Shaping the Urban Challenge Fund: Seven steps to strengthen delivery

Making cities engines of growth will take more than money. Here are seven steps to strengthen the delivery of the Budget's Urban Challenge Fund

India’s cities are brimming with potential but hamstrung by outdated funding models and overburdened infrastructure. Capital expenditure on urban utilities infrastructure (excluding real estate) between 2011 and 2018 averaged just 0.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) — barely a quarter of what is required.

 

The laudable objectives of the 74th amendment to the Indian Constitution, enacted in 1992 that enjoined cities to “take charge of their own destinies,” have remained largely unfulfilled. Recognising this, the Union Budget in February announced a long-overdue shift. “The Union Government will set up an Urban Challenge Fund (UCF) of ₹1 lakh crore