Welcome to Gurgaon, India’s ‘Millennium City’
A general view of the residential apartments is pictured at Gurgaon, on the outskirts of New Delhi.—Reuters Photo
Sarika Kapoor lives in a spacious home in one of the wealthiest cities in India. But something as simple as having a shower is fraught with problems.
Most days there is just a trickle of water from the taps and sometimes even that dries up before noon. The 56-year-old has often had to scurry to a neighbour across a potholed road to borrow a bucket of water and haul it back to her rented $300,000 home, sweat rolling down her face.
“Every morning I have to decide whether I want the upper half of my body clean or my lower half. With the amount of water we get, it’s impossible to take a full-body bath,” Kapoor said, sitting in her large, well-lit living room.
Welcome to Gurgaon, a city of wealthy urban professionals with gleaming shopping malls, five-star hotels and sprawling golf courses on the southern outskirts of New Delhi that is a symbol of newly affluent India.
But crippling power and water shortages, crater-riddled roads and open sewage drains have made it an extreme example of the poor infrastructure that is constraining growth in Asia’s third-largest economy.
“Gurgaon is just a symbol of beautiful buildings. Otherwise it’s rubbish,” said P K Jain, the founder-president of the Gurgaon Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
“Ultimately, the town is going to collapse.”
Alongside the towering residential condominiums are glass and steel office blocks. The India offices of some of the world’s best known companies are here, including Microsoft Corp , Google Inc and agribusiness giant Cargill Inc.
But public infrastructure has failed to keep pace with the rapid growth unleashed by landmark economic reforms in 1991.
The provision of essential services is so bad that many companies and residents rely on expensive diesel generators to beat power cuts, pay private water tankers to deliver door-to-door when the taps run dry.
But demand outstrips supply, and with long power outages of up to eight hours a day, even well-off citizens are sometimes forced to have dinner by candlelight.
This week, residents erupted in anger over the lack of water and power during the hottest summer in the region for three decades. They took to the streets in protest and set tyres on fire to block traffic.
Nevertheless, Gurgaon has some of the fastest growing property prices in the world, with rates for some upscale homes nearly doubling to 21,000 rupees a square foot in 2011 from about 11,000 rupees in 2008, according to a report by Citibank.
At current prices, a 2,000 square foot apartment in those areas would cost $760,000. At the very top end, huge 5,500 square foot apartments set around a golf course sell for about $3 million.
Two cities
Like many other Indian cities, Gurgaon is made up of two parts. The highway to New Delhi separates the new from the old, which is still a traditional market town serving farmers in the region.
The new Gurgaon shot up out of farmland two decades ago, mainly to cater to the overflowing population of the nearby capital. It is now India’s third-wealthiest city by per-capita income, and its population has climbed to more than 1.5 million from just 900,000 in 2001.
Gurgaon has also become one of the hubs for the IT and outsourcing boom that drove India’s economic growth from the 1990s, giving it the name “Millennium City”.
Experts say the boom caught local authorities unawares, and they did not plan adequately for the power and water needs of a rapidly expanding population.
A company like DLF, which has been buying up chunks of land in Gurgaon since the 1970s to convert into residential compounds, commercial hubs and shopping centres, has set up its own private infrastructure network.
Pockets of Gurgaon developed by DLF have their own back-up power plant, water recycling systems and solar power heating.
“I don’t think the government anticipated the level of growth or the problems that come with it and therefore, has no plan for it,” Mohit Gujral, vice chairman and managing director of DLF India, told Reuters.
“We are changing the urban landscape of the city because we have been allowed to get involved.”
DLF recently launched its own fire brigade equipped with Mercedes fire trucks imported from Finland. In a public-private partnership (PPP) with the state, it also started building a $100 million, 16-lane highway running through the city.
Vishwas Udgirkar, a senior director at consultants Deloitte India, believes Gurgaon’s good security, recreational centres, shopping areas, eateries and cinema complexes attract more people and companies to the city every year.
“But come to the public infrastructure, it’s pathetic,” said Udgirkar, whose office is in the city.
“In terms of governance, again it’s pathetic. I don’t know who would still call it ‘Millennium City’. It cannot be.”
Waste not, want not
This summer, with temperatures soaring to 47 degrees Celsius, Gurgaon residents grappled with the city’s worst-ever power and water crisis as supplies fell to 15 per cent of the normal volume.
In the city, pigs wallowed in fetid bug-infested ponds to beat the heat as huge billboard advertisements promised condominiums with 24-hour electricity and “world-class” facilities.
Every day, from the small hours of the morning to late in the night, residents uncoiled and hooked up water hoses linking private water tankers parked outside their homes to tanks inside, replacing the municipal water supply.
Power supply has been similarly erratic.
As has happened in much of India, red tape has held up coal supplies to power plants that supply Gurgaon’s electricity. Technical glitches have caused more disruptions.
In one of Gurgaon’s most upscale neighbourhoods, a row of cars, including two BMWs, glistens in the sun outside a three-storey bungalow. But Purushotam, the caretaker of the household, said on some days he barely got a full bucket of water to clean the luxury cars.
“We don’t have enough water to drink, how can we take elaborate baths and clean the cars? Water is like gold to us now,” he chuckled.
For the thousands of migrants eking out a living in Gurgaon, working at construction sites or as household servants, life is even tougher as they are priced out of basic services that the private sector provides.
“The diesel generators are too expensive. And we don’t even go to the air-conditioned malls for respite,” said Naresh Kumar, who earns $150 a month as a water delivery man and says he cannot afford the fare to go to the city’s shopping district.
Gurgaon, the ‘America’ Of India?
Many of Gurgaon’s problems—a lack of administrative will, shoddy infrastructure and a lackadaisical attitude to civic services—are reflected across India.
Although the country has some state-of-the-art airports, multi-billion dollar national highways and a Formula One race track, much of its existing infrastructure has been unable to cope, and slums are mushrooming next to high-rises in its cities.
Facing a barrage of criticism over his government’s handling of the economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in June promised to help resuscitate the country’s slumping growth by fast-tracking more than 200 key infrastructure projects.
New Delhi hopes to invest $1 trillion to beef up India’s infrastructure over the next five years. But the unlevelled roads and heaps of garbage lying in the empty housing lots of Gurgaon reflect how far India has to go.
“It is an unplanned city,” said Abhaya Agarwal, a partner at Ernst and Young. “For now it’s running on water tankers and generators but in the long run it is not good for the nation.”
He said that while privatised services are a short-term solution, the real answer to Gurgaon’s mess is more PPP investment in infrastructure.
Gurgaon’s authorities acknowledge their failures but also blame the city’s residents for wasting water, which—like many services in India—is heavily subsidised.
“The problem is that people take water for granted,” said Praveen Kumar, an administrator at the Haryana Urban Development Authority.
“We as a city have to improve our systems and so does the government. There are many hiccups in every set-up.” he said.
Purushotam, the caretaker in the upscale neighbourhood, says generators and water tankers are keeping the city on life support.
“We moved to Gurgaon in 2005 thinking that this is the ‘America of India’,” he said. “But except the malls, not much is ‘American’ here.”
Indians and Pakistanis's comparing with each other is like a donkey comparing it to a mule. Both are corrupt nations and will remain like this forever, will keep on fighting with each other and will keep on buying weapons from the western world to kill each other when at the same time in both countries children will keep on dying of hunger and disease. Both are failed states and till the public on both sides realize this and throw away the dirty politicians from both side these countries will remain poor and undeveloped for centuries.
An otherwise admirable newspaper regularly does selective negative reporting on India, true or otherwise. This kinda reporting never happens at `Dawn' on, for example, on Sri Lanka, China or Malaysia, though they are our neighbours too.
Dear Editors – What is the agenda here? What do you achieve with this? Make sure the hatred and suspicions remain intact forever? Instead, why don't you try `selectively positive' news stories or just sticking to important news only – you have to search very diligently to find if this report on Gurgaon as a main story in any Indian newspaper. And there is not a single mention of SM Krishna – Ms.Rabbani Khar meeting at the Afghanistan conference, which is of value for our countries.
It is all a matter of perception. Six months ago I went to Gurgaon (I was told it meant the village of the Guru) and stayed their in a guest house — no not at a 5 star hotel. I had absolutely no problem taking showers or with power cuts. I visited some of the malls and some bollywood show which is as good as the Vegas shows in the USA. Yes, some of the roads have pot holes and may be few stray dogs. But who cares? Concentrate on the positive and live your life happily.
If India (shinning India) is so great then why do millions of them rush to the Gulf and the west every year by hook or by crook. Many have given up their indian citizenship as it does not allow dual citizenships.
Hardly anyone of them wants to go back but they all continue to parrot the same line that india is great.
I am not sure, what the writer is trying to accomplish here. Yea, Gurgaon is not Los Angeles, but lives on hundreds of millions Indians have gotten much better in last 10 years. On the other hand, have you looked at Karachi or any other major city in Pakistan?
It matters more where you are heading rather than where you stand. The base of all growth is education and will to grow. I suppose if we scruitinise Pakistan as a nation according to these metrics we can see our true picture. Comparison to India or any other country for that matter is pointless. Even Afghanistan and Iraq as countries are doing better job in finding the right direction for the road forward.
I have personally met people from Gurgaoun and they are proud of the growth. The pace of growth will produce its fruits, poor will not remain poor for long and incompetence and laziness (as people and as habbit) will be left behind.
All a body needs is food, shelter and clothing and I pray everyone in the world has that. Seeking beyond that is Maya – an ilusion.
I have my office located in center of Gurgaon.. its a very young city and i totally agree with the author that the local administration could not keep pace with the boom in the infrastructure.. as for office space and malls.. i bet its comes next to Singapore and hongkong.. but for residential space,its below average if not worst… NOIDA which also is pasrt of NCR (National Capital Region) is far better in residential aspect…
PS: If u ever get a chance to come to Gurgaon i bet ur neck will become stiff by constantly looking up at the sprawling buildings and lavish malls..!!
same story in every south asian country (India, Pakistan, Nepal etc.) afetr 60 years of iondependence. no water, no electricity, still age old problems and on top of all – corrupt politicians.
time for these countries to wake up, stop wasting resources in fighting each other and spend time and money in their development
Gurgaon is a very young city. The builder lobby and the middle class as well are always desperate to sell and book the plots early as possible without even waiting for Govt to lay down water pipes and electricity wires. It is the result of same mentality.
India is in a state of tranisition. There are many grand infrastructure projects that are in progress.Inspite of corruption and nepotism, the results will be visible in next 10 years.
I dont think that the few Indians here that are trying to bash Pakistan are correct.
Dawn has published an article (many of the same on Pakistan) because it has a good following in India and this is a good topic.
This is not to bash India in any way. Every fool knows that India is well ahead of Pakistan in many fields.
Imran
Completely agree. God knows why my fellow Indian take offense easily.
Dawn is a very respectable newspaper, better than any newspaper here in India, by far, and this article is a general interest article – nothing more.
I am surprised why the reality rates are so high in Gurgaon, despite light and water problems. As I see, it is because of rapid residential, office and mall developments. The construction pangs, lettered construction materials, population pressure, fund crunch are also affecting infrastructure development. Residents of new Gurgaon are mainly new Gen white color workers from all over India with high hopes. The construction of buildings is coupled up with labour force from rural India with meager income, living facilities and civic sense. Gurgaon is fast converting into Concrete Jungle and at places gives you a feeling that you are out of India in some developed nation. But that is only when you are in fenced areas.
I think you mean white collar not 'white color'…..
yes
I've been at Gurgaon for about 6 months. its got some world class malls and shopping centres. The residential buildings and offices are the best available anywhere in the world, esp the offices. All of my american and western european colleagues commented on the quality and design of some of the buildings. The main highway is easily a sight that no other south asian city can give. Even the mtero is there.
And it stops at that.
Water and electricity are a problem. Each housing society for themselves is a norm rather than an exception. Pathetic interior roads and hardly any public transport and generally an unsafe place.
It would take time and effort to correct these issues, but nw that it is paying huge taxes, it's going to demand better public infrastructure and that would also come in.
A much better planned and developed city is navi mumbai. Green, wide roads, round the clock water and electricity, decent public transport (local train, metro, mono rail, bus and auto) makes it a paradise for middle class people. The big companies are yet to shift mass scale, but i hope for the betterment of cities in general that it happens so that this model is replicated everywhere.
One needs to understand that politics is simply another business in India with emptying the public exchequer that is meant for providing services the politicians' business goal. The only thing that is first world is how efficiently they are setting up state-of-the-art facilities to collect taxes.