Ashok Bhalotra has worked in urban development and sustainable city planning all over the world, but he’s never worked in his country of origin, India. “Now is the time”, he simply says. As an urban designer who’s lived in the Netherlands for decades, he’s heading a Rotterdam-based consortium that is developing a master plan for a new city in India’s Rajasthan state.

“It is vital to be open-minded in this business,” Mr Bhalotra says. “If you’re a relative outsider you will see things differently and you will ask questions that insiders won’t. Now I am this outsider in a country, India, that I would love to make a contribution to.”

Mr Bhalotra envisions a largely ‘green’ development with a rich diversity in architecture and the “classic idea of the countryside”, as he puts it, where “the poor will feel as home as the rich”.

Mega project
The new urban area will be part of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), a mega project worth 65 billion euros, that will include eleven industrial zones, a motorway, a freight rail line, new airports and seaports and seven new cities.

Construction work has to be completed by 2018. It will then house and employ over 1.5 million people.

Netherlands
For this new Indian town, Mr Bhalotra draws his inspiration from his earlier work done all over the world, including the Netherlands.  In the northern town of Heerhugowaard he designed a sustainable urban area called the “Stad van de Zon” (“City of the Sun”), a fully energy-neutral environment.

Elements from this development can be used for the DMIC as well, he says.  “The area must be self sufficient energy-wise.  We’re aiming at solar energy to become the main energy supply for the new city.”
 

Growth
“The concept of the DMIC is that economic growth in India has to remain at least 9 percent each year, but they can only achieve that if the industrial sector is able to continue to grow,” according to Amitabh Kant, president of the DMIC.

“The service industry, which currently contributes the largest part to India’s gross national product, simply creates not enough jobs.”

Sustainable energy
‘Ecologically sound’ is what drives the planners of these new cities. “The use of sustainable energy will be vital and we’re also thinking of building cycle lanes – just like we do in the Netherlands,” Mr Kant says.

This is a huge contrast with other Indian cities, with their images of dirty streets, open sewers, slums and air pollution.

But the new cities are still in their early planning stages. It will take some time before the actual construction work can begin. Mr Bhalotra and Mr Kant acknowledge the fact that there are still many hurdles to take.

Countryside
But there’s more than industrial development, says Mr Bhalotra. “Redeveloping the countryside is as important. We won’t be bulldozing any villages. We’re also looking for the best agricultural system in order to grow sufficient and healthy crops and to efficiently regulate the use of water.”

Mr Kant predicts that there will be no need for slums in this new development. “Everyone will have a job,” he says, rather optimistically. “There will be many opportunities for schooling on different levels. Homes for workers are a main priority in our master plans. These will be the first to build and we’ll have good public transport facilities ready on time.”

Corruption
But large developments like these in India are often marred by large scale corruption or a simple lack of quality. Mr Kant says that good planning may prevent this. “Planning and construction never go hand in hand here in India,” he explains. “This time we’ve got the best planners in the world in one place who will make sure that the master plans are ready by the time construction begins."

"There is no haste. And we won’t start building until the very last building permit has been issued.”
 

Idealistic?
It’s quite an idealistic picture that is painted by the planners – perhaps much too idealistic. No new slums? Mr Bhalotra admits that it will be hard to prevent them. “Things are developing very rapidly in India, but in many ways, they’re lagging behind. We can’t miraculously change this by planning new urban areas. But I encourage everyone to think ‘outside the box’. We work with the right combination of ideals, science, knowledge and patience.”