NMCG Approves Annual Master Plan to Promote River-Sensitive Urban Planning Under RCA

Syllabus: GS3/Urban Planning

Context

• The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has approved the annual master plan under the River Cities Alliance (RCA) to chart a roadmap of initiatives to be undertaken across the year. 

About

• As per the Jal Shakti Ministry, the plan focuses on integrating river-sensitive urban planning within India’s growing cities. 
• It encompasses a series of capacity-building programs, knowledge exchange platforms, development of technical tools, expert guidance, and thematic case studies.

Urban River Management Plans (URMPs)

• It was launched in 2020 by National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and NMCG.
• It represents a first-of-its-kind approach to ensure that environmental, economic, and social dimensions are considered in the urban management of rivers. 
• Five cities—Kanpur, Ayodhya, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Moradabad, and Bareilly—have already developed their URMPs. 
• The year ahead will also see the development of 25 more URMPs as part of the first phase of a larger mission to create 60 such plans across India over the next two to three years. 
• Steering Committees have already been constituted in states like Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and West Bengal to facilitate plan formulation and guide implementation.
• Supported by the World Bank, this initiative marks a bold step in deepening river-sensitive urban governance. 

River City Alliance

• RCA was  initiated by NMCG under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, in association with National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) under Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in 2021.
• It is a dedicated platform for river cities across India to discuss & exchange information for sustainable management of urban rivers.
• The Alliance focuses on three broad themes– Networking, Capacity Building and Technical Support.
• The alliance began with 30 member cities and has since expanded to include over 145 cities across India, encompassing both Ganga basin and non-Ganga basin urban areas.
  • The city of Aarhus, Denmark, has also joined, marking the alliance’s growing international engagement.​

Global River Cities Alliance (GRCA)

• Building on RCA’s success, the Global River Cities Alliance (GRCA) was launched at COP28 in 2024. 
• This international coalition includes over 275 river cities from 11 countries, such as Egypt, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ghana, Australia, Bhutan, Cambodia, and Japan. 
• The GRCA aims to foster global collaboration on river conservation and sustainable water management, with support from international funding agencies like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).​

Source: AIR