The doyen of real estate, KP Singh - also the Chairman Emeritus of DLF Ltd - feels India needs to set up a high-powered cabinet rank committee to prepare a blueprint for developing urban infrastructure across major cities that can support the proposed $5 trillion economy.
According to him, India’s urban master planning should take a a 100-year view, rather than a short-term one.
“I beseech our Prime Minister Narendra Modi to urgently convene a high-powered cabinet ranking committee, composed of farsighted planners and developers from the private sector in every major city, along with environmentalists of repute, all of whom should possess the experience or capability of envisioning India 100 years from now,” Singh said.
According to him, the committee findings should also be made public regularly so that people are informed of plans to fortify their children’s lives by developing India’s urban infrastructure.
He was talking to media persons after launching his second book (co-authored with Aparna Jain), ‘Why the Heck Not?’.
His autobiography, ‘Whatever the Odds,’ was released in November 2011 by Jack Welch, the former Chairman and CEO of GE.
The PMO should ideally monitor the committee monthly, with the PM personally overseeing it once a quarter, he added.
“You plan in advance… you know India is a democracy and growth is going to take place. But the urban infrastructure (that) is necessary (to be put in place) in advance to support (that) growth is still not happening,” he said, adding that “drastic actions were required”.
Urban planning in India had been “myopic” since the 1950s, Singh said adding: “To build a resilient nation and to ascend a $5 trillion economy, we must fortify the foundation of our cities. We must focus on rapid urban infrastructure development. The declining state of our cities is akin to a ticking time bomb signalling their devastation.”
Traffic congestions in Gurugram and high pollution levels across some cities were cited as instances that “need attention from the highest person,