Is Mumbai’s future finally dawning on the Centre? Is the city’s journey to a modern Mumbai now clearer and surer? Perhaps.
Is Mumbai’s future finally dawning on the Centre? Is the city’s journey to a modern Mumbai now clearer and surer? Perhaps. The Centre is now keen on transforming Mumbai into India’s Destination City. It is ready to fund tomorrow’s development projects, but wants to overhaul the city’s physical and social infrastructure.
Speaking at a global conference, Municipalika 2008, on good urban governance, M Ramachandran, principal secretary, urban development department, GoI, stated that Mumbai’s development was high on the Centre’s agenda.
It has identified seven thrust areas where infrastructure lapses need to be plugged on a priority basis. Ramachandran said: “The city needs drinking water supply, drainage and sewerage facilities for all citizens, better roads and physical infrastructure, intra-city connectivity,
better education facilities, adequate housing, more private and community participation and transparent governance.”
But where is Mumbai now? What must the city, and its bosses do, to reach closer to the Centre’s grand plan? An assessment of what we measure on the key civic parameters reveals that a lot still needs to be done.
The grand plan is till far away. Nearly one-third of our population does not get adequate drinking water. The sewerage network, admitted BMC chief Jairaj Phatak, only serves 50 per cent of the population.
Road and transport networks have not kept pace with requirements. A study by NGO Bombay First reveals that average vehicular speed on city roads has fallen from 30 km/hr in 1962 to 15 km/ hr in 2007.
Public transport is woefully inadequate. More than 4.5 million people per day travel using BEST services, while another 6.5 million use railway services.
While global standard for commuters per rail car is 300 people, during peak hours more than 700 people are packed in a railway compartment.
The city is short of 1.1 million homes. At 27,000 people per sq m, it is the world’s most densely populated city. Nearly 55 percent people stay in slums.
Community participation in developmental issues has been negligible. Ramachandran revealed that the Centre was yet to get a proposal from a community-based organisation from the city for funding a local project under a scheme that the government had initiated two months ago.
If that explains the level of interest in the city’s future, then Mumbai definitely needs a shovelful of help.
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