Cities as engines of change, growth

Leading cities of the world are competing in a manner that they attract huge Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and bright people.

City governments in Frankfurt, Sydney, Toronto, Munich and London have separate departments to attract and promote foreign investments. This would mean bringing in large capital influx into the city in terms of industry or services and giving a boost to GDP of the city. But more importantly, it would also mean influx of professionals, both the white and blue collar variety, from all over.

While policies of federal and the state government largely decide which way the foreign investment would go, companies normally look forward to the quality of life a city offers, while deciding on the place to invest. The quality of urban infrastructure and law and order in a particular city often determines the decision to invest. Cultural life too is an important determinant.

The quality of the urban infrastructure like roads, water supply, sewage system, quality of education and health care, traffic congestion, availability of parks and gardens etc are some critical issues that decides quality of life in a city.

Potential investors prefer a city with good educational institutes, good malls, movie halls, theatres, shopping facilities and other amenities. An old city with its old world charm and features still intact, but with all modern facilities is a preferred choice.

Several Indian corporate giants like Reliance, Essar and IFFCO set up huge manufacturing facilities in Hazira in the 1980s. It was a small village and these companies set up their own colonies in Hazira rather than locating their workforce in Surat located a few kilometers away.

Surat those days was a dirty, congested, and nondescript city, hardly attractive for these people to live there. But within a decade, Surat did a complete turnaround as it became a clean and attractive city with better infrastructure. The workforce, particularly the senior executives soon migrated to Surat leaving Hazira as only a manufacturing centre.

Gujarat is attracting plenty of investments from abroad as well as from big Indian corporates. Cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot will have to continuously add to its infrastructure to be able to cater to the requirements of this population influx.

The infrastructure has to be constantly upgraded and a glitter added to make a city standout compared to the others. Cities like Singapore, Seoul and Shanghai have been able to transform themselves as excellent destinations to do business as well as to unwind at the end of the day and settle down.

Major cities in Europe and China have identified this requirement and began to reorient their urban strategies to attract the best talents to their cities. In fact, such vibrant cities represent the soft power of the modern state that attracts capital and the talent. The cities have to reposition themselves to provide quality life rather than just a place to live in.

Dr Guruprasad Mohapatra is the municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad and can be reached at gpmohapatra@hotmail.com