The ministry of urban development and the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation inserted an advertisement on November 14, Jawaharlal Nehru's birthday, to remind citizens that the urban renewal mission launched in his name is close to celebrating its first anniversary.
JNNURM, a first or its kind initiative to rebuild our cities and reform the way the urban local bodies function, had covered a lot of distance from the time it was launched. "Overall it is progressing reasonably well," comments Usha Raghupathi, associate professor at the National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi.
From the 63 cities chosen to be the mission cities, 52 have submitted their City Development Plans, 41 have been appraised and the rest are under appraisal. Despite initial hiccups in understanding the concept of CDP, appointment of consultants, cities rushed forward to finalise the document as funds are to be approved on a first-cum-first- serve basis. "There was no such document before. Different departments were looking after different utilities and it is for the first time a single comprehensive report has been prepared. The very fact that they have put together a document is commendable," says Raghupathi.
Understanding the need for reforms and committing to it is a much difficult task compared to CDPs. "First, making cities work is critical. Second, it is clear that the mission is about producing governance in cities. Money that is granted is a reward for committing to reforms," emphasises Sheela Patel, member of the technical advisory group, JNNURM.
Many states have set the reform process in motion and 23 cities from nine states and a Union territory have signed MoAs with the ministry, agreeing to implement the mandatory reforms. Time line for implementing reforms like repeal of the Urban Land Ceiling Act, and changing the accounting system to double entry book keeping have been set out in the MoAs. "Though projects have been approved and grants committed, they would be disbursed subject to implementation of the reforms and also on the project progress," assures Patel.
So far 278 detailed project reports have been submitted, 118 appraised and 84 approved by the sanctioning authority. Andhra Pradesh leads the list of total number of projects sanctioned with 22 projects and Maharashtra in cost of projects at Rs 1,454.14 crore. Out of total project cost for Maharashtra, Rs 783 crore will be the GoI grant commitment, Rs 235 crore committed by the state and Rs 434 crore committed by urban local bodies. So far the ministry of finance has released Rs 474 crore for 88 projects sanctioned from 9 states. Most of the projects for which approvals have been granted relate to water supply and sewage system.
Almost all the project details and approvals are listed out in detail and put up on the JNNURM website by the ministry. "Our idea is to put all the details on the public domain so that anyone can get information without resorting to RTI," says Patel. Citizen groups have also become active in the consultative process and in fact there is an internet e-mail group started to deliberate JNNURM projects in Delhi by the Centre for Civil Society.
"There are both positive and negative comments on JNNURM. Those who are negative feel it is not pro-poor and the reforms mandated could result in evictions. They also look at it as an agenda of ADB and other multilateral agencies. The positive side looks at the long term impact of reforms," says Makarand Bakore who moderates JNNURM Delhi yahoo group.
Though Rs 50,000 crore for the project looks like a big sum, the criticism has been that it is small if it is spread over 63 cities for seven years. Whether the scheme will see any changes when it steps into its second year is too early to say, feels Raghupathi. It is only in the second or third year, after monitoring the progress, can the needs for change be assessed. On the fund part she says, "It is not sufficient, our demands are great. But what JNNURM sets out to do is to create conditions for the private sector to invest."