It's a battle of the bulge in major cities of Uttar Pradesh. Be it Agra, or the more sedate towns of Aligarh and Meerut, the Manchester of the East Kanpur or pilgrims' delight Varanasi and Allahabad or the industrialised hub of the state, Ghaziabad-it has spread everywhere. The mounting pressure of the population is pushing the edges to these towns to their margins. This, coupled with the crumbling edifice of the urban infrastructure, is adding to the worry lines of town planners when they sit down to plan and visualise these cities two decades from now. It is with this forethought that the Uttar Pradesh government has appointed UP Awas Bandhu, the housing and urban planning department as the nodal department for preparing an integrated urban rejuvenation plan. For this, it must first identify projects to be developed on public-private-partnership (PPP) mode and then see to their development and implementation in various cities of the state-Ghaziabad, Meerut, Agra, Kanpur, Aligarh, Allahabad and Varanasi. In order to expedite the process of identification, development and the implementation of such projects on the PPP mode, Awas Bandhu has already initiated the process of engaging a consultant. It shall shall look into the individual dynamics of each of the seven towns in the state and prepare the Integrated Urban Rejuvenation Plan, which would inter alia include the multi-modal transport system including MRTS, LRTS and BRTS, parking facilities, including automated multilevel car parking, infrastructure development, including water supply, sewage disposal, solid waste management, sanitation, drainage system, energy assessment and power generation, public convenience, transport. Besides this, horticulture and open spaces, river front development, riverine transportation, water sports, education, anchor economic activity areas, sports and amusement, public health, tourism and hospitality, medical and hospitals, cultural and archeological heritage, religious heritage, housing/institutional/commercial projects and industrial growth areas will also be undertaken. Talking to FE, SC Mishra, director Awas Bandhu said, "Burgeoning pressure on civic amenities in all these towns has already rendered urban life to punishment. And with the demands on urban services set to multiply manifold in the next decade or so, we have to plan the improvement and strengthening of the urban infrastructure in these cities as per international standards. Only then can our future generations be able to live their lives properly. This means planning to accommodate the growth in population, accompanied by the other components of growth, such as the growing traffic on the roads, need for water and sewage facilities, more power to meet the requirements, etc." Though a feasibility report had been conducted by RITES in these cities about three years back, the study has been rendered redundant now, what with the entire dynamics of these towns changing in the last three years. "What we have now is the last census report of 2001. But things have changed drastically in the last seven years. So a fresh study needs to be conducted. For this, we have invited applications from experienced consultants for preparation of the IURP," he added. The consultant shall get the Integrated Urban Rejuvenation Plan prepared after undertaking feasibility studies including costing to assess technical, financial and economic viability, environmental and social assessment studies, their analysis, etc. While the last date of submitting the bid proposals is May 19, the technical bids would be opened on June 9 and the financial bid is to be opened on June 14. The final issuance of the letter of award of consultancy would be given on June 20. Stating that the for the cities of Ghaziabad and Meerut, the integrated urban rejuvenation plan has to be in consonance with NCR planning norms, Mishra said the process would include the preparation and execution of the concession agreement.