Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) has been allocated funds from the Shanghai Municipal Government for the following consulting service: Pre-Feasibility Study of Domestic Waste Comprehensive Management and Xiang River Ecological Comprehensive Management Projects in Yongzhou, Hunan Province, China. The list below contains the shortlisted consultants that shall be invited to submit proposals to provide the service:

1. AECOM Asia Company Limited (Hong Kong, China)
2. Joint submission: BN Ingenieure GmbH (Germany) and GlobalWorks International Corporation (USA)
3. Jumbo Consulting Co., Ltd. (China)
4. Titan International Holding (Bulgaria)

Consultants may associate with each other in the form of joint venture or a sub-consultancy agreement to complement their respective areas of expertise and strengthen the technical responsiveness of their proposals. The full document of Request for Proposals will be provided shortly individually.

Local governments in Asia can no longer take an incremental approach to financing and implementing strategic infrastructure investments that largely relies on grants from senior government levels.

Exacerbating these difficulties, demand for new and improved infrastructure has continued at an unprecedented rate with rapid urban growth. To tackle current and future infrastructure needs, it is imperative for city governments to look for alternative financing options and products to supplement their own sources. However, in order to tap external financing, the financial viability of local governments and their investments projects has to be clearly demonstrated. Given the challenges to access financing for urban infrastructure, it is critical for cities to take proactive steps. An integrated and coordinated approach drawing on the full spectrum of financing products will go a long way in helping cities to be more competitive and pursue more sustainable development. It is imperative now for city governments to look for alternative financing options.

This Handout offers an introductory orientation aimed to raise awareness and help prepare cities in their efforts to identify alternate external financing products for their infrastructure investment projects. The focus is on assisting local government officers to better understand where opportunities lay for available for financing. The content also looks to enhance understanding of internal institutional capacity needs, expectations on the part of the financiers, and modalities for financing agreements.

As such, while equally important, these materials do not attempt to address internal options to enhance a local government’s financial capacity, nor internal mechanisms to generate additional financing (e.g.: using betterment levies, bonusing, leveraging assets, etc.).

A copy of the Handout can be download at the following link:
External Urban Infrastructure Financing Options in the Asia-Pacific Region

“Financing Local Infrastructure – Linking Local Governments and Financial Markets” addresses capacity development needs from both a public finance and a financial market perspective. Its purpose is to help partners, their advisors, local governments and financial institutions to explore the ways and the means by which local infrastructure can be financed.

This handbook presents a guide to a better understanding and assessment of framework conditions. It will enable more informed decisions to be made in terms of developing and supporting financing options for local services and infrastructure provision involving the local financial sector.

A copy of the handbook can be downloaded at the following link:
Infrastructure Finance

Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) has been allocated funds from the Shanghai Municipal Government for the following consulting service: Pre-Feasibility Study of Cooling/Heating District Co-generation Project in Xiaolan Town, Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China.

The list below contains the shortlisted consultants that shall be invited to submit proposals to provide the service:

1. AF Industry AB (Sweden)
2. Fichtner GmbH & Co. KG (Germany)
3. Institute for Energy Diversification and Saving (Spain)
4. Jumbo Consulting Co., Ltd. (China)
5. Joint submission: KPMG Services Ltd and Parsons Brinckerhoff (Asia) Ltd (Singapore and Hong Kong)
6. Mott MacDonald Group Ltd (United Kingdom)
7. Joint submission: Zhongshan Xiolan Low-carbon Promotion Centre, Research Center of Natural Gas Utilization (South China University of Technology) and Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute of China Energy Engineering Group (China)

Consultants may associate with each other in the form of joint venture or a sub-consultancy agreement to complement their respective areas of expertise and strengthen the technical responsiveness of their proposals. The full document of Request for Proposals will be provided shortly individually.

The Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA), in close partnership with Rockefeller Foundation and the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), organized a national joint seminar entitled “Climate Resilient Action: Accelerating Urban Investments and Finance in India” on 11 December 2012 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

The joint seminar was successful in mobilizing a diverse group of cities that have championed climate change action in their respective localities across India and show great interest to strengthen climate resilient urban infrastructure investments. In addition, national partner organizations participated in the event (e.g. National Institute of Urban Affairs, The Energy and Resources Institute, etc.). Delegates agreed to jointly develop a roadmap for cities to strengthen climate change resilient action at the local level and how to better access climate related financing. Rockefeller Foundation, ICLEI and CDIA have confirmed their commitment to closely work together in the future, both in India and various countries in Asia.

CDIA Annual Flagship Event “Asian Cities and Climate Change Financing – Accelerating
Urban Resilience” and CDIA 5th Anniversary Celebrations, Manila, 15-16 November 2012

CDIA organized its Annual Flagship event in the context of its Annual Thematic Focus for 2012 “Cities and Climate Change” and its Fifth Anniversary celebrations. Main focus of the event was on climate change and its relevance for cities in Asia in terms of accessing emerging international, regional and national climate financing mechanisms and the potential of climate financing to further sustainable urban development and urban infrastructure investments in Asia-Pacific.

In total, 120 delegates from numerous countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia attended the conference: mayors and city leaders, national and provincial governments, private and financial sector, policy think tanks and research institutions, national and regional partner organizations of CDIA and various international development partners (incl. ADB, BMZ, SIDA, World Bank, UN-HABITAT, Rockefeller Foundation, ICLEI etc).

The Flagship event and Fifth Anniversary events were very successful and provided an opportune platform to appreciate CDIA’s contributions over the past five years and its relevance for supporting sustainable urban development in Asia-Pacific in the future (new confirmed program phase 2013-2017).

To view the events album please visit Facebook
Download a copy of the program at this link:Accelerating Urban Resilience & CDIA 5th Anniversary Program

The Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) based in New Delhi, India.

The National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) is a premier institute for urban research in India supported by the Ministry of Urban Development (MOUD), Government of India. It was established in 1976 under the Societies Registration Act. The Institute’s Governing Council consists of 19 members represented by senior officials from the Government of India, eminent urban leaders and experts from varied background. Mission is to be a knowledge center of research, training and information dissemination in urban development and management.

The Objective of this MoU is to establish a framework for:

1. Building capacity of Urban Local Bodies (ULB) through the partnership between CDIA and NIUA by developing and undertaking collaborative activities to promote investment in urban infrastructure, and cooperation and knowledge sharing in urban management in India and for Asia-Pacific countries.

2. Capacity development, networking and institutionalization of processes to strengthen municipal infrastructure investment prioritization and programming.

3. Support for the preparation of Pre-Feasibility Studies (PFS) for high priority infrastructure investment projects for cities, and consequently to support cities to bridge the gap between planning for- and financing of-urban infrastructure investments.

4. Engaging other organizations in the capacity development programming and implementation as envisaged under this MoU, whenever useful to further the objectives of the Parties.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Emiel Wegelin, CDIA-GIZ Program Coordinator, Michael Lindfield, CDIA-ADB Program Manager, Usha P. Raghupathi, Professor and Officiating Director, NIUA and Anil Baijal, President NIUA on November 15, 2012.

The 4th offering of the Executive Short Course on ‘Effective Urban Infrastructure Programming’ will be held from 23 January to 1 February 2013. The Technical Cooperation Directorate of the Ministry of Foreign affairs, Singapore and the Cities Development Initiative for Asia (CDIA) have agreed to continue their partnership of cooperation under the Singapore-CDIA Third Country Training Programme (TCTP), aimed at joint provision of technical assistance to developing countries in the Asian region for their economic and social development.

The areas of training will include, but will not be limited to, the following subjects:

• Urban infrastructure project prioritization and programming;
• Urban infrastructure finance;
• Urban infrastructure services contributing to urban sustainability (environment, social development, economic development);
• Marketing of infrastructure investment projects to potential financiers;
• Using Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements for infrastructure investments.
• Using pre-feasibility studies to help bridge the gap between development plans and project implementation.

This Course is highly relevant to senior government policy makers (e.g. mayors, governors, commissioners) and their senior professional staff (senior municipal and city officials). The maximum benefit from participation in this Executive Short-Course is for cities to participate as a small team. We therefore encourage applicants to compose a team of three Senior Executives from your city authority, responsible for urban planning and development issues, to participate in the training course.

A typical team would consist of:

• One (1) Senior Elected official (e.g.: Mayor or Vice Mayor) for the final two days of the training course (31 January to 1 February 2013) and
• Two (2) Senior Department Professionals (e.g.: Department Heads responsible for Planning or Engineering, etc.) who will attend the full eight-day program (23 January to 1 February,
  2013).

Qualified CDIA partner cities are welcome to apply for the limited number of sponsored slots.

• The Team Composition Form can be downloaded here City Team Application Form
• Detailed individual application form available for download by clicking this link Individual Application Form
• An indicative program outline can be downloaded here Indicative Programme Schedule
• A general brochure can be viewed at this link General Information Brochure

The approved CDIA Strategy and Business Plan 2013-2017 was recently launched at CDIA’s 5th Anniversary Celebration on November 16, 2012, held at ADB Headquarters Manila, Philippines. The Launch was presided over by Bernhard Dohle, Incoming Program Coordinator GIZ-CDIA together with Bindu Lohani, Vice President, KMSD, ADB and Ralph Timmermann, Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission, German Embassy, Manila. The closing remarks was given by Bindu Lohani, Vice President, KMSD, ADB.

The CDIA Strategy and Business Plan 2013–2017 builds upon the experience gained in the last 5 years (since inception in October 2007) of CDIA operations, incorporates input from an external midterm review mission (October 2011), and benefits from the reflections of CDIA’s Program Review Committee on this experience. It presents the medium-term strategic operational direction for CDIA’s next phase of activities by elaborating and prioritizing strategic choices, and proposes how CDIA can continue to move forward during the next 5 years.

The overall objectives of CDIA remain valid with its focus to support cities to bridge their planning investment gap through preparing and structuring their urban infrastructure investment projects. However, the challenge for the S&BP 2013–2017 is to carry out CDIA’s defined mission more effectively, in recognition of evolving conditions.

Click link to Download: CDIA Strategy and Business Plan 2013-2017

The Infrastructure Minister wanted the city to be put on international map but issues like combating pollution should get due importance. All meetings should be open and feedback should be obtained from citizens, he observed. Paul Schuttenbelt, South Asia Coordinator of Cities Development Initiative Asia that is preparing the revised CDP, said the revised CDP would be ready by December 2012 and the final plan by January, 2013.

Municipal Commissioner M.V. Satyanarayana said CDIA would prepare the revised CDP with the assistance of CEPT University, Ahmedabad. MLAs Ch. Venkatramaiah and P. Rameshbabu, District Collector V. Seshadri, urban management consultant Ian Munt, Balakrishnan Elangovan of CDIA, Satyanarayana Reddy of Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh participated.

Read the full article at this link: The Hindu