So I have 3-4 hours to while awat at T3. I was wondering what I learnt during the week-long visit to Brazil:
In Nittaroi, near Rio de Janeiro, the private service provider was performing so efficiently that the Municipality had given them a concession period of 43 years - almost half a century. They are doing very well, increasing coverage of sewerage and water supply even in slum areas and have actually reduced tariff through efficient management, reduction in water leakage etc.
Brazil has the world's largest fresh water reserves, as per UN (though there are regional inequities). In spite of their water abundance, they are paying great emphsis in efficient performance in water supply and sewerage. They have, after a decade long debate,brought out a comprehensive legislation laying down that all water / sanitation utilities (generation and treatment as well as distribution and collection) would have to subject themselves to regulator's scrutiny. Some regulators are multi-sectoral: ie, the power sector regulator may also deal with water sector.
Sanitation/sewerage has to be treated together..As in India, the sewerage services lag behind water services cooverage. There is an organic link and logical connectivity (recycles water is used to clean streets, for example). Besides, an element of financial cross subsidy also come in.
Brazil has a concept of "social tarrif". This refers to subsidised water charges in slum areas. It is set usually by the service provider in consultation with local slum people to ensure maximum coverage. Bulk water is supplied usually at low prices.
Personally, I realised that like the power sector in India, the water/sanitation sector may also be de-bundled and put under the 'glare' of a regulator to optimise service delivery.
Was looking forward to this update sir. Most of Brazil's reforms in the last decade would have come about under Sen~or Lula I presume, which is again very interesting given his background! Any glimpses into how urban transport has evolved? When I was in the IL&FS group we used to read about Curitiba's bus system as a case study in World Bank's literature. That was why I was wondering earlier if you had an opportunity to evaluate it first hand...
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't have an opportunity to study the evolution of urban transport in Brazil. But if you find any interesting link on this, you can send me so that i can try to relate to my experience there.
ReplyDeleteBrasilia>
ReplyDeleteI had remarked about Brasilia in facebook that it was a completely planned city and was great to be able to see it, especiallly for anyone in Urban Development profession. I had also noted that somehow it lacked vitality, an absence of liveliness, like a militarily disciplined city.
Today, I was reading a book by John Kay called "Obliquity" where he beautifully echoes the same sentiment. I quote:
" ..planned cities like Brasilia, Canberra and Chandigarh. But these places are dull. The vitality of real communities is not successfully imitated by setting out to create a vital community. As with tower blocks, their very functionality is dysfunctional"
I am not sure about Canberra, but Brasilia and Chandigarh were designed to be capitol complexes, with grandeur being the central theme. Would love to know your views on Fatehpur Sikri though!
ReplyDeleteI have a comment but I can't put it here as I can relate with some present examples ! But what do you say about Fatepur Sikri?
ReplyDeleteI think I understand what you mean! Anyhow, my point about Fatehpur Sikri is that this was also a cpitol complex, an artificial city. But probably it exudes much more warmth than our modern day Brasilias, even though comaprisons on expanse would not stand. It's a different matter it was abandoned, apparently due to issues with water availability...
ReplyDeletei'm looking at IT tools to help beutify and develop urban spaces...i was told of a game called Sim City..
ReplyDeleteJust went through some available documentation on SimCity. You have thought of such a beautiful idea! Inspirational out of the box thinking!
ReplyDeleteIf we can just introduce today's xyz township as a scenario, we can make the future scenario generation exercise of our planning efforts so much more transparent and interactive! May be we could borrow the source code from the Open Licence version (there seems to be one under the name Micropolis) and get some experts to plug in our city scenarios!
Am downloading SimCity 3000 to see for real this wonderful innovation...