Our cities may not be able keep pace with their populations unless urban planning in India is radically rethought, warns a Ficci report released on Friday.

“In just over a decade from now, nearly 500 million Indians will need new, urban homes, close to the needs of China, North America and Western Europe put together,” said the report titled, ‘Urban Infrastructure in India’.

This surge in the urban population portends disaster if a new strategy is not devised to allow cities to grow accordingly. The report projects the population in Indian cities to reach 900 million by 2050. It would put an insurmountable pressure on civic infrastructure systems such as water supply, sewerage and drainage and solid waste management. "The country's population is slated to grow to 1.7 billion by 2050," the report reads.

“City capacity will need to grow nearly 400 per cent in less than 50 years. This is the scale of urbanisation and urban infrastructure needs India has to contend with in the face of grossly inadequate urban infrastructure to meet the demands of the existing urban population,” it says.

Problems regarding the urban governance bodies which provide local infrastructure have also found mention in the report. “There is no framework governing or providing for maintenance of common spaces, particularly areas such as markets, housing colonies, bridges, footpaths, street lighting, play-grounds, common green and open areas,” the report held.

“We have to rethink the way we live or there is no tomorrow,” said Ficci urban development committee chairman Pradeep Puri.

The necessity for a new approach is rooted in our current planning norms which are borrowed from western nations, the report contends, adding that there should be a "mission on urban planning".

“The housing market in India has become increasingly skewed against the poor... Given the supply side constraints on availability of land and the attendant high/unrealistic land price, housing market is driven by high margins and low volumes,” it says.

“To reap benefits of rapid urbanisation, all the tiers of government need to have proactive approach, sound planning and its efficient implementation,” said Rajiv Kumar, secretary general, Ficci.