PPP mulled for improving cities' water supply, sewer systems

Government open to PPP as local bodies failing to improve infra, says urban development MoS Saugata Roy

danish

Danish Raza | February 22, 2011



The government is mulling on public-private-partnership (PPP) projects as solutions to cities' growing water woes and drainage distress.

The failure of local bodies to provide and mainatain adequate infrastructure for water supply and sewer efficiency could prove to be PPP minefield with the urban development ministry showing willingness to engage with private players for civic infrastructure.

Minister of state for urban development Saugata Roy said that local bodies may not be equipped to handle the growing pressure on civic demands and there is a need to explore options such as PPP.

The minister highlighted the plight of urban centres citing figures from various reports. One of the reports states that there are only 39 cities in India where the population has access to safe water. Around 25 percent of the country's urban population has no access to tap water and is dependent on sources such as tube well and hand pumps.

The sanitation situation is far worse, the minister claimed. While only two-third of all urban households had a sewer line connection, Roy said that only about 20 percent sewage generated was treated before disposal in class I cities and Class II towns.

The minister said that in near future, the government would encourage public private partnership (PPP) projects for development of cities in the country under various schemes such as Jawaharlal Nehru national urban renewal mission (JNNURM) and other schemes which required cities/states to undertake necessary reforms for the purpose.

“The overall investment requirement for improving infrastructure in cities is assessed to be much higher than current level of investments. Further, there is significant gap in capacity of urban local bodies to successfully implement policies and projects,” the minister said.  

 

Comments

 

Other News

Making AI work where governance is closest to people

India’s next governance leap may not solely come from digitisation. It will come from making public systems more intelligent, more adaptive, and more responsive to the dynamics at the grassroots. That opportunity is especially significant at the panchayat level, where governance is not an abstract po

Borrowing troubles: How small loans are quietly trapping youth

A silent crisis is playing out in the pocket of young India, not in stock markets or government treasuries, but in smartphones of college students and first-jobbers who clicked on the Apply Now button without reading the small print.  A decade ago, to take a loan, you had to do some paperwor

A 19th-century pilgrim’s progress

The Travels of a Sadhu in the Himalayas By Jaladhar Sen (Translated by Somdatta Mandal) Speaking Tiger Books, 259 pages, ₹499.00  

India faces critical shortage of skin donors amid rising burn cases

India reports nearly 70 lakh burn injury cases every year, resulting in approximately 1.4 lakh deaths annually. Experts estimate that up to 50% of these lives could be saved with adequate access to skin donations.   A significant concern is that around 70% of burn victims fall wi

Not just politics, let`s discuss policies too

Why public policy matters Most days, India`s loudest debates stop at the ballot box. We can name every major leader and recall every campaign slogan. Still, far fewer of us can explain why a widow`s pension is delayed or how a government school`s budget is actually approved. That

When algorithms decide and children die

The images have not left me, of dead and wounded children being carried in the arms of the medics and relatives to the ambulances and hospitals. On February 28, at the start of Operation Epic Fury, cruise missiles struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh school – officially named a girls’ school, in Minab,


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter