India’s unplanned cities eating away growth, says global report

C Shivakumar
Chennai:

India’s urban population is expected to cross 600 million by 2031 and
the growth which is largely taking place on the fringe of cities is
unplanned and outside the purview of city codes and byelaws, according
to an international report.

The New Climate Economy, released by The Global Commission on the
Economy and Climate on Tuesday, stated that the unprecedented growth
is leaving municipal governments with critical infrastructure
shortages and service gaps.

The year-long study conducted by leading research institutes from
China, India, the US, Brazil, Korea, Europe and Africa states that the
cost of environmental degradation, largely driven by sprawling cities,
is enormous, reducing India’s GDP by 5.7 per cent or about $80 billion
annually.

The report states that 44 per cent of India’s rapidly growing carbon
emissions have urban origins, emanating from transport, industry,
buildings and waste. This highlights the potential benefit of a new
model of urban development.

Interestingly, the report states that the unmanaged, unstructured
urban expansion in India has resulted in six-fold rise in premature
deaths due to urban pollution during 2001 to 2010.

The report also predicts that 291 rapidly expanding middle-income,
mid-sized cities in China, India and other emerging economies, with
populations of one million to 10 million are likely to account for
over a quarter of global income growth and over a third of
energy-related emissions growth over the next two decades.

The report also warned that 136 coastal cities across the globe face
climate risks to their assets.

The report also hit out at India’s main urban development fund – the
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). “The fund is
skewed towards the construction of bridges and flyovers to support
conventional motorization,” the report said.