Missing in action: The public sector, which alone can fix bad roads

Much of Gurgaon’s commercialisation has taken place because of the private sector. Planners were never fully in command.

Much of Gurgaon’s commercialisation has taken place because of the private sector. Planners were never fully in command. There lies the root of the problem. There should have been a mechanism enabling government agencies to play a proactive role in ensuring civic amenities kept pace with the rapid growth of this suburb.

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They need to create a fully empowered body like the Noida Authority. If you drive through Noida or Greater Noida, you will find people working overnight to repair roads. You don’t see that in Gurgaon or even in much of Delhi, because there is no unified body that has the resources as well the authority and accountability to undertake all such infrastructure work needed for a modern business and residential hub.

That is why execution is a big problem in Gurgaon, although money is not a problem. The Haryana government has reportedly collected about Rs 1,500 crore as what it calls external development charges from developers in Gurgaon.

The situation is so bad that the government could consider putting a freeze on any new construction of buildings for at
least two years and use this time for consolidation. Projects that have already been approved and are in the pipeline should be outside this freeze.

They need to build more roads connecting Gurgaon with Delhi. It’s going to be more and more difficult to handle the huge traffic between the two places, even after the Metro line is ready.

Finally, while the architecture of the buildings and the companies housed in Gurgaon boast of modern technologies, civic authorities have yet to move over the old and outdated technologies they have been using for roads and other infrastructure facilities for decades.