Opinion Mumbai meltdown
Finance crumbles while state politicians play tug o war....
When the High Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) on making Mumbai an international financial centre came up with its report in February 2007,it was more concerned about how and whether the large urban governance challenges in Mumbai would be met and less anxious about changes in financial policies and practices. On the state of infrastructure,the HPEC felt that while Mumbai wasnt too far behind its global peers in the telecommunications space,it didnt quite hit the board on parameters like residential and commercial space,quality power supply or urban transport. However,it felt that the scene appears to be changing going so far as to say that the change in the air is palpable.
Well,three-and-a-half years later,that change is sadly nowhere in sight,despite Ashok Chavans big promises when he took over as chief minister of Maharashtra in December 2008 that he would have the city back in shape. Indeed,the city seems to be weighed down by a growing population and its demands. The Bombay-Worli Sea Link may have made life easier for a privileged few,but thats about it. When the next two stretches will be completed is anybodys guess. The Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link,which would connect the mainland with Nhava,has been almost a decade in the making with the cost having trebled now to around
Rs 7,000 crore. The large tracts of land in Nhava could be used to create residential accommodation,thereby bringing down rentals,which have been the biggest problem in Mumbai. One reason why Navi Mumbai has not turned out to be a Gurgaon is poor communication but its also true that the surge in real estate prices forces people to continuously search
for accommodation further away from the main city,and commute long distances hanging out of overloaded trains.
Why real estate prices in the city never come down is no big mystery. But clearly cheaper accommodation and office space have driven international firms to set up shop in Gurgaon rather than at Nariman Point,and high real estate costs will continue to keep businesspeople away from Mumbai. Despite the reported surplus of office space,in none of the business districts across the city are rentals lower than
Rs 200 per square foot per month.
The story of how the airport in Navi Mumbai has been bogged down by environment clearances is well-documented. But the government hasnt even succeeded in clearing the area around the Santa Cruz airport so that it can be expanded. Is it any surprise then that more flights operate today from Delhis airport than from Mumbais? Or that Bangalore now has about the same number of hotel rooms as Mumbai?
The reason why infrastructure projects arent making any headway is because the two parties that make up the coalition government in the state,the dominant Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are permanently in a power struggle; the two state agencies that deal with the bigger projects the MSRDC,controlled ostensibly by the NCP,and the MMRDA,which is presided over by the chief minister are for ever fighting a proxy war. Unless there is single-party rule in Maharashtra,therefore,projects are going to take their time coming. Political experts point out that the Maharashtra polity has been spit between four parties for over a decade now and so the chances of a single party coming to power on its own are slim if not altogether impossible.
The rise of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS),which has made an agenda of wooing the Marathi manoos and demanding they be given priority when it comes to jobs,is unfortunate. The Shiv Sena had virtually abandoned this issue but has been now compelled to rethink its strategy; in fact,even the Congress jumped onto the bandwagon insisting that all taxi drivers in the state should know Marathi. Clearly,the rise of a party like the MNS,which is perceived to be aggressive when it comes to demanding jobs for
locals,even willing to disrupt life in the city,can hardly infuse confidence in investors.
Such anxieties could have been addressed if the party in power had shown the political will to save the city from crumbling but there seems to be none. The biggest deals are not happening in the financial world; but elsewhere,Mumbai is a vibrant city,truly cosmopolitan,with Maharashtrians at just over a third of the population of 17 million,and with citizens who have more than just survival instincts. But its rulers are an apathetic lot,willing to let it decay. Sadly,the 1956 hit from CID,Ai dil hai mushkil jeena yahan,zara hatke zara bachke yeh hai Bambai meri jaan rings truer than ever.
The writer is Resident Editor,Mumbai,The Financial Express
shobhana.subramanian@expressindia.com
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