India Finally Tackles Its Cities

As one of the most congested countries in the world, and its cities expected to grow to over 250 million (mostly young people)-the question of what the government of India plans to do ensues.

A McKinsey report suggests that India must build--every year for the next 20 years--between 7 billion and 9 billion square feet of real estate (the equivalent of one Chicago) a year; 220 to 250 miles of metros and subways (more than 20 times what it has built in the past decade); and between 12,000 and 15,000 miles of road lanes (nearly equal to all the road lanes constructed in the past decade) to deal with overpopulation.

India’s federal treasury is increasing funding to cities and states to 5 billion over a five year period for those who meet a nine point agenda. “The idea is to improve governance and credit worthiness in cities”, states Vaidya, a researcher at McKinsey.

With a population that can have an impact on over 70% of the country’s GDP, we can state that Urban Development must be a priority for the country. "This is a huge investment opportunity, but you need to cherry-pick your cities," says Vaidya. He recommends focusing on tier-2 cities like Pune in Maharashtra and Surat in Gujarat and investing in projects like ports and special economic zones (which typically build sector specific manufacturing or research hubs), and in affordable housing, as 90% of the demand is for those.


http://www.forbes.com/2010/09/07/india-cities-population-2020-opinions-contributors-megha-bahree.html

Ana M Cisneros