Venkaiah Naidu calls for municipal commissioners to effectively manage urban challenges

Union Minister for Urban Development and Housing M Venkaiah Naidu called for municipal commissioners to effectively manage growing urban challenges via effective governance and resource management.

According to a release by the Ministry of Urban Development, Naidu outlined certain urban challenges and the approach required at a workshop for municipal commissioners here, which include ensuring 100 percent household water supply connections as against the present 50 percent; ensuring normative water supply of 135 litres per capita per day as against the present 73 litres; 100 percent sewerage treatment as against the present 16 percent; and enhancing efficiency of solid waste collection from 23 percent to 100 percent.

Other challenges outlined by the minister include achieving 80 percent segregation of waste at source as against the present 18 percent, recycling of 80 percent of waste as against the current 10 percent, reliable power supply, improving physical and social infrastructure and urban governance and meeting the urban housing shortage.

Naidu also stressed on the need for effective recovery of costs of utilities like water and power in urban areas.

"Operation and maintenance costs need to be recovered by putting in place necessary mechanisms. This is needed to invite large scale private sector participation in urban sector. One certain way of doing it is to set up Regulatory Bodies for deciding on the prices of urban utilities," Naidu said.

According to the release, Naidu further stressed on the need for modification of building bye-laws at the level of urban local bodies to meet the growing aspirations of urban population.