Giving the closing address at the BRICS Friendships Cities Conclave here, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the State is looking to collaborate and learn from best practices in cities like Shanghai, St. Petersburg and Sao Paulo to address it’s own challenges in urban development such as building affordable housing.
“The best practices shared here are so insightful that I think many cities will immediately try and implement these solutions. Aside from the presentations made at the summit the bilateral meetings with the delegations from each country have opened new doors to cooperation in various fields. It can change the face of city to city cooperation,” the Chief Minister said.
Mumbai, he said, has been struggling with many issues of urbanisation, principally the challenge of providing affordable housing to the over 60 per cent of it’s population that still live in slums and informal settlements.
The city government, he said, is keen on studying models for promoting affordable housing such as those presented by delegations from Brazil and China.
Since 2009, Brazil has been attempting to implement an ambitious social housing programme called Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life) which aims to give grants to middle and lower middle class workers who would use the money to make down payments on new homes. While the programme has been praised for shifting the focus on the housing industry in Brazil toward the middle classes rather than high income groups, it has also come into picture for not sufficiently providing adequate living spaces for the poorest sections.
However, aspects like direct cash transfers to use for housing are elements that policy makers in India are looking at emulating.
On safety issues from within and outside that Mumbai faces , Chief Minister Fadnavis said that Maharashtra was looking at the programmes adopted by countries like South Africa that have tried to resolve this through urban planning, particularly through the creation of open spaces for citizens that makes the city more inclusive. It’s important to note that cities are not just for the fortunate but more for the under privileged. They have to be integrated into the city’s development,” he said.
Elaborating on initiatives for citizen engagement with government, the Chief Minister praised the model presented by the delegation from the Russian city of St Petersburg as being very progressive.
The state government, he said, is also looking at tapping into St. Petersburg's expertise on water transport and seek their help in making Mumbai’s Mithi river navigable.
