AMRUT Mission Surpasses Targets in Urban Water and Sewerage Infrastructure
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) focuses on providing universal coverage of water supply & substantial improvement in coverage of sewerage/ septage management besides providing other basic amenities in 500 cities. Against the approved plan size of ₹77,640 crore, 5,996 projects worth ₹83,345 crore have been grounded, of this works worth ₹77,691 crore have been physically executed.
AMRUT focuses on the development of basic urban infrastructure in the sectors of Water Supply; Sewerage and Septage Management; Storm Water Drainage; Non-Motorized Urban Transport and Development of Green Spaces & Parks. Impact of AMRUT Mission and/ or convergence on improving the quality of urban infrastructure and services is as under:
- Provided 189 lakh water tap connections (new/ serviced) against
target of 139 lakh.
- Provided 149 lakh sewer connections (new/ serviced) (including
households covered through Faecal Sludge and Septage Management-FSSM) against target of 145 lakh.
- Developed 4,174 Million Litre Per Day (MLD) Sewerage Treatment
Capacity (STP) and 4,489 Million Litre Per Day (MLD) Water Treatment Capacity (WTP).
- 1,343 km length of drains constructed resulting in eliminating 3,556
numbers of water logging points.
- Development of 5,010 acres of Green space.
- Developed 430 km pedestrian/ walkway and 43 km of cycle track.
As per 12th Schedule of the Constitution of India, urban planning is the function of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)/ Urban Development Authorities. Government of India supplements the efforts of the States/ UTs through schematic interventions/ advisories. Preparation of Master plan/ Town Planning schemes involves public participation through objections and suggestions/ consultation with land owners by the respective Urban Local Body/ Urban Development Authority and State Government. The Urban and Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines 2014 and the Model Building Bye Laws (MBBL), 2016 have been formulated in consultation with the various stakeholders through national / regional workshops and meetings.
In addition, under the Smart City Mission (SCM), the selection of cities was done through extensive stakeholder consultation, wherein the citizen participated in the identification of local urban priorities and interventions areas, leading to the selection of projects. Further, all 100 Smart Cities have established Smart Cities Advisory Forum (SCAF) to advice and enable collaboration among various urban stakeholders.
Moreover, the National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM) 2021 has been launched with the vision of improving ease of living by creating a national urban digital ecosystem that delivers accessible, inclusive, efficient and citizen centric governance in India’s towns and cities. Extensive consultations have been held with all stakeholders including, inter alia, state governments industry, academia and civil society representatives.
AMRUT & AMRUT 2.0 Mission have a reform agenda to strengthen urban local bodies across the country.
Under AMRUT, for enhancing credit worthiness of ULBs, credit rating work for 485 cities have been awarded and completed in 468 cities. Out of 468 cities, 162 cities have received Investible Grade Rating (IGR), including 34 cities spread across 12 States/ Union Territories (UTs) with rating of A- and above. This has helped 12 ULBs to raise ₹4,684 crore through issuance of Municipal Bonds for upgrading urban infrastructure. Against the Mission target of 45,000 functionaries, 57,134 functionaries and elected representatives have already been trained so far. For encouraging urban local bodies, reform incentives have been provided ₹1,943.86 crore. Under AMRUT 2.0, incentives have been continued for issuance of Municipal Bonds to ULBS. Incentives are also given to States for property tax reforms under Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2023-24 – Part-IV (Financing reforms in ULBs to make them credit worthy for Municipal Bonds and for issue of Municipal Bonds) under which an amount of ₹3,298.23 crore has been released to the States by Department of Expenditure.
Urban development, including urban poverty alleviation is a state subject and the implementation of schemes/ programmes under this is the responsibility of the State/ Union Territory (UT) Governments. However, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs supplements the efforts of States/ UTs through its flagship Missions/ Programmes such as Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), AMRUT 2.0, Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), Swachh Bharat Mission – Urban 2.0 and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U).