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Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy Monday has cited that India is not yet prepared for accepting the urban explosion, which is taking place in certain Indian cities, citing that capacity development along with infrastructure development is required for this.
"We are not prepared for urban explosion and, therefore, there is a huge need for capacity building”, said Reddy while addressing the inaugural event of the two-day conference on good governance and improved basic services in New Delhi.
"Keeping this in mind we have set up 13 urban centres of excellence across the country in IITs and IIMs, including TERI, which has experts addressing various challenges of the urban world like waste management, climate change adaptation and solid waste management," he added.
According to Chris Heymans, director of the water and sanitation programme of the World Bank, “while development of infrastructure is important, what is equally important is the development of a system that supports that infrastructure”.
"In that context, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) makes an important statement. It should not be all about schemes and funds, but also about a strong system to carry those schemes to its logical conclusion and a better delivery system," he said.
“Accountability of people involved in the various development programmes is also very important for any scheme to be successful”, Heymans added.
Climate change expert R.K. Pachauri, while urging the people to adopt public transport system, has mentioned that urban development should not happen at the cost of hampering the environment.
"Public transport and the urban transport system should be of primary focus in order for urban development to take place in the true sense of the word. Take the example of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor - it's an ideal example of improving the transport system of the country and there should be more like this in every city," Pachauri said.
