In India urban areas are considered as “engines of inclusive economic growth”. The pressure of population growth on urbanisation is increasing day by day. About 17.4% of India’s urban population lives in slums where housing conditions are inhuman, 5.49 million urban households in India do not have access to safe drinking water,13% of the households have no bathing facilities within the home, and 2.9% of urban houses are in a dilapidated condition according to Census 2011.

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Urban  infrastructure  consists  of drinking  water,  sanitation,  sewage  systems, electricity and gas distribution, urban transport, primary  health  services,  and  environmental regulation. Many of these services are in the nature of ‘local’ public goods with the benefits from improved urban infrastructure in a given city limited to the citizens living in that city.

An integrated urban infrastructure replaces technocratic planning approaches, focuses on “learning systems”, including numerous feedback loops between “top-down” requirements and “bottom-up” responses. A sectoral and inter-departmental approach within administrations involves a broad spectrum of actors from government, civil society and the private sector in the development and implementation of strategies. This urban development concept is designed along the goals, strategies and measures of actual local problems.

Infrastructural challenges in Urban India:

• Housing: with increasing cost of houses lower income groups are forced to reside in congested places which are devoid of proper ventilation, lighting, water, sewage, etc.
• Safe Drinking Water: The sources of drinking water are getting contaminated and future generation will face huge water crises without a drastic improvement in the water availability.
• Sanitation: Many urban areas like slums and unauthorized colonies have bad sanitation and drainage facilities. This unhygienic condition leads to many diseases such as diarrhoea and malaria. Unsafe garbage disposal and management facilities.
• Health conditions: condition of health in some urban poor areas is worst compared to rural areas. There is huge loss of life due to basic amenities like drinking water, clean air etc.
• Urban public transport: due to less penetration of public transport high income individual are buying more private vehicle causing more traffic jam and air pollution.

Major Infrastructure Bottlenecks in India

• Financing: Infrastructure projects are highly capital intensive and funding is considered as a major impediment in achieving the infrastructure goals.
• Land Acquisition: Another significant challenge in achieving the infrastructure goal is the way land acquisition is done for infrastructure projects.
• Clearances from numerous agencies: Most of the infrastructure projects in India suffer from delays in completion. This is mainly due to an inadequate regulatory framework and inefficiency in the approval process.
• Poor pre-construction planning: Due to the already adverse effect of various impediments like land acquisition, statutory approvals, delayed financial closure etc.
• Centralization of power: The lack of devolution of powers to the local level of governments who are well aware of the issues is another major impediment.

Reforms needed:

State level:

• Repeal of Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act
• Reform of Rent Control Laws so as to stimulate private investment in rental housing schemes.
• Introduction of independent regulators for urban services.

ULBs level:

• Double entry system of accounting for Urban Local Bodies
• Adoption of  public  disclosure  law  –disclosure  of  medium-term  fiscal  plan and quarterly performance reports.
• Passage of community participation law
• All special agencies currently involved in delivering urban civic services to be brought under the supervision of ULBs, thus creating a uniform accountability platform.
• A Bangalore Action Task Force (BATF) kind of citizens technical advisory group should be  constituted  for  each  city  to guide the process of urban reforms
• Introduction of  e-governance,  Global Information System (GIS) and Monitoring Information System ( MIS)
• Reform of Property Tax laws
• Levy of reasonable user charges

Measures:

• Cities need favourable conditions and governmental financial support, accompanied by the according applicable regulations of task distribution and financing models in a multi-level governmental system.
• Expanding the respective scope of action and/or decision-making powers as well as the financial and human resources to initiate moderate and implement the necessary processes in organizational networks and decision-making structures.
• It is necessary to reinvent urban areas and adapt existing infrastructure to the changed needs. This can be achieved if urban land-use planning by informal instruments and cooperation is complemented by involving citizens to generate lead concepts and visions, serving as a model to individual suburbs and whole cities.
• A participatory approach to an integrated development strategy helps to enhance the quality of living in neighbourhoods and gives young people a perspective.
• Especially in cities and metropolitan areas mobility is equivalent to the opportunity to participate in social life. With advanced integrated mobility concepts, the use of new technologies, but also through modern management, this sector has great potential for innovation.
• The use of renewable energies and energy efficient construction methods reduces emissions and prevents serious consequences of climate change.
• The city is required to take protective measures and adapt in many areas of urban development to cope with climate change.

Conclusion:

Targeting low-hanging fruits, such as Metro projects, inland waterways, natural gas grids and airport privatisation, to give a fillip to private sector investment should be prioritized. A significant requirement of integrated urban development is to shape a city, socially and inclusively. This means to counteract segregation of neighbourhoods and enable people – regardless of social background, age, gender, religion, skin colour – to participation in civic life.