I thought these things happened only in Assam.
cm
Taj Corridor's Victim: $1 b
Funds to develop the districts of Mathura,
Ferozabad and Agra were not utilised due to the
controversy
By Naresh Minocha
New Delhi
The scheme would have enabled the region's people
to improve quality of life, and live in harmony
with their cultural environment
The scam underlying the controversial Rs
175-crore Taj Heritage Corridor project has put
environmental protection of Taj Mahal on the
national agenda.
The Supreme Court's strictures about the project
and the resulting cbi probe into the approval of
the project landed former UP Chief Minister
Mayawati and senior retired and serving ias
officials in the dock.
Amid this din, a much bigger scam has virtually
gone unnoticed. This is about the loss of an
opportunity to receive $1 billion (Rs 4,377
crore) international funding for the protection
of the Taj and for the development of Agra,
Mathura and Ferozabad districts that are
collectively referred to as the Taj Trapezium.
It is sheer lethargy and mishandling by
politicians and bureaucrats that let this massive
loan slip out of the country's hands. And the
story about the abortion of multi-sector project
loan for Taj Trapezium has now been recorded by
prospective lender, Asian Development Bank (ADB),
in a report published in May 2005.
The Taj Mahal Environmental Improvements Project
(formerly Environmental Improvement and
Sustainable Development for
Agra-Mathura-Ferozabad Trapezium) was first
mentioned by ADB in April 2001 in its list of
Indian projects with initial loan of $190
million. The project did not move beyond the
listing.
The scheme would have brought about a sea change
in the entire region and would have enabled its
entire eight million population to improve their
quality of life, and live and work in harmony
with their cultural and natural environment. In
December 1995, ADB arranged a grant to fund
studies on air pollution, solid waste management,
water and power shortages, traffic congestion,
floating population, child labour and other
problems in the Taj Trapezium. The objective of
all this technical assistance was to generate
inputs that would go into preparing $1 billion
multi-sector project for the region.
In its technical assistance completion report
(TACP) released a few days ago, ADB has pointed
out that the proposed project had a "high profile
because of its focus on the home of the Taj
Mahal, which in turn was subject to directions of
the Supreme Court of India as a result of public
interest litigations on environmental protection".
The report notes that the choice of the Union
ministry of finance as the project execution
agency appeared to be inappropriate. The ministry
was unable to fulfill the role of inter-sectoral
coordination.
Experts who prepared the TACP found "no record"
of the meetings of the central steering committee
and four sub-committees that were constituted to
implement technical assistance project. The UP
government was not represented on any of these
committees. This is in spite of the fact that
participation of both state and local governments
was required for several components of the
proposed $1 billion project. There is no record
of the review missions having visited any project
sites.
The consultant hired to prepare technical
assistance reports could not schedule a
presentation requested by the state government,
further delaying the processing of loan proposal.
The consultant's final report did not address the
terms of reference related to project formulation.
TACP says: "Cost estimates and financial analyses
were inadequate in detail. Institutional analyses
were not done. Implementation arrangements and
schedules were not sufficiently detailed.
Environmental and social assessments were not
adequate. As a result, considerable work had to
be done and redone during loan processing for an
urban improvements project�. Ultimately, the
proposed project lost ownership both in ADB (with
its reorganisation) and in the government of UP
(with political changes), and the loan was never
negotiated."
The proposed project had five components: public
support for environmental improvements; Taj Mahal
Environment Improvements including air pollution
control, water supply, sanitation and drainage;
heritage restoration and conservation including
development of a cultural heritage district;
poverty alleviation and implementation assistance.
The project also provided for institutional
reforms such as merger of urban local bodies,
cost recovery for urban services and promoting
public-private partnership in municipal services.
The consultants for the technical assistance
project were New Delhi-based teri that worked in
association with Electro Watt Engineering Limited
of Switzerland and aea Technology of the UK.
June 18 , 2005
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