India needs to build “hundreds of new cities” in the coming decades to beat urban gridlock, developers participating in a panel discussion at the India Economic Summit said on Tuesday.
Building new cities and growth nodes may be held back because of a tangle of red tape. For example, developers of special economic zones need around 30 no objection certificates from state and local authorities, according to Priya Hiranandani-Vandrevala, chief executive of Hirco Group. “Its an extremely tedious process,” she said.
Land aggregation is another major challenge. Arun Nanda, president of infrastructure development for Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, said the average land holding of Indian farmers is less than 1 acre per farmer. On top of that, almost “90% of the land doesn’t have clear title and, therefore, it becomes very difficult to get a mortgage”, Hiranandani-Vandrevala added.
Also See Mint’s coverage on the WEF India summit (click here)