CMDA : A Profile

Tackling the various challenges in Urban Development
Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) is the single largest organisation in India engaged in planning for and development of various infrastructure and services with a view to providing a reasonable quality of life to the residents of CMA and supporting and sustaining the economic activities within Calcutta Metropolitan Area (CMA). CMA is among the 34 large metropolises of the world; the second largest in India and the single largest in Eastern India. According to 1991 Census, it held a population of nearly 12 millions, with the latter projected to reach 15 millions in 2001 and 17 millions in 2011. CMA stretches over an area of 1380 sq.km. and is composed of 41 Urban Local Bodies, besides a large number of Gram Panchayats.
Recognising the economic and demographic importance of CMA, the state government has endeavoured to see that CMA is provided with the various infrastructural facilities, so that the economic activities, including industrial growth, can be sustained. While the policy of decentralisation being followed by state government encourages growth of other urban areas outside CMA for a balanced urban structure, the requirements of CMA are not ignored. The first national level recognition of the development needs of Calcutta traces back to the Fourth Five-year Plan when a separate central assistance was earmarked for Calcutta and for implementation of which CMDA was set up in 1970 as a state government agency. In recognition of the various contributions that CMA makes to the nation and also the eastern India, the National Commission on Urbanisation, set up by the Government of India in the eighties, had declared CMA a metropolis of national importance and recommended special central assistance for urban development in CMA.
CMDA has been tackling the various challenges in various sectors of urban services since early seventies. CMDA has already implemented three phases of Calcutta Urban Development Programme (CUDP I, II & III). During the three decades of its existence CMDA has executed projects worth of more than Rs. 1000 crores. The sectors of urban infrastructure where CMDA has worked include water supply, drainage and sanitation, traffic and transportation, slum improvement and development of new settlement areas. Besides these physical infrastructures, CMDA has also dealt with provision of social infrastructure in the field of health, employment and community development, especially designed for the urban poor. CMDA has also implemented projects of other departments, notable among which are `gas distribution network system'; `refugee colony development'; `population control and family welfare (IPP8)' and `conservation of river Ganga (Ganga Action Plan)'.

Currently, CMDA is implementing the Calcutta Megacity Programme, sponsored and assisted by the Government of India. The total investment envisaged under the programme is in the order or Rs. 1600 crores, covering the last three years of Eighth Plan and the whole of Ninth Plan.

One half of the total outlay is to be contributed equally by the Government of India and Government of West Bengal, with the balance half to come from institutional finance sources. A total of 72 schemes costing Rs. 592 crores have so far been taken up and 30 of them have been completed. The implementation of Calcutta Megacity Programme has been less than expected as the Government of India has never released fund of more than Rs. 18 crores a year, against an estimated annual amount of Rs. 50 crores. Further CMDA is implementing the second phase of Ganga Action Plan, the India population Project (IPP) 8 - sponsored by the World Bank and the Calcutta Slum Improvement Programme (CSIP) assisted by the DFID of UK. It should be worth mentioning that in planning, design and implementation of all the projects, CMDA enlists the participation of elected municipalities/corporations.
As a result of sustained intervention at the instance of CMDA the fast deteriorating urban environment of CMA has been arrested and conditions for renewed growth have been created. A wider coverage of CMA's population by pipe water supply coupled with more equitable distribution has taken place. Among the major metropolitan cities of India, the water supply position in Calcutta city is by far the best with more than 40 gpcd of water availability. Of the four surface water treatment plants, viz. Garden Reach, Padmapukur (Howrah), Srirampore and Baranagar-Kamarhati, set up by CMDA, the first two are being augmented by 60 mgd and 30 mgd respectively. Besides, a large number of groundwater based water supply augmentation scheme are being implemented. The major arterials like Eastern Metropolitan Bye Pass, Kalyani-Barrackpore Expressway, Kona Expressway constructed by CMDA have opened up new areas for growth of settlement and economic activities away from the metropolitan core. The sanitation, particularly in slum settlements, has considerably improved and the same is reflected in declining incidence of public health hazard. The package of infrastructure extended to slum settlements has transformed the lifestyle of slum dwellers and the same can be visualised by comparing an improved slum with an unimproved slum. The urban poor living in slum settlements has also benefitted from the various supports that they received from other social infrastructure projects like IPP-8 and CSIP. The projects addressed to urban poor have made them more conscious about and responsive to their requirements of urban services. All these have led to a substantial improvement in quality of life and have lent support to the process of economic activities within CMA.
CMDA appreciates the further need of infrastructure and the inadequacy of financial resources to address the same. To give infrastructural provision a boost, participation of private sector in joint sector projects is being explored. CMDA recognises the sustained shortage in housing and has taken up a number of schemes to supplement the existing public and private sector initiatives. A total of around 4000 flats have been/are being constructed by CMDA at different locations like Kalyani, Barrackpur, Salt Lake, East Calcutta Township, Baghajatin, Baishnabghata-Patuli and Golf Green. CMDA has already taken up two joint sector projects-one for housing and commercial complex at Baghajatin and the other for developing a city centre at Salt Lake. CMDA intends to garner some revenue surplus from these schemes and utilise the same for development of non-remunerative but essential infrastructures.
CMDA is the designated statutory planning and development authority for the CMA under the Town and Country (Planning and Development) Act, 1979. CMDA has already published and notified the Land Use Maps and Registers, showing existing predominant uses of land, for CMC, HMC and all the 39 municipalities of CMA. The LUMR for the remaining areas of CMA is largely complete. Following the LUMRs, CMDA has already prepared Land Use and Development Control Plans, indicating both permissible and prohibitive use of land in each development control zone, for CMC; HMC; all east bank municipalities (excluding Bidhannagar, Kalyani and part of Rajpur-Sonarpur municipalities); and all west bank municipalities have already been adopted under section 38 of Act. The LUDCPs for the remaining areas have been prepared but government approval is awaited. The major purpose of the LUDCPs is to guide the use of land and also control the development thereupon in a manner that would be environment friendly and sustainable. The enforcement of the LUDCPs is delegated to concerned local body.
In order to establish the rationale of investments, CMDA undertakes perspective planning exercise at suitable intervals. CMDA has initiated preparation of a 25-year Perspective Plan for CMA from 2001 to 2026. The recently concluded socio-economic survey of sampled CMA households provides the backdrop for the perspective Plan.
Environmental protection and conservation being high on the agenda of urban development, CMDA has undertaken a number of studies having environmental implications. The task of establishing a data bank containing environment related statistics and information has been taken up.
Given the dimension and complexity of problems in CMA, the challenges for CMDA have been quite daunting and there is hardly any parallel of CMDA within the country dealing in such a wide range of urban development activities. With three decades of rich experience in planning and development of multi-sectoral urban infrastructure and services, CMDA would continue to be the prime mover for providing a healthy growth of CMA with a view to serving not only the interest of the metropolis along but also the interest of the eastern India.