India, Oct. 17 -- Before the late Ratan Tata breathed his last, he bequeathed the BMC a final gift: an offer to maintain the median of the 10.58-km-long Coastal Road. A gesture that was well received, it also planted the seed for an even greater private offering. It encouraged the BMC to outsource the development of the newly created land along the Coastal Road - expected to cost upwards of Rs.400 crore - to private players. The winning bid went to Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).

This step set the tone for a new revenue model being pursued aggressively by the civic administration. Over the last two years - and now with renewed urgency - the BMC has been on a spree of outsourcing municipal services through public-private partnerships (...