Hidden urbanisation

The urban population in South Asia has increased by 130 million from 2000 to 2011 and is poised to grow by almost 250 million in the next 15 years, says a recent World Bank report, but countries in the region have struggled to make the most of the opportunity urbanisation provides them to transform their economies to join the ranks of richer nations. 

Since 2000, the report found, South Asia has made good strides in achieving greater prosperity with the increase in productivity linked with the growing number of people living in the region’s towns and cities.

Still, South Asia’s share of the global economy remains strikingly low relative to its share of the world’s urban population, and, in general, urbanisation in the region remains underleveraged. The share of the region’s population officially classified as living in urban settlements increased only marginally from 27.4% in 2000 to 30.9% in 2011, an annual growth rate of 1.1%.

Messy urbanisation is reflected in the estimated 130 million people living in slums and the increasing sprawl associated with faster population growth on the peripheries of major cities, often in areas beyond municipal boundaries. Hidden urbanisation, the report said, stems from official national statistics understating the share of the region’s population living in areas with urban traits.

To better tap into the economic potential that urbanisation offers, South Asia’s policymakers should consider actions at two levels – the institutional level and the policy level. At the institutional level, the region would benefit from improvements in the ways in which towns and cities are governed and financed. Specifically, the report said that reform is required to address three fundamental deficits – in empowerment, resources and accountability.

One of the more tricky proposals is to increase resources to local government bodies so that they will be able to improve their mandated functions. However, in Sri Lanka as elsewhere local government bodies are notoriously corrupt and inefficient making it near impossible for the public to obtain basic services such as passing construction plans, collecting garbage, regulating transport or starting a new business. This directly links to another recommendation made by the World Bank, which is to hold local governments and municipalities directly accountable for not carrying out their services.

To tackle messy urbanisation and bring about lasting improvements in both prosperity and liveability, policies are also required to improve the ways in which cities are connected and planned, the working of land and housing markets, and cities’ resilience to natural disasters and the effects of climate change. The Government is leaping on this bandwagon with the formulation of the Colombo Megapolis Project but faces huge challenges in tapping the right expertise and cost effective investment options, especially in mega projects such as monorail to improve connectivity. 

Colombo also has about 6,000 low income settlements that have to be absorbed into the more prosperous economy seen in the capital city. A mass relocation programme mooted by the former Government has now been dismissed but there are still issues about creating equitable development in the city. The same stands true for many other growing towns scattered around the country. Hidden urbanisation should not ultimately result in lost opportunity.