Interview: Mumbai needs to learn from Shanghai in urbanization process: Indian professor
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Mumbai has achieved great success in its urbanization process, but still needs to learn some experience from China's financial capital Shanghai, said an Indian professor in an interview with Xinhua on Sunday.
Shanghai World Expo 2010 will be held on May 1, lasting about half a year. During the period, Shanghai will show the world its good profile of a world-class city, said Saroj Verma, a professor of the University of Mumbai.
Just like Shanghai, Mumbai, India's largest city with a population of 15 million, is the India's financial capital with the great achievements in its urbanization process, the professor said.
Following many years' urbanization process, Mumbai is India's richest city with the annual GDP of about 50 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 5 percent of India's GDP. It also generates nearly 40 percent of India's maritime trade.
She said the urbanization process of Mumbai is a scientific combination between the protection of the old buildings and modern development, visitors could have a deep impression of many old buildings with the history of over 100 years and modern buildings in Mumbai, such as the first international-standard skyscraper " Imperial Twin Towers" with a height of 215 meters and the India' s longest sea-link with a length of more than 6 kilometers over the sea.
The life quality of Mumbai has been greatly improved during the urbanization process in recent years, residents could enjoy convenient pedestrian accesses to the bus stops and railway stations and developed sidewalk networks in the neighborhoods which are integrated with parks, attractive beaches and supermarkets.
Actually, residents here could witness the city's large-scale construction air and new pictures nearly each day, she said.
However, compared with Shanghai, Mumbai has to face some unique big challenges. Mumbai was developed on the basis of seven islands, which are surrounded on three sides by the sea, leaving little vacant or open land for enough development. Because of the complicated underground structures, it is difficult for Mumbai to build any subway, the professor said.
As the financial capital, Mumbai continues to attract many job- seeking villagers of from rural areas and residents of other cities and towns every day. They need to work and live here, but most of them are not well-educated. It will be a great challenge for Mumbai to meet the needs of the soaring urban population during the urbanization process.
Unlike Shanghai, over half the population of Mumbai presently live in slums, many of which are situated in or near the heart of the city, while the Mumbai government lacks enough funds to remove these slums, and the crowded residents have to face the shortages of infrastructure and major services, such as water and electricity supply.
India's land could be privately owned, resulting in some of the Mumbai residents refusing to remove their houses in the project of road broadening, severely hindering the urbanization development, she said.
At present, Mumbai is striving to maintain sustainable development in the urbanization progress, forging a modern world- class city and an international financial center, the professor said.
To relieve the western coastal line's jammed traffic, Mumbai is planning to extend the present western sea-link to a length of dozens of kilometers, forming the unique sea view in the world- class city, said the professor.
Mumbai will take environment-friendly measures to create a green city in a bid to contain the environment's deterioration. If any resident wants to cut a big tree in his (her) yard, he or she should first get the permission of the local government.
The satellite towns around Mumbai will be enlarged, offering more opportunities of jobs for more people, reducing the pressure and burden on Mumbai.
"Shanghai World Expo 2010 will be the largest exposition in the world, its theme is 'Better City, Better Life'. Mumbai could learn the successful experience from Shanghai's urbanization process."Saroj said.
She said, "I would visit Shanghai next month to witness its urbanization process."
(Xinhua April 19, 2010)
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