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Asian cities need help
with rapid expansion
Singapore, 26 June 2008: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) called on the world to help Asian cities cope with unprecedented growth. Over the next decade, a spokesman explained, the regions urban areas would be growing by more than 100,000 people a day. “Half of Asia's population will be living in cities by 2020, as some 1.1 billion people move to urban environments over the next 20 years,” added ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda.

"For most major cities in Asia, growth rates are too rapid for their own infrastructure to keep up with and the benefits of new investments and infrastructure have not been distributed equally," Kuroda told a conference on sustainable cities in Singapore.

According to Kuroda there was a $30 billion shortfall every year in the maintenance of urban infrastructure in the region, leading to greater deterioration of the existing infrastructure — already more than half a billion Asians currently lived in slums and air pollution was affecting the health of millions.

“By 2015, more than half of global greenhouse gas emissions will come from cities in Asia,” the ADB president added. Asia's cities needed assistance in coping with the physical impact of past and current urban growth. "They need increased investments in sustainable infrastructure, which will only come through more appropriate and relevant financing options."

A separate research study presented at the Singapore conference explained that as cities expanded, they should plan the development of suburbs in advance to avoid congestion and environmental problems, focussing on roads, utility networks and other infrastructure. “Many developing nations in Asia should limit car traffic, develop bus services and provide for pedestrians and cyclists, the study said. “Traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced if automobile use is limited in combination with acceptable public transport alternatives,” the study’s authors point out.

South Korean government party
punished over US beef imports
Seoul, 7 June 2008: South Korean voters dealt the country’s ruling party a bruising defeat in a number of local by-elections following President Lee Myung-bak's handling of a beef import agreement with the US. Despite assurances from the Korean and American governments that US beef was safe to eat, South Koreans have carried out daily street protests. Tens of thousands of people rallied over the weekend against the agreement, forcing the government to delay its implementation. In order to quell the public anger, the government asked the US to stop exporting beef from cattle aged 30 months or older, considered at greatest risk of BSE (mad cow disease).

While only 52 seats were at stake at this week’s by-elections, the results indicate the end of the honeymoon period, which the government enjoyed since convincingly winning April’s parliamentary elections. In the by-elections, the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) won nine seats, while the main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP) secured 23 seats. The remaining seats up for election went to minor opposition parties or independents.

Even more devastating for the government was the outcome of elections for the nine heads of local governments. Only one GNP contender was elected, while three UDP candidates were victorious. The remaining posts were won by independents.

Killer of Nagasaki mayor
receives death sentence
Nakasaki, 28 May 2008: The killer of Nagasaki mayor Itcho Ito was sentenced to death by a Japanese court. The mayor was shot dead while campaigning for re-election in April last year. It was initially assumed that the murder was politically motivated – the mayor, a pacifist, was opposed to the re-armament of Japan – but it later emerged that the killer, a local gangster, developed a personal grudge against the mayor because the city had refused to offer financial help to his construction business.

In 1990 Ito’s predecessor, mayor Hitoshi Motoshima, was shot and seriously wounded after saying that Japan's emperor bore some responsibility for World War II. A right-wing activist was arrested for that shooting.

According to Japanese police sources, Tetsuya Shiroo, the 60-year old killer of Mayor Ito, used his company for money laundering and extortion. Judge Yoshimichi Matsuo described the crime as outrageous and heinous. "It infringed people's right to vote and destabilised democracy from its roots," the judge is reported to have said.

Japan and the US are the only western democracies to still maintain the maintain the death penalty. The Japan Death Penalty Information Center reports that since the beginning of the year seven judicial executions were carried out in the country.

Death and destruction follow
local elections in West Bengal
Kolkata, 22 May 2008: Election violence has left at least 16 people dead and hundreds injured in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. Clashes between rival political parties spilled into Monday following local elections last weekend in West Bengal. Eyewitnesses said some villagers and poll workers were killed as police fired at protesters near polling booths. The violence broke out in Murshidabad, 200 kilometers north of West Bengal's capital, Kolkata. The votes are being counted on 21 and 22 May.

Adhir Chowdhury leads the opposition Congress Party. He accused West Bengal's Marxist-led government of 'unleashing a reign of terror' during the elections to intimidate voters in an opposition stronghold. The Communist Party of India has ruled in West Bengal for much of the past three decades.

"The entire rule of Bengal has been officiated by violence perpetuated by the ruling regime," said Chowdhury. "They simply are resorting to violence, arson, torture and raping only to intimidate the people."

West Bengal's Communist Party leaders argue that the Congress Party supporters threatened violence days before the polls to ratchet up tension in an already contentious election.

Political analyst Sujoy Dhur says the larger issue at stake is the poll violence that continues to plague elections in many of India's small towns. "Violence is part of India elections, and this culture of violence is very much there in West Bengal too," said Dhur. "In the rural areas, things are always more violent than in the urban centers. The Communist Party of India - Marxists, they have pursued an industrialization policy that involves takeover of farmlands for industry so this tension was brewing for [a long time]. And this time the opposition tried tooth and nail to put up a resistance."

This year's local election was one of the most violent in West Bengal's history, with at least 30 dead in several rounds of polling. Nineteen people were killed during the last elections in 2003. (Report by Raymond Thibodeaux, VoA News)

Big Indian cities on terror
alert after Jaipur bombing
Jaipur, 17 May 2008: Major Indian cities, including Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata have been put on high terror alert following the bomb attack, which killed 80 people in Jaipur on 13 May. A little-known militant group called the Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for setting off bombs. Police in India have distributed sketches of three suspects in Tuesday's explosions that killed more than 60 people in the western city of Jaipur.

Police officials in the state of Rajasthan said Friday that the three men, ranging in age from 18 to 25, were believed to have bought bicycles used in the serial bombings. The sketches were based on descriptions from shopkeepers.

Authorities released the sketch of another suspect the day after the blasts. Police have questioned and released dozens of people, mostly Bangladeshi migrant workers, in connection with the attack.

Police say e-mails were sent to the media of video clips showing bombs strapped to bicycles. But officials say they are skeptical about the authenticity of the messages. Many of the bombs that exploded within minutes of each other were planted on bicycles near Jaipur's Hindu temples and markets.

The famed tourist destination is home to a Hindu majority and Muslim minority. Authorities say they believe the attackers intended to provoke sectarian violence. (Report by VoA and local reporters)

Australian cities to receive
fast access to government
Sydney, 2 May 2008: Australia’s federal government will be setting up a major cities unit to coordinate its dealings with the country’s urban centres. Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese said the unit would become the single contact point for local and state governments and the private sector when discussing the planning and infrastructure needs of cities. “Operating within the infrastructure department, it will avoid the complexities of dealing with a myriad of separate departments,” he said.

The minister told a infrastructure conference that there needed to be a point within the government bureaucracy where regions and cities could go to make representations about the range of urban infrastructure issues affecting them. "Currently our cities deal with a myriad of federal government departments which affect their economic, social and environmental outcomes. A more coordinated and integrated approach is needed. The unit will not only deal with the major capital cities, but also with large regional centres such as Geelong, Newcastle and the Gold Coast,” Albanese explained.

Asian cities to develop
commercial aeroplane
Tokyo, 30 April 2008: Tokyo Metropolitan Government has announced its intention to continue the development of a commercial airliner to serve urban centres in East Asia through pooling technology from throughout the region. TMG claims that the project will foster a greater sense of Asian identity by ending dependency on aircraft from western manufacturers. The project was initiated by the Asian Network of Major Cities 21, with Delhi, Jakarta, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Tokyo city governments participating.
 
If taken to completion and launched onto the commercial market, the new plane would be the first built in Asia since the Japanese YS-11, which was retired from service in 2006 after 44 years.  Announcing the decision, the headquarters of Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said that the plane would meet growing demands for air travel between Asian cities and would see greater cooperation between regional economies under Japan's leadership.  It was also noted that Canada and Brazil had also begun to successfully supply the market for small to medium-sized aircraft.

Indian cities encouraged
to switch to solar power
New Delhi, 21 April 2008: India is planning to convert some 60 cities into ‘solar townships’ which run increasingly on renewable energy. A spokesman for the ministry for new and renewable energy said that until recently the focus had been to promote renewable forms of energy in villages which were not connected to the power grid, the government was now drawing up a list of cities with populations of 500,00 to 5 million which would be given financial and technological support to use renewable sources for their growing energy needs.

"Over the years, renewable energy has been looked upon as a downmarket and less reliable option for the villages. But just as Europe and America are shifting cities which consume high energy to renewable sources, we too want to do that," the spokesman explained.

Energy demands in many Indian cities are rising by more than 15 per cent. The government believes that it is now the right time to push them to adopt more sustainable power supplies. Under the plan, municipalities will look at current energy usage and project growth over the next 10 years. “The government, besides providing funds, will also help with technical support to to see where power consumption can be reduced and move towards more renewable forms of energy,” the ministry added.

Dredging to prevent
Jakarta from flooding
Jakarta, 18 April 2008: Some 40 per cent of the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta is between one to one and a half meters below sea-level. Add to that an ever-growing population, densely-populated residential areas, rapid infrastructural development, a diminishing number of green areas and catchments, plus six months of near-constant rain - and you have a recipe for flood disasters which literally paralyze the city.

The severity of floods in the Indonesian capital has become a national issue given the huge financial losses it incurs and the impact it has on communities in the Greater Jakarta area. The provincial government of DKI Jakarta (Pemda DKI) is embarking on an extensive flood management initiative with the support of the World Bank, in which 13 rivers will be dredged during the first phase of the project’s implementation.

The river dredging is part of a short-term action plan, and goes by the Star Wars-inspired acronym of JEDI – the Jakarta Emergency Dredging Initiative. JEDI will be carried out over a three-year period using state-of-the-art equipment from the Netherlands. “It is hoped that the dredging measures could return Jakarta floods to the previous cycle of once every 25 years,” said Risyana –a one-time bureaucrat with the Department of Public Works that joined World Bank Indonesia in the early nineties. In his presentation, Risyana stressed that dredging will still leave some parts of North Jakarta prone to flooding, but overall would help reduce the flooded areas in Jakarta by up to 70 per cent.

Many of the seminar participants questioned the social impact of the action plan, given the large numbers of people that live along river sides. Fellow panelist El Khobar MN Msc, a civil engineering lecturer at University of Indonesia, believes that the intensive dredging approach would lead to mass evictions. “Pemda DKI should socialize these plans from now,” said El Khobar. The lecturer also believes that more needs to be done to educate inner-city dwellers of their environmentally-hazardous behavior. “I once asked a neighbor not to toss his household garbage into a nearby river, and he was deeply offended,” said El Khobar. “My neighbor understood that tossing garbage into sewers would clog drainage, but didn’t realize that the same rules applied to rivers until I politely explained that to him.” (Report by World Bank)

Australia’s state capitals
experience record growth
1 April 2008: Last year Australia’s state capitals grew faster than at any time since the 1980s. The cities grew by a combined 1.6 per cent to reach 13.4 million. The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) also show that within the next 20 years Melbourne is likely to overtake Sydney as the country’s largest city.

ABS demographer Andrew Howe said that it was the biggest surge in capital city growth for 20 years. “The last time the capital cities combined grew by more than 1.6 per cent was in 1987-88,” he detailed. The Bureau also revealed that the growth was partly due to immigration. “Last financial year, 178,000 more people entered Australia than left. And most overseas migrants, at least when the first arrive, reside in a state capital," Howe said.

Darwin was the fastest growing capital city last financial year, expanding by 2.6 per cent to 117,395 people. Perth came in second (growing 2.3 per cent to 1.55 million) followed by Brisbane (up 2 per cent to 1.86 million).

In terms of actual numbers, Melbourne increased the most, growing by 61,719 people, or 1.6 per cent, to 3.81 million. Sydney, on the other hand, grew by just 51,995 people, or 1.2 per cent, to 4.34 million.

"Over the past few years the population of Melbourne has increased by more than Sydney has," Mr Howe said. In total Australia’s population grew by 316,000 to 21 million.

China urged to concentrate
urbanisation on mega cities
Beijing, 26 March 2008: The scale and pace of China's urbanization promises to continue at an unprecedented rate. If current trends hold, China's urban population will expand from 572 million in 2005 to 926 million in 2025 and hit the one billion mark by 2030. In 20 years, China's cities will have added 350 million people—more than the entire population of the United States today. By 2025, China will have 219 cities with more than one million inhabitants—compared with 35 in Europe today—and 24 cities with more than five million people.

For companies—in China and around the world—the scale of China's urbanization promises substantial new markets and investment opportunities. At the same time the expansion of China's cities will represent a huge challenge for local and national leaders. Of the slightly more than 350 million people that China will add to its urban population by 2025, more than 240 million will be migrants. This growth will imply major pressure points for many cities including the challenge of managing these expanding populations, securing sufficient public funding for the provision of social services, and dealing with demand and supply pressures on land, energy, water, and the environment.

The policy choices that China's leaders make at national and local levels can alter the shape of urbanization significantly. Analysis by McKinsey & Company finds that an urgent shift in focus from solely driving GDP growth to an agenda of boosting urban productivity – achieving the same or better economic results with fewer resources – is not only an opportunity but a necessity.

By moving in this direction, China would cut its public spending requirement by 2.5 per cent of GDP or 1.5 trillion renminbi a year, reduce SO2 and NOx emissions by upward of 35 per cent, halve its water pollution, and deliver private sector savings equivalent to 1.7 per cent of GDP in 2025 mainly through reduced natural resource consumption.

McKinsey’s analysis suggests that China should tailor policies that would shift urbanization toward a more “concentrated” shape of urbanization. This pattern of urbanization could produce 15 mega cities with average populations of 25 million people or spur the further development of 11 urban “clusters” of cities, each with strong economic networks and combined populations of 60-plus million.

McKinsey finds that concentrated urban growth scenarios could produce 20 per cent higher per capita GDP than that yielded by China's current urbanization path, would have higher energy consumption but also higher energy efficiency, and would contain the loss of arable land. Concentrated urbanization would also have the advantage of clustering the most skilled workers in urban centers that would be engines of economic growth, enabling China to move more rapidly to higher-value-added activities.

Former mayor of Taipei
wins presidential vote
Taipei, 22 March 2008: Taipei’s former mayor, Ma Ying-jeou, has easily won the Taiwan’s presidential election. The opposition candidate was elected with 58 per cent of the vote. He ran on a platform of improving ties with Beijing including a possible peace treaty with the mainland. Mr Ma was short-listed for the 2006 World Mayor Award.

Mr Ma told supporters outside his headquarters in Taipei, voters had demanded change, a stronger economy and peace across the Taiwan Strait. He will replace Chen Shui-bian, who has served the maximum two terms.  Mr. Chen was widely seen as pushing the island toward independence, and Beijing refused to talk to him during his eight years in office. (Report by VoA)

Further links between Tokyo
governor and troubled bank
Tokyo, 18 March 2008: The controversy over Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara's role in a debt-ridden municipal bank which loaned to serial defaulters is set to intensify with revelations that he leant on the scandal-hit bank to purchase artworks from a studio connected to his son.  Ishihara's son was already the subject of an earlier inquiry into taxpayer-funded trips to Europe in 2006 of no demonstrable benefit to the city government.  The row is likely to expose the governor to more scrutiny over his recent conduct.

The bank, Shinginko Tokyo, was a pet project of the governor.  Aimed at providing loans to at-risk businesses in the capital, Ishihara hoped it could provide a lifeline to struggling small enterprises.  In addition to its Y93bn debts and recent Y40bn bailout from the metropolitan government's reserves, criticism has been levelled at the governor over his untoward relationship with the institution, which he once referred to as "my bank".  However, at a session to approve the bailout, Ishihara told the metropolitan assembly that the city was "just an equity holder in the bank," and that it was "totally wrong" to draw attention to his role in its foundation.

Islamabad to become
Pakistan’s ‘green city’
Islamabad, 16 March 2008: Pakistan’s government has approved a charter declaring Islamabad a Green City. According to the charter, the government, residents of the city and business stake holders will work together to protect and promote greenery in Islamabad. While the aim of the charter is to make Islamabad a pollution-free city, it’s urban environment is deteriorating with increasing population and economic activities, which have given birth to high-rise buildings, residential apartments, housing schemes, industrial units and new markets.

The charter counted steel and marble industry, kilns, stone crushers and cement plants as major sources of pollution. “Natural water streams were being contaminated with domestic and industrial waste while development schemes, both in public and private sectors, were being implemented without any regard to environment protection,” it’s authors wrote.

Massive cutting of trees, dust and noise pollution had raised public annoyance, it said, and a coherent action by all stakeholders was imperative for sustainable development and environment protection.

The charter points out that unsustainable urban development had also attracted attention of the UN and a “Green Cities Declaration” had been included in the UN programmes, as majority of the world population lived in cities that consumed 75 per cent of natural resources, creating environmental challenges.

It said about 100 cities had so far been declared green cities all over the world. In green cities, urban planning was given due importance and programmes for energy conservation and tree plantation were carried out in a more coherent manner, it said, adding no city in Pakistan had yet been declared a green city.

Environment Minister Syed Wajid Hussain Bukhari told reporters that Islamabad Green City Action Plan provided for strategies for energy and water conservation, solid waste reduction and management, and air quality management. He said journalists working for environment protection would be given “green journalist awards”. (Report by Daily Times)

A bright future forecast
for India’s largest cities
New Delhi, 6 March 2008: The contribution of India’s urban population to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is forecast to grow by 16 per cent and touch 70 per cent by 2011. Currently, urban population is contributing some 60 per cent in the GDP. Cities like Mumbai and Bangalore would become major epicentres for large-scale economic activities for domestic and overseas businesses, India’s industry association Assocham said.

Metro areas and large townships in next five years would have ample of infrastructure and adequate input access to industrial renaissance. This would result for higher urban per capita income which would rise by minimum of Rs 10,000 (US$250) per annum and touch Rs 36,000 per annum by 2011, they authors of the paper 'Urban India: Growth, Opportunities & Difficulties' explained.

The major cities including metros will offer a large variety of job opportunities to a large number of job seekers and qualified professionals in areas such as IT, ITeS, manufacturing, services and biotechnology. Cities to profit will include Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Haryana, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Uttar Pradesh, Kolkata followed by other emerging states like Kochi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Dehradun and Jaipur.

With almost 300 million Indians living in towns and cities, India’s urban population comprises some 28 per cent of the total population and accounts for more than 90 per cent of the government revenues.

Japanese communities argue
over clean-up of toxic waste
Tokyo, 4 March 2008: A row has broken out among neighbouring municipalities in Fukui, Japan over how to deal with an overspilling municipal dump used by many local governments. Tsuruga city council is asking 60 other municipalities to compensate it for the clean-up operation required to stem toxic waste spilling from the private sector facility, which opened in 1987 and went bankrupt in 2002. The company, Kinki Clean Centre, accepted 13 times the site's capacity in household and industrial waste.  

Many of the councils concerned have refused to accept responsibility or pay out any sums.  A Y10.2bn clean-up operation involving the central, prefectural and city governments was announced after a toxic leak was discovered at the site, with costs split between the three tiers.  But a Y1.4bn shortfall remains and local governments which used the site have refused to contribute towards the costs, despite the fact that Tsuruga accepted the waste on their behalf as they were not able to dispose of it themselves.

Tokyo governor faces calls
to quit over troubled bank
Tokyo, 4 March 2008: Tokyo's combative city chief Governor Shintaro Ishihara faces another round of calls for his resignation after a Y100bn shortfall was found in the city's accounts as a result of the failure of a pet project. Tokyo's Shinginko bank was founded four years ago following Ishihara's election pledge to finance recession hit small businesses unable to borrow from mainstream lenders. But the bank has faced considerable operating problems since its first day of business in 2005, lending money to businesses which went bust the following day and failing to keep proper records.

Ishihara's role in Shinginko's collapse is likely to come under considerable scrutiny amid wider public dissatisfaction with recent government record keeping lapses following the loss of millions of pension records. The governor is thought to have green-lighted its reckless lending spree until its reserves were depleted, for which he is likely to face severe censure. A particular irony can be found in the fact that no Japanese bidder can be found for the ailing financial institution and the avowedly nationalist Ishihara now faces going cap in hand to his sworn enemy China for a bail-out.

The governor has submitted a Y40bn rescue package to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, humbly begging local legislators to back the measures designed to stave off collapse. However, their approval is far from certain as while all parties bar the Japanese Communist Party approved the bank's creation, the rest remain mindful of the 2009 assembly elections and do not wish to be associated with propping up a discredited institution. Observers claim the governor's position will be untenable if collapse is not averted.

Tokyo governor calls for stricter
labelling of Chinese food imports
Tokyo, 21 February 2008: A row over tainted food imports from China has set Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara on a collision course with Japan's central government. A fierce critic of China, Ishihara accused the food and agricultural ministry of failing to set proper standards at his regular press conference. "I hope to take the initiative [ahead of the ministry] and actively consider regulations such as ordinances that cover the labelling of all places of origin," Food companies also criticised Ishihara's plan and called into question the metropolitan government's ability to force stricter standards and the practicality of such measures.

Ishihara's announcement follows a national scandal in which gyoza, a traditional dumpling, imported from China was found to be tainted with insecticides and led to 10 people in the Chiba and Hyogo areas of Japan suffering from food poisoning. The scare, which follows a wider trend of suspicion against Chinese food imports in Japan, led to a number of hysterical media reports and internet discussions, with even Prime Minister Fukuda calling for stricter controls on food imports. However, officials dismissed Ishihara's plan to legislate for more transparent food labelling in Tokyo stores as "a virtually impossible task."

The world’s first ecological
city to be built in Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi, 10 February 2008: Abu Dhabi broke ground on Masdar City, the world's first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city. The milestone event was marked by the laying of a virtual cornerstone by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. In conjunction with the groundbreaking, Masdar CEO Dr Al Jaber announced a total development budget for the city of US$22 billion.

Of that investment total, Masdar ("the source" in Arabic) will contribute $4 billion to develop the city's infrastructure. The remaining $18 billion will come through direct investments and the creation of various financial instruments to raise needed capital. An essential driver for the development of the city is carbon finance. Carbon emissions reduced by Masdar City will be monetized under the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism.

In addition to full-time residents, Masdar City will seek to attract and encourage collaboration between experts in sustainable transportation; waste management; water and wastewater conservation; green construction, buildings and industrial materials; recycling; biodiversity; climate change, renewable energy and green financial institutions. Masdar will maximize the benefits of sustainable technologies, such as photovoltaic cells and concentrated solar power, through an integrated planning and design approach.

By implementing these technologies, Masdar City will save the equivalent of more than US $2 billion in oil over the next 25 years, based on today's energy prices. The city will also create more than 70,000 jobs and will add more than two per cent to Abu Dhabi's annual GDP. "We are creating a city where residents and commuters will live the highest quality of life with the lowest environmental footprint," Al Jaber said.