‘Urban infra needs Rs. 39.2 lakh cr of investments’

India will require an estimated Rs. 39.2 lakh crore to fund its urban infrastructure over the next two decades with nearly 44 per cent being accounted for roads in towns and cities, an expert committee submitted a report to urban development minister Kamal Nath and housing and urban poverty alleviation minister Kumari Selja. The high powered expert committee (HPEC) on urban infrastructure chaired by Dr Isher Ahluwalia suggests that 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.
 
HPEC was set up in May 2008 to provide an estimate of the investment requirements for urban infrastructure services for the period till 2020 including maintenance and replacement requirements on a cycle basis and suggest options of financing urban infrastructure services. 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 two decades.
 
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.
 
The government thinks, though the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) has initiated change in the urban landscape of the country and some good examples are emerging, 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.
 
It has been reported that Kamal Nath has 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. While commending HPEC’s report, Kumari Selja stated that financing the required funds will be a challenge and that capacity building for our cities is our biggest challenge.
 
Other major recommendations of HPEC are:
•      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

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