road public transport. It also has a very healthy mix of private and public transport. So instead of competing with each other all three modes of transport compliment each other.

While the suburban railway takes the maximum load of daily commuters (more than 70%), the road takes the balance load shared between buses, taxis and autos that are available for public transport (around 20%) and the rest is taken by privately owned vehicles.

Upgradation

Mumbai’s transport system has consistently evolved with the passage of time and has tried to keep pace with the increasing population and speed of commuting that is required.

Trams were replaced by single and double decker buses, old steam trains were replaced by electric trains first, then by 9 coach rakes and now by modern 12 coach rakes of latest designs, old taxis and autos gave way for modern CNG vehicles. And Mumbai is still upgrading – it will soon have modern metro rail and mono rail for east west travel.

Infrastructure

Like the vehicle upgradation, there was upgradation in basic infrastructure too. Old railway wooden slippers were replaced with concrete slippers, old manual signalling system was replaced with modern automatic signalling system, old coaches were replaced with modern forced ventilation coaches, old manual ticketing system gave way for modern computerised ticketing system, passenger handling system at railway stations also underwent changes like underground entry and exits, direct access to skywalks etc.

Similarly on road transport new flyovers were constructed, concretization of roads was completed for major roads, roads were widened, pedestrians walkways were created, dedicated bus corridors are being created, new elevated roads are being constructed above the existing roads to create parallel traffic handling on arterial roads, improved synchronised signalling system for creating uninterrupted flow of traffic and many such improvements in infrastructure have helped tackle the increased traffic density on Mumbai roads.

Maintenance

Mumbai has not only integrated its rail and road traffic system, upgraded and modernised its vehicle fleet, taken huge strides in augmenting its infrastructure but has also very efficiently managed and maintained its resources in peak operating efficiency. Very rarely you will see a bus under break down on road or train stalled on the tracks. Rickety taxi or auto rickshaw that you sometimes see broken down on the road gets repaired or moved / towed away efficiently before they start affecting the traffic flow.

Discipline

However what really makes this efficient public transport super efficient is the discipline with which everything functions – on tracks as well as on roads. Trains observe their timings, buses utilise its full potential and ply from one end to another end at maximum permissible speed, Taxis and autos though violate traffic rules some times are quickly brought to books thus creating a fear about Mumbai’s law enforcement agencies, pedestrians observe the discipline on roads and rarely brake it on tracks, those responsible for keeping these objects of mass movement moving all the time do it as if it is their religion. But above all there is no denying that this happens because one dominating spirit of Mumbai – Every Mumbaikar knows that if ‘Mumbai moves India improves’ – No odds ever come in its way to reach its place of destination.

Affordability

Those who govern Mumbai’s public transport system know it very well that to make it efficient, people must use it first. That is the reason Mumbai’s public transport system is one of the cheapest in the world. Every time there is increase in public fares, there is also corresponding improvement in the services offered to offset the effect of fare increase. The operators of brand new Bandra Worli Sea Link have also quickly realised this and has decreased the toll charged by 20% within the first month itself of the sea link being thrown open to the public.

With increasing urban population all over India, Mumbai’s case today is going to be other metro cities case tomorrow. If all these cities emulate the example of Mumbai and its discipline the “Life in a Metro” will be lot more easier.

(The writer of this article is The ex. Chairman of Builders Association of India and ED & CEO of New Consolidated Construction Co. Ltd.)

MSE-CDP is an important scheme for holistic development of Micro and Small Enterprises in clusters. The benefits of cost-effective deployment of resources, demonstrative effects of technology, collective bargaining, common marketing, common brand building and common procurement etc., are harvested through this scheme. Keeping in view its benefits, the Ministry adopted cluster approach as a key strategy for enhancing the productivity and competitiveness as well as capacity building of micro & small enterprises and their collectives in the country. In this context, ‘Integrated Technology Upgradation and Management Programme’ (UPTECH) was launched in the year 1998 which has now evolved into Micro & Small Enterprises – Cluster Development Programme (MSE-CDP). This scheme targets at overall development of a cluster by conducting diagnostic study in the cluster to identify the gaps in the existing manufacturing and business processes with reference to some benchmarks, to find out and suggest remedial measures and to arrive at a validated action plan to pursue the remedial measures; Soft Interventions like creating social networking/capital, training, seminar/workshop, exposure, brand equity and business development, technology upgradation, quality upgradation, common marketing etc. Financial support up to 90% of the cost of soft interventions upto Rs.10 lakh per cluster is provided under the scheme; Hard Interventions in the form of tangible assets like Common Facility Centre for complimenting the production processes, research and development, testing, training facilities, design, effluent treatment, etc., for all the units of the cluster. Financial support up to 80% of the project cost of maximum Rs.10 crore is provided for setting up of Common Facility Centers; Development of land, provision of water supply, drainage, power distribution, non-conventional sources of energy for common captive use, construction of roads, common facilities such as First Aid Centre, Canteen, other need based infrastructural facilities in new industrial (multi- product) areas/estates or existing industrial areas/estates/clusters. The Government contribution of 40% upto a total project cost of Rs 5 crore is provided under the scheme.

Encouraging results have been achieved as a result of implementation of the cluster development initiatives in various clusters in terms of enhancement in the employment, increase in turnover, improvement in product quality, reduction in wastages, creation of social capital (self help groups, consortia, special purpose vehicles, associations) penetration into new markets, awareness about new technologies through participation in Trade Fairs, better marketing techniques, coverage / setting up of new units etc. Moreover, Cluster Development initiatives have facilitated in vision building of the cluster members, enhancing the cooperation amongst the units, thus putting the cluster on growth trajectory. Cluster development initiatives have been undertaken in more than 400 clusters.

Common Facility Centre (CFC) at Rubber Cluster, Changanassery
The Rubber Cluster at Kottayam is a typical MSME cluster dominated by the presence of small and micro rubber based enterprises – manufacturing different types of products from adhesives to molded goods. Turnover of cluster is Rs.500 crores per annum with direct and indirect employment of 16000. The consortium with the Government and State Government support established Centralized Mixing Plant, with an investment of Rs 3.5 crores for the benefit of cluster groups to standardize their production. This intermix is to correct prevailing line of miss balancing among member units in terms of mixing and molding.

Sl. No.
Particulars
Results

1
Increase in turnover of the cluster
30 – 40 %

2
Increase in employment
25 %

3

Increase in export
40%

4
Quality Certifications/ quality improvement
The cluster units are able to make high quality rubber mix enabling for consistent quality production

5
Decrease in energy consumption per unit production
30%

6
Increase in number of units in the cluster
Expansion of existing units made possible

7
Reduction in cost of production before and after the interventions
25 % decrease

Common Facility Center, Pareb, Patna

S N.
Particulars
Before Interventions
After interventions

1
Annual Turnover
1500 M.T. (brass utensils)
1800 M.T.

2
Direct employment
2000
2500 (due to women participation)

3
Indirect employment
2000
2500

4
Rejection rate/quality

Improvement
10 to 20%
5% maximum

5
Export
Nil
10 MT per year (indirect export to Nepal)

6
Energy consumption per unit Production
Rs.6 approx. per kg brass melting
Re.0.60 per kg. brass melting

7
Environment pollution
Air pollution due to burning of coal
Air pollution reduced with introduction of

Oil fired furnace

8
No. of units
500
510

9
Reduction in cost of

Production
Rs.40 to 50 per kg. of utensils excluding the cost of metals
Rs. 30 to 40 per kg of utensils keeping other variables constant.

Soft Interventions in Readymade Garments Cluster, Okhla, New Delhi

· Net saving from 5-10% on common purchase of raw materials directly from M/s Indian Rayon and Industries Ltd., by the cluster actors.

· Productivity improved by 10% in terms of quantity as well as quality due to motivation and training of staff.

· Cost of production came down by 5% due to sharing of information about processes, raw material sourcing, using spare capacity of machines.

· Net saving from 10% to 40% by using spare capacity of machines.

· Orders worth Rs. 2 crore received from UK by cluster actors for forming a soft marketing network and opening of an office at Manchester (UK)

· Six units participated in 34th India International Garment Fair 2005 to promote market development activities.

· Attitude of garment manufacturers changed. Cluster actors are meeting regularly and sharing information

Soft Interventions in Rice Milling Industry, Karnal

Before Interventions

(2003-04)
Status

as on June 2009

1
Turnover of the cluster
Rs 1200 Crore
Rs.2400 Crore

2
Employment
11000 Nos
13000 Nos

3
Export
Rs.700 Crore
Rs.1900 Crore

4
Quality improvement/ certification

Reduction in rice broken during milling

Quality certification / establishment of labs / up gradation of labs

Cooking quality of rice

Induction of new technology in cluster

Up to 34 % in Raw Rice

Up to 13 % in parboiled rice

Reduced up to 7 %

Reduced up to 5 %

- Estimated savings – Rs 10 crore

- 30 units

-Improvement in cooking quality by more than 40 units

- Induced SST technology developed by Paddy processing Research Centre, Tamilnadu thereby made tremendous improvement in Reduction in rice broken, cooking quality & productivity

5
Energy consumption per unit production
-
Carried out energy audits in 13 rice mills thereby saving an estimated amount of Rs 3 Crore through implementation of the recommendations

6
Environment compliance
Not by much units
Many units went for pollution control measures including installation of ETP plants

7
No. of units in cluster
221
278

8
Reduction in cost of production
-
By about 7 to 9 % averagely through process improvement, rice broken reduction ,skill improvement ,induction of new technology & modernization etc

9
Investment in machinery
Rs.40 Crore
Rs 390 Crore

10
Finance provided by banks to cluster for Modernization, growth & business development wef 2005-06 to 08-09

-

Rs.4278.62 Crore

*Inputs from the Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises

The National Electricity Policy envisages access to electricity to all and supply of quality power to rural areas for 24 hours. The definition of village electrification has been made stricter to ensure availability of sufficient electricity infrastructure in each village before declaring it as electrified. In accordance with the new definition, a village will be declared as electrified if basic infrastructure such as distribution transformer & distribution lines are provided in the inhabited locality as well as the dalit basti (wherever exists), electricity is provided to public places (schools, Panchayat offices, health centres, dispensaries, community centres etc.) and when at least 10% of the total households in the village have been electrified.

Keeping in view the slow pace of rural electrification by the States, the Government launched Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) as one of its flagship programme in March 2005 with an objective to electrify over one lakh un-electrified villages and to provide free electricity connections to estimated 2.34 crore rural BPL households. The Government is providing 90% of the project cost as subsidy has so far sanctioned a subsidy of Rs. 33,000 crore, of which Rs. 17,900 crore has already been released.

The scheme covers following activities: Rural Electricity Distribution Backbone (REDB); Creation of Village Electrification Infrastructure (VEI): Decentralized Distributed Generation (DDG) and Supply and Rural Household Electrification of Below Poverty Line Households.

Though, the focus is to electrify the villages through grid connectivity, Decentralized Distributed Generation (DDG) projects based on new & renewable sources can also be taken up by States, wherever such solution is found more cost effective.

The States having large number of un-electrified villages and households (Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) have been given more emphasis under the scheme. Other areas of focus are special category states of north-east, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand, districts having international boundaries and districts affected by naxal activities. Habitations above 100 population are being covered under the scheme.

So far, the Ministry of Power has sanctioned 567 projects for 540 districts to electrify 118,499 villages and to provide free electricity connections to 2.46 crore BPL rural households. Additionally, 3.54 lakh already electrified villages are being intensively electrified.

As on January 1, 2010, 67,607 villages have been electrified, 97,599 villages have been intensively electrified and 83.88 lakh free electricity connections have been released to BPL households. It is targeted to electrify 1 lakh villages and to provide electricity connections to 175 lakh BPL households by March 2012.

Rural Electrification Corporation is the nodal agency for implementation of the scheme. Services of power sector CPSUs namely Powergrid, NTPC, NHPC and DVC have been made available to the State Power Utilities for fast implementation of the projects.

For effective and quality implementation of the projects, the Ministry has adopted turnkey mode of implementation, three-tier quality monitoring mechanism and mile stone based project monitoring. The states have been asked to provide minimum 6 to 8 hours of electricity to the villages electrified under the scheme. It has also been made mandatory to establish franchisees in the RGGVY electrified villages for effective distribution management. The franchising of distribution management is creating good employment opportunity for the rural youth. So far, franchisees have been established in 1.02 lakh villages.

Under the scheme, the Ministry has also undertaken training of C & D employees of the State Power Utilities and franchisees. It is targeted to impart training to 75,000 employees and 40,000 franchisees during the XI Plan.

A website http://rggvy.gov.in has been launched by the Ministry, wherein all the details of RGGVY projects, villages covered & electrified under the scheme are available. A separate window “Public Forum” has been created for comments & complaints. The comments on this website are promptly replied by agency responsible for implementing the project in the concerned district.

*Inputs from the Ministry of Power

The last Census in 2001 had estimated that out of a total Indian population of 1028 odd million, more than 285 million persons lived in urban areas, comprising 27.82% of total population. Further, the Registrar General of India had estimated in the year 2006 that by the next Census in 2011, urban population was expected to increase by about 72 million persons, and that 67% of total population growth in India in the next 25 years is expected to take place in urban areas alone.

Economic growth inevitably leads to an increase in urbanization, as cities and towns provide large economies of agglomeration for individual activity. Urban Development implies providing civic amenities to the citizens living in urban areas. Keeping in view the 74th Constitutional Amendment, it also means empowering the urban local bodies to enable them to become financially sustainable democratic institutions in providing good quality civic services.

The Vision of the Ministry of Urban Development, is “to create economically vibrant, inclusive, efficient and sustainable cities”. The Mission of the Ministry is “to promote cities as engines of economic growth through improvement in the quality of life of urban citizens by creating quality urban infrastructure, improved service levels and efficient governance.”

In terms of Constitutional provisions, local governance is a State subject, which, in its scope, includes both providing civic amenities to the citizens as well as empowering the urban local bodies. Although the ultimate accountability for delivery of urban development rests with the State Governments in the Indian Federal Structure, the Central Government pilots the macro- planning and financial resource for upgrading the urban infrastructure. The Ministry, through its programmes and schemes, seeks to address these issues, inter-alia by providing financial support to the States conditional to undertaking of reforms in the State.

Mission Mode
In order to address the long felt need of cities and towns to augment infrastructure facilities to the people including those living in slums & poor localities in a holistic manner, JNNURM was launched on 3rd December 2005. A Mission Mode approach was adopted in a time bound manner in selected 63 cities, to provide reforms-linked central assistance to State Governments for development of urban infrastructure. It includes cities with 4 million plus population (7), cities with 1 million plus but less than 4 million population (28) and other selected cities like State Capitals and cities of religious/historic and Touristic importance (28) . During 2009, two more cities, i.e. Tirupati and Porbandar were included as Mission cities, taking the total number of Mission cities to 65.

The Mission Statement of JNNURM is “Reforms driven, fast track, planned development of identified cities with focus on efficiency in urban infrastructure/services delivery mechanism, community participation and accountability of Urban Local Bodies /parastatals towards citizens.”

The Mission comprises two submissions, Sub-Mission I for Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) and Submission II for Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP). The Ministry of Urban Development has the responsibility for UIG, while the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has the responsibility for BSUP.

The duration of the Mission is seven years (w.e.f. 2005-2006). The thrust of the UIG component is major infrastructure projects relating to water supply, including sanitation, sewerage, solid waste management, road network, urban transport and redevelopment of inner old city areas with a view to upgrading infrastructure therein, shifting industrial/commercial establishments to conforming areas etc.

The conditions for assistance under JNNURM are :

? Cities should have elected bodies in position

? The State Governments and the Urban Local Bodies (ULB) including parastatal agencies should execute Memoranda of Agreement (MoA) with the Government indicating their commitment (with milestones) to undertake reforms.

? All mandatory and optional reforms shall be implemented within the Mission period.

So far 515 projects at a cost of Rs.58038.18 crores have been approved by the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) under UIG. CSMC approves both the projects and reviews the progress of the Programme. During 2009, the seven year allocation for Additional Central Assistance (ACA) for Urban Infrastructure and Governance (UIG) component was increased from Rs 25,500 crore to Rs 31,500 crore. The allocation for UIG for 2009-2010 is Rs 5960.13 crore, against which, till 31st Dec, 2009, ACA released was Rs 2857.27 crore.

Stimulus Package

Further, as part of the Second Stimulus package for the economy, purchase of buses for public transport was permitted under JNNURM in a time bound manner for the Mission Cities. So far, a total of 15260 buses have been approved for 61 Mission cities at a total cost of Rs.4723.94 crore, out of which total admissible Central Assistance would be Rs.2092.15 crore

During 2008-2009, the seven year allocation for the Urban Infrastructure Development for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) component was raised from an initial Rs 6400 crore to Rs 11,400 crore for enabling the Centre to consider the ‘backlog’ of projects which the State Governments had recommended to the Central Government.

Since the launch of the Mission in December 2005, significant progress has been achieved in triggering reforms in the urban sector across the country. So far, the overall progress made in implementation of the reforms at State level and ULB level, is more than 50% of the reforms committed till the fourth year. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh have shown good progress. The achievements are that 30 cities have migrated to double entry accrual based accounting system, 16 cities have achieved 85% coverage in property tax collection, 46 cities have internal earmarking of funds for services to urban poor and 20 States have taken steps to establish District Planning Committees. The cities of Visakhapatnam, Nashik, Pune, Mumbai , Chennai and Madurai have achieved 100 % cost recovery in Water Supply. Stamp duty has been reduced to 5% in Goa, Gujarat, Chattisgarh, Orissa, Rajasthan Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Puducherry, and enhanced community participation in development programmes has happened by enacting Community Participation Law in 11 states and Public Disclosure Law in 17 states.

**Media & Communications Officer, PIB, Delhi