Report questions private entities role in developing cities, environmental social framework

C Shivakumar/ ENS

Chennai:

Rights activists have linked the slum evictions to the alleged increasing invasion of the private forces on the urban paradigm and questioned the role of Tamil Nadu Urban Development Fund (TNUDF) and public-private entities in the development of cities and environmental social framework (ESF).

A report of People’s Union of Civil Liberties Fact-finding Team and Citizen Rights Forum on forced eviction and rehabilitation of slum-dwellers in Chennai states that since the initiation of various externally aided projects like the World Bank funded Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project (TNUDP), affected-citizens of the city have had little say in the course of events and development projects that have been planned in the very sites that they have been living in for many generations.

However, the report states that “The current funds for urban development is managed by TNUDF, established under the Indian Trusts Act 1882 by state government, ICICI, Housing and Development Finance Corporation and IL&FS with a line of credit from the World Bank to develop urban infrastructure of the state.”

“The role of TNUDF, established in 1996, was to attract private capital into urban infrastructure and to facilitate better performing urban local bodies to access capital markets. Despite the fact that the state is the highest stakeholder in TNUDF (72 per cent), it is being administered by a corporate trustee Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Trustee Company Limited and a fund manager in Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services limited with Tamil Nadu holding a minority stake of 49 per cent,” the report alleged.

“These public-private entities are making all decisions with regard to development of the city including preparation of feasibility study and the environmental and social impact of study of the project,” it alleged.

Questioning the role of private players in determining the Environment Social Framework, the report also castigated the state saying it is moving away from the welfare approach and catering towards the vested interests of the powerful.

But highly placed government sources dismissed the report and said TNUDF is a unique model and it only generates ideas for the government. “No consultant has been appointed for commercial development of the slum lands and government has to take a decision in this regard,” the sources added.

Interestingly, a survey entitled “Identification of Environmental Infrastructure

Requirement of Slums in Chennai Metropolitan Area” under the World Bank funded TNUDP II (Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project) identifies 122 slums  as ‘Objectionable Slums’ and 120 slums as ‘unobjectionable slums.’ “The people who are mapping the slums are the ones who have done the ESF. The same private entities are the ones who have a huge stake in the urban infrastructure financing,” said CRF member Vanessa Peter while linking the private entities with TNUDF.

Quoting a mid-term project review report of 2001 by Rutul Joshi, a Faculty of Planning and Public Policy, CEPT University, Vanessa said, “TNUDF has performed the role of both a financial intermediary and a strategic advisor”. The report also claims that TNUDF as an institution has developed a market for municipal infrastructure in the state, she said.

Surprisingly, Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services Limited (TNUIFSL) have   proposed ‘Integrated Development in Foreshore Estate’, pitching for eviction of 10,000 families living in Srinivasapuram. Interestingly, this has been mapped by the same TNUIFSL as objectionable in the survey.