Sustainable real estate growth in Guwahati

The real estate boom in Assam has brought substantial economic gains for the state by contributing to the state exchequer and generating employment, apart from meeting the rising demand for housing in Guwahati city and various towns. While the growth is encouraging, it also reminds the city planners to take stock of the carrying capacity of Guwahati so that the city has all other basic amenities to remain sustainable. For a city to remain sustainable, it must be able to meet the basic needs of its residential and visiting populations while the environmental impact of its development remains at a minimum. Efficient transport, safe drinking water for every household and commercial place, adequate and affordable healthcare, an uninterrupted supply of electricity, enough recreational space and facilities, quality educational institutions, sports grounds, libraries, and enough livelihood opportunities are some of the basic needs of a city. Besides, for the city to remain crime-free, police strength also needs to increase proportionately to population growth, and the police force should be equipped with the latest gadgets for efficient crime management. A survey conducted by the Assam Real Estate and Infrastructure Developers’ Association (AREIDA) on the economic impact of the real estate sector in Assam, which was highlighted in Friday’s edition of this newspaper, has estimated that the size of the real estate market has grown close to 26 billion US dollars. Other key findings of the survey include the generation of 1.84 million jobs in the real estate sector of the state in 2023, and growth is to the tune of 8-10 percent in Guwahati. The AERIDA also estimates that the population of the city will increase to about 40 lakhs by 2045, which will result in a potential shortage of 7.5 lakh houses. The real estate demand will keep mounting because of this gap, it adds. The Ease of Living Index is an assessment tool used by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to evaluate quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development to assess sustainability and resilience of the city. Guwahati figuring towards the bottom of the index speaks volumes about the available basic amenities not matching the city’s real estate and infrastructure growth. Growth in population in a city that lacks an efficient public transport system gives rise to private vehicles for meeting the proportionate rise in mobility demand. A byproduct of such unplanned growth of vehicles on city roads purely driven by population growth and mobility demand is the problem of the alarming rise in vehicular population, which in turn gives rise to health issues of residents. The introduction of electric and CNG buses is a laudable initiative, but existing fleet strength is inadequate and cannot match the rising mobility demand. This explains why there is no visible reduction in the number of private vehicles on city roads despite the addition of the new fleet of city buses. The real estate sector focusing on thermal comfort of occupants and adopting innovative building technology, including roof cooling solutions, is essential to help city residents and visitors adjust to rising temperatures on account of climate change impact. The building codes of Guwahati and all towns of the state, including this vital aspect of housing solutions to beat the climate change impact, will move the real estate sector to explore such solutions at an affordable cost so that growth is not stemmed by any significant rise in expenditure for buyers for such provisions. The real estate growth in the city, however, does not include unauthorized construction of houses on city hills, which has also given rise to serious environmental degradation of the hills and aggravation of the landslide and siltation in the city’s drainage network. The city authorities undertaking executable planning for the construction of affordable houses in the plains to curb hill encroachment and shifting the occupants of unauthorized houses to such public-funded housing complexes is critical for the restoration of hill ecology. In the absence of such an intervention, the city hills losing their entire green cover is only a matter of time. Horizontal and vertical expansion on account of faster growth of commercial and business activities is a key pull factor for the migration of people from rural areas and other towns in the state to grab employment opportunities generated by such growth. The majority of this migrant population in the bottom segment of the city residents cannot afford high house rents due to lower income bases and find unauthorized construction of low-cost houses in the hills an economically viable option to sustain in the city. The spectacular growth of the real estate sector should motivate all other sectors that play crucial roles in providing basic amenities for sustainable development to take note and undertake surveys and studies to identify the gaps and brainstorm over those to find pragmatic solutions. As citizens’ perception is a crucial determinant in the ease of living index, their suggestions are crucial for making the city sustainable.