JNNURM encountered serious holdups in implementation, commencing with poorly staffed

municipalities, and without sufficient financial resources and decision-making authority

Betterment levies
Land monetization
Property taxes
The HPEC, the World Bank and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) have each provided
an analysis of the challenges affecting urban development in India12. The main ones relate to:
Planning for land use and zoning
Functioning of the property market and property governance
Access to serviced land and affordable housing
Access to mass transit systems and road networks
Division of power and financial autonomy between ULBs and other levels of government
Creating a favourable environment for starting, operating and growing a business
According to the World Bank, the challenges have arisen from the following governance deficits:
Empowerment deficit: Limited, overlapping and fragmented functional assignments resulting
in unclear accountability at the city level
Resource deficit: Limited revenue-generation powers and inappropriately targeted
intergovernmental transfers resulting in inadequate local government financial resources
Accountability deficit: Despite elections and the right to information, transparency structures,
roles and mandates are unclear
Delivery deficit: Insufficient provision and maintenance of municipal services and networks
Challenges in the water sector
Insufficient access to water: India faces acute water shortages and a lack of safe drinking
water; 97 million citizens do not have access to safe water to drink. The situation in urban India
is no different, with almost 8% of Indias urban households requiring travel beyond 100
metres to access drinking water.
Inadequacy of water: Indias water reserve has dwindled from 4,000 cubic metres per person
per year in 1951 to 1,000 cubic metres per person per year in 2011, such that the country is now
considered water stressed.
Rapid urbanization has led to a drastic reduction in the amount of water available per person over
the past few years, stretching the existing sources of water to their maximum capacity.

 Leakages in distribution: Non-revenue water in urban India accounts for 50% of water
production, compared to just 5% in Singapore, which primarily arises due to leaking pipes, the
pilferage of water, a lack of meters and tampered meters.
Dependency on rain: India receives average annual rainfall in the range of 300 mm to 3,400
mm across various states but lacks a robust and replicable mechanism for harnessing rainwater
Challenges in the waste & sanitation sector
Low waste collection efficiency: Waste collection efficiency ranges from 70-90% and less than
50% in smaller cities.14 Less than 30% of waste is segregated.
Reforms to Accelerate the Development of Indias Smart Cities - Shaping the Future of Urban
Development & Services Initiative
Poor recovery of costs: Even at current levels of waste collection, 25-50%16 of ULBs budgets
are spent on waste collection. The recovery of operations and maintenance expenses are less than
50%.
Open defecation and manual scavenging: The situation in the sanitation sector is also alarming
with over 50 million17 people defecating in the open.
Moreover, the practice of manual scavenging is still prevalent in parts of urban India.
Low treatment of sewerage: Even in large cities, 50% of households are not connected to
sewerage, and only 20% of waste water generated is treated.18
Inadequate citizen participation: Communities do not participate in waste management.
Citizens are indifferent to waste management in general and to the segregation of waste in
particular