The document discusses several issues with the governance and management of civic amenities in urban India. It notes a lack of unified city planning, bureaucratic delays in approvals, and minimal private sector involvement. Local bodies have low autonomy, finances, and ability to attract talent. As a result, infrastructure is poor - over 50% of Mumbai lives in slums, transportation and sanitation are inadequate. The document recommends empowering local bodies by giving them autonomy, finances, ability to outsource projects, and incentivizing performance. This would allow for more targeted, efficient solutions tailored to local needs.

1. Pritam Banerjee
Internship – Espirito Santo,
Investment Banking
Shubhra Ghosh Internship –
CEB, Mgmt. Strategy
Consulting
Somwrita Biswas Internship –
Credit Suisse, Investment
Banking
Nitesh Sinha
Internship – Accenture,
Management Consulting
Priyadarshan Gupta
Internship – RBS,
International Banking
FUTURE CITIES
Ensuring world class civic amenities in urban India

2. KeyIssueswithControllingAuthorities
POLICY LOOPHOLES
City Master Plan
Earlier attempts to install a master plan for the city failed due to
bureaucratic delays and lack of flexibility
Currently, no city wide planning for the different amenities e.g.
road, transport, sanitation, supply of housing, water, electricity, etc.
Before the era of SEZs, there was no designated places in the city
for commercial and business centers.
Bureaucracy
Pace of development of new infrastructure and maintenance of
existing one is at much slower pace than growth of demand for it
Several approvals and permits from different departments for
implementing a project causes huge delays leading to obviating the
viability of the project
Monitoring and Incentivization
No provisions for rewards and penalties based on public feedback in
order to foster better performance from the offices i.e. there are no
incentives for better quality of amenities as compared to where they
are not
Private Companies
The government controls most dissemination of most civic
amenities and there is minuscule involvement of private companies
Obliviousness related to best practices existing around the world
POWERLESS LOCAL BODIES
The major reason behind poor state of city planning and management is
the Governance Structure for the same.
Autonomy
There exists low levels of operational autonomy for the
Local Bodies for selection and implementation of schemes.
Schemes like RAY, JNNURM are imposed from the Center
without taking into consideration the needs and even
feasibility at the local level
Finances
Center controls 2/3rd of the Tax revenues
States control 1/3rd.
Share of local bodies is minuscule
Municipal Corporation contributes less than 0.75% of the
GDP of India. In Brazil and South Africa, the share is 5%
and 6%, respectively.
Capital Expenditure (needed for building city infrastructure)
is less than 15%.
Skill
There is failure to attract requisite talent to implement city
wide projects encompassing various forms of amenities due
to
• Poor levels finances (therefore remunerations)
• low autonomy in strategizing & implementation
• no incentive structure for high performance

3. RamificationsoftheseIssues
STATE OF INFRASTRUCTURE
The result of these governance structure and policy issues has been in
terms of poor state of basic amenities in the cities and poor quality of life
of its citizens
Housing
Over 50% of Mumbai’s 18.4 million people live in slums. This can be
understood from the failure of following urban housing schemes:
Transportation
Mumbai has just 11% of its urban space dedicated to transport infra as
against 60% for Los Angeles. The urban road density was 0.91/1000
people in 2008 vs. US average of 2.09.
Electricity
Following is gap in demand and supply in India
As is evident, this supply-demand gap is progressively increasing.
Scheme
Name
Time
Completed
Planned
Expenditure
Actual Amount
Released
ISHUP 3 of 4 yrs Rs 1,100 cr Rs 6.5 cr
BSUP Complete Rs 29,770.71 cr Rs. 10,036.95 cr
IHSDP Complete Rs 11,875.63 cr Rs 5,860.86 cr
RAY 4 of 8 yrs Rs 2,479.44 cr Rs 229.45 cr
AHP 4 of 8 yrs Rs. 231.33 cr Rs 3.05 cr
Sanitation
There is just 1 toilet per 81 person in these slum areas of
Mumbai.
The drainage system of most Indian cities is severely
inadequate to handle rains
Drinking Water
It is expected that by 2015, in-spite of extensive
government plans to resolve the crisis, 90 million people
in urban areas are likely to remain without access to
clean drinking water
Medical Facilities
Urban India has just 2 hospital beds per 1000 people
against world average (includes rural areas) of 2.67
Other Areas
Indian cities are suffering from high levels of pollution,
lack of employment
Sources
1. Urbanization and urban transport in India: The sketch for a policy
2. Basic road statistics of India 200405, 200506,200607&200708
3. http://twocircles.net/book/export/html/173106
4. http://www.spartastrategy.com/blog/2011/07/indias-energy-
demand-and-supply-deficit/
5. http://www.indexmundi.com/g/r.aspx?c=in&v=2227
6. http://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/health-care-
in-india-skewed-towards-urban-residents-study-
113071900954_1.html
OTHER AMENITIES

4. Solution to this problem is the empowerment of the Local Bodies and
Setting up a Policy Framework which may allow these Local Bodies to act
independently
KeyRecommendations
STANDARD POLICY GUIDELINES AT STATE LEVEL
• There should be standard guidelines for
• Minimum Quality of Infrastructure to be made available
• Resource usage i.e. land, water, etc.
• Infrastructure planning in terms of best practices
BUT AUTONOMY TO LOCAL BODIES AT
IMPLEMENTATION LEVEL
• Though Municipal Corporations should be expected to follow
the Policy Guidelines, they should have the authority in terms
of planning and execution of projects at the local level to
meet local needs
• They should authority on not just civic amenities but also on
environment, land use and allocation and recruitment so as
ensure holistic planning and quick decisions
• They should be allowed to outsource development as well as
maintenance activities to companies
FINANCING
• Provide them with the financing strength needed for to take up
more capital expenditure for building infrastructure
• Local Bodies should be provided a share of the State and
Centrally Levied Taxes
• Taxes and Fees on scare resources like water should be
allowed to be decided by the local bodies
STRUCTURAL CHANGES
MONITORING OF DEPARTMENTAL PERFORMANCE
• The performance of the Local Bodies should be appraised by
independent/external auditors of bi-annual basis
• These auditors should be allowed to factor in public
opinion/surveys in order to judge their contentment with
facilities
INFRASTRUCTURE PLANNING
• Infrastructure planning should be done taking into account not
just the current usage but future requirements as well
• There should be a provision for consulting all stakeholders
while planning and implementing projects
OPERATIONAL CHANGES
PAYMENT AND INCENTIVE STRUCTURE FOR THE
EMPLOYEES
• There should be a provision of fixed plus variable pay for the
employees of these Local Bodies
• The variable pay should be governed by their department’s
performance with respect to independent auditors’ report and
also in terms of delays in projects, etc.
• There should be provision of fines for performance below a
threshold

5. Improvements of civic amenities
Health & Hygiene
Public Health
Food Security
- Regular audits and checks at ration shops to curb corruption
- Random feedback collection from people to identify critical
ground level issues in PDS delivery
- Development and proper management of local warehouses to
reduce food waste and ensure timely meeting of demand
Health
- Adoption and support of low cost healthcare solutions e.g.
Narayana Hrudayalaya expansion should be facilitated through
policy support for land allotment and cheap financing
- Replication of the same model for large governmental hospitals
and bringing the smaller hospitals under their guidance
- Training program for public sector doctors and physicians in
large hospitals; recruitment opportunity for best performers
Sanitation
- Separation of drainage and drinking water networks will help
reduce water bound diseases
- Villages having best track record of executing total sanitation
program should be rewarded by giving preference in terms of
road infrastructure development
Public toilets
Construction of public toilets on priority basis at non-
commerical places such as near schools, residential areas and
grocery markets
Electricity & Water
Electricity
Development and implementation of the last mile solutions should be
outsourced
- to accelerate the process, help in reduction of distribution losses
- extract RoI in schemes such as R-APDRP
Provide more autonomy to new formed state regulatory authorities
- For timely revision of tariffs
- For enforcing policy implementation such as centre’s Financial
Restructuring Package (FRP) for bailing out ailing distribution
companies
Water supply
Smart technology based solutions should be implemented in water
pipeline network
- Will help detect leakage and contamination
- Ease in pipeline identification and maintenance; avoids unnecessary
digging and destruction of valuable infrastructure
Water, drainage and Electrical networks
Following of protocols to lay water pipeline, drainage and electrical
line networks at different depths so that
- they don’t overlap and cause damage to each other
- project execution does not get entangled in legal and regulatory
disputes

6. Improvements of civic amenities
Transport
Public Health
Personal Transport
Formation of a central traffic management and
operating system
- takes care of the dynamic traffic flow requirements
thereby reducing congestion
- helps identify real needs of road infrastructure
requirements such as flyovers, bridges, footpaths etc.
Shared Transport
Implementation of BRTS only after evaluating the
entire road network
-Avoids forcing of BRTS on already congested roads
Development of Metro train infrastructure in cities
which are expanding rapidly rather than adopting
temporary solutions such as widening of road
Housing & Employment
Housing
Development of road, water, drainage, electricity, gas etc.
networks well before the earmarking of land for housing
projects
-Will lead to better planned colonies and cities
-Remove inefficiencies, reduce congestion and lower
maintenance costs
Promotion of housing projects from private builders in
order to
• Develop effective Market for housing transactions
• Ensure fairness in pricing
• Alleviate the government (local as well as state) from
getting directly involved thereby providing them
room to take care of other amenities
Confidential information such as approval of govt.
housing development projects should not be leaked
- To avoid land dealers from buying the land and reselling
it to the government at higher rates.

7. Improvements of civic amenities
Recreational Centers
Public Health
Parks
• Each new society or colony should mandatorily
have well maintained park(s).
• The size of the parks should be decided based on
the number of people living in the society
• The responsibility of the upkeep of these parks
should reside with the residents
Commercial Centers
Movie theatres and other such entertainment areas
should be location in large open spaces with ample
space for parking and traffic movement
Provision of space for parking should be the
responsibility of the owner of the commercial center
Theme Parks and other such larger recreational areas
should be located outside city limits in order to
• Not adversely impact the quality of life of people
living nearby locations of such areas in case they
are inside the city
• To distribute the traffic on larger areas on a holiday
or a weekend
• To allow the land usage for higher priority
requirements
Land Use
In case of new cities, the land usage planning should be
done while taking into account the following factors
• Type of Town i.e. primarily Residential or Industrial
(Thus will determine the likely inflow of migrants and
hence, determine the future load on the developed
infrastructure)
• The availability of resources e.g. Water, agricultural
land on the outskirts (to assess future expansion
possibilities), rainfall (to design drainage)
• Presence of other industrial cities in the vicinity. This
will determine the robustness and capacity of
transport network to be put in place.
• Potential location for sewage and solid waste disposal
• Possibility of harnessing renewable energy sources
e.g. sun, biomass, wind, etc.
• Likelihood of calamities like tidal waves, floods,
earthquakes, etc.
Based on these, the city should be planned to as to
properly allocate land to residences for LIG, MIG and
HIG, hospitals, schools, parks, commercial and business
areas, industrial space, transport infrastructure,
government buildings, green cover, etc.

8. Impact on existing cities
Mumbai
Transport Infrastructure
- Better road infrastructure and traffic management system will
reduce congestions for BEST buses and smoothen the traffic flow
- Creation of Goregaon sea link under PPP model to reduce traffic
intersection points
Housing
-Slums will be replaced with multi-storey buildings thereby helping
in reclaiming land, improved sanitation and living conditions for
them
- Reclaimed land can be used for building sanitation infrastructure.
Reinforcement of Public Transport
Cheaper solution such as monorail should be extended in the
Southern Mumbai region to complement local trains network
Improved handling of flooding water
- Upgradation and repair of storm water drainages will help in
reduced flooding of roads and potholes
- Will help identify and reclaim encroached lands
- Reduced potholes will reduce the damages done to the local
transport (BEST buses undergo 800 punctures a day)
Improvement in Road Infrastructure
-Will help reducing the problem of traffic and pollution in Delhi
- Smart traffic management system will help in redirecting the
flow of traffic to lesser congested areas
- Intelligent traffic monitoring systems will help identify the areas
where flyovers, over bridges and footpaths are required
Street lighting
Traffic monitoring systems can be used for vigilance; will help in
bringing security at crime prone areas
-Better lighting in slums will help in reducing electricity thefts,
better their education standards and standard of living
Water, drainage and electrical network
- Segregation of water and drainage system will help reduce
spread of diseases in immigrant population
- Shifting of electrical networks to underground will help
implement last mile solutions, reduce the problem of thefts,
improve bill collections, monitoring of usage
-Better solid waste collection and treatment, which is the biggest
problem faced by Delhi
Delhi

9. Development of new cities
Electrical and communication lines network
Water pipeline network
Metro train infrastructure
Drainage system
Better city planning
• Good use of land which is an expensive resource. Presence of green parks, grounds, recreation centres etc.
• Better and uniform housing infrastructure. Easy to extend water, electrical, drainage and communication
system to newer colonies.
• Clear demarcation of commercial and residential areas thereby better identification of infrastructure
requirements with full utilization.
Transport
• Road and rail network act as a complement and grow together without pressurizing one of them
• Better city planning will reduce the hurdles in building road and rail network and accelerate their
construction and expansion
Health & Sanitation
• Smart and segregated water and drainage systems will help improve the delivery quality of the amenities and reduce
diseases
• Better healthcare solutions by improving government healthcare infrastructure and introducing PPP model
• Depth protocols to be followed for each kind of network
• Will lead to financial healthy municipal corporation will lesser no. of
issues at hand
• Better governance will attract young and dynamic talent in these local
governing bodies and help infuse new ideas for city planning
Road network

10. The overall impact of these changes would be in terms of more targeted
solutions and strategies towards local needs thereby leading to better
solutions more efficiently
OverallImpact
Local Bodies have better cognizance of local needs
Empowered Local Bodies will be able to take decisions
and implement projects targeted towards these local
needs
The unique needs of each city based on its geographical
location, culture, demographics will be tackled uniquely
Impact would be in terms of
• Much swifter decision making (due to all clearances, etc. within the ambit of a single body)
• Much swifter implementation (due to a coordinated effort among different departments working under a
single leadership)
• More effective solutions due to much deeper understanding of the problems in the first place and hence,
highly specific solutions
• Much more efficient solutions due to eradication of misguided steps
• Much more efficient departmental staff due to impact of quality of infrastructure of payments
Management of all elements (e.g. environment, people,
etc.) impacted due to a project by a single body will
allow effective handling of clearances and hence, needs
Monitoring will adjudge
• Progress of projects being implemented
• Effectiveness of Solutions
• Satisfaction of people with the quality of service
Independent auditors will instill confidence among the
citizens regarding the unbiased assessment
Impact of audit report on Local Bodies employees;’
salary will positively impact the efficiency, honesty and
quality of work

11. APPENDIX-1
TEAM PROFILE
Nitesh Sinha
Education: B.Tech, ECE, IIT Guwahati
Work Experience: Strand Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd. (22 months)
Summer Internship: Accenture
A DAAD and CBSE merit scholar, Nitesh ranked 153 among 4,80,000 candidates in AIEEE. He has 2 publications in international journals and
has undergone internship in Germany. He was placement representative of ECE at IITG and organizer of several national level competitions.
Pritam Banerjee
Work Experience: Consulting, Deloitte, Mumbai
Summer Internship: Equity Research, Espirito Santo Investment Bank, Mumbai
A meritorious student from BESU, and an internationally rated Chess player, Pritam has worked for Deloitte Consulting as a functional
domain Analyst and is appreciated for his high quality deliverable. His summer internship report on Direct Cash Transfer is widely discussed in
Press and has been appreciated by Senior management of various companies.
Shubhra Ghosh
Summer Internship: CEB, Management Strategy Consulting, Gurgaon
Work Experience: Software R&D, Samsung India Software Operations
CBSE merit scholar (Class X) from MSRIT & Bangalore region topper (Class XII), Shubhra was 2nd in his dept. at MSRIT. At CEB, his work was
rated as 'Exceeds Expectations' where he worked on a US $40 million project with a Fortune 500 client delivering high degree of
Management Satisfaction. He loves Singing, painting & public speaking.
Priyadarshan Gupta
Education: B.Tech, Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay
Work Experience: Tensilica Technologies India Pvt. Ltd. (now Candence) (47 months)
Summer Intern: The Royal Bank of Scotland (International Banking)
AIR 44 in IIT JEE, Priyadarshan has semiconductor industry experience. He was member of the recruitment team and was ‘Student Intern
Mentor’ in Tensilica. He has also worked with “Teach For India” and takes keen interest in football and puzzles.
Somwrita Biswas
Fresh Graduate, B.Tech, IIT Kharagpur
Summer Internship: Investment Banking, Credit Suisse, Mumbai
An NTSE Scholar, Somwrita has an excellent academic record. She has a fair taste of working in different sectors having interned at Credit
Suisse, General Electric and Central Glass & Ceramics Research Institute. She was Head of Asia’s largest techno-management fest Kshitij &
the Coordinator of a Youth Summit on Climate Change.