One of the key functions of urban management is the effective delivery of urban goods and services for the improvement of quality of life of people living in urban areas. The government of India as an urban reform agenda used “Service Level Bench-marking (SLB)” as a tool to enhance accountability for service delivery.
The SLB was initiated by the Ministry of Urban Development, GOI, as part of the urban reform agenda and developed a common framework for monitoring and reporting on service level indicators. This section will cover GOI managing of urban services aspect.
This can be broadly discussed in following heads: Performance Parameters Indicators and Benchmarks , Role of Stakeholders, Prioritizing Urban Services Management Initiatives
Performance Parameters Indicators and Benchmarks
The four important basic urban services for which performance parameters have been identified are:
i)Water Supply : The management of water supply primarily related to reach and access to quality service and prevalence and effectiveness of the systems to manage the water supply networks.
ii)Sewerage : The performance indicators relating to sewage management broadly includes reach and access of the service, effectiveness of the network and environmental sustainability. and also financial sustainability of operations.
iii)Solid Waste Management : The solid waste management performance deals with reach and access, effectiveness of network operation and financial sustainability.
iv)Storm Water Drainage : The performance indicators with regard to storm water drainage include extent of network and effectiveness of the network.
Role of Stakeholders
After discussing about the parameters and indicators of various services and their management, it is now pertinent to discuss about the role of various stakeholders in performing service level benchmarking. The stakeholders involved in the process of SLBs (service level benchmarking) are follows:
i)Central Government : The Government of India will take the lead in disseminating information about the service level parameters and building wider acceptance.
ii)State Government : The responsibility of the state government will be to periodically evaluate the SLBs as an input for its decisions related to policy, resource allocations, providing incentives and penalties, channelizing technical and manpower support and regulatory considerations
iii)Urban Local Bodies ULBs are the most important stakeholders for the institutionalization of SLBs. The role of ULBs is to generate performance reports on SLBs periodically by undertaking following exercises:
a)Systems for capturing data;
b)systems for collection and analysis of performance indicators;
c)Systems for assessment and evaluation of performance; d)systems of decision making;
e)systems for operational decisions and plans;
f)systems to take corrective action for performance improvement.
iv. Parastatal Agencies : The Parastatal will play similar role to that for ULBs. They are unlike ULBs have to put systems in place for performance management. The need for periodic reporting of SLBs to ULBs and its disclourse is important in both the cases.
v.Bi-lateral / Multi-lateral Aid Agencies As far as role of bi-lateral / Multilateral aid agencies is concerned. Various urban governance and infrastructure improvement programme initiated and funded by bi-lateral and multilateral aid agencies can dovetail with and further strengthen this initiative.
vi.Citizen and Civil Society Citizens should be engaged with ULBs through Area Sabhas, Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and other such civil society organizations in examining the SLBs and suggesting remedial actions.
Performance Management System
Prioritizing Urban Services Management Initiatives
The Government both centre and state as well as bi-lateral and multi-lateral agencies have initiated several projects and programmes on urban management for improving the quality of life of people residing in urban areas. One of such programmes is AMRUT which aims to provide basic services (e.g. water supply, sewerage, urban transport) to households and build amenities in cities. AMRUT will improve the quality of life for all, especially the poor and the disadvantaged is a national priority. .
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Urban Development Management Study notes for M. plan Sem-III
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