India's urban infrastructure has long been in decay. The government's new plan to build a series of "eco-towns" with Japanese assistance belatedly acknowledges the importance of the urban environment, and also signals the deepening involvement of Japanese companies in India's infrastructure development.  The government has signed contracts with a group of Japanese companies for pilot projects leading to the development of new eco-friendly towns. The group includes Hitachi ( HIT - news - people ), Mitsubishi, Toshiba ( TOSBF.PK - news - people ), Tokyo Electric Power and JGC. The pilot schemes initially follow the route of the new Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) between Mumbai and Delhi. The towns will be modeled on Japan's own Kitakyushu Eco-Town, designed with integrated transport systems and for low energy-usage, minimizing pollution and maximizing recycling. Each pilot scheme is to cost an estimated $10 billion.  Urban Neglect The initiative follows decades of neglect, during which ruling ideologies turned away from urban growth to favor the rural economy and keeping the peasantry on the land. Urban expansion has been largely unplanned and thus unable to draw on public resources for infrastructure.  --Institutions. Until 1992 India did not even have a Ministry of Urban Development. One-third of the current urban population is estimated to live in shanties and huts. The present five-year plan (2007-2012) calculates that India's cities are short of 23 million residential units, especially for low-income families.  --Infrastructure. Water and sewage services are inadequate. Several "colonies" that grew up around the edges of Delhi have been abandoned for lack of water connections, and much of Bangalore is subject to water rationing during the dry season.  --Transport. While integrated metro systems have been under consideration for many years, they have been slow to develop. Only Delhi can boast an extensive metro-rail network.  --Illegality. A series of interventions by the Supreme Court has revealed the extent of unplanned urban sprawl. In Delhi it has closed down 150,000 illegal industrial enterprises, cleared the streets of tens of thousands of illegal encroachments, torn down houses and ordered the termination of illegal water connections to "colonies."  Vision of the Future The issue of urban planning has now come to the fore, not least through the Supreme Court's caustic rulings. As well as showing increased political will to address the problem, the eco-towns initiative represents a significant change in attitudes toward urban India. Moreover, it is significant that the pilot schemes should be situated along the DFC and involve Japanese finance and engineering.  --Corridor scheme. The DFC has been widely seen as a vanguard enterprise carrying India toward a new stage of industrial development. Its intention is not merely to move goods faster between the country's two largest metropolitan areas, but also, along the way, to promote a string of new industries and towns, taking advantage of the improved transport system. Eventually the DFC would mark an 800-kilometer belt of manufacturing and commercial enterprise.
City planning has come to the fore, with help from Japanese companies, though urbanization is not without detractors.