Sustainable financing for urban infrastructure: housing for low income group

Abstract

India is a unique destination for companies from all over the world. India Brand Equity Forum says four words that in combination make India unique are Fastest Growing Free Market Democracy . India has shown tremendous growth (9.6% in 2007-2008) in GDP over last 5 years. Having a sound infrastructure is of prime importance if India has to sustain such a growth in long term. Of late, Infrastructure has been an area of focus of the government. But there are many challenges that India faces in developing a good infrastructure. Being a low income economy, financing urban infrastructure is little tricky in Indian context. Most of the infrastructures like Power, Road, Railways, Sewerage, etc have received good amount of attention from the government. However, at the heart of infrastructure in a city lies the housing sector. Housing sector has long been neglected and over last few years we have seen growth of filthiest slums in world. With affordability and credit-worthiness of slum dwellers in doubt, providing housing for poor is a challenge. Government has come up with lot of urban housing schemes since independence in order to develop a good urban infrastructure and alleviate poverty. However these schemes have been partly successful. With rising land prices and raw material costs, the challenges are multiplied manifold. Hence we need to develop a scheme which is not only feasible but sustainable in future. At the core of the housing scheme, we need to have a sustainable financing mechanism. This project report discusses various issues involved in urban housing. It also analyzes the current schemes and their shortcomings. Various national and international case studies are discussed from which we can draw inspiration from to make a sustainable housing scheme. Lastly, it recommends two model housing schemes for two entirely different urban settings.