On The Duds Who Built Gurgaon

The other day, a real estate agent drove me to see a new development in Gurgaon, Haryana, very close to Delhi. It was a prestigious Tata Housing project called Raisina Heights in Gurgaon's Sector 59.

Unfortunately, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) had forgotten to build a road to Sector 59. We had to therefore drive the last 3 or 4 kilometres through dirt, past a little village that had no main street. All around the village, new houses had been built in a haphazard fashion – since the village did not possess any internal roads. How can there be internal roads when there is no main street?

As we approached the site, we passed parcels of village land that had been "acquired" by HUDA. The greatest asset of the poor villagers is their land. HUDA is developing the area in such a way that the owners of this extremely valuable land get nothing out of it. HUDA is keeping the villagers as poor as possible, deliberately. HUDA is also cheating the rich.

At the Tata Housing site, the model flat I got to see was luxurious – and that is putting it lightly. The bathroom has a Jacuzzi. A 3 bedroom flat measuring 3000 square feet was priced at around Rs. 17,000,000. Big money. The price of the flat included a steep "development charge" that was to be paid to HUDA. This parasitical and predatory agency of The State was robbing both the rich as well as the poor. And I do believe it has totally destroyed Gurgaon. As we drove around, it became obvious that there had been massive over-building, and that property prices here were surely headed for a nose-dive.

At the Tata Housing site, I was taken to witness the fact that construction was in full swing. I saw a huge pit in which cranes, earthmovers, and hundreds of construction workers were at their job. This was the underground parking lot. I wondered as to how all this equipment was moved to the site. After all, there was no direct road. Sector 59, Gurgaon, was a figment of HUDA's imagination. Not a single internal road had been laid. I was told that the flats would be ready for occupation in 2 years. I wondered whether the roads would be ready by then. There seemed to be a distinct possibility that HUDA officials would seek bribes before building the roads. I decided that Raisina Heights was not worth investing in. We returned to Delhi.

There is an excellent book on urban development in India during British times by Anthony D King that I enjoyed reading many, many years ago. The Brits build many new cities and countless hill-stations in their time, using the latest concepts in town-planning. There is a picture in this book of Simla being developed. The first thing the Brits did was to lay out the streets and the ubiquitous "mall road." The private properties were built thereafter. HUDA is doing things the other way around.Thus, there are malls, but no Mall Road. The malls are all on the highway to Jaipur!

Yes. All these "urban development authorities," throughout India, should be closed down. They are but land and road monopolists, exploiting their dual monopoly position. India needs a new model of participatory institutions of urban local self-government. The current model is a disaster.

Yet, it is worth thinking: Which fool would destroy his own city? Even bees and ants, who live in colonies, protect their colonies. These morons destroy theirs. Duds.

I have an earlier post on Gurgaon, available here.