| Abstrakt: |
This paper assesses progress in the government of India’s Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) programme in 11 cities in India. It draws primarily on responses to a common set of questions asked of government officials, residents and a range of other actors, and on visits to two or more BSUP project sites in each city. In the majority of the 11 cities, much of the building subsidy money still remains unutilized. But the paper suggests that the limitations of the BSUP programme are more to do with the inadequacies of what was built and how this relates to not involving the “slum”(1) dwellers in the design and planning of what was to be done, or in decisions as to whether the slum should be upgraded (or the inhabitants relocated), or in implementation. In many instances, even when in situ improvements were planned, this usually involved clearing the site and constructing contractor-built small apartments rather than implementing what is considered good practice, namely support for households to make incremental improvements to existing housing. The paper suggests that the institutional structures needed to support slum upgrading at scale are not in place at municipal, state and national level. Many of the BSUP projects are simply public housing construction re-labelled – and often with very inadequate provision for the “basic services” whose improvement is meant to be at the centre of the BSUP. However, the paper notes the instances where new approaches were tried with more success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
