Globalisation with growth real challenge:Montek

New Delhi, Dec 16: Underlining that the process of globalisation created extra difficulties for countries of the Asia-Pacific region with a large number of people living below poverty line, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia today called for special attention to making urban growth inclusive.

Today the region was marked by rapid growth entailing structural changes, which meant increasing urbanisation and consequently need for greater pressure on planners and policy makers to provide sustainable and inclusive habitat, Dr Ahluwalia said, in his address at the closing ceremony of the first Asia-Pacific Ministerial Meeting on Housing and Urban Settlement here.

Underlining that there were going to be large number of mega cities in the region in the near future, Dr Ahluwalia said that providing housing for all in them would be a real challenge to the governments of the countries.

There will be tremendous financial requirements of the local governments to provide proper sewage, water, power and other such civic amenities, and it is these areas where the demand for subsidies is the most. So providing them to the poor at a sustainable rate was the real challenge, he said.

He emphasised that mobilisation of funds at the local level was very important.

Dr Ahluwalia said India was now going to embark on the next five-year plan for which the National Development Council had adopted the approach of faster and inclusive growth.

''We are now tragetting a growth rate of nine pe cent which was very good, but the proces of urbanisation poses a great challenge to us,'' he said.

He said that even though polpulation growth was slowing down, urbanisation was increaisng in the country, and ''we are not satisfied with the services we have provided to the people who have been added to the city.'' On this occasion, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Kumari Selja announced the enhanced Framework for Implementation of Sustainable Urbanisatiion in the Asia-Pacific region and Delhi Declaration for a new ''blue print'' of action for better managed, more inclusive and sustainable towns and cities in the region.

UNI