Jamshedpur, a uniquely governed industrial city in the Indian state of Jharkhand, and the Alto Minho Functional Area, an association of 10 municipalities in Portugal, will be cooperating under the IURC programme on best practices for waste segregation. City representative along with the IURC team met on 11th March 2022. On the Jamshedpur side, it was attended by Mr Rajiv Kumar, Chief Town Infrastructure and Logistics, and Mr Rao and Mr Gupta from Corporate Services, Tata Steel Ltd. Representing CIM Alto Minho were Ms Alexandrina Monteiro, Head of Strategic Planning and Intermunicipal Development Division, and Ms Sandra Estevens, Environmental Engineer, Division of Inter-municipal Collective Services and Management of Financing Instruments. The IURC team members present included Mr Pablo Gandara, Team Leader of IURC Asia & Australasia, and Dr Panagiotis Karamanos, Urban Development Expert and Country Coordinator in India. While different in governance and size, the city representatives acknowledged the similarities of their challenges, especially in relation to circular economy and waste management.
Ms Sandra Estevens set the context of the region and shared the vision for the 2030 horizon period and the path to achieve it. She discussed her city’s climate transition and resource sustainability thematic area, which aims to focus on resource efficiency, circular economy, waste, (bio)waste and wastewater management among others, in line with SDGs 11, 12, 13 and 17. The region has best practices of landfill reclamation, liquid waste recycling, and source segregation to share with the Indian city. They also have initiated many awareness campaigns on solid waste management.
Mr Rajiv Kumar made a presentation on Jamshedpur’s administration, history, urban growth, social context and physical infrastructure and shared its current challenges and opportunities. For Jamshedpur, Tata Steel Limited provides efficient municipal services. In its aim to achieve a smart and sustainable city, Jamshedpur’s municipal solid waste management initiatives are currently under implementation. The city has developed very effective e-waste management and organic waste management programmes. For example, regarding e-waste the city has collected 318 MT in three years of operations. They are also converting old waste areas into green spaces, developing water bodies, and undertaking other initiatives.
The IURC team in India informed the meeting that they would initiate the preparation of an Urban Cooperation Action Plan, building on the inputs from both Jamshedpur and Alto Minho Functional Area, and that it would go ahead and plan for the study visits between the cities.
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