Gandhinagar: Good urban planning and governance, and use of technology are critical for cities to become drivers of growth, said G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant at the Urban20 mayoral summit in Gandhinagar Saturday. Urban20 one of the engagement groups of G20.
Ahmedabad Mayor Kiritkumar J. Parmar presented a to six-point communiqué Kant and Union housing and urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri. The communiqué outlines the vision for working collaboratively in providing city-level solutions to global climate, economic and environmental issues. The two-day summit began Friday.
Addressing a press conference at the mayoral summit of the sixth cycle of Urban20, Kant said, “There are two critical things in this communiqué. First, there must be good urban governance and good urban planning without which cities can’t become drivers of growth. The agenda of India in G20 has many ambitious things and all that has to be driven by cities. Therefore, good governance and planning is important.”
The second important thing, Kant said, is the use of technology in every aspect of local governance and service delivery.
“We can now technologically leapfrog like we are doing with the PM-SVANidhi scheme by making everybody digitally literate, but also embedding digital technology in our urban planning, transport planning, master planning, water management, sewerage and drainage management.”
The housing and urban affairs minister said that the expenditure on urban development schemes has increased manifold as compared to the UPA-government era.
“The total expenditure on urban schemes between 2004 and 2014 was Rs 1.57 lakh crore. But the expenditure on urban schemes in the past nine years is Rs 18 lakh crore,” said Puri while stressing on the central government’s commitment to improve infrastructure in cities to prepare for the challenges posed by rapid urbanisation.
The two-day-long mayoral summit saw participation of over 430 delegates and 70 plus non-governmental organisations, according to the ministry of housing and urban affairs.
“Cities are going to be central to achieving various global goals related to sustainability, inclusivity and climate resilience. I note with pride that this year’s communiqué, with its underlying theme of moving from ‘intention to action,’ has been endorsed by a record 105 cities. This is a proud moment for India’s G20 Presidency,” Puri said.
The U20 is a city diplomacy initiative that brings together representatives of cities from G20 countries to deliberate on the role of local governments in sustainable development of cities. Ahmedabad is the chair city for U20.
Representatives from cities such as Paris, Tokyo, Riyadh, Los Angeles, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Dubai, London, Johannesburg and Durban, among others, were at the two-day summit.
The communiqué — signed by 105 cities — highlighted six important areas such as encourage environmentally responsible behaviours, ensure water security, accelerate climate finance, champion “local” culture and economy, reinvent frameworks for urban governance and planning and catalyse digital urban futures.
(Edited by Anumeha Saxena)
Also Read: Govt plans to use 3D land mapping of MGNREGS work sites to monitor progress, prevent fund misuse