Mumbai Densest City in Asia

Mumbai: As many as 27,000 people live per square km in Mumbai, making the metro one of the densest cities in Asia, as per the Asian Green City Index.

The Asian Green City Index, commissioned by German firm Siemens, analysed the environmental sustainability of 22 major cities in Asia with respect to environmental and climate protection. The unique research project came up with interesting findings, including the fact that Singapore is Asia's greenest metropolis. Singapore stands out in particular for its ambitious environmental targets and its efficient approach to achieving them. However, in other Asian cities as well, environmental awareness and climate protection guidelines are playing an increasingly important role.

According to the findings, of the 22 cities, Mumbai is the densest city in the Index with 27,000 people per square km -- more than 27 times more tightly packed than Wuhan, which has less than 1,000 people per square km.

Three other Indian cities -- Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore -- have also been featured in the report (see box). "India has witnessed a tremendous economic boom in the last decade, so much so that infrastructure development in terms of roads, water management is yet to keep pace with the needs of the cities -- thus affecting the 'environment friendliness' or 'green levels' within the cities. However, I am happy to see that the governments have taken various initiatives and measures to identify and overcome these issues by making government buildings green, use of energy efficient transport infrastructure and promoting the use of alternative fuels such as CNG to prevent further ecological damage," said Armin Bruck, MD, Siemens Ltd.

The Asian Green City Index examines the environmental performance of 22 major Asian cities in eight categories: energy and CO2; land use and buildings; transport; waste; water; sanitation; air quality; and environmental governance.

HOW OTHERS FARED

KOLKATA benefits from a relatively low level of water consumption. At 138 litres per person per day, this is one of the best rates among the 22 cities, and better than the average of 278 litres.

DELHI has an extraordinarily low per capita waste generation figure of 147 kg per year. "Delhi's 'traditional culture of careful consumption', which economic growth has not yet eroded, helps explain. The city's advanced policies, including one of the more robust strategies to reduce, re-use and recycle waste, also demonstrate how much can be achieved with limited resources"

BANGALORE has some of the lowest levels of CO2 emissions per capita -- this is partially reflected in the fact that 30 per cent of the city's energy consumed comes from renewable energy and 61 per cent of the electricity is generated from renewable sources.

Source: The Indian Express