NAGALAND SDG VISION 2030: Sustainable cities and communities

‘Sincere efforts must be made to hold the municipal election at the earliest’

Our Correspondent
Kohima | August 30

The Nagaland Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Vision 2030 in its Goal-11 on “Sustainable cities and communities” aims to make cities and settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

The vision statement stated that the vision is to develop smart, safe and sustainable urban centres and communities that provide affordable housing with high quality basic services like adequate water and power supply, accessible public transport, effective sanitation and solid waste management systems as well as a robust IT connectivity.

2030 targets includes; construct 35,000 dwelling units for EWS household across the state, cover all 39 urban local bodies with septage and waste management, provide 100 per cent individual toilet coverage and adequate public/community toilets across 39 ULBs, 100 per cent coverage of hospitals with bio-medical waste segregation and align district plans in accordance with the provisions of the Disaster Management Act 2005, Sendai Framework and state plan.
 
Challenges
As per 2011 Census, Nagaland recorded the highest growth rate of 69 percent urbanization as compared to the national growth rate of 21 percent.

However, the process of urbaninisation has failed to take place evenly throughout the state as urban growth has been majorly concentrated in the key towns of Kohima and Dimapur.

The urban settlers, who are mostly youth are faced with the problems of finding employment and livelihood opportunities. The towns and cities of the state face significant long-term challenges such as abnormal demographic change, climate change, lack of basic amenities including shortage of housing and lack of economic activities such as industries.

Within this existing scenario, the issue of urban poverty is emerging as another complex phenomenon due to lack of access to basic services, employment and housing etc, the vision statement stated.

 Terrain and land stability
The hilly terrain of the state and stability of land has been continuously affecting the development activities all over the state.

There is lack of proper storm drainage systems and landslide occur frequently which not only create inconveniences but have disturbed the planned urban development strategies.
 
Land availability
Due to a peculiar land holding system, availability of land for development activities is the biggest challenge. In most cases, projects are delayed leading to escalation of project cost.

Likewise in many instances, works are delayed due to litigation related to land.

So far, master plans and development plans could not be implemented to land issues.
 
Governance
Urban governance is a relatively recent phenomena. As such, unlike the rural areas which have robust governance in place, the ULBs are struggling to provide a stable governance structure.

The first election to the ULBs was held in 2004 in terms of the provision of the Nagaland Municipal Act 2001. However, thereafter election could not be held due to issue related to 33 percent women reservation. As such there is no elected body in place which is adversely affecting the urban governance system, the vision statement stated.
 
Resource constraints
The ULBs are not empowered to realize property tax which is the highest source of revenue for ULBs in other parts of the country. Moreover, the state government is also not in position to provide state commission awards/grants due to resource scarcity. Therefore, ULBs are not in position to take up development activities. They are barely able to meet the cost of waste management and maintain the office. Due to financial constraint, they are not in position to employ sufficient numbers of staff for various activities.

 Natural hazards and disasters
The degree of losses due to disaster depends on the type of disaster and its place of occurrence. The state of Nagaland lies under Seismic Zone V and is prone to natural disasters like earthquake, hail storms, flash floods, landslides, thunderstorms and forest fires.

Due to the vulnerable geography of the state, the state faces huge loss of property and lives every year due to natural disasters. Landslides occur frequently in the hilly mountains of Nagaland due to the development process as well which are triggered by rainfall infiltration.

“The lack of resilient infrastructure compounds the risks associated with both natural and manmade disasters. Buildings are constructed with poor engineering input without any regulatory framework,” the vision statement stated.

Strategies for success
At present, development and growth of many small towns and settlements has generally been precipitated only as a consequence of other activities such as construction of new roads, establishment of administrative headquarters or taking up special projects like Doyang Hygro project etc.

“Such growth has created gaps at various levels. It is therefore imperative to address the aforementioned existing issues through holistic strategies,” the vision statement stated.

Community participation
Nagaland is rich in social capital. Involving and mainstreaming the society in the development process will resolve issues related to land. Moreover, involving stakeholders in the development process will also create a sense of ownership for maintaining and upkeep of the assets.

Explore funding sources
To address the problem of fund constraint, it is proposed to explore various models of funding such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, External funding through EAP, Private Public Partnership (PPP mode) and Negotiated Loan’s from funding agencies etc. in addition to normal mission and programme launched by line Ministry from time to time.

 Strengthening ULBs
Unless a democratically elected body is in place, it is difficult to truly empower the ULBs. Sincere efforts must be made to hold the municipal election at the earliest, the vision statement stated.

The ULBs also need to be strengthened with sufficient manpower.

Dedicated municipal cadre will ensure efficient delivery of service to the urban citizens.

Building sustainable and environmentally friendly cities
Encourage sustainable use of urban resources and support an economy based on sustainable environment such as investment in green infrastructure, sustainable industries, recycling and environmental campaigns, pollution management, renewable energy, green public transportation and water recycling and reclamation.
 
Building sustainable and resilient infrastructure
Along with providing basic infrastructure by city dwellers, accommodating for the physiological/natural vulnerabilities of Nagaland is essential.

“Hence providing earthquake resistant infrastructure and better coordination among the various departments and stakeholders to reduce the risk and damaged for any disaster would be the way forward,” the vision statement stated.

Sustainable waste management
As envisaged in the Nagaland Integrated Waste Management Policy 2019, sustainable waste management will be achieved by 2030.

Through this policy, the following activities are to be undertaken for achieving sustainable waste management.
It would take step to enable the community to reduce  waste, reuse and recycle, efficient management and proper disposal of water, educate the citizens to segregate bio-degradable, recyclable and inert waste at source, instill sense of waste management at the source and to refrain from littering, effective public participation and proposes to educate the masses through IEC programmes to ensure such community participation and compliance with law and empower the authorities to enforce polluter to pay for waste.
 
Current status in Nagaland 
•    71.14 percent of Nagaland’s population is rural and 28.86 percent is urban as per 2011 census
•    Nagaland recorded the highest growth rate of 69 percent urbanization as compared to the national growth rate of 21 percent
•    Nagaland Integrated Waste Management Policy is in place
•    There are 3 municipal councils and 36 town councils in Nagaland
•    Kohima has been selected as Smart City under the Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, GoI.