Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA)

27 Pages·2012·0.57 MB·English

PPP Days

“Transforming Rural & Urban Spaces
The PURA Project – An Overview
Dr. Arvind Mayaram
Additional Secretary & Financial
Advisor
Ministry of Rural Development
Government of India
Growth Perspective

All over the world, two sentiments are gripping people:

• Demand for inclusive growth, in which everyone would be
able to secure decent livelihood and the ever increasing
income disparities would disappear, and

• A decent life, which includes good governance, adequate
infrastructure and services, greater accountability and
predictability of government action and appropriate
livelihood opportunities
Rural poverty and migration
• At least 70 per cent of the world’s very poor people live in the
rural areas – South Asia and Saharan Africa are worst affected
regions
• Rural poor is mostly dependent for livelihood on farm labour and
an increasingly large number is migrating to the urban areas in
search of menial work swelling the urban slum population
• Mckinsey Global Institute study (April 2010) points out that such
unmanaged migration in India would lead to urban decay, poor
quality of life for citizens and a reluctance among investors to
commit funds to projects in India’s urban centres

The challenge lies in creating an economic regeneration in
existing rural clusters - It is now well accepted that access to
physical infrastructure enhances household welfare through
greater economic growth, thereby mitigating chronic and transient
poverty.
Infrastructure development & Poverty alleviation
Poor infrastructure prevents unlocking of full economic value
in rural areas which in turn accelerates distress migration to
urban areas. Inadequate economic opportunities perpetuate
dependence on agriculture for livelihood and make poverty
reduction more difficult.

Constraints for the low impact of large spending and for
lower levels of citizen satisfaction in rural areas:


•Delivery of different schemes is not simultaneous
•Inadequate/no resource provisioning for maintenance
•Schemes operate autonomously and there is little synergy
in implementation
•Low service delivery standards for infrastructure in rural
areas
The Design of PURA -
Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas –
A Pilot Project to address Rural Infrastructure Development &
Economic Re-Generation
Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA)
What is PURA?
“Holistic and accelerated development of compact areas
around a potential growth centre in a Panchayat (or
group of Panchayats) through Public Private Partnership
(PPP) by providing livelihood opportunities and urban
amenities to improve the quality of life in rural areas.”
(*Panchayat is the lowest tier of self governance in India)

Objectives
Provision of urban amenities and livelihood opportunities
in rural areas to bridge the rural urban divide, which may
also result in decrease in the rate of distress migration
from rural to urban areas.
What does PURA aim to achieve?
• Simultaneous delivery of key infrastructure in villages leading to
optimal use of resources
• Provision of funds for O&M of assets for ten years post
construction period of up to three years, along with capital
investment for creation of assets
• Transforming several schemes into a single project to be
implemented as per set standards in defined timeframe – while
the objectives of each scheme retained
• Combining livelihoods creation with infrastructure development
• Standards of service delivery in rural areas almost at par to those
for urban areas
• Enforcement of service standards through a legally binding
arrangement
• A Gram Panchayat / a cluster of geographically contiguous Gram
WhPaantch iasya ats wPiUth Ra Apo pvuillatlioang oef a?bout 25,000 – 40,000
• Water supply
• Piped water supply of about 100 lpcd through individual household connections
• Sustainability of water supply through water harvesting and water recharge
activities
• Sewerage
• 100% sanitation coverage, with provision of decentralized sewerage
connections to individual households
• Solid waste management
• 100% coverage of SWM services to individual households
• Scientific treatment of solid waste
• Village streets and drainage
• 100% of village streets paved along with storm water drains, to cover entire rural
habitations' populace
• 100% of village streets to have street lighting
• Increase in livelihood opportunities
• Increased economic activity leading to enhancement of livelihood opportunities
for residents of villages
• Improved living standards resulting in reduction in distress migration rate to
urban areas
Uniqueness of PURA
1. Public Private Partnership (PPP) between Gram Panchayat (GP)-
local self-government- and private sector partner
2. Convergence of schemes from Ministry of Rural Development
(MoRD) and other government schemes
3. Twinning of rural infrastructure with economic activities &
livelihoods generation
4. PURA is treated as a composite “Project” and not a government
scheme – Private sector to bring in investment and operational
expertise on basis of a detailed business plan
5. Single window mechanism for approvals and release of grants /
scheme funds
6. It is not a CSR activity - Private sector partners to select its PURA
project for commercial returns on their investments
The PURA Project