GIS at Mirzapur allows testing of the full range of
applications for identifying, diagnosing and resolving administrative problems
that had been unresolved for decades.
In order to develop a pilot
model city programme consistent with Uttar Pradesh realities, the Ganga
Institutional and Community Development Project (ICDP) in Mirzapur was developed
by the Governments of The Netherlands, India and Uttar Pradesh. This unique
project provided a real world laboratory to develop and test a geographic and
management information system for improving the municipal administration of a
small Uttar Pradesh city. It was a remarkable achievement that even the basic
municipal database could be developed and computerised. Quickly building on this
foundation a complete property and infrastructure mapping programme was
implemented to create the Mirzapur Geographic Information System.
Development of the first municipal geographic information system in
India, not in a major metropolitan area, but in a small Uttar Pradesh city
allowed testing of the full range of applications for identifying, diagnosing
and resolving administrative problems that had been unresolved for decades. In
the process misconceptions about the required database, development, operation
and application of a geographic information system in India have been cleared
up. In the process of establishing mastery over financial and infrastructure
information the first steps have been taken to make Mirzapur a model city.
With a population of 200,000 the city of Mirzapur shares basic
management and administrative problems with the many similar sized cities in
Uttar Pradesh and India. In 1995 municipal staff could not provide basic
financial or infrastructure information because of the near breakdown of
administrative activities and the absence of any information management system.
The city was bankrupt and conditions were getting worse with a widening gap
between income and expenditure. At the commencement of the ICDP programme, the
municipality’s current revenues were not sufficient to meet even the basic
payroll, let alone to sustain the operation and maintenance of basic urban
services.
In order to address this situation ICDP developed a successful
intervention package that included immediate service improvements, property
reassessment and investment planning. The primary programme objectives were the
computerisation of property tax records, and the proper enumeration and mapping
of all properties and infrastructure.
Computerisation of Tax Records The first objective
was to collect and computerise the critical property tax assessment registers
for the 23,950 properties. The assessment registers are the only official
property tax records and any changes in taxation should have reference to them.
Moreover, even though the register may be disorganised and have not been updated
for some years, they contain at least partial records of most of the urban
property database. Any changes or the creation of any new registration system
would need to be linked to the existing entry
khatas to modern usable
computer files as shown in figure 1.
Property Enumeration and Mapping At the start of the project in 1995
the municipal tax department wanted to conduct a new property enumeration to
register new properties. After existing records were computerised they were
easily printed out to be used in the field as the basis of the property
enumeration. Municipal staff conducted the enumeration between April and
December 1996 under the supervision of consultants. At the start of the project
the only property maps available were very dated and rough outline maps. From
these, revenue ward maps were extracted by rough boundaries for use in the
property enumeration. During the enumeration it was not difficult to include the
field mapping of properties. Notional ward maps were taken to the field and used
along with the assessment printouts to verify and update property information.
Surveyors made current notations both on records and on maps in the field.
According to the enumeration the total number of buildings in Mirzapur
is 34,278, with 41,134 individual units. Of these units 4,419 units or 11% are
rented. The increase in properties that resulted from the enumeration was 44%.
This benefit alone was sufficient to justify the enumeration. A property survey
was conducted alongside the enumeration, based on a simple questionnaire, which
emphasised location and basic property characteristics likely to affect property
values. The key characteristics were: land use, type of construction, floor
level of unit, neighbourhood, area, and front/back street access.
At the end of every day enumeration survey information was
chec-ked, corrected and entered in computer files. Rough field notation maps
were faired and fitted to the outline city map to create the first ever property
tax maps for Mirzapur. Upon completion, the city property tax maps were scanned
and digitised using MapInfo computer mapping software. After property numbers
from the enumeration were added to the computerised maps, survey information was
linked to establish the basic Mirzapur GIS as shown in figure 2.
GIS
to Increase Revenues The first use of the new Mirzapur Geographic
Information System was to facilitate the municipal property assessment. There
are few examples of successful reassessments in India largely because of the
inability of manual recording keeping systems to manage and check the vast
volume of data required in the process. With the Mirzapur GIS, a feasible
reassessment methodology could be developed and implemented without concern for
data management.
The methodology adopted was the representative
neighbourhood approach where all the city’s 610 mohallas were classified into
one of 7 neighborhood types based on rent values. Once this coding was done,
values for owner-occupied properties were calculated. Mohalla and street coding
form the foundation of assessment values, so the accuracy of these was checked
visually. Properties with values significantly higher or lower than surrounding
properties were reviewed in the same way. After application of a computerised
assessment programme, property values were randomly checked. This checking was
possible by pulling up the full property record with attached reference photo.
Property reassessment is by far the most critical use for the geographic
information system. Almost all cities will have to conduct a similar exercise in
the next several years due to the severe municipal financial crisis, even though
it is generally mandated every five years. The magnitude of financial benefit is
enormous. In Mirzapur, the increase in tax revenues already underway is likely
to be many fold.
The GIS is also being used to make sense out of the
unmanageable water tax/water charge system. Water connection records kept in
separate registers with separate identification numbers are being matched and
linked in order to determine what water charges and fees should be applied.
Without a geographic information system this work would be just about impossible.
Linking Urban Infrastructure Data with Maps
Since the goal of a model city programme is to increase revenues to be
spent on maintaining and improving public services, infrastructure information
also had to be included in the geographic information system. Street drain,
water supply and solid waste collection maps were developed and linked to the
databases of conditions documented through physical surveys. Information
concerning the construction, size and condition of street drains and water pipes
was collected with reference to individual streets or street segments. Solid
waste collection routing is also being documented and mapped to the street
level.
The infrastructure system is linked to the initial property-based
geographic information system to standardise the scale and reference for all
records. Infrastructure maps were detailed as links, which correspond to
individual streets. Individual street segments were given numeric codes, which
allow a direct link between any individual property and the entire municipal
infrastructure system.
With all core maps and databases linked,
Multi-layer analysis can be used to prioritise investments so as to yield the
highest benefits with the lowest cost. As a result, improved information
management with the GIS is being combined with practical application in service
improvement.
Water System
An example of this is the
rehabilitation of the water distribution system in one city water zone. Limited
project funds are available for investment in water system management. The
objective is to allow the water department to make key improvements in the
system to enable water connection registration and regularisation. Since the
water supply is shared among several zones, identification of the basic required
investment was difficult with only water supply system drawings. Computer system
modeling was required, but for this specific information was needed. The basic
water distribution system was needed along with node coordinates. Population for
each node was used to estimate the demand. Without a GIS, this information would
have been difficult to access and almost impossible to bring together quickly in
the right format.
With the GIS, the water supply network was evaluated in
addition to the property maps to estimate the population at each node.
Coordinates for each node were easily identified. More importantly, since the
water supply maps only showed recent system repairs and improvement, key
elements of the system such as secondary distribution lines in neighborhood
streets were not up-to-date. With the GIS physical survey information was mapped
directly to the streets without creating a new water system map. This allowed a
much finer grain of analysis than was possible with only the water system map.
Planning investments with the GIS not only allowed quick analysis since all
necessary information was ready, but also ability to prioritise among many
needed improvements. An example of this is shown figure 3 where both water
distribution pipe diameter and property assessment value per square foot are
shown. Seeing these two types of information together is useful where the
objective is to improve service conditions for weaker sections of the
population.
Solid Waste Management The most dramatic and
immediate service improvement was achieved with a new solid waste collection
system for the city. Solid waste collection depots have been constructed
throughout the city in order to eliminate the secondary collection of solid
waste. In order to supplement the 200-meter service range of handcarts, rickshaw
trolleys were introduced with a service area from 200 to 400 meters. This
technology allows collection depots to be located so as to serve a much larger
area. This is especially important where there is very limited municipal land
for construction of a depot. The deployment of over 100 rickshaw trolleys
serving 10 solid waste collection depots has been responsible for a visible
improvement in street cleaning.
This type of vehicle activity requires a more rational
deployment of equipment. By linking sanitation department vehicles to each
street, the volume of garbage and distance traveled can be estimated with the
GIS. This has made it possible to begin a programme of route rationalisat-ion to
reduce needless travel by department employees. An example of this type of
planning is given in figure 4 where the individual houses served by each
handcart and rickshaw trolley are identified. There is much scope for
improvement from the old ad hoc staff deployment system.
Drain Prioritisation Another very important urban service is street
drains. If they don’t function there is stagnant water and collected rubbish.
With limited funds for investment, it is critical to locate areas, which have
deficiencies with the least cost. For example, investments where drains are only
on one side of a paved street, and need only brick edging are likely to achieve
the greatest impact. With the GIS these criteria can be evaluated at the same
time within a single or from multiple linked databases. After the selection
criteria were established candidate streets for possible investment were quickly
identified for more detailed inspection. Initial cost estimates were determined
from the length of drains and scheduled rates.
Approach
Replicability Administratively and operationally Mirzapur is
representative of conditions in most other cities in Uttar Pradesh and in India.
That made it an ideal city to test approaches that could be replicated in many
other cities. If it can work in Mirzapur, why not elsewhere?
There was
little information management capacity and almost no computer skills in the
Mirzapur municipality. This made it necessary to teach the necessary skills to
staff that could be seconded for project work. Eight staff, of whom most were
community workers, and with one exception had no computer experience, form the
nucleus of the project team. These staff were given technical and management
training necessary to implement the computerisation work as well as to supervise
the field and office work of ordinary clerks. Two fulltime management
consultants and one short term MIS consultant provided advanced technical inputs
and professional guidance. The project was supported by the latest in computer
soft and hardware, operated through a local area network at the new municipal
computer information centre. Although nearly one Pentium computer is available
for each staff member, the data entry work volume is often sufficient to require
a second shift.
Practical experience has shown that there is no major
obstacle in the development of the Mirzapur type of geographic information
system. Other cities can start right away through well-tested core activities so
that a similar geographic information system can be developed there as well
within two to three years.
ConclusionWith a municipal
geographic information system tools are available to increase revenues and
improve services within the existing institutions. Initially time is required
for setting up the system, but benefits start even in the early stages. It is
only when such a system is established that the public will wonder how it
managed without it for so long
The barefooted rickshaw walla said to the
well-shod vakil, "sahib, there is a lot of glass in the road." The vakil
replied, "I didn’t notice any."
