Following yesterday afternoon’s keynote by Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Kamal Nath, a panel on the urbanization of India took the stage at the ACC to discuss the challenges, issues, and opportunities associated with India’s rapid urbanization. The number of cities with populations of over 1 million in India has increased 50% in the last two decades to 41, and migration from rural to urban areas is expected to accelerate.
Mr. Rajiv Lall, Managing Director and CEO of Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC) said that although urbanization will be messy and there are few perfect solutions, there were three bright spots: the youthfulness of India’s population, the growth of the middle class in India, and the success so far of unique Indian solutions to problems such as water quality, solid waste removal, and electricity distribution.
Mr. Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, stressed that Indian cities must learn from other Asian cities growing with scarce resources, as opposed to American and Europeans models which grew with relatively abundant resources. He also stressed that urbanization requires major investment in infrastructure. Mr. Arun Nanda, Managing Director, Executive Director and President of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., identified connectivity, social infrastructure and job creation as major challenges. He also pointed out that one of the major obstacles to urban development in is that urban-local bodies are a relatively disenfranchised group, and that municipal support for urban infrastructure problems is often lacking. KC Sivaramakrishnan, Chairman of the Centre for Policy Research argued that creating effective public transportation is the most pressing challenge associated with increasing urbanization, and that social factors of mass migration to cities must be considered.
Mr. Mark Chandler drew on his experience as the Director of International Trade and Commerce for the Mayor of the City of San Francisco to stress that top-down management must be inclusive and the local culture must be reflected in decisions.