Gandhinagar, 13 November 2014

With the major demographic boom in cities in India and developing countries showing signals for strong and irreversible trends in urbanisation, cities are contributing to over 65% of the GDP and crucial economic development. However, cities are all bursting at the seams and with major deficiencies in urban infrastructure, citizen’s services, as well as governance mechanism.

Against this backdrop, Municipalika 2014, the 12th International Conference & Exhibition on Emerging Trends in Sustainable Habitat & Integrated Cities was inaugurated by Mr M Venkaiah Naidu, Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India, and presided over by Ms Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat, the Host State in the presence of a galaxy of dignitaries.

In his Inaugural Address, Mr M Venkaiah Naidu referred to the significant initiatives taken by Government of India, Swachh Bharat Mission for providing 100% sanitation, clean and hygienic cities by 2019. He gave a clarion call for Jan Andolan for making it a people’s movement for participative initiatives towards total sanitation. Considering the major challenges in housing in cities as well as provision of shelter for slum-dwellers, Mr Naidu outlined the provisions for housing for all by 2020, through the 30 million urban homes with predominant thrust on weaker sections and low- income group. He called for optimisation of all resources, land, finance, building materials and technologies, for the speedy construction of affordable homes. Considering the phenomenal thrust on economic development, he highlighted the lead being given by Government of India, for the development of 100 smart cities in the country, in order to modernise and make them internationally competitive. He also referred to the efforts being done for upgrading and retrofitting the existing facilities as well as to provide new integrated smart and green cities. In this context, the historic relevance of many old cities and the need to have a strong conservation of heritage identities of cities was emphasised. He exhorted the need for major capacity building efforts for changing the mindscape of governance mechanism for ensuring timely and efficient services to the citizens. The role of e-governance and IT applications comes into sharp focus, he stressed.

In her Keynote Address, Ms Anandiben Patel referred to the many proactive steps taken for realising the challenges faced by urbanisation. She highlighted the efforts for launching Mahatma Gandhi Swachhta Mission to make zero waste cities. The efforts for total sanitation under Nirmal Gujarat, was also indicated. Ms Patel shared the progress under Mukhyamantri Gruh Yojna to provide affordable housing for all with all social amenities. She also referred with satisfaction, the efforts for hosting Municipalika + CAPEx 2014 as it provided a unique platform for sharing best practices in all sectors in the urban development.

Dr Joan Clos, Executive Director, UN-Habitat, in his opening statement referred to the two flagship initiatives World Urban Campaign & I’m a City Changer dedicated to improve the urban future. He made a special stress for dealing with the problems of slum settlements and for improving the living conditions of slum-dwellers and providing them with the regulatory framework for citizen’s participations as well as for incorporating design issues in the built environment and integrating the poverty alleviation issues with employment generation.

Highlighting the role of the private sector in the creation of the infrastructure development, Mr Zubin Irani, President of UTC Building & Industrial Systems indicated that this would cover latest technological advancements for buildings, infrastructure, financial resources, operations and maintenance.

Luminaries present on the dais included Mr G R Aloria, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development and Urban Housing Department, Government of Gujarat; Ms Mona Khandhar, Secretary, Housing and Nirmal Gujarat, Dr Joan Clos, Executive Director, UN-Habitat, Mr Sanjiv Agarwal, Founder Trustee, Good Governance India Foundation & Editor-Publisher of Urban News Digest and V Suresh, Advisor & Convenor, Municipalika.

Municipalika 2014 is being organised with the active support of Government of India, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Host State Government of Gujarat and under the patronage of UN-Habitat as well as other state, national and international urban stakeholder institutions.

This year’s event is bigger in scope and participation than earlier years. Along with the two Indian Ministries, state governments like Rajasthan, West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Assam, and of course Host State Gujarat are being represented in a big way, along with participation from 24 other states. Canada and Switzerland are the Partner Countries offering sustainable urban infrastructure development solutions. United Technologies has continued its support this year too as an Associate Partner for Municipalika, and for the Urban Innovation Challenge. Rolta India, Tata Motors and Mahindra are the Featured Exhibitors, along with 100 others, with products, services and solutions for smart, safe, healthy, green, and inclusive cities and sustainable built environment. Visitors have free entry into the exhibition, open on all three days, from 10 am to 6 pm.

Over 1,000 delegates from 200 cities of India and abroad, comprising Ministers, Secretaries to State Governments, Mayors, Municipal Commissioners, City Managers, Town Planners, Architects, Engineers, Urban Transport Specialists, E-Governance Experts, Urban Utility Managers, Private Sector and Citizens Groups are participating in Municipalika.

Municipalika Conference Segment will have 10 power-packed sessions spread over three days. Detailed Conference Sessions Schedule is attached.

Municipalika 2014 is being organised with CAPEx, the trade show focusing on Construction, Architecture, Planning and Engineering to deliberate on sustainable built environment and good urban governance. At Municipalika 2014, the national and international experts and though leaders will gather to answer the following question: How do we plan, design, build and maintain sustainable built environment? CAPEx also has 4 Technical Sessions. Detailed Technical Sessions Schedule is attached.

Three Vision Addresses on the vision of Future Cities and the nature of innovative changes needed for futuristic needs of growing cities would be delivered by Dr. Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN-Habitat; Mr Zubin Irani, President of UTC Building & Industrial Systems and Mr Bruce Lazenby, President & CEO, Invest Ottawa.

As part of participatory city development, a special Open House interactive session with Mayors, Municipal Commissioners, City Managers, members of Resident Welfare Associations, Community-based organisations, NGOs, urban planning, architecture students and civil society members is organised among those who govern and those who are governed. This would help frame a larger participative process for Clean India.

Last year, Municipalika launched Urban Innovation Challenge, a design competition for professional students of architecture, urban planning and engineering. This year the response among students and professionals on the competition was tremendous and 15 winners are selected on the themes of ‘Smart Cities and Green Buildings’. The winner students are being given GGIF-Municipalika Urban Innovation Awards 2014.

A special issue of Urban News Digest, the Official Publication of Municipalika, was released on the occasion.

Also released was a special IGBC publication, “Model Building Byelaws for Sustainable Development of Built Environment in Cities” – a guiding document for revamping building byelaws Development control Rules and Planning Standards of Urban Local Bodies / Planning Authorities.

The Founder Trustee of Good Governance India Foundation and the Publisher of Urban News Digest, Sanjiv Agarwal stressed upon the need for free and fair land markets to usher in sustainable urban development. A book authored by him titled “The Indian Federalist” was also officially released. It highlights the original design of the Indian Constitution that favoured free market of lands and fundamental property rights, as willed by the founding fathers.

The Municipalika conference is organised by Good Governance India Foundation and its exhibition part is organised by Fairfest Media Limited, a leading trade show organiser.

For the past 11 years Municipalika has been organised in mega-cities like Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai, providing a forum for learning and sharing experiences among all urban stakeholders.