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What Does a Model City Programme Cost?
The complete infrastructure inventory included in the municipal GIS allows deficiencies to be identified by type and condition. In Mirzapur, two levels of infrastructure repair and rehabilitation were prioritised to maximise the impact from limited funds. The cost of the most basic repair and enhancement of the most critical infrastructure was estimated to be Rs.550 million or Rs.2,600 per capital. A slightly higher preferred service level, which also included street surfacing, was estimated to require about Rs.950 million or Rs.4,700 per capita.

Property tax from the new assessment is 30 million rupees per year or Rs.150 per capita. An annual surplus of Rs.25 million per year would provide Rs.950 million over a 40-year period for infrastructure repair and rehabilitation. A 2 percent loan for 40 years with disbursement of Rs.500 million over 5 years would not even provide the most basic repair and rehabilitation, let alone the preferred service level. This gap would have to be bridged from other sources such as community co-financing. As a result of a favourable physical location and previous project investment the cost of implementing the preferred investment programme is about 40 percent less than it would be in another typical city where the cost would be Rs.1.4 billion or Rs.6,700 per capita.

An Example to Other Municipalities
The dramatic success of the Mirzapur Model City approach has encouraged cities such as Vrindavan, Bangalore and Gorakhpur to implement elements of the programme. Officials from numerous cities throughout India and Nepal have visited Mirzapur and returned convinced that such work is possible for them as well. Now, the approach is being undertaken in 16 municipalities by the Government of Bangladesh.

The Bangladesh Municipal Support Project
Municipal administrative performance similar to that experience in Mirzapur and in India generally is common in Bangladesh. The increased demands for urban services, untimely depreciation of infrastructure and scarcity of financial resources have encouraged a major reassessment of the way municipalities provide services. Under the Municipal Services Project a Municipal Support Unit (MSU)has been established as a permanent organisation to provide guidance and support for the long-term reform of urban management in all the municipalities of Bangladesh. Initially, the MSU will focus its efforts on improving the performance of 16 project municipalities where repair and rehabilitation of basic infrastructure is in progress. In the long-term, the MSU will help to facilitate a fundamental change of fiscal relationships between the central government and all municipalities. The new relationship will be characterised by the introduction of a Municipal Development Fund performance-based approach to financing municipal services.

Management Reform
The first phase of the Municipal Support Project included investments, which focused on neglected maintenance, rehabilitation and improvements for water, sanitation, drainage, roads and solid waste services. It was hoped that this initial project assistance would encourage tax collection as well as improving operations and maintenance.

At the same time the Municipal Support Unit has started a programme that focuses on administrative and organisational changes needed to implement works, improve financial and accounting systems, and increase revenue. This requires the performance of municipal staff to be improved on a routine and not an episodic basis through the introduction of appropriate work responsibilities as well as training on practical applications of municipal work at the same time as services are improved. The Municipal Support Unit will assist in a programme of computerising municipal records, issuing tax bills, improved tax collection, reassessing properties and assessing new properties similar to the work done in Mirzapur.

Municipal Development Fund
The Municipal Development Fund (MDF) is being established as an independent entity and is expected to contribute to the development of management reforms and improved project design initiated by the Municipal Support Unit. The key to improved municipal services is increased revenue collection through adequate property assessment and tax collection. Improved performance in revenue collection is included in proposed MDF funding conditions.

The Future
The problems in good governance for mofussil towns are well known. Immediate improvements can be achieved through initial introduction of techniques that can be understood as E-Governance. However, support for these improvement can only come from improved services and sustainability from the introduction of E-Babus.

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