New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on pitched for maximum FDI in urban infrastructure and involvement of private players in this sector as he launched three ambitious programmes for provision of housing for all and development of 600 cities, 100 of them as 'smart cities'.
He said the government will protect the interests of home-buyers through a bill which is in Parliament as he asserted that private property developers should not decide how a city should grow and the decision should be taken by residents and the city leadership. He was speaking while launching the Smart Cities Mission, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Housing for All (Urban) schemes here.
"These initiatives mark a paradigm shift, providing a people-centric approach to create world class urban spaces," Modi said.
Rapid urbanisation should be viewed as an opportunity and urban centres should be viewed as growth engines, he said, while underlining that the government will not leave the poor people to their "fate".
The 100 Smart Cities are proposed to be built through a competitive mechanism on the basis of demand from the residents and municipalities instead of the Central government "imposing" it, the Prime Minister said.
"Selection will be made through competition. Only those who fulfill the criteria will find entry into the competition. Final selection will be made after second exam," he said, adding once a city is selected, the Centre and the state will together work for making it a 'Smart City'.
The programme, conceived after extensive consultations, will involve use of best practices from across the world. Giving a glimpse of a proposed smart city, he said it will have provisions like technology, energy efficiency, efficient transportation, 'walk-to-work' and cycling etc.
Under the AMRUT programme, 500 cities will be rejuvenated over five years while the 'Housing for All' scheme will involve construction of two crore affordable houses for urban poor by 2022, when the country celebrates 75th year of Independence.
Talking about the three schemes, the Prime Minister said if any "legal obstacles" come in the way of implementation, those would be taken care of. Also, financial issues will be jointly addressed by the Centre, states and local bodies by creating a model so that projects do not get stuck because of want of funds, he said. The central grants for these three projects will be around Rs 4 lakh crore, Rs 3 lakh crore for housing and about one lakh crore for the other two schemes.
"Under these schemes we can go ahead and we can do it together (Centre and state). India is rapidly urbanising. Every year Hindustan gives birth to a small country," he said.
Apparently targeting the previous governments, Modi said it would have been better if urbanisation had been taken as an opportunity 25-30 years back and viewed as "growth engines" and "driving source for economy".
"Anyway, it is better late than never. If we crib about why it did not happen earlier, then things won't work. Earlier experiences are very bad. I know it. But there is no need to be disappointed over it," he said.
Referring to housing problem, he said owning a house is a dream for every poor person. "Our effort is not only to give a homeless a house but also to give him hope to live," he said. Hitting out at private developers, Modi said they "know in which direction the city will expand. So they acquire land there and construct houses there without any basic amenities. There will be no roads, no power or drainage system there. It is because the urban leadership has not developed the cities but some property dealers have developed them. We have to change this mismatch."
Referring to Smart City, Modi said, "For the first time in India, a challenge was being floated, in which the citizens of urban India could contribute in the formulation of development visions of their cities." "The competitive mechanism would end the top-down approach and lead to people-centric urban development," he said.
Stressing that all schemes for urban development should move forward based on people's participation, he said, "There is a lack of holistic vision about urban planning, and expansion is driven not by the administrators of a city, but by property developers."
