CHENNAI: The World Bank funded Chennai City Partnership will be implemented over a period of nine years (2021-2030) with a total estimated budget of USD 1.43 billion for development of institutions, infrastructure and systems in the Chennai Metropolitan Area catering to the Greater Chennai Corporation, eight municipalities and surrounding local bodies, according to official sources.
The World Bank has been involved in discussions with the Tamil Nadu government for the last one year to develop the Chennai City Partnership model to ensure sustainable growth of Metropolitan Chennai.
The programme will be managed by the Tamil Nadu Infrastructure Development Board (TNIDB) at the state level and will provide financial and technical support to all the key service delivery institutions at metropolitan and urban local bodies level in the Chennai Metropolitan Area, the sources added.
The first phase of the city partnership is proposed as a multi-sector Program-for-Results (PforR) operation which would set a programmatic framework for multi-sectoral service delivery reforms and investments under the Chennai City Partnership.
The PforR program will focus on urban mobility, with a focus on strengthening bus service delivery, municipal pedestrian infrastructure and women’s safety in public spaces. It will also focus on water resource management and resilience (including flood management), water supply and sanitation; municipal public health care services; municipal solid waste management and emergency management and response.
The duration of the PforR programme would be for a period of five years (2021-2026). The financial support for the proposed PforR Program is USD 430 million, with USD 150 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the lending arm of the World Bank, potential co-financing of USD 150 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and USD 130 million as counterpart funding from the state government.
The programme adopts a comprehensive approach for service delivery improvement by focusing on four pillars. These include strengthening policies and institutions; strengthening service delivery systems; infrastructure development; and expansion of funding and financing mechanisms for capital and operational expenditures.
Under the first phase, the programme will focus on water supply services with an emphasis on integrated urban water resource management and resilience; urban mobility services; municipal services including solid waste management and public health services; and emergency response services for disaster management.
The project will focus on improving the quality and access of core urban services in the Chennai Metropolitan Area to enhance the livability, productivity, resilience and competitiveness of Chennai, as the biggest metropolitan area and economic growth engine of the state.
It is learnt that with the funding from the World Bank, the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority could also take shape. The implementation of CUMTA has been stalled after the World Bank put forth conditions on restructuring of CUMTA under the Chennai City partnership programme. Currently, CUMTA does not have any budget allocation or its own office space.
The Greater Chennai Corporation would act as a nodal agency while implementing the project. Several other departments would also take part in the process.