The government has introduced several schemes to address different urban issues; habitation being a primary concern. These include the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), Smart Cities Mission, Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Housing for All (Urban) (PMAY-U), and Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban).

Population is not the only woe

V Suresh, Founder Trustee of Good Governance India Foundation and the former CMD of HUDCO (Housing and Urban Development Corporation) was in an extensive conversation with Media India Group pointing out various aspects of urban habitation and its imposing challenges in the recent times. “India has a humongous demographic growth. From 1 billion in 2001 it has crossed 1.21 billion in 2011. Adding nearly 200 million in 10 years means 20 million additional individuals every year. What is significant is that over 50 pc of this new addition is taking place in urban areas. India’s urban population will double from 280 million in 2001 to 560 million by 2021,” commented V Suresh on the population explosion in the urban areas.

The gross domestic product (GDP) of India is highly dependent on the urban population of the country which grows every day with an influx of citizens coming from the villages and the outskirts of the city. Predicting the increasing urban population and its effect, V Suresh said, “The 7313 cities and towns which absorb this urban growth are powerful engines of growth and contribute to over 70 pc of India’s GDP. Yet it occupies only 4 pc of India’s land mass. The doubling of the population would need a new urban land footprint from 4 pc to 8 pc of India’s land mass, besides efforts for densification and taller buildings in the same city limits. This would mean the expanding cities, new cities on the fringes or satellite towns.”

The solution will rest on how the cities handle the deficient or lack of appropriate physical infrastructure for roads, drains, water supply, sewerage and disposal systems, waste management, transportation and urban mobility, energy needs and housing and social infrastructure facilities. The urban development, management, and governance in India was longing for the right policy and financial support until recently and also the capacity building needs for running the mammoth city development needs.

Space Crunch

Addressing space crunch there is no other alternative than to create the new urban land footprint and integrated self-contained townships and cities with large drivers for employment generation and fast connectivity. The limited addition of the urban land needs has created phenomenal demand for serviced land with facilities. The opportunity cost of land prices has shot up making housing beyond the means of not only urban poor, low-income groups but also middle-income groups. The land cost component in real estate which should be around 10 to 25 pc of real estate costs have gone up to 60 to 80 pc and in big cities as high as 90 to 95 pc.