Slums dwellers to get basic facilities by ’07

Slums dwellers to get basic facilities by ’07
Deccan Herald

Concrete roads, assured water supply and electricity by April 2007, in at least one slum in each of the existing wards under Bangalore Mahanagara Palike.

Concrete roads, assured water supply and electricity by April 2007, in at least one slum in each of the existing wards under Bangalore Mahanagara Palike. Sounds good? Well, that is what the BMP administration, which has just come under the administrator rule has on mind.

By the way BMP’s comprehensive plan on improvement of slums includes aspects like housing, hospitals and schools too. Private participation is likely to be the buzz word in ensuring the success of the plan.

The efforts are thanks to the submission on Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) as envisaged under the centre’s Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JN-NURM). Of the total Rs 8,000 crore worth projects and works which the BMP plans to take up under JN-Nurm (over the next seven years), Rs 2,000 crore has been slotted for works related to BSUP.


According to BMP Commissioner K Jairaj the BSUP projects in particular will not be much of a burden to the local body, as a large part of it will come as grants from the Centre (50 per cent) and the State (15 per cent). The BMP will have to raise only 35 per cent of the cost of the BSUP projects. Note that under JN-NURM’s other submission - Urban Infrastructure and Governance, the BMP is expected to raise 50 per cent of the cost of each project. A debt analysis or an analysis of the BMP’s capacity to borrow (read - raise funds) for the envisaged projects is also underway, SBI Capital Markets Ltd has been roped in for the exercise.

Housing

On the housing for the poor aspect, the Commissioner said that about 5,000 houses are being looked at in the first phase. About Rs 2 lakh may be spent on each house - inclusive of water supply and electricity connections, he said.

According to one list available with the BMP, there are 167 undeclared slums across the 15 Assembly constituencies in Bangalore; the number of declared slums is 213.

The BMP had in mid-July initiated a survey of the population and basic facilities in its slum pockets. The number of declared and undeclared slums, the availability of water supply and electricity connections, the state of roads were among the details that were sought to be being taken stock of.

The Detailed Project Reports on various projects related to Basic Services to the Urban Poor, are reportedly under preparation.