Gujarat Resilient Cities Partnership: Surat Resilience Enhancement Project

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The proposed GRCP-Surat Project will support the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) in addressing key institutional, financial, and service delivery constraints to strengthen the resilience and sustainability in Surat in line with the urban sector partnership framework under the Gujarat Resilient Cities Partnership (GRCP). In response to the climate resilience challenges that Surat faces, Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) has proposed to implement a Tapi Riverfront Redevelopment Project (TRRP), led by the Tapi Riverfront Development Corporation Limited (TRFDCL), with the aim to improve the living conditions and access to services, flood risk management, and economic development opportunities along the urban banks of Tapi River. SMC has prepared a draft conceptual master plan for the TRRP, including river restoration, improvement and beautification activities, that spread along 33.6 km on each side of Tapi river between the existing Kathore Bridge to a newly proposed barrage downstream of the existing barrage; connecting Rundh and Bhata villages. TRRP is expected to construct new embankments where required as well as inspect and strengthen embankments and dykes already existing on the riverfront while making space available for increased economic, recreational and cultural activities. These activities are proposed to be implemented in two phases: Phase I, an around 10 km river stretch along both banks between the proposed barrage (connecting Rundh and Bhata) and the upstrem existing Singanpor weir; and Phase II, the remianing 23 km river stretch along both banks upstream from the Singanpor weir to the Kathore bridge. Through these interventions, the SMC expects to reduce the city’s flooding risks and beautify the cityscape to induce recreational and commercial activities, as well as prevent saltwater intrusion through the construction of the proposed Barrage (to be financed by SMC separately, i.e. non-World Bank financing). The proposed GRCP-Surat Project will implement Phase I of the TRRP between the proposed Barrage near Rundh and the existing Singanpore weir, and intends to set the technical, quality, legal, aesthetic, and E&S practices benchmarks for the following phase to follow, whether or not this is financed by the World Bank.The GRCP-Surat Project will aim to bring in international good practices in urban riverfront development and resilient infrastructure service delivery including concepts like: (i) interventions needed to make “room for the river”, while ensuring the livelihood of residents; (ii) incorporating shared spaces along the riverbanks for the river and for people, guided by ecological thinking; (iii) an inclusive development approach with proactive and continuous stakeholder engagement to define the multiple uses of spaces; as well as (iv) a sustainable financial and operational model to help the SMC, including through TRFDCL, manage its infrastructure assets and sustain effective and efficient service delivery in the long run. Public spaces along the river will be treated as a city public good and will get a careful, site and community specific programming and participatory design, that attends to neighborhood needs and cultural practices. The output of the investments will not only enhance the flood risk management capacity of the city and improve the living conditions of the residents, but also enhance economic development opportunities for both the public and the private sectors. The GRCP-Surat Project suggests interventions under three complementary pillars. The institutions pillar focuses on strengthening inter-departmental coordination and building the capacity of SMC and TRFDCL for planning, budgeting, and managing resilient urban infrastructure and service provision; the finance pillar focuses on strengthening the investment planning and financial management systems, enhancing the revenue base, expanding access to finance in SMC, and supporting the TRFDCL to create a feasible and sustainable capital structure and revenue model to implement TRRP; and the service delivery pillar focuses on improving flood risk management, catalyzing economic development, and improving the livability of residents through planning and execution of selected prioritized investments. To this end, the project comprises the following components: Component 1: Institutional Strengthening on Resilience Planning - C1.1: Capacity building for SMC: (i) technical assistance for an integrated water basin management for the Tapi River; (ii) review and update of the drainage master plan for the city; and (iii) update of the existing Urban Resilience Strategy, including actioning and implementation through multi-departmental coordination; (iv) a cultural heritage management study towards more inclusive use of the Tapi riverbanks; v) integration of a network of enhanced public spaces connecting the city with the new public spaces created on Tapi riverbanks; and (vi) integration of updated mobility plan with the urban development plan.- C1.2: Strengthening of the TRFDCL: (i) strengthening the institutional and governance structure of the TRFDCL; (ii) developing a capital structure and a revenue model to ensure effective, efficient, and sustainable implementation of the TRRP; and (iii) strengthening the operational systems of the TRFDCL.Component 2: Municipal Finance Improvement - C2.1: Enhancing overall performance on municipal finance of SMC, including technical assistance to help the SMC improve its capacity, systems, and practices in financial management, including towards integrating climate strategies, plans, and policies in fiscal and public financial management, as well as climate budget tagging for resilient urban development investments.- C2.2: Improving revenue performance of the SMC, through: (i) updating the tax base by using GIS-based surveys, geotagging, etc. and improving collection efficiency; (ii) strengthening land value capture (LVC) receipts to augment capital income; and (iii) improving the management and mobilization of real estate assets owned by the SMC.Component 3: Resilient Urban Infrastructure Investments - C3.1: Tapi riverfront redevelopment investments proposed in Phase I of the TRRP, including: (i) flood risk control and resilience enhancement through a combination of grey infrastructure (engineered solutions and embankments) and green infrastructure (nature-based solutions); (ii) improvements and rehabilitation of drainage and sanitation infrastructure investments to improve water conservation and river pollution control; (iii) public space enhancement and land redevelopment to increase the amenities and economic opportunities for the residents and business owners along the riverfront.- C3.2: Selected supplementary resilient infrastructure investments, namely, small additional investments that are essential, but are currently not proposed under the TRRP, such as additional drainage connections, access roads/mobility, etc.Component 4: Project Management and Operation, including the operational cost for implementing project activities, development, and implementation of environment and social (E&S) instruments, project reporting, monitoring and evaluation, as well as a project management consultancy, if needed.Under Component 3, the proposed Project will aim at building a “Safer Surat”. Implementation of this component will aim at minimizing damages during times of flooding resulting in less risk to people and infrastructure, and ensuring that there is ample room for flooding and river adjustment to occur where the opportunity may exist. It also means that flood recovery may be less expensive and may get people back on their feet more quickly than in past flood events, and becomes a way of helping people and communities live with and plan for flooding. Given that the city of Surat has taken multiple measures in the past to increase flood resilience, the TRRP will focus on putting in place measures that are effective and may i