| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The biggest innovation JMC did was to go on in a holistic manner to revitalize the city using solutions for various problems faced by citizens. The creation of an inclusive picture where individual solutions were designed for unrelated problems such as sewage treatment, street lighting, lake conservation, E-Governance framework and all these would fall together resulting in a changed urban landscape for Jamnagar. The JMC was the first corporation in Gujarat to go for complete LED street lighting project and the work order was designed in manner that even maintenance was to be done by the implementing firm of the project and payment was related to the overall satisfactory working of the entire system. The STP was commissioned in a manner that it was to sell water to industries thereby generating revenues and it included reuse and complete recycling of water thus being environment friendly. The revenue model in all the initiatives was the most creatively designed component guaranteeing sustainability.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The Commissioner of Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC) Mr. Harshadkumar Patel [IAS] spearheaded the entire set of initiatives. The Commissioner was able to share his vision for the city first with the officers and officials of the JMC and later using his persuasive leadership style was able to bring on board the elected representatives and involved active Citizen Groups in bringing about a complete makeover of Jamnagar. JMC became the focal point of all these variegated activities targeted at bringing an urban renewal for Jamnagar. The team of corporation was led by its commissioner Mr. Harshadkumar Patel [IAS]. The engineering division, accounts division, sanitation division, water supply division, health division, public relations division were involved under the overall leadership of Commissioner of the corporation to bring about the change. The entire population of the city (700,000) benefitted from clean and beautiful open public spaces such as lake, well lit city using LED street lights, clean surroundings due to better solid waste management and sewage treatment.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The Commissioner of Jamnagar Municipal Corporation (JMC) Mr. Harshadkumar Patel [IAS] was clear from day one that to bring about such significant revival all stakeholders were to be on board. The strategy in implementing the vision for Jamnagar included predefined roles for all key stakeholders and monitoring their achievement. The approach relied on the fact that different problems were to be solved by different set of peoples for which all were empowered by the commissioner to decide fully for themselves. Help of consultants, architects & PMCs were sought at all steps to bring in professionalism & subject matter expertise along with feedback & suggestions of media, local representatives & NGOs were continually a part of processes. The administrative problems in getting approvals, funds were managed by the commissioner himself. The technical specifications were decided by the engineering division and the elected representatives were the key resource for channeling citizens’ energy in welcoming change rather than obstructing the same.
The finances for all the initiatives were derived through all possible channels which included State and Central government funds available for urban local bodies, internal resource mobilization, projects from World bank amongst other sources. The manpower and technical requirements for these initiatives was a key challenge for the JMC. The corporation met the challenge by contracting out the tasks where it did not had the core competency while retaining the overall monitoring and payments post evaluation based on its benchmarks as specified during the contract formulation. The variety of modes used in contracting out included O&M, turnkey projects et.al. The capital outlay varied from about Rupees 150 Crores for STP to about Rupees 4 Crores for E-Governance initiatives and Rupees 23 Crores for street lighting system. The break up for key projects is given below:
• E-Governance: Implementation cost for IT activities is 3,89,00,243.00 in Indian Rupees. (Approximately, 0.6 million US Dollars). This includes, hardware, software development, and Consultancy charges, Blade Servers, storage devices, network devices, routers, switches, and firewall, desktop computers, laptop Computers, UPS, Printers, Scanners, Software development and handling charges.
• Sewage Treatment Plant: Total cost of the project is Rs. 14,898.00 Lakhs. Total Pipeline work of 90 Kms for a 70MLD Sewage Treatment plant.
• Street lighting system: Indian Rupees 18.25 Crores for installation of 29787 street lights, CCMS panels, CCMS system, etc.
• Infrastructure up gradation : Indian Rupees 4.45 Crores in installation of new poles, MCBs, junction boxes, new central lights in peripheral regions and newly developed roads
• The Ranmal Lake revitalization and Khambhalia Gate restoration project present a “Business Case” wherein it amply demonstrates how resources can be mobilized to meet O & M Costs sustainably, for example, revenues raised from entry gates, musical fountains, museum, food shops etc are Rs. 2.12 Crores against the maintenance costs of Rs. 2.09 Crores for a period of Feb-16 to Dec-16.
• Not only that the Ranmal Lake has proved a happening place but also made people and particularly, women more health-conscious and increased happiness levels due to enhanced safe and enjoyable precincts. On an average 4500 people visit daily and 2500 persons walk/jog on the synthetic jogging track constructed in the periphery of the lake.(SDG Goal 3,5,11)
• The STP Project demonstrates how JMC will be saving O & M Costs over a period of 15 years and will get extra premium of Rs. 2 Crores annually by selling of recycled water.(SDG Goal 6,14,15)
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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JMC like all urban local bodies works with a state government appointed administrative head as commissioner who is a senior IAS officer and an elected Mayor along with other elected representatives forming various committees. The Commissioner is assisted by senior officers of the corporation from engineering, accounts, and finance divisions. The most important contribution is of the commissioner for he is the one responsible for the overall planning, coordination and thus takes all responsibility and overall ownership of all the initiatives whether successful or not.
Mr. Harshadkumar Patel (IAS) was the commissioner of the corporation under whose leadership the JMC changed itself from a moribund urban local body into a vibrant institution of local self governance. The leadership style of Mr. Patel contributed immensely to the success of all the projects for he could foresee the potential bottlenecks and thus act in time to save the projects from significant cost and time overruns. The Commissioner would plan in detail and come up with innovative financial models such as long term purchase agreement for recycled water. The other officials of JMC contributed in ensuring progress of work on time through regular monitoring. The elected body was useful for it could share the vision of the commissioner and communicate the same to the local population who otherwise would have objected to change out of habit rather than the potential of it to be of any use to them. The other significant contribution was of the citizens of the city who bought and owned fully the idea of a lively and livable Jamnagar and supported the JMC fully during the periods of change.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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The thrust of JMC from beginning was on advancing the city’s journey towards SDGs. The various outputs of initiatives bear testimony to the success of the JMC in advancing the journey of around 700,000 peoples towards a world which is sustainable, inclusive and equitable. The example includes:
• LED street lighting system: The street lighting system was the first fully LED Street lighting system in the state of Gujarat. This system resulted in savings of about 4000 tonnes of CO2 emissions. The initiative set an example for taking urgent action to combat climate change.(SDG 13)
• Open Defecation Free Jamnagar: JMC became the first municipal corporation in the state to be declared open defecation free. The most important outcome of the effort was the enhanced safety of women and girls who were routinely harassed while performing daily ablutions outside. The task of achieving gender equality and making cities safe and inclusive was achieved through ensuring end of open defecation.(SDG 5, SDG 11)
• Revitalization of heritage structure and lake: The only lake of the city was lying in a neglected state and heritage structures were getting weaker with every passing day. The revitalization of lake and restoration of the heritage structure using traditional lime based techniques while maintain the old heritage look had created a template for other cities to reclaim open public places. The revitalized lake brought in the missing balance in the natural ecosystem of the city. ( SDG 13, SDG 15)
• STP: The untreated water of such a large population was finding its way into the sea and damaging the terrestrial ecosystem. The result was the drop in migratory birds that frequented the Jamnagar otherwise. The Marine National Park (Coral Reefs) ecosystem was badly affected in absence of treatment and the increasing pollution in sea caused health hazards for people on the land and living in the vicinity of the sea while continuously damaging the marine ecosystem. The STP put an end to this and ensured that the city lives a healthy and fulfilling life while protecting the natural setting. (SDG 15, SDG 14, SDG 13, SDG 6)
• E-Governance: The path using technology to usher in modern IT based, transparent and efficient system and processes removed indiscriminate discretion and made system more open and resulted in enhanced trust in the eyes of the citizens. The institution JMC regained credibility using these processes. (SDG 16)
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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The administrative and political setting of the corporation was the biggest obstacle in this process. Years of apathetic administration had resulted in urban decay and creation of vested interests where any systematic improvement in processes using E-Governance was seen as a personal attack on the individuals operating the nexus. The lack of action has brought the employee morale down over the years. This caused initial inertia internally from the officers and staff at JMC. Also the corporation had severe capacity constraints in having skilled human resources at its disposal for the big reforms. Also, the insufficient motivation of government staff and residents to care for urban infrastructures by collaboration between the government and residents since they had strong notion that maintenance of urban infrastructures does not relate to them thus this lack of ownership caused further problems.
The situation was remedied by the proactive role played by the commissioner Mr. Harshadkumar Patel in rekindling the lost consciousness and pride of association with the city and the corporation. The employee morale improved seeing the leader work hard and with right intention. The reward and punishments for performers and non-performers made employee realize their worth again. The most significant part was to communicate a feeling of dreaming big and creating that feeling in the citizens that their city can do better and it deserved better made all the difference. The lack of capacity in implementation of projects was met by using well drafted contracts for services and expertise.
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