The Water and Sanitation Program January 2007 is an international partnership for improving water and sanitation sector policies, practices, and capacities to 71919 serve poor people Case Study Sanitation in Alandur Community Response Energizes Work Alandur Municipality in Tamil Nadu is improving sanitation services to slum dwellers through an inclusive approach that benefits all segments of the township. The effort demonstrates how services can be improved where there is strong political commitment coupled with effective communications, transparency, and partnership with community-based organizations. Nearly 8,350 of the 23,000 households that paid for the service are now connected to a sewerage network (2005). These include 500 slum households from a total of 7,000. A large number (43 percent) of slum dwellers have opted and paid for individual sewerage connections. At the heart of the project’s success so far lies a well-planned communications strategy that has evoked a strong and positive community response. The Challenge The Implementation Phase Till 2000, Alandur, a municipality in a Government of Tamil Nadu Municipality of Alandur residential suburb of Chennai, had no (TNUIFSL) • Monthly reviews Local Associations • Monthly reviews sewerage system—a majority of its households had septic tanks. The sewage, disposed outside the municipal Project Management Public limits, posed immense health hazards Consultant (Private) as a breeding ground for mosquitoes • Supervision • Quality control and diseases, besides affecting • Project process reports groundwater sources. Complaint Register The risks for the town—with a Engineering, Procurement and Construction Contractor population of 147,000, of which (Private) slum dwellers constituted nearly • Design and build the underground sewerage 23 percent—were high. The situation system was even worse in the 33 slum areas • Finance, design, build, and operate the sewage where almost 7,000 families resided. treatment plant The Way Forward To address these problems, a project Project Approach The project was structured such that an engineering, procurement, and to build an underground sewerage system was initiated by the chairman of and Design construction contractor not only designed and built the underground Alandur Municipality. The project, designed to provide sewerage system, but also financed, At the heart of the project’s success so essential and basic facilities to all the designed, built, and operated the far lies a well-planned communications residents, included: sewage treatment plant. An strategy that has evoked a strong • Sewerage network consisting of independent project management and positive community response. the main sewer line, branch sewer consultant controlled, supervised, Willingness to pay among almost line, and manholes. and reported on the project; Alandur 97 percent of the people surveyed was Municipality organized the public • Construction of a sewerage another factor that helped it become a mobilization and frequently reviewed pumping station. multi-stakeholder project involving the the project. The Government of Tamil municipal authorities, the private sector, • Laying of pumping mains. Nadu and TNUIFSL also reviewed the community-based organizations and, • A sewage treatment plant. project regularly. most significantly, the people • Low-cost sanitation. A special committee, which was formed themselves. These partnerships to monitor the operation of the manifested themselves in various Institutional Arrangements accounts, brought transparency to aspects and stages of the project. Private sector participation was financial transactions. As part of another initiative, care considered important for the project. Mobilization was also taken to ensure that the Accordingly, a private partner, the and Communication poorest people, who could not Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure afford private sewerage facilities, Financial Services Limited (TNUIFSL), Effective and timely communications to were not left out. Provision had been was nominated to coordinate the involve key partners and, importantly, made for community toilets for investigation and to structure the the people themselves in the initiative, these segments. finances for the project. formed a key part of the project, 2 Sanitation in Alandur: Community Response Energizes Work Community Toilets: Reaching the Unreached Even as the underground sewerage project of Alandur rolled on to provide sewerage connections to slum households, many poor households that could not afford to pay for these services were left out of this program. The Inclusive Approach To ensure that the poor or the unreached are not excluded from the benefits of this sanitation project, Alandur Municipality has made provision for community toilets. Where a need is identified, either by slum dwellers or by Alandur Municipality, public toilets are provided by the Municipality on municipal land. When located relatively close to the sewerage network, the toilets are connected to it, otherwise septic tanks are used. The facilities are also provided with water and electricity. Partnership for the Poor This initiative involves civic authorities, community-based organizations (CBOs), and the final beneficiaries or slum residents. To manage the public toilets, especially in the initial phase. Alandur women’s groups have been formed with support from Alandur Municipality. Municipality made a strong and The Municipality trains the CBOs on managing the facility. The CBO establishes concerted effort in spreading awareness a member register, fixes and collects the monthly fees from the households, about the project. An election-style and maintains the toilets. campaign was launched—officials Alandur Municipality finances the construction and connection, while the CBO and councilors traveled about in auto finances the maintenance and repairs. There is no connection fee, but a repair fee rickshaws to inform people about the of Rs. 200 (US$4) per connection is collected from each member household. project; local cable TV networks were The monthly fees are fixed by the local CBO and the charges range from Rs. 20 roped in; pamphlets in English and Tamil (US$0.44) to Rs. 50 (US$1.12) per family. Non-members also pay a charge were distributed; door-to-door fixed by the CBO, in most cases around Re. 1 (US$0.02) per visit. canvassing was done with municipal sanitary workers joining hands with Progress So Far senior municipal staff to spread the In 2005, 14 toilets had been constructed to serve poor clusters in the message. Active use was made of the Municipality based on demand articulation by the people. local press. In addition, on-site meetings were held with residence associations and the public to explain the scope and The communication has continued project’s transparency, accountability, benefits of the project. The concerted during the implementation phase as and effectiveness. awareness and mobilization campaign well, in the form of a feedback and Project Costs and led to formation of associations from grievance redressal system. Members Sources of Finance which two persons were chosen to of the public can voice their concerns work part-time to collect deposits and through a complaint register which The total project cost is estimated at connection fees from the residents. is reviewed daily by the project Rs. 340 million (US$8 million).1 Alandur The money was deposited into an management team and twice a week Municipality has raised funds from the account, and status updates were by the municipal commissioner. People TNUIFSL and the Tamil Nadu Urban communicated to the public every can also contact the Municipality directly Finance Infrastructure Development month. There was thus full transparency if problems arise. This two-way 1 US$1 = Rs. 44.54 (as of December 15, 2006). Conversion rates from regarding the financial aspects. communication seeks to ensure the www.xe.com. All conversions from Rs. to US$ are approximate. 3 Table 1: Means of Finance Highlights Category Amount in % of total • A well-planned communications Rs. million (US$) strategy has led to good Grants community response to the project. TNUIFSL/Gap funding by GoTN 30 (673,552) 9 • A ‘Willingness to Pay’ survey TUFIDCO 10 (224,517) 3 showed that about 97 percent of the people wished to have the Loans sewer connection and would like TNUIFSL 40 (898,069) 12 to pay for it. TUFIDCO 160 (3,592,277) 47 • People who were unable to pay User contribution the deposits on their own were Deposits (estimated*) 80 (1,796,138) 23 given the option of loans from local Interest from deposits 20 (449,035) 6 banks on nominal interest rates. • People were also given the choice TOTAL 340 (8 million) to pay in two installments over * User contribution so far: Rs. 150 million a year. Source: Alandur Municipality • The construction of community toilets was taken up after Table 2: Fees and Charges need assessments by Alandur Municipality or on demand Connection charges Amount per connection from slum dwellers. This option (non-refundable deposits) in Rs. (US$) helped extend sanitation services Domestic (before 01.02.2000) 5,000 (112) to the poorest segment of the population which could not Domestic (after 01.02.2000) 6,000 (135) afford the non-refundable Commercial 10,000 (224) deposit and could not connect Industrial 10,000 (224) to the system. Corporation (TUFIDCO), an agency channelizing the funds from the Progress So Far the service. Nearly 500 slum households of the 7,000 had a Government of India and Government The ongoing project that began in sewerage connection. A large number of Tamil Nadu for infrastructure projects. 2000 had in 2005 connected, in its (43 percent) of slum dwellers have The project also received deposits from first phase, nearly 8,350 of the opted and paid for individual the town’s residents. 23,000 households that paid for sewerage connections. References • Meetings with Alandur Municipality Corporation officials. • ‘State of Tamil Nadu, India: The Alandur Underground Sewerage Project’, Tamil Nadu Urban Development Project and Kampsax India Limited. 2005. • Mathur, Mukesh P. 2002. ‘Alandur Sewerage Project—A Success Story of Public-Private Partnership Arrangements.’ National Institute of Urban Affairs. New Delhi. • Mehta, A. 2005. ‘We Ourselves…for Us—Case Study on User Contributions in Infrastructure Development Costs, Tamil Nadu.’ Water and Sanitation Program. New Delhi.