National Institute of Urban Management to come up in Hyderabad

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Hyderabad will soon be home for yet another prestigious national institute, the National Institute of Urban Management (NIUM).
NIUM will be developed as a world-class institute jointly by the Government of India and the Government of Andhra Pradesh on a 20-acre site at Khanamet village in Ranga Reddy district on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
“NIUM will be a premier institute for training urban managers in tune with the growing challenges of urbanization,” state Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Aanam Ramanarayana Reddy said.
The key objective of the institute will be to provide policy prescriptions, innovations for better urban governance, information and training inputs to all those concerned with improving living conditions and quality of life for urban citizens.
While the GoI would contribute Rs 50 crore, the state government would spend Rs 15 crore for building the NIUM and setting up the training facilities in the first year. “The World Bank will contribute another Rs 20 crore for the project,” the Minister added.
The state Cabinet, which met here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister K Rosaiah, approved a proposal to allocate 20 acres of Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority land at Khanamet free-of-cost for the NIUM.
World-class infrastructure for training urban managers, hostels, modern computer labs, library and other infrastructure would be developed on the campus.
Currently, the National Institute of Urban Affairs is being run as an autonomous institution in New Delhi with the support of the Union Ministry of Urban Development. It is a premier institute for urban policy research, training and information dissemination in urban development and management.
“NIUM is the first national-level institute being set up by government to train urban managers from across the country,” Ramanarayana Reddy said.
The state government will communicate the land allocation particulars to the Union Ministry of Urban Development after which the latter will start building the facility.