Comprehensive and well-coordinated infrastructure planning is a prerequisite for the development of a new city or urbanization and is carried out in conjunction with master urban planning and well in advance of any physical development. It serves to establish all infrastructure requirements and guide their timely implementation, thus ensuring quality, efficiency and profitability in the infrastructure provisions for the proposed development.
Specific functional modes of infrastructure can be listed as streets, highways, water supply and water resources, wastewater management, wastewater treatment plants, solid waste treatment and disposal, generation and transmission of electric power, telecommunications and management. of hazardous waste, etc.
Infrastructure planning can be thought of as a multi-stage process. Each of these stages varies in duration. The more time spent preparing and structuring the project, the greater the likelihood that the project can be implemented smoothly and profitably. Rushed project preparation often leads to reworking of documents, leads to false or missing information, and leads to project delays.
The planning process must take into account the local context. More specifically;
• Local needs must be met.
• The project must comply with existing institutional and legal frameworks.
• The project must be aligned with political objectives and ideology.
• The project must be technically and economically viable
Several planning stages are listed below:
For) Preliminary feasibility study
The preliminary feasibility stage of the project establishes the need for the project. Existing information, as well as field visits, are carried out to corroborate the need for a project. This phase also determines the types of detailed studies to be performed.
B) Detailed study and structuring of projects
This stage is more time consuming. During this stage various technical studies such as geotechnical, topographic surveys are addressed. Economic market study, Environmental compatibility, Environmental impact assessment, Socio-economic cost-benefit analysis, Financial analysis.
vs) Detailed Project Report (DPR)
At the conclusion of the previous stage, a Detailed Project Report (DPR) with detailed technical specifications is also prepared. Financial Engineering and Structuring must also be performed during this stage. Lenders, loan terms (terms and interest rates), debt and principal mix, and user charges can be modeled to determine the financial viability of the project. For private participation in infrastructure, the private sector can undertake many of these studies.
D) Contracting and Acquisitions
Once the DPR is prepared, the project can be outsourced. Expressions of Interest Wanted, Requests for Proposals Wanted. Pre-bid conferences are held to clarify the terms of the project. Proposals are evaluated and a successful bidder is selected for execution. In the case of private provision of infrastructure, a winning bidder is selected based on its ability to both build and operate the infrastructure.
me) Construction
The successful tenderer then proceeds with the construction of the project. Material, labor, and productivity risks need to be managed at this stage. Once the project has been built and commissioned, operations can begin and citizens can take advantage of the infrastructure service.
F) Operations and maintenance
An operation and maintenance contract may be awarded to a separate party. Maintenance parameters can be arranged well in advance. In this phase, quality and technical maintenance problems, income generation problems, and administrative risks must be considered.
Editor’s Note: Masters has been involved in various municipal developments, these include Batanagar Township in Kolkata, IQ City in Durgapur. Additionally, we have executed large-scale developments such as L&T Phoenix SEZ in Hyderabad, Godrej Prakriti in Kolkata, and Godrej Anandam in Nagpur and Riverdale in Pune, all of which had considerable infrastructure requirements.