Is the National Capital Region (NCR) concept of development of urban infrastructure worth replicating by other states in the country, considering each state capital is now expanding its horizons into neighbouring states, as work places and townships span across boundaries.

The answer is a Yes and a No because the concept is still far from being perfect as state governments have to mature and grow to understand the demands of offices and townships like the Centre.

Big gaps between promise and delivery...

While private property developers put up impressive edifices for offices and homes in Gurgaon and Noida for such operations, state governments failed to deliver the goods from their end in terms of municipal facilities like good roads, firm power and clean water, all of which go to make modern day living trouble- free.

The NCR region is mainly home to the IT industry and back office operations of leading multinationals and BPO operations of several corporates worldwide.

Particularly interesting is the case of Gurgaon. The Haryana government failed to deliver good infrasructure where most multinationals have located their office complexes, housing societies, hotels,shopping cum entertainment complexes... All these people suffer from frequent power break downs, uncertain water supply and a pathetic condition of roads.

Migration from Gurgaon to Noida

Even as the Haryana government started addressing this problem seriously fearing exit of MNCs from their territory, some had migrated to Noida where infrsatructure facilities were somewhat better as the UP government seemed to be more responsive to the needs of corporoates and others. Greater Noida is a case in point where infrastructure has been more organised. But still there is a woeful gap between expectations and delivery.

Budgetary constraints seem to be the main problem. Another is the failure of local authorities lack of preparedness to handle such large demands at short notice which again goes back to their inability to manage demands and plan in advance financial and other terms.

The NCR concept, which encompasses satellite cities like Faridabad and Gurgaon in Haryana and Ghaziabad and Noida in Uttar Pradesh, is actually traceable to the first ever Master Plan of Delhi, prepared way back in 1962. But its implementation actually came much later when Delhi started facing the heat of migration of people into the city in search of jobs and infrastructural facilities in the city suffered severe strain.

Evolution of the concept of satellite towns...

The objective was to reduce such a burden owing to large scale industrialisation. Neighboring states like Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh came into consideration for developing satellite cities of Delhi. Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad were the names that came up for developing the whole NCR region. While Rajasthan was too far away, Haryana and UP were cities that attracted such expansion from Delhi.

Delhi being the capital of India, both the Centre and the Delhi state government are taking various measures to boost infrastructure facilities to attract fresh foreign and Indian investments in the IT sector.

IT development is concerntrated in the National Capital Region (NCR) in three cities located in three different states-Delhi, Gurgaon (Haryana) and Noida (UP). According to Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), the three states in the NCR region together generate software revenues of approximately Rs 5900 crore. (Revenue-wise the STPI in Bangalore ranks number one).

A recent study commissioned by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and conducted by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies to measure the impact of the economic reform process in different states, says that Delhi ranks first in terms of investment attractiveness among Indian states. CII's findings add that Delhi is ahead of Maharashtra and Goa.
The next level of reforms will be based on the preparedness of these states vis-à-vis economic parameters highlighted by the study. "By topping the overall composite ranking and being the most attractive city for investments, Delhi has proved its mettle,CII feels.

The Delhi government launched a policy to promote ITES under which all ITES companies, including services and training institutions, are entitled for industry status. This makes them eligible for all concessions and incentives applicable to industries.

The state government of Haryana introduced its IT policy in 2000 to promote establishments that provide ITES or remote services, mainly because these industries boast of a large number of employment opportunities.

Incentives largely on paper

State government organisations have also been promised technical know-how, marketing support and financial support for setting up such units. Apart from this, the state government also promises preferential allotment of land, uninterrupted power supply, captive power generation, single desk clearance, rebates on registration and stamp duty and sales tax exemption. But these are largely seen on paper and there is a gap between plan and implementation.

The UP government launched its IT policy in 1999. The policy is aimed at developing a strong partnership between the government and the private sector for rapid development of IT and ITES in the state.

NCR has emerged as a favourite destination for IT companies, especially ITES companies. Facilities like telecom, broadband connectivity and power are indeed critical for the IT industry. Delhi has these facilities in adequate quantity. With the active involvement of the government, its proactive polices and readiness, Delhi will soon be at par with the other world-class cities as far as infrastructure for IT is concerned, claim IT experts..

Nasscom's President Kiran Karnik feels that appropriate infrastructure is key to the success of the IT industry. Currently the Indian IT industry is reaching a point where cost and efficiency are important. Inefficient infrastructure increases costs and thus deters further investments.

High tele-density

As far as infrastructure facilities are concerned, especially telecom, roads and education, NCR is ahead of many Indian states. Major telecom players like MTNL, BSNL and Bharti are headquartered in Delhi. With a tele- density of 15 per cent, today Delhi has more than one million cellular subscribers and well over two million fixed line subscribers.

Private players, including Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices, Bharti Telesonic, offer state-of-the-art enterprise level communication services to companies operating out of Delhi. After the opening up of International Long Distance (ILD)and National Long Distance (NLD) sectors, almost all these service providers have their services floated for key customers in Delhi.

Other private players have started offering a similar bouquet of services under an integrated service umbrella and are cashing in on their group companies' services too. Tata Teleservices, for example, has started offering services, which includes services from Tata Teleservices, Tata Internet Services and VSNL.

As far as the Delhi and NCR region is concerned, power and transport infrastructure is very poor. Nasscom has been constantly asking the government to improve the infrastructure provided to the IT industry in India.

Power continues to be a major problem for STPI units in the NCR region. The power problem gets more acute during the summer season in the NCR region, when the demand is too high and supply limited. Apart from power, another major infrastructural hurdle in the NCR region is transport, especially public transport. Over 90 per cent of the on-road vehicles are cars and two wheelers.

Delhi has more private vehicles than Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata put together. But as far as connectivity with places outside the capital is concerned, Delhi is one of the best-connected cities in the country, for both domestic and international traffic.

Metro rail making waves...

The transport infrastructure is likely to improve in the coming years with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's (DMRC) 'Metro Rail' initiative.The Metro now covers a distance of 62 km both underground and overground.

In terms of transport, NCR should logically have connectivity between Delhi, Noida and Gurgaon through Metro rail so that there is a smooth movement and companies do not face issues like transport and traffic problems.

"The cost of land and built-up property in Delhi is very high and this has been one of the major reasons IT companies shifted operations to nearby areas," comments Prakash Kumar, secretary, land building and administrative reforms and special secretary IT, Government of Delhi.

Each region within NCR has its own shortcomings. While Noida is better in terms of power back up, Delhi is better in terms IT infrastructure and communication, but has high real estate prices. Gurgaon has good real estate infrastructure, but its transport facilities are poor.

Private participation in infrastructure will hopefully speed up the growth process. In terms of private participation, what is needed is common goal setting with the government in collaboration with the IT secretaries of different states. By doing this, they can prepare a roadmap for the improvement of infrastructure.

In the days to come, the government of Delhi is planning to set up IT Parks in collaboration with the DMRC. The government will use the space acquired by DMRC for developing IT parks and hubs along with the metro stations.

If state governments can emulate the Centre in infrastructure support, then the NCR concept of satellite townships and areas to support growth will succeed.