Report on Urban Infrastructure and Services Submitted to Kamal Nath

Report on Urban Infrastructure and Services Submitted to Kamal Nath
The High Powered Expert Committee on Urban Infrastructure submitted its report to the Minister of Urban Development Shri Kamal Nath and the Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja in New Delhi today. The Committee, which was chaired by Dr Isher Ahluwalia and included as Members, Shri Nasser Munjee, Dr Nachiket Mor, Dr M Vijayanunni, Shri Sudhir Mankad, Dr Rajiv Lall, Shri Hari Sankaran, Shri Ramesh Ramanathan, Prof Om Prakash Mathur and Shri P.K. Srivastava, made a presentation to the two Ministers at Nirman Bhavan.

The Committee has emphasized that India’s economic growth momentum cannot be sustained if urbanisation is not actively facilitated nor can urban poverty be effectively addressed if the needs of the urban poor are isolated from the broader challenges of managing urbanisation. The Committee has stated that cities will have to become the engines of national development. The fortunes of the agricultural sector are also crucially linked to the development of markets for agriculture which will be enhanced by urban expansion.

Noting that the urban population is expected to increase from about 350 million in 2010 to 600 million in 2031, the Committee has estimated that urban infrastructure will require a total investment of Rs 39.2 lakh crore over the next 20 years, with Rs 17.3 lakh crore for urban roads, Rs 8 lakh crore for sectors delivering urban services such as water supply, sewerage, solid waste management, and storm water drains, Rs 4 lakh crore for renewal and redevelopment including slums, etc. The Committee has emphasised the importance of maintaining these assets if the investments are to make a durable impact on service delivery.

Financing the large sums required to meet the investment needs of urban infrastructure is crucially dependent on the reform of institutions and the capacity of those who run the institutions for service delivery and revenue generation. The Committee believes that municipal entities need to be strengthened as local governments with ‛own’ sources of revenue and predictable formula-based transfers from state governments.

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) has initiated change in the urban landscape of the country and some good examples are emerging. However, much more needs to be done for building capacity of the municipal bodies and pushing implementation of reforms. Learning from the implementation of the present Mission, the Committee recommends a New Improved JNNURM (NIJNNURM) with a clear focus on capacity building and a programmatic approach, which will be open to all cities and towns and will cater to the varying needs of municipal corporations, municipalities and nagar panchayats. The Committee recommends that the scale of the Mission be expanded from the current 0.1 per cent of GDP to 0.25 per cent of GDP every year, and the new Mission should be a 20-year Mission beginning 2012-13.

Union Minister for Urban Development Shri Kamal Nath commended HPEC’s Report and said that the Ministry will study the Report and operationalise it. The Minister invited the Committee to engage with the Working Group of the NDC Sub Committee on Urbanisation for suggesting a way forward in a time bound manner. Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja while commending HPEC’s Report stated that financing the required funds will be a challenge and that capacity building for our cities is our biggest challenge.

Some of the other major recommendations of the Committee are as under:

• Ministry of Urban Affairs and Housing, Govt. Of India and a unified mission (NIJNNURM).
• Unified Command under an empowered and accountable measure.
• City level planning by urban land bodies through State Legislative Reforms.
• District and Metropolitan plans to form part of State Plans.
• Setting up of five Indian Institutes of Urban Management.
• Promote think tank initiatives in urban policy.
• Train 300 Officers from IAS and other Central Services annually as Urban Specialists.