• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

VISION 2020 -- `Rurban' habitat: The promised land?

This is the 23rd article in the Vision 2020 series. The previous one was published on July 3.

The rurban habitat provides villagers the same order of connectivity available to the urban dwellers by linking together a loop of villages with a quality ring road and bus service. That connectivity immediately converts the villages linked thus into a v irtual town, says P. V. Indiresan.

THE FACT that there is net migration from the villages to the cities indicates that people think cities are better places to live in. Ideally, both rural and urban areas should be equally attractive, with no net migration either way. Zero net rural-urban migration is a mark of complete development. How can we accelerate that aspect of development in India?

For a start, consider two facts: One, the percentage of villages with primary schools is 49.3 in Kerala and over 92 per cent in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Yet, Kerala has over 85 per cent literacy, while the situation is dismal in the latter States (India Human Development Report, 1999). The explanation for this anomaly becomes apparent when it is noted that over 85 per cent of Kerala's villages are connected by a pucca road whereas the figure is barely 20 per cent in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. Evidently, access to good schools (even if they are far away) is more important than proximity to any odd kind of school. That is, it is not important for a village to have every service inside, not even a primary school is critical, but the village must be well-c onnected to quality services.

These services are essentially seven: Reliable water supply; domestic fuel; space for shelter; health services; educational institutions; transport/telecom connectivity; and waste disposal. When these services are installed, considerable employment poten tial is generated, directly and indirectly. Directly, because these are all labour-intensive services; indirectly, because the presence of these services will attract industry and commerce. In other words, municipal infrastructure multiplies employment. Hence, that should precede development. Unfortunately, only when congestion becomes unbearable do we invest in infrastructure. That is why most entrepreneurs are forced to go to congested cities, though they are prohibitively expensive and environmenta lly repulsive. How can we rectify this error?

Of the seven services listed above, cities are poorly equipped to offer three of them -- water, space and waste disposal. On the other hand, in each of these three cases, villages have a comparative advantage. Rural areas can support water harvesting; sp ace is cheap and farms are good for recycling most domestic wastes. Further, energy farms and bio-digesters too can be set up in the rural areas at little cost. In addition, telecom services need not cost any more in rural areas than they do in cities. A s stated, schools need not necessarily be close by. So, of the seven amenities listed above, transport connectivity is truly the only handicap in the rural areas. Even in this case, though cities are effective, they are by no means efficient. Urban tran sport is extremely costly -- economically, ecologically and socially.

A solution is the creation of a `rurban' habitat (a concept introduced in the eighth article in this series -- Business Line, December 20, 1999), with a population of tens of thousands, and the capability to support a variety of services which individual villages cannot. The rurban habitat provides villagers the same order of connectivity available to the urban dwellers, by linking together a loop of villages with a quality ring road and bus service. That connectivity immediately converts those linked v illages into a virtual town. The connected rural space will attract more and more people and result in a virtuous circle -- more connected people attracting more investment, and more investment attracting even more people. However, there is a catch.

Planners are not familiar with the ring system. They need to be sensitised to the advantages of this novel approach. In addition, administrators will have to be trained in the new ways needed to develop and manage a ring-shaped habitat. The following st ep-by-step approach can be used to implement this scheme:

ATake on a permanent lease, a loop of space about 30 kilometres in circumference and about 500 metres wide, on average. To minimise the cost of acquisition (and the disturbance to agricultural production), the route should use the less fertile and least valuable tracts of land.

AThe land should be taken on lease and not outright acquisition. The rent may be set at twice the current price of the crop the farmers grow. They may also be offered, say, 10-20 square metres of commercial space per hectare of land surrendered.

This arrangement helps both farmers and developers. Farmers are guaranteed crop-price-indexed income some three times what they earn at the time, plus whatever they can make from the commercial space. The latter also gives them a job to do. That is bett er than the difficult-to-manage lump-sum compensation. The developers benefit because they do not have to produce large amounts of capital upfront. They pay as they earn.

AA land-use plan is now prepared, setting apart adequate space not merely for the current population, but for future growth also. That should include streets, roads, schools, hospitals and gardens, as also markets, industries and waste treatment. About h alf the space may be reserved for employee housing.

AA circular road with a dedicated bus lane is constructed. The cost of this construction, typically Rs. 8-12 crores, should be borne by the State. This is the main financial cost for the State. However, it is not a burden; the road will always remain a p ermanent asset!

AIrrespective of traffic demand, frequent bus services are run around this circular road to attract investors with a guarantee of good connectivity.

The bus service is the truly experimental (and speculative) part of the scheme. The maximum cost of this speculation can be estimated at less than Rs. 1-2 crores.

AAfter this stage, the non-public space is sub-leased to an integrated set of employers.

Some of the employers will offer social services by running schools and hospitals. They may be given space virtually free. Others will run commercial businesses. They should pay enough lease rent to cross-subsidise the others. The scheme can break even, with a licence fee of as little as one or two rupees per square foot per year, (preferably multiplied by the floor space ratio of the building constructed). Skillful marketing is required at this stage. This is the crucial part of the scheme, the one tha t will determine the extent of its success.

AAll employers (commercial or non-commercial) are asked to lease enough space to house their employees. This is crucial to maximise ecological quality. Combining business space and residential space into an integrated package enables most employees to r eside within walking distance of work. That will, ideally, eliminate daily commuting to work and, thereby, remove the greatest financial, environmental and social cost of urbanisation. The licence fee being barely one rupee per square foot per year, the financial burden of leasing residential space will be nominal.

AWater harvesting and waste disposal are both left to be micro-managed by individual employers. As no point in the loop is more than a few hundred yards away from open fields, water harvesting and waste disposal are easy and inexpensive to manage. The te chnology, too, is readily available. Even cooking energy can be locally generated.

APanchayats will now be left with the small residual task of maintaining public spaces, and monitoring the environment. In this scheme, entrepreneurs pay fewer taxes, but take on the responsibility of several municipal services to their employees. As the former Prime Minister, Mr. P. V. Narasimha Rao, did in Surat, panchayats will then ensure good ecology by imposing fines for poor quality. In any case, competition among employers will, in itself, enforce quality.

All services in this rurban habitat will cost a fraction of what they do in crowded towns and cities. Basically, employers are given the responsibility of providing several municipal services to their employees. That makes the scheme self-supporting, exc ept for the cost the State has to bear, to construct the loop road and maintain bus services till traffic picks up. Apart from its low cost, quality ecology is built into the system.

This system has the potential to grow rapidly and attract several hundred thousand people. For that reason, all services should be designed right at the start, with sufficient leeway to expand rapidly, with enough scope to support several times the curre nt population. That is the essence of any Vision 2020; all schemes are designed to be expandable, to grow rapidly to their ultimate limit.

These ideas have been presented to village leaders in three different places in Tamil Nadu. In each case, the response was gratifying. Farmers love the idea of the circular road. They know it will ever remain a valuable asset! They are also delighted wi th the idea of an annual lease fee indexed to crop price. They have given their assurance that their people would gladly co-operate with such a scheme.

With the norms suggested, a hundred to two hundred thousand people can be easily attracted. Seed money of around Rs. 5 crores a year and a bank loan for twice the amount should meet the bill. Any takers?

(The author is former director, IIT Madras.)