RESEARCH Sustainability of Large Scale Urban Sanitation Projects : Public Disclosure Authorized Calcutta Case Study -A Report­ Volume I Public Disclosure Authorized Submitted to Public Disclosure Authorized Regional Water & Sanitation Group UNDP- Wodd Bank Water & Sanitation Progrant Public Disclosure Authorized Asian Information Marketing & Social Research (P) Ltd Calcutta January 1997 RESEARCH ABBREVIATIONS BOP Basic Development Plan BI Bustee/Basti Improvement BIP Bustee Improvement Programme CD Community Development CD\V Community Development Centre CIT Calcutta Improvement Trust CMC Calcutta Municipal Corporation CMDA Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority CMPO Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Organisation CPI(M) Communist Party Of India (Marxist) CUDP Calcutta Urban Development Project Dl Depth Interview FGD Focus Group Discussion HH Households ICDS Integrated Child Development Scheme IDA International Development Association MAIDP Municipal And Anchal Development Programme MDP Municipal Development Programme MNP Minimum Needs Programme NGO Non Governmental Organisation QS Quick Survey RWSG SA Regional Water And Sanitation Group South Asia SSA Strategic Sanitation Approach SSEP Small Scale Entrepreneurs Programme RESEARCH CONTENTS Page No CHAPTER l Introduction 1 CHAPTER 2 Project Process 6 CHAPTER 3 Reconaissance Survey Findings 14 CHAPTER 4 : Choice, Payment & Local Management of 28 Service : The Calcutta Case CHAPTER 5 : Conclusions 36 TABLE 8 39 RESEARCH CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Sanitation services delivery to the urban poor has emerged as a problematic task and past approaches towards solutions have been unsatisfactory. The Strategic Sanitation Approach (SSA) has evolved as a response to unsatisfactory performance of existing policies. The approach is built upon the core belief that provision of sustainable sanitation to urban areas is only possible by a demand oriented service delivery system. The SSA constitutes a set of three core hypotheses and a set of rdated assumptions to choice of service, user payment for service and local management of service (For details see the Terms of Reference in the Appendix). ln the context of the above, the UNDP/World Bank Water Sanitation Program through the Regional Water & Sanitation Group for South Asia (RWSG) has initiated a comparative study of three large scale Urban Sanitation Projects covering a population exceeding fifteen thousand to gain inputs that would help refine and develop more region-specific formulation of the SSA. The projects under study are: a) The Calcutta Urban Development Project, Calcutta b) The Orangi Project, Karachi (;) Hyderabad Slum Development Project R WSG has deputed AIMS Research, a market and social research organisation to work in collaboration with them for the Calcutta case study. This report presents the findings of the study. The Calcutta Case Sanitation services delivery under the Bustee (Slum) Improvement Program (BlP) of the Calcutta Urban Development Project (CUDP) taken up by the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), is one of the largest projects ever undertaken for the urban poor in South Asia. Divided in three phases ( CUDP I, 1970-71 to 197 6-77; CUDP II, 1977-78 to 1982-83 and; CUDP Ill 1983-84 onwards), the project which has evolved as the primary urban development project to be executed by CMDA has received funding mainly from the Government of India, World Bank (two phases) and Overseas Development Administration (ODA). Initiated nearly twenty-five years ago, the project continues as one of the longest government run centralised norm driven projects in the region. Till date the project has covered nearly two­ thirds of the 1.3 million people living in two thousand four hundred shims of Calcutta. Five basic facilities namely, sanitary latrines, potable water through taps, drainage, pavements and street lights are provided as part of the program. Moreover, in 1983 a health care program and in 1991 an integrated community development program were introduced (Calcutta's Urban Future, Annexure 4:435-38). RESEARCH Goals of tbe Study The study aims at a systematic analysis of sustainability of sanitation service delivery and usage in Calcutta's slums with a view towards exploring the relationship between the dynamics of this sustainalbility with the core hypotheses of the SSA regarding choice, payment and management of service. Specifically, the study has looked at the operational dynamics of the sanitary latrines built by CMDA in these slums. Consequently, the concept of sustainability has been operationalised from the perspective of functional usage of the latrines throughout the year. The primary objective is to find out how this functional usage has been made possible, how it has continued, what are the cost compon1ents involved, what has been the dynamics of people's participation in the management of · this service, the overall performance of the project, the intended and actual rules of the project and deviations if any from them. Methodology and Sampling The methodology of the study was designed keeping the above goals in view. Both secondary and primary methods were applied. The former facilitated review of extant literature and documents that provided information on the background, formal history and documented perceptions about the project. The primary method on the other hand, provided a current situational profile of the working of the project, the dynamics of its usage, oral histories, views of its implementors at different levels and perspectives of other persons related to the project and involved in planning and implementing projects. A. The secondary method which helped to establish the context of the study, involved a review of published and unpublished official and private documents covering the following issue areas : I. Nature of Calcutta's urbanity II. Calcutta's slums Ill. Evolution of planned intervention in the city dwelling specifically on the agencies involved IV. Slum improvement programs specifically those implemented under the Calcutta Urban Development Program (CUDP) scheme V. Deliberations within agencies regarding the planning, achievements and overall status of interventions in slums and VI. Evaluation of agency performances, both from the perspective of outsiders and the agency personnel themselves B. The primary research involved: I. Community and II. Institutional level data collection. RESEARCH The community level analysis in the slums was carried out in two phases: i) Phase I This phase involved: a) A period-wise (pre-World Bank, post World Bank, Minimum Needs program and ODA) listing of slums covered under CMDA' s 'sanitization' program, specifically those where toilets were constructed (numbering to about two thousand four hundred) and second A random selection of one hundred and twenty four slums from among the above mentioned list for a reconaissance survey that would help establish the overall condition of latrines in the slums. Of course before the random selection weightage was given to those slums where toilets were built in the seventies followed by those in the eighties and nineties respectively. The quick survey sifted information at two levels: General : Including data on slum profile, sanitization intervention, toilet technology, condition of toilets and drains and water supply Cluster (term used for a group of households usually set around a courtyard sharing toilet facilities )/Single Household : Including data on maintenance status and condition of toilets and drains, tenancy structure and interaction with agencies like Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC). CMDA and so on vis-a-vis maintenance ii) Phase II followed the reconaissance survey. At this stage an in-depth surveyed was carried out and field observations of investigators noted. This was done mainly to seek explanations about the conditions found. Nineteen slums were selected out of the one hundred and twenty four originally surveyed for this purpose. The basis of selection was condition of toilets, technology and phase of construction. The following table (Table A) gives a brief profile of the slums selected. RESEARCH Table A : Slums Selected for Case Study, Year, Technology, C on d"t"I IOD 0 f L annes,t . N um b erofH ouse h 0 ld s & P opuI a t"ton NAME OF SLUM WARD YMROF TOILET GENERAL NUMBER POPU- NO CONS- TECHNO- CONDITION OF ROUSE LATION TRUCTION LOGY OF TOILETS HOLDS BA1TI KAL BUSTEE 133 1986-96 SEPTIC :rvrrx 2,000 20,000 MIANBAGAN 35 1975 SEPTIC GOOD 2,500 8,000- 10,000 BARISH NIOGI ROAD 14 I978 MAJORITY MIX 540 3,200 1989-90 SEPTIC 5 ANDUL RAJ ROAD 84 1972-76 SEWER GOOD 22 230 I 3 ANJUMAN ROAD 60 1977-78 SEWER BAD 100 1,000 KAUMUI>DIN 34 1975-77 SEPTIC GOOD 180 2,500 SIRCARLANE KESI-IAB CH. SEN 40 1983 .• SEWER MIX 385 3,500 STREET 76 TOLLYGUNGE 81 1971-72 MAJORITY MIX 80 750-800 ROAD SEWER BELGACHIA 3 1977-78 SEWER MIX 2,750 50,000 MONMOHAN 118 1985 SEPTIC BAD 127 300 BANERJEE ROAD 1996 • MUKUNDAPUR 109 1995 2PIT GOOD 1,500 8,000 LATRINE CANAL ROAD 75 1971-72 MAJORITY :rvrrx 600 7,000- SEPTIC 7,500 SATISH MUKHERJEE 84 1976 SEWER GOOD 6 41 ROAD MAN1KTALA 29 1981 SEPTIC GOOD 2,500 3,500 SWINWHOE LANE 67 1993 SEPTIC MIX ISO 1,000 BENIAPARA 60 1985-86 SEWER GOOD 40 300 SHY AMBA.ZAR 10 1977-78 SEP'llCCON. GOOD 300 40000 SEWER DARAI'ARA 59 1977-78 SEPTIC BAD 6,000 30,000 CHF.TLA !WAD 82 1976-78 SEWER GOOD 170 800 RESEARCH Case Study: The case study of the slums contained the following components: A schedule for detailed background information on the selected slums (for all slums) Focus group