Detroit ghost will haunt emerging cities
- By Himanshu Kumar
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E-mail China.org.cn, August 5, 2013
Post independence urban renaissance gripped the nation as people living in urban areas increased from 62 million to 377 million. Construction of condominium and apartments boomed.
India will have 87 cities with one million people by 2031. Cities now perceive this forthcoming challenge and will have to revamp to meet the requirements of a generation that sought out not only coffeehouses, entertainment venues, cozy flats but now is starting to demand golf courses, racing circuits, soccer fields, International schools and luxury villa homes.
There is no easy way to say but many of these cities are crammed with vendors, pedestrians, several migrants who pour into the city from small towns. Roads with potholes, clogged gutters, overflowing drains, pungent garbage bins and streetlights that don't work.
Rising population owing to migration from rural to urban areas have led to overcrowding at one place and have resulted in increase of slums and degradation of cities due to lack of planning.
UN's publication "State of The World's Cities 2012-13" predicts that Delhi's population would increase to 28.6 million outnumbering the combined projected population of Australia and New Zealand. This calls for strengthening of municipal bodies to deal with new challenges.
There would be a demand for better services from hundreds of millions of new migrants of which we seem ill equipped in the present.
At a time when urban migration is mushrooming, municipal corporations have inefficient mayors who are unable to bring about any change in civic affairs and raise resources by brilliant management of funds. Local people, who are victims of this mismanagement, have no opportunity to vehement their concerns.
Most of the municipal bodies receive half of their grants from the government. The other amount it generates by itself and the bulk is spent in paying salaries and pensions allowing very little funds to be allocated for development.
Development and maintenance can be sustainable by actively engaging with local people and facilitating urbanization. Provinces may then depend on surplus revenues generated by mega cities provided there is a political leadership and local willingness to engage. Otherwise it would effectuate exodus of people and lead to collapse of the system framework in due course of time.
Several cities in the past have realized these challenges earlier before severe repercussions occurred. Singapore controlled entry into its core central business district by introducing the world's first road pricing initiative, nearly four decades ago.
Nevertheless, sooner or later by applying ideas of garbage recycling, renewable energy sources and rainwater-harvesting municipal bodies can revitalize the cities before they end up in a municipal financing crisis.
The author is a Master's candidate in Global Business Journalism at Tsinghua University.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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