Housing and Infrastructure Upgrading in Puri: Mangala Sahi

Deliverables:

In-situ settlement upgrade, which involves the construction of houses in an incremental manner. Design guidelines were put together focusing on indoor and outdoor construction, ventilation, and identity. The layout plan included small shops, a square, verandas, greeneries, and semi-private areas.Solutions to this included possibly merging plots together to create a more functioning structure and more useful outdoor space but consensus saw the importance of private ownership of land. Construction plans sought to include the daily life of residents meaning that new plans could not increase daily living expenses for inhabitants. Redevelopment of structures saw a more durable structure as well as details to improve quality of life. 

Community capacity:

The intention is for the community, that is the Alliance, to manage the entire upgrade process.

Scale:

The intention is for the project to serve as a demonstration of how government-sponsored in-situ upgrading can be undertaken with the community at the helm. It is hoped that such a demonstration will subsequently influence the development city-wide strategy for the provision of services and amenities for the urban poor. 

Impact:

The housing projects we are currently implementing under one component of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) that is Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) envisages the construction in-situ of formal housing in slums. However, budgetary allocations are so limited that barely one or two percent of the population can benefit. Consequently, we have been advising the Government of India to give less importance to housing (which is a private good) and more importance to public goods like water, sanitation and other basic amenities. The same rupee goes much further in terms of impact when spent on basic amenities rather than housing. We are hopeful that our advocacy in this regard will bring policy change.

SDI Contributions:

SDI contributed US$13,563.00 towards capital expenditure.

Resources Leveraged:

Collaboration focused on supporting the Rajiv Awas Yojana (RAY) scheme, introduced in 2010, aiming to have a ‘slum free India.’ This falls under the Government’s JNNURM, which aims to modernize India’s cities. RAY schemes allow local authorities to dictate the course of upgrading depending on contextual factors and emphasise involvement of residents. Particular attention was paid to Odisha, working with SPARC’s partner Urban and Development Resource Centre (UDRC). 

State Subsidy:

US$688,207 has been leveraged from the State. Government funding meant that residents did not need to cover all the costs of construction yet a stronger presence is needed in the area to complete sewerage infrastructure.

Under the Government scheme, the estimated cost of a house is subsidized by funds from Central (50%), State (30%) and Local Governments (10%). The remaining ten percent (10%) is to be contributed by beneficiaries. Subsidy money from the Government is collected by the respective cities’ Municipal Corporation and released towards the cost of the house construction work progresses. Costs incurred for community mobilization, participation activities and initial capital for construction are borne by SPARC/Nirman through bridge funding in the form of grants and loans, and revolving funds from Community-led Infrastructure Funding Facility (CLIFF) and other such funds.

Costs recovered from community:

Since no loans are provided to individuals, there are no costs to be recovered from the community. The money will be recovered, hopefully in full, from the relevant Government entity.