Enabling Environment for Municipalities for Autonomy in their Funds Utilisation & Management Proposed

NEW DELHI: Hardeep Singh Puri Minister of State (I/C) Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has stated that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is working to create an enabling environment for municipalities where they are the custodians of their revenue, and enjoy autonomy in deciding how their funds will be utilized. Emphasising on need for promotion of new financing instruments like municipal bonds, he said that there is an urgent need to develop the necessary tools and instruments that can channel resources for infrastructure development. He was speaking at the AIIB Annual Meeting 2018 in New Delhi in the session:” New Financing Paradigms for Sustainable Infrastructure.”

Addressing the participants, the minister informed that the government gives high priority to the development of sustainable, resilient, and inclusive, infrastructure development and added that flagship missions anchored in the Ministry are all directed towards building India’s urban infrastructure which are predicated on the Prime Minister’s vision of providing Indians with ‘Ease of Living’.

Puri further stated that at the heart of India’s growth, which seeks to more than double India’s GDP to USD 7 trillion by 2030, will be the New Urban Agenda – one where each individual lives in his/her own house; one where there is 100% solid waste management and each region is ODF; and one where technology ensures a certain of ‘Ease of Living’ for the urban Indian.

From finance to capacity building, from setting benchmarks and standards to creating a normative framework around infrastructure development, he acknowledged the role of Multilateral Development Banks, such as AIIB, to be crucial in helping India achieve the transition, from a developing to a developed economy.