Why Municipal Corporations Should Survey & Measure Properties
Master plans have a bad reputation of not being implemented even though creating them is a time and money consuming activity. But, in cities across the world, it is usually the government that builds roads and provides water supply and sewerage. This need not be necessarily be so, because private companies have performed these services well, too. Still, so long as the government performs these services, it is important to have a cross-sectoral plan.
Professionals that engage in planning water supply usually work independently from professionals that engage in planning transportation or sewerage networks. Most urban planning failures have to do with the fact that no one has a comprehensive view of the system. When no one has the view, even if the individual sectors are managed well, co-ordination between them is likely to be poor. Cities cannot be planned top-down, but so long as we plan cities top-down, it is better to do this well. Moreover, a comprehensive view of the city will help urban planners take market signals into account, and avoid planning failures to a reasonable degree.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is in the process of surveying properties under its jurisdiction to widen it property tax net. To survey properties, BMC will use Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology and video-recording with a 360-degree panoramic view. The BMC will measure the length, breadth, and height of properties in the city. It will also pay attention to the changes that happen to these properties over years. Once the survey is completed, the municipal corporation will have data on over 300,000 properties. Even other civic departments can tap into this information.
Urban local bodies in India rarely study real estate assets in the city and their market prices. This is the root of many urban planning failures. For example, it makes more sense to build mass transit networks where population density is high, to meet the needs of as many people as possible. When mass transit stations are built in areas with high population density, they become profitable, too. The most reliable way to find out where population density should be higher is to look at real estate prices.
For example, if real estate prices in Greater Kailash are higher, this means that more people would love to live and work there. So, it makes sense to allow taller buildings, and mixed-use developments in and around Greater Kailash. It also makes sense to upgrade the infrastructure in and around Greater Kailash simultaneously. As municipal corporations in India do not have periodically revised information on real estate prices, planning never quite happens this way. Ignoring the changing real estate prices, municipal corporations might be ignoring the preferences of people. Real estate prices in a neighbourhood rise when people prefer to live there. By not allowing high density buildings there, municipal corporations could be preventing people from living where they want to.
Similarly, when there is a shortage of housing, low income households will live in congested houses in neighbourhoods where regulations are not enforced. Such neighbourhoods may become more congested, leading to traffic congestion, and pollution. As former World Bank researcher Alain Bertaud points out, when this happens, there are two solutions. One is to widen the streets, and the other is to cure the housing shortage. Widening the streets without paying attention to housing shortage will not go very far in solving the problem. This is why it is very important to study real estate assets in a city, and their properties.
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