Thiruvananthapuram: The Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has begun the consultation process for the formulation of a City Development Plan (CDP) that would make it eligible for Central Government assistance under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

At its first meeting last week, the core committee for the project, headed by Mayor C. Jayan Babu, decided to identify the priority sectors in urban infrastructure and basic services.

The CDP, with a perspective for 20 years, is one of the eligibility criteria for the release of JNNURM funds. The consultation exercise now underway, is a radical departure from the Corporation's earlier proposal to modify the vision document for the city that is under preparation for the Capital Region Development Programme.

Civic functionaries said the Government had preferred a more broad-based, democratic approach to the project.

"Fine-tuning the vision document may have served the purpose, but it would have been a bureaucratic exercise. Besides, a development plan prepared by officials would not reflect the aspirations of the people," a senior councillor said.

The first meeting of the core committee was attended by representatives from the Public Works, Town Planning, Irrigation, Local Self-Government and Tourism Departments, and agencies such as the Kerala Water Authority, Kerala Road Fund Board, Thiruvananthapuram Development Authority, National Transportation Planning and Research Centre and the City Corporation.

S.M. Vijayanand, Principal Secretary, Local Self-Government, briefed the participants about the objectives of the JNNURM and the preparatory exercises to be taken up.

Sectoral teams

The meeting constituted sectoral teams to identify the development needs and prepare the draft details for the CDP. Each team comprises officials drawn from the department and agency concerned. Senior Town Planner T.M. Sudha was appointed coordinator for the exercise.

The core committee also decided to set up an office in the Corporation headquarters building at Palayam.

Corporation sources said a large number of retired officials from various departments had been drafted into the consultative exercise. "We decided to utilise the services of retired hands because they have good experience in handling development issues," says a civic official.

The second phase of the consultative exercise involves several rounds of discussions with a cross section of society, including residents associations, traders, NGOs and social workers.

Some of the proposals that have come up before the Corporation for the JNNURM include preservation and protection of water bodies including rivers, canals and ponds and the Vellayani Lake, protection of heritage buildings and sites, development of satellite townships, a mass rapid transport system and link roads to ease traffic congestion.

The City Corporation's annual budget for the year 2006-07 has earmarked a token amount of Rs.100 crores for JNNURM projects.

The budget has identified 13 major projects to be taken up with JNNURM funds. These include eight urban infrastructure projects and five schemes to improve basic services for the poor.

Budget allocation

The highest outlay of Rs.44 crores is for sewerage, while Rs.10 crores has been allocated for widening and reconstruction of roads. An amount of Rs.6 crores has been earmarked for health, education and social security schemes for the poor.

The other projects include solid waste management and sanitary landfill (Rs.4 crores), flood control (Rs.4 crores), heritage conservation (Rs.4 crores), watershed management (Rs.6 crores), streetlights (Rs.3 crores) and development of parking areas (Rs.5 crores).

The Corporation is expecting a total assistance of Rs.1,000 crores under the JNNURM. The funds will be distributed over a period of seven years, with the Centre footing 80 per cent of the cost and the State Government and the Corporation providing 10 per cent each.

Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi are among the 63 cities that have been selected for the JNNURM to fast track the development of infrastructure and basic services. The State Government has fixed July 31 as the deadline for formulation of City Development Plans for the two Corporations.

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