Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project (KEIP) is a multi-agency endeavour to arrest environmental degradation and improve the quality of life in Kolkata. Its work is mainly in the outer areas of the city where the sewerage and drainage infrastructure is grossly inadequate and the drainage canals are choked by silt.
KEIP’s objectives are to reduce pollution
by providing affordable access to basic urban services in slums, revamp and up grade the sewerage and drainage system, make solid waste management system efficient,restore the city's drainage canals , and improve outdoor recreation facilities in parks and water bodies. It also has a capacity building component to raise the standards of KMC’s delivery of municipal services.
Over the first three years of the Project, number of review and monitoring committees were set up from time to time. In a meeting chaired by the Hon'ble MIC, Municipal Affairs Department and attended by the Hon'ble Mayor of Kolkata, the departments concerned and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) officials, it was decided to supersede all earlier government orders and set up two committees to review and monitor KEIP's activities-one at the state level and the other at KMC's level.
The state level review and monitoring committee will still be called Steering Committee as stipulated in the loan agreement with ADB.
State-level Steering Committee
The state-level review and monitoring committee was set up to oversee the implementation of the Project, give guidance on policy and institutional reforms, ensure provision of counterpart funding, and to see that the overall objectives of the Project are achieved. The Hon'ble MIC, Municipal Affairs Department, chairs the steering committee. The other members are the Mayor of Kolkata; The Secretary, Municipal Affairs Department; Secretary, Irrigation Department; Municipal Commissioner, KMC; CEO, KMDA; Joint Secretary, Urban Development, Government of India; Director; DEA (ADB), Government of India; Project Director, I&WD, KEIP; and Project Director, KEIP.
The Chief Secretary and/or Finance Secretary are requested to attend the meetings of the Steering Committee as per needs of the agenda.
The Committee meets once in two months to review and monitor KEIP's activities and issue directions and guidelines to the authorities concerned with the implementation of the Project.
The Project Review Committee consists of the Hon’ble Mayor of Kolkata as Chairperson; MMIC (S&D); MMIC (SWM); MMIC (Bustee); Municipal Commissioner; DMC (social sector); and Project Director, KEIP as Member-Secretary.
The Chief Engineer / Director General of the department concerned are invited to the meetings of the committee as per the needs of the agenda.
The Hon’ble Mayor can nominate one or two MMIC and / or Borough chairperson to the committee.
This committee meets on a monthly basis.
Coordination Committee
Close coordination with various government departments, organizations, public utility service providers and regulatory agencies is required for effective and timely implementation of KEIP. Coordinated action is required for temporary diversion / relocation of services like water supply, telephone and electric cables, sewers, canals, etc and traffic management. For this, the State Government constituted a Coordination Committee for the Project. Secretary, Municipal Affairs Department, is the chairman of the committee with the Project Director of KEIP as its convener. Representatives of the State Government departments concerned and CESC, BSNL, WBSEB, KMDA, KIT, Kolkata and South 24 Parganas Police, DM South 24 Parganas, and 1st LA Collector are the members.
The first meeting of the Committee was held in March 2005 before the launch of the Project’s first major Sewerage and Drainage package.
Field-level coordination committees
The Project constitutes field-level coordination committees for all the major S&D works to meet the same objectives of coordination and liaison at the field level as the Coordination Committee does at the Project level. KMC borough engineers, water supply and drainage departments’ engineers, field level representatives of various government departments and agencies are represented on these committees. The Borough Chairperson and councillors concerned are invited to the meetings of these committees.
Steering Committee for Community Development (SCCD)
A Steering Committee for Community Development activities under KEIP was formed for coordination with the social sector interventions of KMC with KEIP initiatives, dovetailing of poverty alleviation programmes of KMC into social sector commitments of the Project and thus leading to an overall integrated development of the urban poor in the city.
The SCCD headed by the MMIC, Bustee), has the following members:
Project Director, KEIP
Director General, Project, KEIP
Joint Municipal Commissioner (Social Sector), KMC
Team Leader, Project Coordination Cell, KEIP
Team Leader, Project Management Consultant
Team Leader, Design and Supervision Consultant
Team Leader, SDU, KEIP Convenor
The borough staff and elected representatives are also members of this Committee for the respective packages which include their boroughs / wards. One of the strategies of KEIP's social sector interventions is to sensitise borough administrations on the social sector commitments of KMC and to include community development in the development agenda of boroughs.
The SCCD is responsible for:
Guiding the preparation of the master plans under KEIP.
Planning and reviewing implementation of community development activities under KEIP in slums and relocated settlements.
