Institutional Frameworks for New Towns

Dinesh Mehta, CEPT University

New towns
Institutional framework for creating new towns
Information from Census every ten years Industrial towns SEZ/SIR (central government) Integrated towns (state township policies)

Planning and Managing new towns

Planning of new towns Provision of services Governance structure

India has low urbanization combined with high economic growth.

Indias urbanisation: Has it kept pace with economic growth?

Current level

Source : Mario Polese, Pamela Echeverria and Mila Freire, 2002

Emergence of Census Towns 2011

Indias Urbanisation: 2011

90 million added in Urban and Rural areas Bhagat, (2011), Urbanisation in India, EPW, August 20, 2011

Growth of large cities in India

Growth Rates of large cities

Urban Governments - 74th Constitutional Amendment

All urban areas must have elected local governments Article 243Q to define urban areas
Municipal corporation, municipality, nagar panchayats Earlier drafts had no provision for notified areas, implying that all urban places should have elected governments The proviso for exceptions to industrial township added at the last minute (discussions about Jamshedpur is often cited in this context)

Industrial towns
Jamshedpur, In 1924 about 1600 acres of land were acquired by the Bihar Government for the Tata Company to set up a steel plant factory and the township. A Notified Area Committee under the Bihar Municipal Act, 1922 was also constituted. Initially the management of the town was handled by the Town Administrator who was a TISCO employee. Now a separate company set up by the Tata group called JUSCO with which it has a contractual arrangement for the provision and maintenance of services. Bhilai, Rourkela, Durgapur Company establishes a town administrator for its own township, rest of urban areas by notified area committees

SEZ
The Special Economic Zone Act (June 2005), and the Rules (February 2006) came into force with a set of objectives. most of the SEZs are located close to existing urban centres. The proximity to megacities appears to be highly preferred.

Out of a sample of 154 zones approved and notified, as many as 127 in the vicinity of large towns or cities. Out of these, as many as 23 zones are in the Greater Hyderabad area, 10 in Bangalore, 10 in Pune, seven in Gurgaon and six in Noida

Governance of SEZ
SEZ is conceptualised not only as a production centre; it is also an urban centre. However, the existing policy is unclear about both urban growth implications and their management. The emerging model of governance promoted by different states and also encouraged by the Centre appears to be non-municipal.

Gujarat SEZ and SIR

The Gujarat SEZ Act, 2004, provides for a committee of three persons with the developer or his nominee as Chairman, the Development Commissioner of the zone or his nominee and a nominee of the State government as a Management Committee and vests in them powers to plan, develop, dispose of and regulate land use. Special Investment Regions. Larger areas for which Development Plans and TP schemes are made

DMIC Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor

Government of India has announced the establishing the Dedicated Freight Corridor between Delhi and Mumbai, covering an overall length of 1483km and passing thru the States of U.P, NCR of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, with end terminals at Dadri in the National Capital Region of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai.

State Level Township policy

Key issues in new town development

Does India need new towns? Is it economically more efficient? The Lavasa controversy Magarpatta township as an example of a good model townships Emergence of corporate sector in township development Issues of land acquisition (as in Maharashtra) Developer led more focus on real estate development

Service provisions
Who should provide services to new towns?
Enclaves of good services in industrial towns and poor services outside (e.g.Rourkela; Jamshedpur)

Financing infrastructure and development

Land is a key to financing Rise in land prices all around

Operation and Maintenanace

Taxes and fees in notified area committees Elected local governments

Thank You
dineshmehta@cept.ac.in
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