Parliament panel seeks new expert body to map urban infrastructure needs till 2047
NEW DELHI: A parliamentary committee has recommended setting up a new high-powered expert committee (HPEC) to prepare a comprehensive roadmap for India’s urban infrastructure development up to 2047, warning that the absence of an updated national assessment could lead to fragmented planning and financing stress as cities expand rapidly.
In its latest report on the Demands for Grants submitted to Parliament, the Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs asked the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) to undertake a fresh, evidence-based evaluation of the country’s urban infrastructure needs, financing requirements, governance reforms and capacity-building priorities in line with the vision of “Viksit Bharat 2047”.
The 31-member committee, headed by Telugu Desam Party Lok Sabha MP Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, noted that the last comprehensive national exercise to estimate urban infrastructure investment requirements was carried out by the HPEC in 2011 and projected needs only up to 2031. The report had estimated that India’s urban population share could reach around 75 percent by 2030.
The panel observed that no updated national-level assessment has been conducted to estimate infrastructure demand, financing gaps and institutional requirements beyond 2030 in a holistic manner.
“Given the rapid pace of urbanisation, the growing economic centrality of cities, emerging climate risks and the stated national goal of achieving ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’, the absence of an integrated long-term urban investment and strategy framework may lead to fragmented planning, sub-optimal allocation of resources and financing stress in the future,” the committee said in its report.
The panel sought to know whether the ministry had prepared or proposed a unified long-term urban strategy aligned with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, integrating infrastructure creation, governance reforms, climate resilience, economic growth and social inclusion across metropolitan, Tier-II and Tier-III cities.
In its response, the ministry said several flagship schemes are currently being implemented to improve urban infrastructure and quality of life in cities. These include AMRUT 2.0, Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban 2.0, metro rail projects and PM e-Bus Seva.
The ministry also referred to the 2022 report “Cities as Engines of Growth” prepared by NITI Aayog and the Asian Development Bank, which highlighted the strong link between urbanisation and economic growth.
However, the committee observed that these initiatives are largely scheme-driven and sector-specific and cannot substitute for a unified long-term national urban strategy.
The panel said a forward-looking and evidence-based roadmap would enable coordinated planning, better fiscal preparedness and balanced urban development across metropolitan, Tier-II and Tier-III cities.