World Conference on urban infrastructure from Nov 12

New Delhi, Nov 6 (UNI) Engineers, urban sociologists, environmental and power sector experts from across the country and abroad will converge here in the capital for a three-day international meet to focus on urban infrastructure needs in the developing world.

Giving details about the conference, CPWD's DG A Chakrabarti said the ''World Congress on infrastructure in developing countries'' will dwell on problems faced by developing countries and evolve strategies to mitigate the problems by adopting the best practices already tried in different parts of the world.

''Over the past five decades in the developing countries, the proportion of the urban to the total population has seen a quantum jump from about 19 per cent to 45 per cent and is projected to rise inexorably. It is therefore necessary to plan for this explosion, which the Congress will do,'' he told reporters here.

Mr Chakrabarti said the primary objective of the government now is to provide ''urban'' facilities to the rural areas so that there is no need for people to migrate.

''We should provide the satellite villages with all the facilities, so that people live there and come to the urban areas for specific needs, like healthcare facilities or recreational outlets,'' he said.

The Congress will focus on such themes as sustainable development, including Urban Disaster Management, Urban Infrastructue facilites in rural scenario, Urban transportation and water and solid waste disposal and energy and communication.

The conference will be inaugurated by President Pratibha Patil and will have Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy as the chief patron.

UNI