While HLC’s national report has been recently submitted to the Center for review, the state-level reports will soon be sent to the eight states it covers, including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan. and the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, HLC chairman Keshav Varma told The Indian Express.

HLC has assessed the current status and challenges of the eight states, providing state-specific solutions.

Urbanization and Gujarat

At the heart of India’s Olympics infrastructure is the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (SVP) Sports Enclave in Ahmedabad’s Motera of which the Narendra Modi Stadium is a part. The HLC envisions various sporting venues, training facilities and supporting infrastructure to be part of its development.

Gujarat has all the attributes to attract global events like the Olympics, Varma feels. “With it, not only employability will be created but also improved quality of life as people would certainly aspire for a healthy lifestyle along with the development of a sustainable environment,” Varma, who served as a bureaucrat and municipal commissioner of Ahmedabad, says.

Redevelopment of underutilized urban areas into new commercial, residential and recreational spaces is another plan. In addition, new green spaces will be formed to improve the urban environment.

To manage these developmental projects and coordinate activities related to bidding and hosting the Olympics, the Gujarat government has formed a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) named Gujarat Olympic Planning and Infrastructure Corporation Ltd (GOLYMPIC), established under the Companies Act, 2013.

According to Census 2011, at 42.60%, Gujarat’s urbanization is higher than the national average of 31.14%. The projected urban population will be 4.47 crore (54.99%) by 2036, as per a report of Technical Group on population projection 2020, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Gujarat aims to be 75% urban by 2047, as per the targets announced in Budget 2024-25.

Meanwhile, Gujarat announced the formation of nine new municipal corporations — Morbi, Surendranagar, Gandhidham, Nadiad, Anand, Vapi, Navsari, Mehsana and Porbandar — with the expectation to take the state’s urban sprawl to over 50%, as per the government’s estimate. Lauding the creation of the new municipal corporations, Varma said, “This will upgrade the quality of management in these areas. The cities are important economic hubs too.”

However, the challenge for the newly formed civic bodies will be to quickly have capacity building of urban planners, he quipped.
To decongest major urban centers, HLC has also recommended setting of high-quality social infrastructure like schools, hospitals, sports and recreational facilities in satellite cities and towns. “Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar region, and Surat-Navsari-Valsad region (are) to be planned as an economic gateway city region,” states the report dated September 2024.

“The state must emphasize on local economic development in secondary and small cities that are experiencing out-migration. This strategy would also focus on ‘inclusive growth’, particularly for the urban poor”… to create “vibrant and environmentally sustainable cities,” it adds.
The committee has also suggested prioritizing riverfront and lakefront projects for cities like Bharuch, Vadodara, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Surat. Of these, project reports have been prepared for Surat and Vadodara. During the celebration of the Vikas Saptah in October, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel had said that demands for riverfront would only be entertained where there was availability of water throughout the year.

HLC has recommended that the Gujarat government suitably amend rules to bring in “high-quality professionals” specializing in urban planning, urban economics, environmental planning, transportation planning, finance, social science and other aspects.

Apart from Gujarat, The Indian Express also analyzed Haryana — parts of which are in the National Capital Region (NCR), Jammu & Kashmir that was recently wrested of its special status, and Uttarakhand, which has among the highest tourists.

Haryana: Faridabad vs Gurugram

The committee has advised attention on Faridabad, which used to be ahead with industrial development in the 70s & 80s, but has lagged behind in recent years and is now competing with the swankier Gurugram.

The Public Private Partnership (PPP) witnessed in Gurugram has been cited as a ‘successful model of city development, involving private developers to facilitate residential, commercial, and institutional growth’. “This may be explored by other towns with refinements in this model, including joint accountability of the developer and the development authority towards public infrastructure and an implementation mechanism for compact streets, open spaces, and greens,” the report said.

Considering the massive urbanization potential of the state, HLC has urged the vacant positions of town planners in all departments of Haryana to be filled up on priority.

Noting that the government authorities and agencies “work in silos”, the committee says, “The state needs to formulate an ‘urbanisation strategy’ for the central NCR sub-region along with ‘vision’ document, so as to ensure that complete potential of the said projects are harnessed. The sub-regional plan, development plans, local area plans need to focus on comprehensive regional development, at the same time addressing the localized needs of the citizens”.

While the committee sees potential in a comprehensive development plan in the areas adjoining the 135-km-long Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway — called the Panchgram or ‘Five Cities’ — it warned that it could be “prone to unauthorized development if its planned development is not taken up in the right earnest”.

The HLC felt that the jurisdictional issue be resolved and the Town and Country Planning department be entrusted with the overall planning functions of the state, including Panchgram.

It has pressed for a Center of Urban Excellence to be established with an international agency to guide it on a growth trajectory to address the “liveability” concerns such as clean air and water, women and child friendly cities, climatic hazard mitigation, conservation of natural resources, etc.

The report notes that Haryana is “at the cusp of explosion in urbanization owing to around 20 of its towns located in the central NCR within a distance of 0-20 km from Delhi, for which development plans stand prepared”. Further, Haryana surrounds NCT Delhi from three sides and as per UNDESA (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs), the urban agglomeration of Delhi comprising the adjoining towns would be the largest such globally by 2030.

Jammu & Kashmir, after abrogation of Article 370

The panel recommended that the UT may focus on developing and implementing a policy for the urban poor, particularly slum-dwellers, and to bring PPP to fund and manage the urban renewal of these areas. “The government may also involve trained and experienced social scientists to make local employment generating initiatives in towns more sensitive to the needs of the urban poor,” the report states.

According to the MoHUA committee, the legal position of J&K, before 2019 (when the Article 370 was abrogated) limited the scope for development of the organized real estate sector. Agencies like development authorities and housing boards met some of the demands of urbanization but the gap in demand and supply was met through “informal development on an enormous scale, seriously compromising the quality of urbanisation”, the report notes.

HLC pressed on the need to revisit the Jammu and Kashmir Town and Country Planning Act, 1963 and Jammu and Kashmir Development Act, 1970, in addition to further streamlining of Unified Building By laws, 2021 to overcome contradictions and ensure that the norms and standards impact more areas under the public realm.

The silver lining was the implementation of the Srinagar Smart City Mission focusing on “citizen-centric urban renewal” that has also “revitalised” the local economy. According to the HLC, “Second phase of the urban renewal extending Jhelum riverfront and going deeper into the Sheher-e-Khaas, as well as improving traffic and transportation has also been discussed at the highest level and needs to be taken forward”.

The unique case: Uttarakhand

Notwithstanding its challenges as a high seismic zone, light rail regional connectivity, electric bus systems for Dehradun and Haldwani, riverfronts for Haridwar, Rishikesh, Almora, Badrinath and other waterfront cities are among the HLC recommendations for Uttarakhand to preserve aesthetics and natural assets.

According to Varma, of Uttarakhand’s total geographical area of ​​5.35 million hectares, 4.6 million hectares (86%) are hilly, while only 0.74 million hectares (14%) are plains. “Increasing population pressure in towns adds to the limited availability of usable land, leading to unplanned growth. Urbanization has mainly occurred in the plains due to better connectivity. Industrial development has been concentrated in Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Dehradun, and Garhwal, with few industrial areas in other districts. This has resulted in lopsided development towards the southern part of the state,” he said, citing some of the challenges being faced by the state.

Further, unplanned traffic and lack of ring roads, migration from hills to plains, the entire state falling within Seismic Zones 4 and 5 and prone to landslides, cloudbursts, and urban flooding have been pointed out as other challenges faced by Uttarakhand.

Notably, HLC is not in favor of elevated metros in smaller cities as they may not be in a position to service huge capital investments. The committee, instead, recommends light rail systems. Additionally, they compromise natural assets and city aesthetics.

“…Dehradun and Haldwani should be saturated with an electric bus system. Trams on rubber tires for Dehradun may also be considered. Walkability, pedestrian friendly infrastructure in the master plan legislation should be incorporated. ‘Complete’ pedestrian friendly streets with wide and unencumbered footpaths, addressing security and safety of pedestrians should be made mandatory,” the report has added.