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Business centres for metros -- Better planning, better business

G. Bhargava

INDIA'S major urban business centres have seen the haphazard growth of economic, commercial and industrial activities. The cities have been beset by problems of unauthorised construction, traffic and transportation bottlenecks and unplanned industrial an d commercial operations.

Metropolitan business centres are a serious threat to the producer and consumer markets. Urban planners have realised the need to decentralise marketing centres to cope with the growing population and economic activities.

The business district centres in Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta and Chennai have multiplied because of good infrastructural, socio-economic facilities, and a high level of economic efficiency. This has resulted in the large-scale migration of skilled and un skilled workers to urban business centres. This is particularly true of Chennai, where the commercial activities seem to be centralised, and thus commercial land values have risen alarmingly.

The physical proximity of the market to the major cities and towns has attracted commercial and financial establishments. However, in residential areas, the prevalence of small-scale and household industries are predominant. This is mainly true of the wa lled city of Shahjahanabad and Anand Parbat, Delhi's informal industrial areas. Due to the centralisation of small-scale industrial units and commercial activities, transportation systems are constrained to operate in a congested environment.

The concentration of business district centres in urban areas has led to skyrocketing land and rental values. This is particularly true for Delhi's business district centres _ Connaught Place, South Extension, Nehru Place, Karol Bagh and Chandni Chowk.

Interestingly, Mumbai's business district centres came up because of their proximity to railway stations. However, in Calcutta and Chennai, the business district centres are within neighbourhood settlement complexes. The shopping centre in Ahmedabad is t he nucleus of a business district centre. The city is also the main textile trading market for Western India. Mumbai's business district centre is well organised through effective communication between buyers and traders.

Meanwhile, in Delhi, basements being rented out for commercial storage is a common feature in Daryagunj, Ansari Road, Karol Bagh, and even in new sub-divisions and colonies. In commercial multi-storeyed buildings in Connaught Place, Nehru Place, Bhikaji Cama Place and Rajendra Place, basement car parking and storage areas are grossly misused. For instance, in Kailash, a building on Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi, there are scores of travel agencies and other offices working with little or no natural li ght or cross ventilation. People in the central business districts of the metros and large cities work in abysmal conditions. Such basement offices are also potential fire hazards. Similar conditions prevail in Yashwant Place, Vasant Vihar Community Cent re, Daryagunj and Lajpatnagar.

Shahjahanabad

The Walled City of Delhi, Shahjahanabad, encompasses a mix of trade and commerce and residential areas. It is an important trading centre of Northern India. In Planning Shahjahanabad, Mr Om Mehta, the then Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, made t he following observations on the functional aspects of the Walled City of Delhi acting as a business district centre. Business-cum-industrial activities have grown in Shahjahanabad because of the easy availability of labour, the market and the transport system. Further, due to the physical proximity of the railway station, there has been a proliferation of small-scale industrial units.

Interestingly, the city has become an important business district centre for Delhi. It is evident that the Walled City has been functioning in its traditional economic role of a commercial centre within a neighbourhood complex, and this has been recognis ed by the Master Plan of the Delhi 2001 AD Perspective. However, in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Chennai and Kanpur, the business district centres have mixed land-use functions; this has led to traffic and transportation bottlenecks. The diver sion of traffic in Connaught Place is mainly due to the predominant business district centre of New Delhi. Earlier, Connaught Place was the by-pass that conducted traffic and transportation through the entire city. Currently, traffic and transportation h as been planned such that the circulation pattern is one-way for incoming movement, with diversions for outgoing traffic. Such planning is commendable and should form an example for business district centres in other cities.

In Chennai, planning takes into account the following: transport linkages; labour availability where production activity is centred; wide business interactions as a wholesale and retail market; and locational advantages with reference to the physical pro ximity with the railway station.

Neighbourhood functions

Another problem of business district centres in the metros is the congested neighbourhood complex. The question here is whether they should be relocated for environmental purposes. Certain industries must certainly be shifted out of the business distric t centres of the metros.

The functional characteristic of the business district centre cannot be fulfilled by the Super Bazar commercial establishments in the metros. As the administrative costs of such Super Bazar establishments increase alarmingly, the availability of cheap pr oducts and facilities cannot be considered a factor in determining the function of a business district centre establishment.

The National Commission on Urbanisation estimates that by the end of 2000, urban centres in India will increase to 3,500, and the number of villages will remain unchanged. It recommends that new pockets should be set up away from existing ones, that is, satellite townships should come up away from the cities. In Karnataka, most of the satellite townships are located around Bangalore. Hence, the strain on the city does not decrease. Areas such as Hoskote, Kanakapura or Ramanagaram should be explored.

Delhi-based companies, such as Pepsi, Hindustan Lever, Siemens and Coca-Cola, are planning to shift base to Gurgaon, where they plan to purchase land. The other urban hubs are Noida and Faridabad. A comprehensive blueprint for the integrated development of the National Capital Region (NCR), extending up to Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, envisages the shifting of economic activities and population away from Delhi into neighbouring towns.

Navi Mumbai's Belapur houses the State Bank of India, Hindustan Lever and the Konkan Railway Corporation. However, there is growing concern that the experiment has not realised its potential, owing to basic infrastructure problems. Shifting base to small er cities also means contributing to the latter's infrastructure, in which area Delhi has set a positive example. Though the NCR is yet to be firmly established, infrastructure in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh is being developed on the initiative of the State Governments.

A satellite township should be developed in terms of housing, employment opportunities, civic amenities and transport. This requires considerable investment, but will be sustainable over a long period. Taking into account public and private concerns is t he most effective way to do this, as the Pune example shows. Buoyed by the city's expansion, the Pune Municipal Corporation is all set to raise public finance for various projects.

A symbiotic relationship is clearly called for. The major metros need breathing space and they can achieve this only by sharing the commercial load with growing townships, which stand to gain economically. Indeed, the reverse migration we are witnessing will work only if it is a two-way process.

(The author is a New Delhi-based freelance writer.)