1. TITLE of PROPOSAL: Planning Support Unit: an Initiative to Support City Development

Submission of Proposals: Application Form

Please read carefully the "Guidelines for the Submission of Proposals" which outline the modalities for application and the criteria for the selection of proposals spelled out in the Cities Alliance Charter. Please ensure that all necessary supporting documentation is attached to this form. Additional information may also be enclosed, but total submission should not exceed 12 pages.

rec’d: 5 April 2010

DATE:

1. TITLE of PROPOSAL: Planning Support Unit: An initiative to support City Development Planning in the State of Madhya Pradesh, India

2. PROPOSAL SUBMITTED BY[1]:

Name and Title: The Commissioner, Urban Administration and Development Department (UADD), Government of Madhya Pradesh, (GoMP)

Organisation: Urban Administration and Development Department, GoMP

Address: Palika Bhavan, 6 no. Stop, Shivaji Nagar, Bhopal, 462016

Telephone/Fax/E-mail: 0755-2552356, 0755-2552591,

Contact person for questions on the application:

Name and Title: K.K. Shrivastava, Chief Engineer

Organisation: Urban Administration and Development department, GoMP

Address: Palika Bhavan, 6 no. Stop, Shivaji Nagar, Bhopal 462016

Telephone/Fax/E-mail: 0755-2675337, 0755-2558796,

3. CITIES ALLIANCE MEMBER(S) SPONSORING THE APPLICATION:

Name: Richard Clifford

Organisation: The World Bank

Address: 1818 H.St. NW Washington DC

E-mail:

4. RECIPIENT ORGANISATION: – organisation that will receive and execute the grant:

Task Manager Name & Title: Pravin Bhagwat, Senior Urban Planner and acting State Coordinator

Organisation: City Managers' Association Madhya Pradesh

Address: Directorate Urban Administration and Development Palika Bhavan, Shivaji Nagar, Bhopal-462016

Contact Person/Title: Pravin Bhagwat, Senior Urban Planner

Telephone/Fax/E-mail: 0755-4044490,

5. OTHER IMPLEMENTING PARTIES (if any):

Task Manager Name & Title: Deepti Gaur Mukerjee, Project Director Madhya Pradesh Urban Services for the Poor (DFID assisted) and Project UDAY (UWSEIP) (ADB assisted project)

Organisation: Urban Administration and Development Department

Address: Palika Bhawan, 6 No. Stop Shivaji Nagar Bhopal - 462016 Contact Person/Title: Sunil Singh, Deputy Director, MPUSP Telephone/Fax/E-mail: 0755-2555006,

INFORMATION ON PROPOSED PROJECT:

6.  Type of project (check one):

City Development Strategy_X_ Slum Upgrading__ Both__

7.  Geographic scope of project (specify):

City: 106 Participating Cities of Madhya Pradesh

Country: India

Global/Regional/Multi-country: ______

8.  Expected duration: 24 Months

BUDGET SUMMARY:

9.  Amount of total budget requested from Cities Alliance funding: US Dollars 249519.2

10.  Co-financing amount of total budget, including local partners: US Dollars 195459

11.  Total project budget cost: US Dollars 444978.3

DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED PROJECT:

12. Background – issues to be addressed and scope of project

Planning for irregular 'fragmented' cities of the developing world is a complex task, where approaches of traditional master planning and land use planning techniques have consistently failed to make a mark.(see Habitat 1986, Datta 1990, Baross 1991, in Balbo 1993).

The complexity and challenges in such urban spaces exist in several contexts: in the socio-economic context in factors such as segregation, diversity, dynamic population, informal and illegal economies, rural - urban migration of the poor and lack of support for the marginalized sections of the society; in the physical context in factors such as chronic dearth of infrastructure and resources, organic, unregulated and catastrophic growth, lack of organized transport facilities, traditional lack of planning inputs, archaic land tenure and zoning practices that eventually drag the poor into settling into slums and then it becomes a challenge in itself whether or not to upgrade or resettle them; in the environmental context in factors such as lack of waste management and disposal in cities, pollution, contextual and strategic Climate Change mitigation and environmental improvement and the differential impact of all such factors on the poor and marginalized people; in the political context in factors such as multiplicity of actors, asymmetrical power relations, lack of community participation and motivation, and the dominance of the rich and powerful; and finally in the financial context, challenge of resource mobilization for urban infrastructure investments given the unstable, weak and non-buoyant revenue streams of local agencies, their un-sustained access to capital markets and inadequate fiscal transfers to local governments and their lack of capacity and credit worthiness. Further in the state context, cities shall be seen as an interdependent system needing City development strategies and pro-poor action that represents the wider reality of the state (of Madhya Pradesh).

Most planning traditions[2], have been a product of developed states, attuned to their needs and have been traditionally exported to the developing world without much consideration towards the context of specific country needs, and local planning capacities. Western approaches to planning like master planning, prevalent in India, are too slow to counter the high growth rates of developing world cities, coupled with lacking capacity, administrative and technical skills, issues of legality of land, lack of resources and lacking focus on cost attributes of planning decisions, and most importantly lack of impetus on community participation, and inherently weak States, lacking capacity and resources. (Balbo 1993). Further such an approach fails to factor in the scale and size of poverty and marginalization of the population existing in the developing countries

The dilemma of planning profession is that many city planners in the developing world are still being produced in the traditional western traditions, with little impetus on understanding the complex link between urban economy and society, of seeing beyond master-plans to holistic urban development planning for poverty reduction.

In India, urban planners are faced with a traditional lack of focus (both in form of policy impetus and monetary inputs) on urban issues that has been a characteristic of its national and state level 5-year plans, despite the fact that the urban population of India is second only in the world to that of China. The plans consistently tried to contain urban sprawl and urbanisation, without much success. It was

only after the National Commission on Urbanisation (NCU) and subsequently in the 8th 5-year plan of India (1992-97) that the role of urban centres as positive engines of growth was acknowledged along with recognition of the need to increase funding for urban centres and slums, which according to NCU generated the most brutal and inhuman living conditions in India.

These contexts necessitated an understanding of the economic strengths and weaknesses of the urban centres and attempts at maximizing opportunities of high growth and minimizing the dangers of declining sectors, to assist the changing structure of economy and to minimize social damage (Harris 1999). Since then, positive steps have been taken in form of initiatives such as JNNURM which was accompanied by a change in the Indian urban policy regime and an increase in layouts for urban development in the Union Budget; resonating with the reality that urban economies now contribute as much as 60% of the GDP of India.

Madhya Pradesh (MP) is a core part of the central region of India which is often considered as one of the more backward areas in the country. As such its urban spaces are characterized by organic and haphazard growth lacking infrastructure and resources. There is an imminent need to provide inputs backed by a strong commitment of the government and capacity building of relevant actors of change, namely the local governments.

The Local governments lack orientation on Urban Development Planning and are lacking in planning professionals, capacity and skills. There is a clear and demonstrated need of support to build the capacity of these municipalities for effective development planning of the respective cities.

In this light, the Urban Administration and Development Department of MP (UADD), building on the previous experience of City Development Planning under JNNURM, has initiated a major exercise to prepare City Development Plans (CDP) for 96 towns in MP. At the same time, Madhya Pradesh Urban Services for Poor (MPUSP) Project, supported by UK DFID, is in the process of supporting a further 10 CDPs, in Gwalior and 9 other municipal corporations to formulate comprehensive CDPs that would further the pro-poor and inclusive development in the State, taking the planning beyond the Master Planning era. Overall there is a clear and demonstrated commitment and resolve within the state government and Urban Local Bodies for streamlining City Development Strategies, Pro-Poor action, and necessary reforms in the attainment of the same, across the urban centers of the states. The initiative aims to promote a shift in the way planning is undertaken in the State, and thereby create better planned cities for tomorrow that would reflect the aspirations of all the stakeholders, promote inclusive economic growth, reduce poverty and marginalization of poor, and prevent the formation of slums in the future.

The formulation of the City Development Plans will be undertaken in accordance with a detailed Terms of Reference (See Annexure-D) prepared by MPUSP for this purpose ensuring that the plans are comprehensive and fully consultative. The CDPs are expected to further socially just and inclusive growth to the urban centres of the State by setting out clearly and explicitly the 'vision' and 'approach' for holistic city development. Further, at a more micro level, Zonal Plans are now also being entrusted upon ULBs and it is expected that the unit shall assist in the same in the future.

In order to build the capacity of UADD and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in their endeavor to strengthen urban planning as well as the preparation high quality City Development Plans, Zonal Plans and Urban Investment Plans, there is an urgent need to establish a Planning Support Unit (PSU) at the UADD level, comprising of technically qualified planners to support cities to plan, guide and oversee the CDP preparation, with financial support from Cities Alliance.

Moreover, there are a range of initiatives in the Urban Sector expected to take shape in parallel and following the PSU. There is an existing proposal of establishing a Planning Unit at UADD, with public funds, and the PSU is expected to gradually give way to the Planning Unit in the two years of its operation. In major cities of MP, City Heritage Cells have been established to promote Heritage Planning and a range of synergic planning functions. Also, CMA is being conceived as the nodal centre for PEARL learning network of JNNURM, and the unit will benefit from the link.

Subsequent to the submission of the revised proposal for PSU, am Urban Resource Centre has been sanctioned by the central government of India under JNNURM. The centre, once functional, will provide trainings in a wide range of subjects, including that of the PSU. The PSU core staff will be instrumental in supporting quality trainings on the subjects pertaining to their core competencies, thereby taking some load of trainings from the PSU budget. The City Development Plan preparation has already started in majority of the cities, and UADD is organizing review meetings and feedback sessions at its own cost periodically. The PSU core staff will be expected to support the review meetings and feedback sessions, once in place.

Possibilities are being explored with the National Institute of Technology, Bhopal to provide trainings to the budding planners of India by the core staff of PSU, with the costs being borne by the Institute.

13. Objectives

The purpose of the PSU shall be fourfold:

·  Primarily to build the capacity of ULBs by supporting and conceiving training in contextualizing and applying processes and methodologies for the preparation of CDPs ,and quality control of the content of CDP documents and synchronizing them with the wider regional, state and national agenda of Urban Development.

·  Secondly to facilitate ULBs in ensuring that the City Development Plans, Zonal Plans and Urban Investment Plans once prepared are used in letter and spirit to guide development activities with constant feedback; backed by support from the PSU to relevant authorities.

·  Thirdly, strengthening the knowledge base of the participating ULBs and the state by developing demand-led knowledge products converging parallel initiatives at the state level, drawing on the expertise and international experiences of CA Secretariat and its members and other global players.

·  Fourthly, to support Government of MP and UADD to strengthen policy and implementation frameworks for urban planning in the State by reviewing and updating policy initiatives (e.g. urban slum policy) and ensuring emerging priorities are adequately incorporated into existing planning frameworks (e.g. introduction of sub plans for urban economic development, zonal planning, transport, environment, heritage and conservation etc).

The planning support unit is being proposed as part of the existing institutional set up of the Directorate of Urban Administration and will be co-located in the UADD Project management Centre along with MPUSP and CMA. The unit's success will lie in its ability to bring fresh approaches to urban planning

14. Methodology and sequencing of activities

In the process of supporting the CDP formulation, the unit will support the ULBs to ensure innovative and high quality outputs from the process and engagement with various stakeholders, including communities, in urban development planning. The PSU will strengthen the capacity of various planning agencies and authorities entrusted with the implementation of strategies set out in CDPs by ensuring quality inputs in form of best practices, international research and experiences and ensure that the ethos of the CDPs are intact during implementation. Most importantly, the unit will lead the transformation to holistic Urban Development Planning in the state by understanding the context and suggesting planning approaches and development strategies for immediate action.

The PSU is being proposed as a small unit of 3 core professionals and associated support staff with provisions for short-term inputs from experts in various relevant fields of knowledge and expertise (See Annexure - A). The small core team is expected to demonstrate knowledge and exposure of a multidisciplinary nature with a good mix of professional and academic competencies.

A suggestive sequence of activities is given below:

·  Staffing of core functions: advertising the posts according to defined job descriptions set out in the proposal, interviewing and selection

·  Setting up office: hiring support staff, office space, telecommunications etc.

·  Induction of core staff and ULBs: meetings with relevant officials, visits to a representative section of participating ULBs and elsewhere.