Digitised mapping of urban India
All information related to infrastructure from health and educational institutions to disaster management and terror history of a city will soon be available on cyber space. Municipalities across India will collate information and digitise it to generate a GIS map that will help in preparing a comprehensive city development plan.
New Delhi: Municipalities will now map their cities on the basis of socio-economic parameters like health, education, religion, disaster management and even terrorist activity. This information will be processed and digitised to generate a Geographical Information System (GIS) map to depict multiple variables on a single image, at the click of a button.
In a novel approach, the local administration will generate data related to terror history of a place, mapping potential terror risk sites and devising appropriate response management system.
The systematic plan ascertains whether administration has a role to play in such situations, detailing equipment and manpower required for effective handling. Not only that, Urban Local Bodies (ULB) will perform periodic drills to check preparedness levels.
Similarly, city areas prone to natural disasters like earthquake, flooding, fire and landslides will be mapped — complete with a response system and officials responsible. All this is part of a new initiative undertaken by the urban development ministry.
Flagship programme
Under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s flagship Rs 50,000-crore Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the ministry will encourage cities to come up with a comprehensive city development plan (CDP) as against the traditional land-use plan.
A development plan is an essential document to be prepared by cities to avail of central funds under JNNURM.
The plan seeks to map city’s socio-economic infrastructure like availability of basic healthcare and education — whether municipal schools and basic health clinics are located in the vicinity of informal or formal urban poor settlements.
As this data is generated, layer by layer, it will be mapped on to the physical and political map of the city. For instance, at the click of a button, it will bring up city areas inhabited by the poor, areas not covered by the municipalities’ health and education initiatives, and with little or no access to clean drinking water facility.
The CDP aims to integrate socio-economic development with infrastructure development by demarcating spaces for industry and services in the city, providing required infrastructure and streamlining licensing process through single window clearances.
In urban centres, coupled with availability of skilled workforce, such initiatives will attract investment from retail industry and services sector.
A CDP enables these cities to look at local economic development in a strategic manner. Towards this end, the ministry has asked private consulting firm Pricewaterhouse Coopers to come up with a CDP toolkit modelled on socio-economic development parameters.
Thereafter, a committee consisting of town planners, local and central government representatives will ratify the detailed plan, before it is disseminated to the cities.
PwC principal consultant Kaustabh Basu said that the initiative is aimed at enabling the third tier of governance — municipalities — to make the transition from a Master Plan-based land use to a development-based city planning.
The CDP will focus on identified and prioritised local needs, taking into consideration local resources, searching for cost-effective solutions, and addressing causes, rather than just allocating capital expenditure for dealing with symptoms,” he said.
Once such a mapping is complete, it will help to speed up economic development delivery by providing a tool that guides investment to arrive at realistic project proposals taking into consideration the availability of limited resources.
Cities will be mapped on parameters such as health, education, religion, disaster management and even terrorist activity. This information will be processed and digitised to generate a Geographical Information System (GIS) map.
What is CDP?
A comprehensive city development (CDP) enables cities to look at local economic development in a strategic manner. A development plan needs to be prepared by cities to avail of central funds under JNNURM.
The CDP aims to integrate socio-economic and infrastructure development by demarcating spaces for industry and services in the city. Such initiatives would attract investment from retail and services sector
Such a map would help speed up delivery of investment by providing a tool that guides investors at arriving upon realistic project proposals while taking into consideration the availability of limited resources.
