Revamping cityscape

Ambitious projects such as building a hundred smart cities, developing 500 other cities and towns, and urban rejuvenation in the country, including heritage preservation, require funds in the order of $1,200 billion, says Union Minister for Urban Development M. Venkaiah Naidu.

He told expatriate Indians at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas meet in Gandhi Nagar in Gujarat to invest generously in India’s mission to rejuvenate its urban space and to achieve the target of building 20 million affordable houses.

The Minister underlined the priorities of the government in modernising the Indian urban space and told the non-resident Indians (NRIs) that the private sector had to involve itself in a big way in achieving the goals set by the government in this regard.

Preserving heritage

A posting on the Press Information Bureau website on the Minister’s address to the NRIs said that under the Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana, cities such as Amritsar, Ajmer, Gaya, Mathura, Varanasi, Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh, Warangal in Telengana, Badami in Karnataka, Kanchipuram and Velankanni in Tamil Nadu, Dwaraka in Gujarat, and Puri in Odisha were identified for development of core heritage areas. The Minister said that India would have to invest Rs.60 lakh crore ($950 billion) for urban infrastructure and as operation and maintenance cost over the next 20 years. Mr. Naidu had said earlier this month that he wanted to take up urban development issues with municipal commissioners all over India in a bid to address implementation issues before launching new initiatives.

Consultative workshops

The discussions would be held at regional “consultative workshops.” The first such workshop was held in Hyderabad at which municipal commissioners from 70 cities spread over Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telengana, Puducherry, and Andhra Pradesh participated.

Projects such as the Swachh Bharat Mission, renewal of 500 cities and towns, housing for all by 2022, and skill development figured prominently during the workshop. The Minister suggested on the occasion that regulatory bodies were required to price urban utilities such as drinking water and power. He also said that development authorities for all district headquarters were needed for long-term planning.

Union Minister for Urban Development

M. Venkaiah Naidu says the private sector has to involve itself in a big way in achieving development goals

Revamping cityscape

Ambitious projects for modernising the Indian urban space require fundsto the tune of $1,200 billion, writes K.A. Martin