BW Communities

A City To Love

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[A recent survey of the cities most hated by travelers includes New Delhi. The survey was actually indulgent about the cities it included. It spoke warmly of New Delhi, but also said that it was among the worst for a tourist to navigate through. The best thing about the survey was that Delhi was actually included in it. The worst thing for a city is if travelers don't even include it in their list. Other metros in India like Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad are just about tolerated by visitors who have no choice but to accept the chaos and filth. Cities remain engines of growth and magnets for migrants. So the success of the city brings in so many more people that most of its facilities are overwhelmed by users. The solution was identified years ago, but as always in India, the implementation remains caught in slow moving policy, petty interests and tardy implementation. There is no lack of advice and information to governments. If all the reports and recommendations made to the government were stacked, they would form an impressive skyscraper. The fact is that reform in city planning and urbanization continues to move slowly. Existing cities are choking and new cities are not being planned. There are about 6 laws and amendments that are pending approval from the Parliament. They are in various stages of discussion and consultation. These range from road laws to rent laws. City planning is a complex subject since it includes management of sanitation, energy, water, transport, habitation, tourism and commerce. So the central ministries handling this subject have to manage not just the views of their own departments, but also of such departments in each state. Managing the views takes up so much time and effort that the officials have little energy left for actual implementation. A good example concerns the regulation of the real estate sector. Most industries don't want control or monitoring. But the real estate industry has been demanding a regulator for years. For once, the government has been supporting the industry. The centre has the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2011 that will set up an independent regulator for the sector that is critical for the industry. But this bill continues to be debated for the last few months between the centre and states. The real estate sector is an important benchmark for the economy, but all attempts to bring some order have seen limited success. The flagship scheme of the Ministry of Urban Development to inject some sense and sensibility in city management is the $20-billion Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). This scheme has met with limited success. A key aspect of the plan was to offer central funds for implementation of targeted projects based on certain local reforms being implemented. These include ensuring user pay systems, cost recovery models and community participation.  But the state's inability to raise its own funds and execute projects in time has undermined the impact of the mission. Most states have been able to execute only a small part of the projects that were cleared to be executed. Even Delhi which leads the way in urban renewal could not deploy all the funds it had. Delhi used just over 10 per cent of the Rs 7,200 crore sanctioned for 28 projects. Only four projects were completed at a cost of Rs 630 crore. States likes Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka have used barely 5 to 15 per cent of the funds allocated to them last year. The only positive development is that the state government's antipathy to investing in cities has reduced. Until recently, political leaders felt that investing in cities would attract charges of being anti-poor. Thankfully, that mindset has changed. Now the state governments have to focus on speedy implementation, since funds are no longer a constraint. Soon, then cities like New Delhi and Mumbai would be among the most loved not just by travelers but by residents too. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline ! important; float: none;">(Pranjal Sharma is a senior business writer. He can be contacted at <a href="mailto:pranjalx@gmail.com" style="text-decoration: none; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">pranjalx@gmail.com</a><span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline ! important; float: none;">) <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 16px; orphans: 2; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; display: inline ! important; float: none;">