Thinking small, or differently, about polluted Asian cities

Thinking small, or differently, about polluted Asian cities

By Leni B. Cifra

MANILA: Fed up with garbage, crime, potholes, traffic
gridlock, water shortages, more people ask: Will Asian cities be
"livable" in the 21st century?

Jakarta is lagging in sewage disposal. Bangkok is barely
coping with traffic gridlock, despite its new elevated roadways.
Long-range water supplies concern Manila and Singapore.

This is thinking old -- and small.

It contrasts with the message in the World Development Report
1999/2000 chapter on "Making Cities Livable: Think Different".

Third millennium cities, this new World Bank study says, must
shuck off the dominant 19th century model. That's where City Hall
provides most infrastructure and service.

Overwhelmed by babies, migrants and economics, cities run
down. Like Bolivia's La Paz River, Manila's Pasig River that
created its lush vegetation is now "biologically dead", the
report points out. So are the rivers of Dhaka and New Delhi.

Inept, often corrupt, public agencies widen service gaps
further. These are partly bridged by the "unregulated private
sector and community initiatives", the report's millennium
edition adds.

These initiatives are laudable. But they are not adequate
"building blocks for sustained citywide improvements". More
people, meanwhile, flood from impoverished farms into Asian city
slums.

"Cities around the world are divided into those who can
provide for their own needs and those that cannot," the report
notes.

"Municipal governments and public agencies often cater to one
part of a city and, at best, adopt a posture of benign neglect
toward the other," it adds. These make "the divisions even
deeper".

Such gaps wring extortionate social and economic costs. Eight
out of every 10 Delhi, Jakarta and Manila residents are gassed by
industrial and vehicle fumes at levels that exceed World Health
Organization standards.

A Jakarta becak (pedicab) driver pays 10 times more than a
rich resident for a liter of water. But his family suffers two to
four times more from gastroenteritis, typhoid and malaria.

Should not city governments, therefore, trim their tattered
sails "as primary service providers"?, the bank asks. An
alternate model of "enabler" is need. City Halls would instead
rely increasingly on the private sector to deliver basic
services.

"Success stories" assure overwhelmed city officials they, too,
can unclog their "brown" (urban) agendas. None required rewriting
constitutions. Some of the successes:

Vietnam's Haiphong state water company cobbled a partnership
with consumers -- and increased service from eight to 24 hours
(compared to Manila's 17). It tripled bill collection.

Paraguay opened its water market to private firms. About 500
aguateros (water vendors) "compete to supply households, with
full cost recovery and negligible water losses". In contrast, 44
percent in Metro Manila is either filched or leaks away.

The Philippines' San Miguel Corporation (SMC) clamped on
emission standards in 1993. A full third of vehicles, entering
its Bulacan brewery, were smoke belchers. Today, it's down to 3
percent.

SMCs and more than 100 companies adopted "No Smoke Belching
Compounds" since then, the bank notes. "Good environmental
practice can be good marketing."

Citizen participatory budgeting operates in Argentina, Brazil
and Uruguay. "Citizens Report Cards", started in India, proved
effective. They are now spreading to other cities, including
Washington, D.C.

Accountability is strengthened by surveys on residents' views
on city services. Hard data, provided by NGOs and investigative
media reports, create pressure for reform.

High-cost centralized sewerage systems, like those of Canada,
are priced beyond reach of small Asian cities, making metro open
spaces one big latrine.

But communities in Lesotho, Brazil and Pakistan forged
partnerships with governments to build low-cost but technically
adequate sewerage systems.

Successful partnership-based models are "the quiet revolution
in local governance", the bank observes. This pattern holds
"genuine promise for improving urban living conditions".

Few city officials rethink old ways due to lack of
"influential political lobbies for urban reform", the bank report
notes. This "is partly responsible for the lack of progress in
providing decent services".

The "quiet revolution" has improved the livability of many
cities underscoring the "need to turn away from an unsuccessful
model" that excludes the most dynamic providers of service.

The next step: Initiate an empowerment process whereby
communities define their goals and assume responsibility for
them, the report stresses.

-- DEPTHnews