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I have been worried about the future of Mumbai. It is the financial capital, an economic powerhouse that earlier had the highest air traffic, high port traffic, and strong industrial and manufacturing sectors.

Infrastructure deficit is an issue in all urban areas.

Along with opportunities, there also exist many other tricky and complex issues to be managed in India. These include tackling both policy-level challenges and infrastructure challenges.

Besides infrastructure, there is a huge opportunity in housing and urbanisation of cities - not only building new ones, but also renewing the infrastructure of old cities to make them more livable. This provides tremendous scope for large investments to fuel growth.

We must do all we can to reduce congestion in our urban areas and increase access and mobility in our rural areas, and this extra funding will help us get there.

Government should concentrate on building up infrastructure and skill development. Simplification of taxation is another important area.

There are three major issues now that are becoming important, not only for cities, but for all mankind: Mobility, sustainability - which is linked to mobility - and social diversity.

Spending on infrastructure will help employment.

If we allow more development, it will bring housing affordability.

As reforms have come into India, as India has started opening up, prosperity is increasing, as is demand for urban housing.