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1. What is the Capacity Building Programme?
The Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project (KEIP), funded by the Asian Development
Bank, included as one of its five components, a Capacity Building Programme
(CBP) for the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The CBP is aimed at improving
the overall efficiency of KMC, ultimately leading to sustainable and equitable
provision of urban services in the city. The Department for International Development
(DFID), Government of U.K, agreed to provide £28.3m million over a six-year
period to implement the CBP.
2. Why build Capacity?
To enhance the ability to ‘manage the delivery of urban services to the
citizens of Kolkata in a sustainable & equitable manner’
3. What was the need to build capacity?
a.High level of Complexity: KMC,
with a total area of 187 sq. kms and housing a population
of 4.6 million is the largest urban local body in West Bengal
and also one of the largest in India.
b.Historical Background: The city had witnessed
a major degradation of its environment since independence
in 1947, when a major influx of refugees from Bangladesh
threw the city services completely out of gear. The city
has since then found it difficult to keep pace with the increasing
population and its demand for services. Today Kolkata suffers
from severe environmental problems with 26 - 30% of households
in the KMC area living in Bustees, and a significant proportion
living below the poverty line.
c.Kolkata environment improvement programme (KEIP): Under
this project major infrastructure investments are being done
in roads, sewerage & drainage, water supply and solid
waste management. In order to sustain and continue the initiatives
undertaken by the KEIP team, a need for capacity building
within KMC was envisaged.
d.Low Financial Strength: Due to its low
financial capacity, KMC found it increasingly difficult to
allocate sufficient resources for improved service delivery;
and pro-poor expenditure was one of the first areas to be
adversely affected.
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