Cities currently contribute around 58 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which is expected to grow to 70 per cent by 2030, according to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-AP infrastructure panel's convenor and chief (corporate affairs), Tata Projects Limited, A Venkateshwar.
“A recent study on Indian urbanisation indicates that by 2030, 590 million people will live in cities (twice the current population of the US), with 68 cities having a population of more than a million. And, the country's GDP is expected to increase five times the current level, thus requiring a capital investment of $1.2 trillion to meet the projected demand of Indian cities only,” he said at a CII conference on urban infrastructure here.
This, he said, would mean, 2.5 billion square metre of roads would have to be built, which is around 20 times of what was executed in the last decade. Also, 900 sqmt of commercial and residential space would have to be created (or a new Chicago every year).
Venkateshwar said JNNURM, launched by the Centre in 2005 with the prime objective of improving the quality of life in the major cities in India, had so far sanctioned 533 projects worth Rs 61,000 crore in 63 Class-I mission cities.