Selected issues in tripartite partnerships for basic services delivery to urban un-/underserviced areas | |
| Author | Remmen, Yvonne van |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.UE-01-01 |
| Subject(s) | Slums--India--Ahmedabad City planning--India--Ahmedabad |
| Note | A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | In an attempt to "get government right", partnerships between local government and the private and/or the civil sector are widely advocated as a way to achieve better urban management, especially vis-a-vis the urban un-/underserviced. Conceptually, the notion of partnership is clear; it challenges local governments, civil society groups and/or private partners to work together towards a common goal on an equitable basis. However, the practical implications of working in a partnership are little understood, especially by local government officials. Local governments moreover need to provide the legal, policy and administrative framework for partnerships to function in. Further, partnerships are often implemented on a pilot project basis, which invokes questions as to the successful replication and extension of these partnerships to other parts of the city and/or to other cities. In this thesis these three questions are addressed by way of a literature review and a case study of a slum upgradation project in Ahmedabad, India. Conventional methods such as providing a 10-year guarantee of non-eviction and popular solutions for un-/underserviced areas, such as hand-pumps and public toilets, are refuted in the programme taken up in Ahmedabad. The programme is based on an innovative concept called slum networking at the heart of which is the belief that slum are not locations of crime, disease and disorder. Instead, slums are conceived as an integral part of the city for which popular solutions are rejected as they are said to spring forth from a "poverty mind-set" whose installation will mark slum areas permanently as different from the rest of the city. The concept pivots around providing infrastructure that the rest of the city population enjoys (individual water connection, sewerage and sanitation as well as paved roads with street lighting and solid waste management). A community contribution for the works is levied. The Ahemdabad project was initially delivered through a tripartite partnership between local government, a private partner and NGOs/CBOs/the residents. The tripartite partnership was successful as it delivered the works on time and within the budget. However, it broke down due to insurmountable differences between the partners in terms of working cultures, methods and expectations. The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has proceeded with the slum upgradation without a private partner. Provided in this thesis are the lessons learned of working in a partnership. Vital components are acceptance of each partner's working methods and cultures, flexibility and clear agreements and rules. The assessment of the framework in which the slum upgradation project functions indicates the need for an integrated policy addressing tenure, micro-credit and governance issues and the advantages of a central administrative body with sufficient political cloud and power to give the project status. The slum networking concept has been successfully replicated in India within and between cities and the conditions for replication include political commitment, sufficient availability of resources and availability of willing and able partners. The success of the Ahmedabad upgradation programme rests on its innovative approach. It is furthermore shown that working through tripartite partnerships has tangible benefits if each partner is enabled to leverage it strength (to achieve synergy) and objectives are realised in a situation where a single partner would not succeed. Moreover, the Ahmedabad case illustrates that the benefits enjoyed by the residents of un/underserviced areas are much larger if a guarantee of non-eviction is supplemented by the provision of adequate basic services (preferably on an individual basis) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Development and Sustainability (DDS) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Urban Environmental and Management (UE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Jamieson, W. |
| Examination Committee(s) | Amin, A. T. M. Nurul ;Deussen, A. |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Postgraduate Technical Studies (PTS) ;Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2002 |