December 2019 to March 2021

Sustainable Urban Development- Smart City Project supported by GIZ

Kochi/Trivandrum, Kerala

Senior National Urban Advisor.  Technical assistance and co-ordinating of the following Kerala state and city-level packages:

 · preparation of State-Level Integrated Wastewater and Septage Management Guidelines for Kerala

• preparation of a Road Map to set up an Urban Management Centre in Institute, Trivandrum of Management in Government (IMG), a state-level training institute, Kerala
• construction of decentralized waste water treatment system in Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), state training institution for local bodies
• planning and implementation of leachate management in a solid waste treatment plant, decentralized sewerage system in three divisions
• documenting Centre of Heritage, Environment and Development in Kochi Municipal Corporation and its replication at state level
• preparation of pre-feasibility reports for solid waste and waste water collection and treatment projects around Karmanariver and waste water treatment plant in a Government Homeo hospital in Trivandrum Municipal Corporation, Kerala

August 2017-August 2018

Sustainable Urban Development: UNDP/UN Habitat India

New Delhi

• Localizing and mainstream Sustainable Development Goals into urban sector in India
• Preparation of Draft National Urban Policy Frameork, India 

December 2017

Property Tax Reform in Addis Ababa and other cities, Ministry of Urban Development and Housing, Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Reviewed proposed GIS-based model of area-based property tax system in Addis Ababa Ethiopia and conducted capacity building course for municipal officials of the country

September 2012 -September 2017

School of Planning and Architecture (SPA) New Delhi, Ministry of Human Resource Development, GOI

New Delhi

Director. SPA offers under graduate courses, post graduates and PhD programs in Architecture, Design and Planning. Overall supervised several research and consultancy projects including:

• Community-Led Heritage Regeneration in India: Agra Riverfront (supported by AHRC, UK and ICHR, GOI)
• Role of Private Slum Developers in Low Income Settlement in Delhi and Dhaka (with Lancaster University, UK, CSE, New Delhi and BRAC University Dhaka)
• Study of In-Situ Rehabilitation of Slums in Delhi (HUDCO funded)
• ENVIS Center on Human Settlements (funded by Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change)
• Smart Sustainable City Regions (with Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
• Indo-Norway Research Project on Transport Sector Strategies for Climate Change
• Workplace Productivity in Green Office Buildings  (with Melbourne University)
• Integrated Cluster Action Plan for several clusters in Rajasthan, Kerala, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh under Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission (supported by Ministry of Rural Development).
• Master Plan for various facilities on route from Katra to Bhawan (Shri Mata Vaishnav Devi Shrine Board, Jammu).
• Redevelopment plan for Bandra East Housing colony (PWD Maharshtra).
• Aanalysis of Rural Housing designs for Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (supported by UNDP India)
• Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission  covering 18 clusters distributed in Rajasthan, Haryana, and UP (funded by Ministry of Rural Development)

August to September 2014

Melbourne, Australia

Experience sharing with students, faculty of the University and officials of urban administration in the City on urban planning, development and regulations

February 2008 to September 2012

National Institute of Urban Affairs Ministry of Urban Development, GOI

New Delhi

Director. Guided and coordinated following studies/projects include

.Appraisal of City Development Plans, evaluation of reforms, preparation of reform primers, capacity building under JNNURM (supported by MOUD)

• “Peer Experience and Reflective Learning (PEARL)” program under (JNNURM) funded by the Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD) and Cities Alliance. The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) was appointed the National Coordinator for the program. Major objectives of PEARL were to develop and nurture sharing of experiences through experiential learning and through exchanges with the peer networks. PEARL covered 65 cities from 28 states in India. PEARL had benefited from the International Organizations like Asian Development Bank, Department for International Development, United States Agency for International Development, Cities Alliance,  Water and Sanitation Program, World Bank Institute, etc. who facilitated and supported the program
• Provided knowledge support to the High Powered Expert Committee for Estimating Investment Requirement for Urban Infrastructure chaired by Dr. Isher Ahluwalia (supported by MOUD).
• Preparing City Sanitation Plans for Eight Cities in Orissa (funded by MOUD)

Jan. 1995 to Feb. 2008

Financial Institutional Reform Expansion- Debt (FIRE-D) USAID 

New Delhi

Dy. Team Leader/Senior Urban Advisor. The major objectives of the Indo-US FIRE Project, Debt Component, were to: 

• Develop commercially viable urban environmental infrastructure projects; 
• Assist urban organizations in accessing capital markets and financial institutions; and
• Promote   public- private partnerships; and
• support capacity building of urban local and state organizations.

Project Tasks undertaken are: 

Decentralization Support:

• Supported developed Model Municipal Act for the MOUD
• Assisted GOI on background paper for Community Participation and Public Disclosure Laws under Jawaharlal Nehru National Renewal Mission (JNNURM)
• Assisted Governments of Karnatka, Rajasthan, A.P. and Uttrachal to develop new municipal acts.
• Supervised a study on state-municipal fiscal relations that lead to preparation of guidelines for state finance commissions.  Major recommendation was setting up incentive funds to support municipal reforms.
• Assisted the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to review and revise the Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, on revenue and building bye-laws chapters.    
• Assisting the Municipal Corporation of Delhi to prepare simplified building bye-laws and local area plans.    
• Improving Access of the Poor to Urban Services:
• Assisting Sangali Municipal Corporation to implement a Community-Led Toilet project supported by the Cities Alliance and USAID.
• Assisting implementation of a Slum Upgradation project in Agra supported by USAID.
• Assisting Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board to improve access of poor to water supply and sewerage in low-income areas. This activity supported by JBIC and Cities Alliance.
• Prepared a strategy to improve access of the urban poor to basic services in the FIRE Project.
• Developed a strategy for the Sangli and Ludhiana Municipal Corporations to do the same.

Municipal Resource Mobilization:

• Supported Bhubaneswar, Asansol and Durgapur Municipal Corporations to improve revenue base. 
• Supported eight urban local bodies of Greater Bangalore to improve property tax revenues.
• Worked with Ministry of Urban Development, GOI to develop a proposal to introduce resource mobilization program in 10 urban local bodies under JNNURM.
• Supervised a study on Resource Mobilization for the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) conducted by the Crisil Advisory Services. Assisted IMC to implement an action plan to carry out the recommendations to increase revenues.
• Supervised a study identifying and documenting existing assets (buildings and plots) of the IMC and another on their commercial use. The latter study was carried out by C. B. Richard Ellis Consultants.
• Worked on Resource Mobilization for Patna Municipal Corporation, Bihar.
• Prepared a paper on Property Tax Innovations in India for a national seminar on the topic organized by NIUA in 1996.

Financing:

• Assisted the Housing Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) to access US$ 60 million from US capital markets under USAID’s Housing Guaranty Program.
• Completed a study on Lessons Learned: Ahmedabad Municipal Water Supply Project and Municipal Bonds.
• Conducted financial analyses of the Baroda, Surat and Varanasi municipal corporations to estimate the total overall infrastructure investments affordable by the local bodies. 
• Assisted rating agencies in rating the credit of four cities.
• Helped IL&FS and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation to prepare the placement memorandum for the first public issue of municipal bonds in India. .
• Assisted the Tiruppur municipality and Surat Municipal Corporation in financing solid waste projects.
• Assisted Indore to prepare a proposal for the GOI’s City Challenge Fund to finance its comprehensive reform program.

City Development Strategies:

• Assisted Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation to prepare a City Development Plan and Urban reform timeline under JNNURM.
• Assisting Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to develop pilot Local Area Plans in three areas of the city.
• Worked with TNUDF and consultants to prepare City Development Strategies for the cities of Coimbatore and Tiruppur (as part of the World Bank funded TNUDP-II).