Public Private Partnerships are critical for Urban Development – Ms. Deepa Dasmunsi

21^st October,2013, Hyderabad: Confederation of Indian Industry, The Euro India Centre and European Business & Technology Centre in partnership with Government of Andhra Pradesh today organized the 6^th Euro India Summit focusing on the theme of “Greening Cities” with the need to improve the quality of life and economic competitiveness to make cities become more resource-efficient and environmentally friendly.

The Greening of Cities attains importance in the context of rapid urban expansion which is taking place in India in general and all over the world in particular making it imperative for all policy makers to focus on growth of cities in sustainable manner. The megatrends of urbanization, climate change, globalization and demographic change will shape the future of cities.

Ms. Deepa Dasmunsi, Minister of State for Urban Development Government of India during her address as Guest of Honor highlighted the current pace of Urbanization in the country and said private sectors need to come together and institutionalize the framework to work collaboratively to ensure inclusive urbanization and added that the  urban sector will play a critical role in the structural transformation of Indian economy and in sustaining high rates of economic growth. She mentioned that  urban development is a State subject as different states have their own policies, hence we need to focus on reforming governance and entrust more responsibilities to the local bodies build more local expertise to improve service delivery.

Mr. M Maheedhar Reddy Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh, in his inaugural address, threw light upon key initiatives undertaken by Government of Andhra Pradesh and said the percentage of urban population to total population in Andhra Pradesh reached 33.49% in 2011 as compared to 27.3% in 2001. There are many initiatives like Preparation of City Sanitation Plans, Service Level Benchmarking of Urban Services, Jawarharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority Master Plan, Integrated Township Policy and Hyderabad Metro Rail Project etc taken up by Govt of AP which will make the city more resource efficient and environment friendly.

Mr. Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, in his keynote address talking about various dimensions to Architectural Governance as a solution to the challenges towards building greener cities and said “Solutions developed locally are more contextual and more appropriate to pursue sustainable development in respective cities. We need to build lateral networks to learn from each other and improve capability and reform the role of the center and instead enable local bodies to manage produce better results. If we were to build urban transport system, learning and implementation has to be simultaneous so that we don’t wait for years together to learn capacity building.”

Mr. H.E. Joao Cravinho, Ambassador – Delegation of the EU to India shared his perspective on global approach towards sustainable urbanization and said, “Local concerns and Global concerns are two faces of the same coin which needs to be combated. Cities being places of connection which function as centre of services, constantly under the pressure of economic growth should be equipped to provide healthy mobility of people and business. This gathering today opens doors and paves way to enhance cooperation and knowledge sharing and create fruitful partnership between Europe and Hyderabad to make cities more capable and resourceful.”

The other sessions for the day focused on – Smart and Inclusive cities, Waste Management, Sustainable Urban Mobility, Energy Efficiency and Security and Human Resource and Capacity Building.

In a special discussion on “Municipal Governance in India and Europe”, Mr. Francisco Javier Leon de la Riva, Mayor, Vallodolid (Spain) and European Delegation Leader spoke about the need for smart cities. “Intelligent public administration and energy efficiency policies and having a proper communication networks with its citizens would be leading to smart cities”.

The seminar was attended by around 300 delegates comprising of the visiting European dignitaries, various senior Government officials across the country, and the industry. 

RBI sends out a signal in the forthcoming policy announcement that there would be no further tightening: CII

RBI sends out a signal in the forthcoming policy announcement that there would be no further tightening: CII.

RBI sends out a signal in the forthcoming policy announcement that there would be no further tightening: CII

At the pre-monetary policy meeting held by the RBI, CII has suggested that the RBI sends out a signal in the forthcoming policy announcement that there would be no further tightening and the Central Bank would start to move to a more accommodative monetary stance. 

CII has also suggested that a separate window be opened by RBI for SME financing to ensure the availability of credit at affordable rates to this important sector. 

The apex association has also suggested that exports be provided priority sector lending status, at this time. CII has also asked the RBI to support the infrastructure sector through easing of norms. For this CII has suggested that the RBI consider forbearance for financing already made available to the infrastructure sector.