Reforms Being Brought To Optimize Capacity Utilization And To Reduce Congestion On Roads

Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Nitin Gadkari has said that reforms are being brought-in to optimize capacity utilization and to reduce congestion on roads as well as higher levels of road safety and service standards in the country. Speaking at the conclusion of a legal contract for procurement of the Reimbursable Advisory Services (RAS) from World Bank for enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Public Transport Sector in New Delhi today, he said, the States need to improve their public transport strategy especially in urban areas.

Gadkari said, the future belongs to electric and bio- fuel based transport vehicles. These are cost effective, pollution free and cut import bill on petroleum products. He said, using Ethanol and Methanol is also a good option. He cited the example of Nagpur, where bio-CNG is being produced from fruit, mutton waste etc. For intercity transport, he advocated adopting broad-gauge metro, for which rolling stock is readily available. He said, studies suggest that against the construction cost of Rs 350 crore per kilometre for traditional metro, it comes to only Rs 3 crore for broad-gauge metro. The Minister informed that 111 waterways are being prepared in different cities and rivers with World Bank assistance. He requested World Bank representative present on the occasion to prepare total transport vision for India.

Gadkari also recalled the signing of an MoU with Transport for London (TFL) on 10th January, 2018 with the aim to bring in the best practices from world. TFL is an agency that manages the transport system for Greater London, and has demonstrated its capability by creating strong and dependable public transport system in the city of London. It has created a unique system of operating buses in PPP model with over 17 operators under a single brand. He said, the MoU is aimed at using the expertise of TFL to revamp the public transport architecture in a few select cities in the country.

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