UN Official: India's urban population to grow by 400 million within 20 years

Over the next 20 years, around 400 million people in India are expected to move to urban areas, UN Resident Coordinator in India Stefan Priesner said during an event held as part of WUF13 in Baku.

According to Report, Stefan Priesner noted that approximately 500 million people currently live in Indian cities.

"At the same time, urban development with highly advanced programs occupies a leading place on India's agenda. This includes ambitious social housing programs for modern and affordable housing, considered among the largest in the world. Over the past several years, 12.5 million affordable social housing units have been built, and construction of another 10 million homes has now been approved," he stated.

Priesner added that India is also implementing water supply and sanitation programs, as well as the recently approved Urban Challenge Fund aimed at attracting $50 billion for urban development projects.

He stressed that one of the main challenges, as in many other parts of the world, is the rapid expansion of cities into surrounding areas.

"For example, the territory of Bengaluru tripled in size in less than 20 years - from 1995 to 2011 - while its population grew from 4 million to 8 million. Naturally, this means three times greater energy demand and 25% higher fuel consumption attributable solely to road transport. This is the exact opposite of sustainable and inclusive urban development," Priesner said.