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High Powered Expert Committee 

Meeting on Urban Transportation

Organized by: 

- National Institute of Urban Affairs 

Date: 20 January 2009

Venue: Conference Room, NIUA, New Delhi

The High Powered Expert Committee (HPEC) on estimating investment requirements in urban infrastructure met on January 20, 2009. Focus of this meeting was on urban transportation. It was chaired by Dr. Isher Ahluwalia. Mr. Anil Baijal, Former Secretary (UD) and Mr. O.P.Agarwal, Executive Director, IL&FS, were special invitees to this meeting. Mr. O.P.Agarwal made a presentation on, "Investments needed for Sustainable Urban Transportation in India". He brought out various issues, initiatives taken and possible approaches for improved urban transportation system in India. The focus of the National Urban Transport Policy is moving people and not vehicles. This will require that public transport should be more attractive to use. Working Group Report on Urban Transport for XIth Five Year Plan has estimated investment requirement of Rs. 1,32,50,00 crore (including modern buses). Challenge for improved bus transport is to provide good quality service at an affordable price. It is important to evaluate alternative public transport technologies in the context of city characteristics. The public transport options vary between low cost buses to high cost rail metros. He said that several initiatives have been taken in India:

• Many cities have prepared Comprehensive Mobility Plans;

• 15 cities have planned to introduce modern bus services;

• Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) is coming up in 11 cities;

• Six City Planning new metro rail systems; and

• Unified Metropolitan Transport Authorities have been set up in two cities.

There is need for undertaking a major capacity building program in the sector.

Moreover, the present initiatives have overlooked that simple low cost traffic improvement measures can improve the traffic situation. In addition, improvement or modernization of the existing bus systems as well as improved facilities for pedestrian and cyclists are missing. He added that bus systems can be improved through provision of better buses, improved information system and prioritization of bus flows through dedicated bus lane. The key message from the review of urban transport sector in India is that the proposed approach has to be comprehensive and serve a range of human needs. Finally, urban transport planning is more an art than science. There was extensive discussion on the subject after the presentation. Chairperson said that the presentation and discussions will help HPEC in addressing the issues of urban transport.

The meeting ended with thanks to the Chairperson and the special invitees.