HYDERABAD: Hyderabad figures in one of the 12 Megacity projects selected across the world to carry out research for sustainable development of Megacities in the making, according to Chairman of German Government funded International Consortium Konrad Hagedorn.

Making a presentation on `Challenges of Megacity Project Concept Hyderabad', at the inaugural session of an international workshop on the project here on Thursday, he said in the next 20 years more than half the world's population would live in urban areas thus increasing the number of megacities.

While megacities with more than 10 million inhabitants, were expected to be increased from five in 1975 to 26 by 2015 there were cities like Hyderabad moving towards the 10-million mark. These `Megacities of tomorrow' would be of special interest to policy intervention in urban governance through people's participation as there was still an opportunity for precautionary action and targeted urban development.

Finding solutions

Dr. Konrad said Hyderabad was chosen for the Megacity project as it was going through problems of sustainability, growing economic disparity between different sections of society, its status as city of knowledge generation that could be effectively used to find solutions to problems, and its location in semi-arid agricultural region with grave effects of huge migration.

The 11-year project would have two years of concept design (first phase) and nine years for implementation. "We are now in the first phase and hence interacting with NGOs, individuals, Government institutions and governance structures to take their inputs for evolving a concept for sustainable development," Dr. Konrad said.

The objectives of the project would be to develop a sustainable development framework, then draw up a perspective action plan for Hyderabad.

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