In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

C h a p t e r 1 5 Managing Urban Infrastructure and Services in India Vinod Tewari India, with an urban population of about 341 million (2007 estimate), is challenged with how to provide adequate levels of infrastructure and services in its many rapidly growing cities. Although only 29.2 percent of the total population is urban, in absolute terms that population is huge, almost equal to the combined urban population of the United States, France, and Italy.1 Moreover, its urban population is growing at a high rate, projected at about 2.46 percent/year for the next twenty-five years. Currently, India represents 12 percent of total global urban population growth; three of its cities (Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata) are among the world’s eight largest (United Nations 2008). Thus, the task of providing adequate levels of urban infrastructure and services in the country is immense, comparable only to provision in China. India has 4,378 urban agglomerations/cities/towns (5,161 if all constituent cities/towns in urban agglomerations are counted separately), of which 35 have more than a million people and 393 have more than 100,000 (Census of India 2001). The provision of water, sewerage, drainage , solid-waste management, city roads, and transport has failed to keep pace with this growth. Among the reasons for this are past underinvestment in urban areas, inadequate attention to infrastructure in urban policies, failure to recognize commercial viability of service delivery, and poor managerial capabilities of urban local institutions. The economic reform process that started about a decade and a half ago has given rise to an increasing demand for improved services both from the general public and the business community. Having one of the fastest growing economies in the developing world (in excess of 8 percent/year for the last four years (2004–5 to 2007–8)2 and a current GDP of almost a trillion dollars (Financial Express, 26 April 2007)), India is now recognizing that its cities, focal points of this economic revolution and responsible for 60 percent of national GDP, will have to be more wisely managed and governed. 256 Cases in Urban Development For the newly affluent, changing lifestyles, increasing trade, globalization , and international competitiveness have all contributed to their willingness to pay for an urban service, provided they get the required quantity and quality of the service. This is a significant change in mindset from the days when people assumed public services should be supplied by the local government at no or only nominal cost or when an increase of just a cent in city bus fares generated loud public outcry. Nonetheless, city governments remain reluctant to increase service charges, partly because officials are not able to improve the management of the services and partly because elected representatives fear losing political support. This unprecedented demand for infrastructure like roads and housing and services like water supply and urban transport and increasing affordability and willingness of urban inhabitants to pay for these are not only creating large challenges but also opening up ample opportunities to transform the nation’s urban infrastructure and services. Economic prosperity is providing new funding sources, including foreign investment in improved infrastructure and services, provided there is an institutional, legal, and political environment conducive to commercial interests. Infrastructure and Services Situation in Indian Cities Although housing, roads, water supply, and sanitation in urban areas have all improved significantly in recent years, the overall situation remains far from satisfactory. India’s Planning Commission has recently argued that the state of urban infrastructure is weakening the country’s ability to benefit fully from the economies of scale provided by its large urban agglomerations. Congested roads, poor public transport, inadequate water supply, improper sewage treatment, uncollected solid waste and, above all, grossly inadequate housing (in some metropolitan areas as much as 50 percent of the population lives in slums) severely decrease the urban quality of life. The commission’s report holds that if Indian cities fall behind those in other developing countries the investment climate could become more hazardous (Government of India 2006b). Though overall statistics on the status of public services present a satisfactory picture, they do not indicate the serious shortcomings in both quality and access. For example, the National Institute for Urban Affairs reports that the water supply situation is reasonably adequate but hampered by poor management (NIUA 2005). While 95 percent of the urban population has access to potable water, gaps in spatial coverage and system function...

Share