A MEGACITY UNDER STRESS Woes Of The Capital

Megacities are a totally new phenomenon in civilisation, and come with a whole host of  environmental, social and equity-related problems.  Third world nations will have to evolve their own solutions to these problems.  But broadly, the approach should be to promote market managed urban development with environmental  regulation by the city and the community.  The solutions offered here are ones  I think appropriate for Delhi, but they may also be useful for other megacities.

The phenomenal growth of Delhi since Independence is the root cause of our present difficult situation.  In the forty  years following Independence (1941-81), growth in the four major metropolises of Madras, Calcutta,  Bombay and Delhi has been 39, 49, 227 and 427 percent respectively.  Delhi’s growth is thus unique.

With growth outstripping resources, the city is under seer pressure.  Environmental resources, especially water, are being depleted.  The water crisis is not just the result of increased use,  but also poor water management.  Heavy urbanisation is also depleting the ground cover, bringing about climatic changes.  The unemployed are streaming into Delhi in search of opportunities, and living in ever more squatter settlements.  Over 40 percent of the city’s inhabitants – 4 million people – are living in substandard housing, and two million of these are in degraded squatter settlements.

Congestion is leading to air and noise pollution.  Traffic and transportation have become matters of grave concern,  with Delhi having three times more vehicles than Bombay.  The public transport system is grossly inadequate. 

With its population nearing 10 million, Delhi is manifesting the symptoms of giantism.  Unchecked growth and expansion are devouring the very assets that sustained it through history.  The ridge and the river, the sentinels of its land, air and water, are threatened.  Historically, the Yamuna constituted the eastern boundary of Delhi.  Now, however, the river only serves to divide the city into two.  The eastern trans-Yamuna part, which has come up in an ill-planed and under-served manner, alone has over 2.5 million inhabitants. Ghaziabad and Noida which abut it, even though administratively in UP, are actually a continuation of the city, giving still larger scale to the settlement east of the Yamuna.

With a view to insulating the city from urban sprawl, the Master Plan introduced the concept of a green belt around the urbanised area.  The green belt was zoned for agricultural uses, and no building activity could occur.  This was insufficient to protect this land, instead giving rise to the so-called farm house developments that surround the city.  Land use control has not been effective in preventing urban sprawl.  Even the DDA itself caved in under the pressure, violating its own rulings by sponsoring conversions of agricultural land for development.

To relieve the pressure on Delhi, the concept of the Delhi Metropolitan Area was introduced.  This included the parts of UP and Haryana which adjoined Delhi.  Rather than helping, this increased the pressure on Delhi’s resources, especially transportation water supply.  Planners realized we needed a larger regional context, and, in the Delhi Master Plan of 1962, offered the National Capital Region as a solution.  This included the neighbouring urban centres in the growth plan, but it also means that Delhi must coordinate with the four states around it.

Has this plan been successful?  Not really; the transport links between Delhi and its surrounding are poor, discouraging growth away from the centre.  There is also a huge disparity between service delivery and cost within and without Delhi. The central government has pushed for good telecommunications in the city, leaving the region to fend for itself.  At the same time it has heavily subsidized power, water and transportation in Delhi.  As a result, investment is more attractive in Delhi.  As a result, investment is more attractive in Delhi.  Political expediency has largely negated the possibility of balanced regional growth.

Unchecked growth and expansion are devouring the very assets that sustained it through history.

The issues involved in managing a large metropolis like Delhi are complex, with political, administrative, socio-economic and environmental implications.  Most do not have a simple solution.

The manner in which the Indian economy was handled since Independence has created its own structural problems.  An economy based on centralized planning with heavy intervention by the State could not be sustained.  Two years ago, the shift to a market-based economy became unavoidable.  As part of this shift, urban management must also be restructured, and made more responsive to the market.  The following discusses some strategic interventions.

Improved transportation is a basic prerequisite to regional dispersal.  Delhi has a network of rail lines converging on it from six directions.  Long distance trains currently operate on these, but it may be possible to also establish a regional commuter network on these same lines.  As frequency increases, new lines can be laid.  This would be less expensive and disruptive than building an underground subway in Delhi.

As the regional commuter stations become attractive growth centres, planners and architects can regulate their development in terms of land available for development and environmental considerations.  In other words, fast commuter rail will establish the potential, while scale and pattern and growth can be regulated by environmental needs.

The development of regional growth centres has been tardy because land assembly and development has all been under the purview of the State.  In keeping with a new economic streamlining, development of these centres should be done by the market.  In fact, a package consisting of development of commuter rail, commercial complexes at rail heads and land development rights could be offered to developers.  It should be noted that, in New Bombay, the scheme of building commercial complexes at rail heads to finance commuter rail has been very successful.

Between the outlying communities and the centre city, planners envisioned a green belt of agricultural lands.  But this has been largely wiped out as land prices rise through pressure to develop.  It is also wrong to think of agriculture as green.  In India, most agricultural land is brown, hot and dusty for half the year.  If it is to function as a green belt for the city, it must be upgraded with tree cover.

To accommodate these two elements of green belt and development, the growth of farmhouses on one-acre wooded plots could be promoted.  It should be stipulated that a minimum of 200 trees would have to be planted and maintained for at least three years, before building permission would be granted.  In this manner, low density forested buffers would be created around the city through private investment. Densification would be impossible, as trees would have to be felled and going changed.

With increasing industrial activity, more upper income families are emerging. These are the people who find such environmental communities attractive.  The concepts holds promise and should actively promoted.

Within the city, there are a many opportunities for intervention.  One sector that will require special attention is the urban poor.  The transition to a market-based economy may be especially hard on them, even though the resultant regional dispersal may ultimately be to their benefit.  As a long-range strategy, judicious relocation and decongestion of such neighbourhoods may be required, not withstanding previous bad experiences in this regard.  Such relocation may often be viable and can be entrusted to the market system.  Assuming that the value of the squatted land to the city is effectively zero, the city can invite offers from developers for building relocation neighbourhoods in return for specified building rights on the squatted land. Voluntary organisations should be involved in these negotiations to protect the interests of the poor.

But all slums, both those relocated, and those which cannot be relocated will have to be looked after by the civic authority in terms of sanitary facilities.

Landscaping is an important complement to housing.  Most landscaping practices being followed in India are based on practices introduced by the British; thus we have extensive lawns and a limited number of trees and shrubs.  Grass requires a tremendous amount o water and care, without which it disappears, leaving a bare area.  Such a landscape may be appropriate in temperate climes, but not in India.  The indigenous landscape in India is much different.  The bio-diversity in tropical forests offers a wide range of trees and bushes which shed leaves at different times of the year.  The warmer climate requires a greater tree cover, with some grass below.  Such a landscape provides protection against the harsh sun and is ecologically superior.

Increased plantation of trees will also help in water management.  Rather than managing its limited water resources wisely, Delhi seeks to get water from far away places at prohibitive cost.  Water is handled at the city level, but many conservation measures are better handled at the community level.  These should be strengthened.

One measure would be conserving as much of the water within the metropolis as possible.  Excessive hard paving reduces percolation and increases run-off during rains, leading to flooding of low-lying areas.  Instead of cement or tarmac paving in car-parks and pedestrian areas, perforated ferro cement paving can be provided at much less cost.  This will allow recharging of ground water, which is fast being depleted by excessive reliance on tube wells.  It will also provide an environmentally desirable surface facilitating growth of trees and other green material, which in turn will aid in recharging ground water.

Treated waste water is not being recycled for industrial and other purposes.  Waste water constitutes as much as 80 percent of the city’s available water; it may be cost-effective and environmentally more appropriate to invest on recycling it rather than building additional dams and carrier channels.

Finally, the present nodal authorities need to be streamlined.  In keeping with the recent Constitutional amendment giving greater autonomy to civic bodies, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi should be principal coordinating authority in Delhi.  The DDA should be the planning and regulatory wing of the MCD, rather than being an independent central government authority overloading on the civic authority.

But both the MCD and DDA have over the years grown into huge unwieldly organizations, with little concern for planning or aesthetics.  Much of the MCD’s manpower is underqualified, and both organizations are prone to corruption, which may become rampant if the two are joined.  Both must be trimmed and modernized.

Delhi occupies a unique place in history of India.  With a new perspective that takes into account the changing realities, it can continue to be that unique place, living and breathing.

S.K. Sharma has handled urban management in various capacities in the central and state governments in India.  He is presently coordinating a professional group, ACUMEN, and is advisor to TIFAC and Development Alternatives.

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