COIMBATORE: Hopes of infrastructure improvement in Coimbatore city have revived with the launch of the National Urban Renewal Mission (NURM) in New Delhi on Saturday.

The Union Ministry of Urban Development's scheme aims to provide a sizeable allocation for works such as flyovers, roads, underground sewers and water schemes in major cities.

After a sluggish response, the Coimbatore Corporation prepared a Rs.500-crore proposal that mostly contained pending schemes struggling to find funds. But enthused by the NURM, it has drafted a new proposal for flyovers to decongest narrow city roads.

Significantly, it has included the Rs.168.28-crore underground drainage scheme that was mooted in 1998.

Its implementation has been delayed by discord among councillors over the monthly maintenance and connection charges.

The Opposition in the Council had not been in favour of World Bank loan, fearing huge repayment burden.

Councillor's effort

A couple of days prior to the launch of the NURM, the leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the Council, C. Padmanabhan, met the Union Minister for Urban Development, S. Jaipal Reddy, and submitted a memorandum to request funds for the sewer scheme. Amid claims of the Corporation that it was actively pursuing schemes under the NURM, the councillor said the New Delhi visit was part of his party's initiative to get the sewer scheme implemented under the NURM.

The Corporation has to spend only 20 per cent while 50 per cent of the funds is provided by the Centre and 30 per cent by the State Government. "Should we miss this opportunity," he asked. Mr. Padmanabhan has also appealed to Mr. Reddy to include Tirupur as it is a major export zone in the country and in dire need of good infrastructure.

Nodal officer

"Either the State Government or the Corporation should appoint a high-ranking engineer to act as the nodal officer exclusively for this purpose. He should be in charge of preparing the estimates as per the Central Government norms under the scheme," Mr. Padmanabhan says.

Sources in the Corporation agree that this is the best opportunity yet for the improvement of the city.

Flyovers are necessary in a city that is turning into an information technology hub. Traffic is already heavy and in the next five years, vehicles can only crawl on the existing roads.

In 1999, the city was chosen by the World Bank for the City Corporate Plan. Under this, even private organisations (industries included) were to have been involved in providing infrastructure.

But the plan did not take off as roads, power supply and transport came under the control of various agencies. The Corporation tried out an indigenous scheme modelled on the World Bank plan, but, with little success. The Corporation hopes to start afresh with the NURM.

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