Plan for cities for 100 years, says DLF's KP Singh

India's urban spaces are a mess, and they get worse during extreme weather events such as heavy rains that flood the streets, causing traffic snarls and other civic woes.

- Vandana Ramnani

K.P. Singh of DLF Ltd, the country's largest listed real estate developer, believes India needs to completely overhaul its approach to urbanization. "Plan big, but enforce plans with rigidity. In my view, a complete reorientation of thinking is required in urban planning at the top level," he added.

"Plan for cities for 100 years, think big and create surplus bigger spaces," Singh, chairman emeritus at DLF, told Mint, as his new book Why the Heck Not hit the stands.

The 95-year-old billionaire emphasized that there is no shortage of spaces but there is a shortage of vision. "India's position in every aspect of urban infrastructure should be based on future thinking. You think ahead, but how much ahead, I say 100 years," he said.

"This (big thinking) cannot be done by people who have grown in scarcity, myopic thinking, bigger vision has to come from the top," he cautioned.