Naidu Addresses Plenary Session of APMCHUD

Shri Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs today addressed the Plenary Session of Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference of Housing and Urban Development (APMCHUD) in Seoul. 3-5th Nov 2015. Shri. Naidu congratulated APMCHUD for emerging as a vibrant mechanism for collaboration among the Asia Pacific countries, in the field of housing and urban development, and also the medium to express their collective concerns, vision and views in the international fora. He thanked APMCHUD for giving the opportunity to India to host the 6th Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development in 2016. While elaborating on Indian Government initiatives in the field of Housing and Urban Development, Shri Naidu indicated that India has been assessed to have a housing deficit of about 18.78 million housing units in urban areas, and more than 95% of the same pertain to economically weaker sections and low income groups of the society. In this scenario, the Government of India is evolving comprehensive strategies towards achieving the objective of 'Housing for All' by 2022, through active and beneficial involvement of a variety of stake holders including public-private participation and improving governance of housing delivery. He further added that India has one of the largest urban systems in the world. Though accommodating slightly less than one third of the total population, the urban centres in India contribute a substantial part of the Gross Domestic Product already with 63% in 2007 and the same is expected to increase to 75% in 2021. By 2050, half of the Indian population will be living in urban areas and the Government of India is fully seized of the imperative of urban up-liftment through improving quality of public transport, providing drainage, sanitation, waste management, water recycling and wi-fi facilities for public and commercial areas. There is a commitment to adopt modern scientific methods of town and country planning practices based on Geographical Information System (GIS) in urban development. Extension of metro services to important and major urban centres, development of twin cities and creating infrastructure in satellite cities are other priority areas to promote sustainable and integrated development of urban settlement system. It is in this context, the Government of India is according top most priority to set up 100 new smart and safe cities in the country. This entire effort would be 'people centric' and pro-active urban reforms, planning and management as well as citizens' participation would be the hall mark of this strategy. Commending the Seoul Declaration, Shri Naidu appealed to all Member Nations to adopt 5E policy - Education, Employment, Entertainment, Economic Upliftment and Equal Opportunities - to make the lives of people comfortable. Samir/

Naidu Addresses Plenary Session of APMCHUD

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