Met some guys from Delhi (and Gurgaon) yesterday, and we recounted the horrors of urban India in today's times: the chaotic traffic; the overcrowding; the terrible housing etc. During the discussions, I pointed out that if you drive out of Delhi - on the Gurgaon-Faridabad road, the Rohtak road, the road to Sonepat, or Meerut, or Agra - you witness the fact that there is an abundance of land, but this has not been colonised by roads. The State is a monopolist of both urban land (DDA) as well as roads - and it is this misuse of power that is responsible for the mess. I pointed out that it was indeed strange that, in New Delhi, the centre of town consists of colonial bungalows occupying one-acre plots, while 30 km away, in Gurgaon, the middle class lives cheek-by-jowl in a swarm of high-rise apartment blocks. We talked about how things are much worse in the other four "metros." I then made some points, which I will summarise in brief below.
First, that it is the "artificial order" of State controls that has made two land-locked cities - Delhi and Bangalore - the fastest-growing in India. In a free trading "natural order," all the action would be on our twin coasts, which is precisely what happened in the times of the East India Company.
Second, as far as the State and its "central planners" are concerned, the much hyped Golden Quadrilateral highway project remains mired in a 5-city vision. These highways will only serve to link the existing metros.
Third, the Konkan Coast between Mumbai and Mangalore is possessed of the potential for the building of many new cities and towns. This area has historically been a region of sea-borne trade. Yet, all the ports here are nowadays engaged solely in iron ore exports - with no imports. Further, the hills are bereft of human settlements - and, all this "unowned" land being State Property by default, what is happening is iron ore mining, and not Property. I think the "environment" would be better looked after if humans built settlements on the hills, rather than the State digging up the ground to export red mud, as at present. This is a region blessed by Nature, simply beautiful, and the weather is great too - unlike Delhi. We could "live" in this environment, instead of just digging it up.
The East Coast too is possessed of similar urban potential.
There are a few things that will have to be done to see that a new urban India is built along these twin coastlines.
First, we will require twin coastal expressways. The Golden Quadrilateral project ignores the coasts. The highway on the West Coast is a disaster. It is no wonder that I regularly see the trains of the Konkan Railway carrying fully-laden trucks up and down the coast! This RO-RO facility for trucks is a big money-spinner for the railway. This is proof that private businessmen can profitably build good highways in this region, charging tolls.
Second, we must institute a policy of unilateral free trade. This will unleash the economy, spur urbanisation, and also bring business to the private highway developers. Win-win-win.
Third, we can experiment on the ways in which these new cities and towns are administered. There can be elected Mayors. There can be private "company towns" run by the private companies that establish these - as in the cities built by the East India Company. There can be "city manager" systems. As long as these cities compete for citizens and Property owners, things will work out fine. In the 5 metros, each a thousand miles or more from the other, there is "monopoly." There are DDA-clones in each of them. Thus, there are land scandals galore.
In the meantime, the political news from our country is instructive in one way - that we must think of a way out of State control. Free trade and free cities and towns, linked by private highways, offer that way out.
No comments:
Post a Comment