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Delivering the inaugural address at the Conference on “INFRA 2007- MAP Tomorrow’s Chennai” with the theme -  “Fuelling inclusive growth through holistic regional development”, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today,   Mr Reddy said that urbanisation is a universal phenomenon and irreversible process and eminently desirable by-product of industrialisation. “Urbanisation, which is the single largest contributor to tremendous employment, will continue to happen rapidly but the question is whether we have the will and vision to provide proper direction to it,” he said and urged the Government of Tamil Nadu to seize the opportunity of the highest rate of urbanisation in the State to achieve unrivaled progress in socio-economic front.”
 
He said that currently, real estate sector has emerged as the second largest source of employment, next only to agriculture. The uniqueness of real estate sector is that it can provide employment to an entire skill spectrum of skilled, super-skilled and unskilled work force. However, the real issue is whether we have enough skilled people to employ. Pointing out the lack of adequate supply of skilled manpower in the areas of plumbing, electricals, masonry, welding, etc, the minister emphasised the need to set up institutions to upgrade the skills of people employed in urban building.
 
Mr Reddy observed that there are too many urban development projects in the areas of under ground storage, storm water drainage, etc that are chasing too fewer firms and contractors. The important aim of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), an ambitious initiative of the UPA Government with a contribution of Rs. 50,000 crore from the Central Government that seeks an equal contribution from State Governments and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) is to encourage capacity building in urban and infrastructure development sector. The Central Government is asking the State Governments to scrap the Urban Land Ceiling Act, bring down the rates of stamp duty and reform ULBs, especially urging them to adopt double-entry accounting systems – measures that would give fillip to infrastructure development.
 
He said that India can draw inspiration from the ‘miraculous’ success of planned urbanisation of South Korea, which achieved economic progress only in the last 35 years, unlike countries like Japan and Germany that had a long history of industrialisation and modernisation. “If urban infrastructure can happen seamlessly in South Korea, there is no reason why it cannot happen in India,” he remarked.
 
In her Special Address, Ms Kanimozhi, Member of Parliament, Government of India said that development without inclusiveness is the major reason for violence and unhappiness across the world and CII’s MAP Chennai project is an important, beautiful and humane concept of reaching out to people. She said that though less than one third of people are living in urban centres in India, over two third of the contribution to GDP comes from them. Over 90% of the Government’s revenues come from urban areas.
 
Ms Kanimozhi said that rapid urbanisation and migration is exerting pressure on city administration and its financial resources. Hence it is important for the governments to adopt liberal policies and identify new townships and growth corridors.
 
In his address Mr R Sellamuthu, IAS, Secretary, Housing & Urban Development, Government of Tamil Nadu, said that ensuring equitable distribution of resources, opportunities and facilities to the younger generation to prepare them for the future challenges and creating social harmony and cohesion with a binding force for diverse segments of society to make them feel that they are safe, secured and cared for are important for sustainable urban development.
 
He said that the State Government is taking measures for orderly and planned development of cities. It aims to make Chennai free of slums by 2030. The Government is planning to build around 50,000 tenements within a 15 kms range of Chennai, he further said.
 
In his theme address Mr G R K Reddy, Chairman, Infra 2007 and Vice Chairman, Chennai Zone, said that the population of Chennai will increase from 7 million to 10 million in the next ten years and the vehicle population will continue to increase by 10% every year, as it did in the past. He said that already a staggering 90 million sq.ft., of office space has been created in Chennai. However, the main challenge lies in increasing the investment creating affordable houses, which is currently less when compared to the investment that has gone into creating commercial and industrial spaces. There is also a need to upgrade the skill of people migrating to Chennai from tier II cities on soft skills to enhance their employability in software and BPO companies.
 
In his welcome address, Mr Gopal Srinivasan, Chairman, CII, Tamil Nadu, said that it is time the visionary leaders of all walks of life to spend their time and energy for shaping the urban movement that is taking place in Tamil Nadu. He noted that the MAP region of Chennai has the potential to increase its contribution to GDP by 20 times in the next ten years. It will provide inclusive options and opportunities to the excluded – particularly the weaker section that account for 26% of the population. This region will empower over 10% of the total population of the State and will train 5 lakh youth.
 
Earlier Mr V Ranganathan, Chairman, CII Chennai Zone, introduced the speakers. Mr Manikam Ramaswami, Vice Chairman, CII Tamil Nadu proposed a vote of thanks.