It is notable that, second to Riyadh (66%), 51% of Mumbai respondents feel government usually makes the right decisions about which large infrastructure projects to fund. Some 47% feel that large-scale transportation projects were usually completed on schedule. At the same time, 69% said that city officials tend to take a short-term view of infrastructure planning. 

Mumbaikars identify roads (29%) and water infrastructure (21%) as their two most important public spending priorities for the future. This focus on water is, perhaps, unsurprising. Many respondents had issues in terms of the reliability of their utilities. Around 38% had experienced an outage or restricted supply of water from their providers on more than four occasions, while 50% had more than four power cuts to their residence or those of a neighbour. Yet, the majority of respondents agreed that water and electricity services were affordable (68% and 49%, respectively).

Interestingly, 82% of Mumbaikars (highest among the cities) agree that the private sector should be more involved in the development of infrastructure. Endeavours, therefore, to improve city’s infrastructure are likely to be welcomed.

When asked about engagement channels, many Mumbaikars agreed that city planning authorities are making it easier to engage with them via social media (60%) and mobile channels (61%), followed by Riyadh — social media (57%) and mobile channels (59%).

In the last 12 months, the top two issues which Mumbaikars had the opportunity to provide feedback on were billing issues (40%) and the price of services (36%).

Some 70% of respondents also think that changes in elected city officials often result in major changes to infrastructure policy. This is the highest percentage among all 10 cities and followed by Sydney (54%), Toronto (54%) and Riyadh (51%).

A large majority (75%) of the respondents are able to pay for water, power, public transportation, other utilities or public municipal services using a mobile phone or tablet app. This success is the result of the Digital India programme, a flagship national government programme with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.Digital India: Power to Empower

Some 78% of Mumbaikars (the highest percentage among all 10 cities) said that they use at least one mobile app to stay updated on the status of public transport, and 68% are willing to share their personal data with relevant city agencies to help improve city infrastructure services.

More than any other city, with Riyadh as a close second (54%), the majority of Mumbaikars (56%) have viewed an infrastructure plan made available by city authorities in the last 12 months.

Some 54% of citizens, behind only Singapore (63%), indicated that they had been informed of drills or exercises that the city authorities had organised in the last two years to prepare for an emergency.

Mumbai’s new Development Plan (DP) 2034 was recently unveiled with a lot of fanfare. This plan is expected to change the landscape of India’s financial capital to rival that of London or New York.Mumbai Development Plan 2034 It is also evident that the government is making efforts to increase the amount of green space in the city, with 52% agreeing that the amount of open green space has expanded in the last two years.