The Financial Express 24.02.2010
Expand our towns for urban growth. Why we must, and how we can Ranesh Nair, Isher J Ahluwalia
We have got so used to unplanned growth of our cities that we assume that town planning is a sport of ancient times as seen in the ruins of Takshila. Our cities are bursting at the seams and we still need to accommodate another 100 plus million in the cities over the next 15 years. Some of this may come from increasing the density in urban areas, but much of it has to come by cities and towns expanding into the surrounding countryside.
Acquiring agricultural land to accommodate the expansion of cities is unavoidable in India today. When this is entrusted to public sector Development Autho- rities as in Delhi, these bodies have exploited their monopoly position to generate inefficiency and corruption. When the task is undertaken by private developers, they have often failed to keep their promises on urban infrastructure, and those from whom land is acquired are not only displaced, but also feel aggrieved because they find the compensation highly inadequate, especially when they see the value of their land rise after the infrastructure is in place. Moreover, finding finance to build the necessary infrastructure has proved to be a major challenge.
The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission launched in 2005-06 has opened up an avenue for funding that allows for speedier implementation of schemes such as the Town Planning Scheme (TPS) of Gujarat, which has achieved city expansion with minimal displacement of people and active participation of landowners in urban planning, while also contributing towards financing of infrastructure investment.
The origins of the TPS can be traced to the Bombay Town Planning Act of 1915, and the system has been used in Maharashtra and Gujarat, and also sometimes in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. But of late, it has fallen into disuse. We found good examples of TPS in action in Surat and Ahmedabad backed by the Gujarat Town Planning and Urban Development Act (GTPUDA) of 1976, which was last amended in 1999. The system has been well-tested in court.
Ahmedabad and Surat have completed more than 100 TP schemes each. In Ahmedabad, the average area developed each year is about 3% of the current built-up area of the Municipality. The total area developed under TPS is about 300 sq km. Of this, 13% has been used for roads and 10% for parks, community centres, housing for the poor, etc. The Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority has built over 11,000 houses in the last 5 years for the urban poor using land obtained through TPS. In Surat, TP schemes have covered 137 sq km of which close to 25% is appropriated for public use. In the last 5 years alone, Surat has constructed 617 km of roads and 10,000 houses for the poor under JNNURM projects in TP areas. The scheme was also used successfully to plan the redevelopment of Bhuj after its devastation by the earthquake.
Under the Development Plan-TPS system, after the Development Authority of a town or city has drawn up a strategic decadal development plan for the town/city identifying the area in which the city is to expand and laying out the main contours of the road and transport infrastructure, the expansion area is divided into a number of smaller areas, typically between 1 and 2 sq km each. The TPSs focus on the development of the small areas within a framework of participative planning.
In developing the small areas, original plots are marked on a base map. Major city-level roads passing through the TPS are also marked on the base map. Planning then begins for public infrastructure, such as a subsidiary road network, parks, schools, hospitals, and housing for economically weaker sections. More recently, some area is also set aside for sale by the Development Authority to raise finance for infrastructure. A serious effort is made to keep the total proportion of land allocated for public use at an acceptably low level. As Bimal Patel, an urban planner and a major intellectual force behind the TPS, puts it, “If a road is to be built through the middle of the area in a TPS, every landowner within the TPS area has to relinquish a part of their land and squeeze up. The road-side plot remains with the original owner although it is now smaller by the same proportion as is every other plot in the TPS.”
The total cost of the TPS includes the cost of infrastructure, compensation to be paid to each landowner, and administrative and legal costs of preparing and implementing the TPS. The betterment charges levied on the landowners are determined on the assumption that half of the appreciation in the land value of the final plotholders can be appropriated by the Development Authority for financing the infrastructure. In this manner, the original landowners are converted into owners of urban, better-serviced land that is smaller than their original plots but much more valuable.
Landowners are kept well-informed through newspaper advertisements, public meetings and easy availability of maps of the proposed Scheme. After the draft scheme is finalised, the State government appoints a Town Planning Officer, an urban planner, who individually hears complaints from landowners in public meetings, and modifies the draft Plan to accommodate their demands. Each landowner gets 3 hearings, 2 on the physical proposal and 1 on financial issues. After approval from the State government, the final Town Plan is published in the newspapers, and appeals can be made to the Board of Appeals constituted by the State government. This participative method works in redressing most grievances, and use of conventional land acquisition methods is minimised. For example, for building the Sardar Patel ring road around Ahmedabad, only 13 km of the 76 km long, 60 metres wide road was acquired using the conventional land acquisition method.
The statutory provisions of the Act allow the urban local bodies to take possession of TP roads as soon as the draft TPS is approved. Since the TPS does not change the revenue status of the land, and any title related problems of any plot continue to attach to the new plot, another potential factor delaying infrastructure work is kept out of the way. Earlier, infrastructure investment could begin only after the betterment charges came in, and this could take several years. But now thanks to the JNNURM, TPS system is on the fast track.
Planning, participation and transparency have made all the difference. If Surat and Ahmedabad can use the TPS to meet the demands of growing cities, should other cities of India be left far behind?
Isher Judge Ahluwalia is chair, Icrier and chair, the high powered expert committee on urban infrastructure. Ranesh Nair is a consultant to the committee. Views are personal .
