Defending the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, government today said it will be implemented in nine more cities.
"We are implementing BRT in nine cities across the country at an estimated cost of Rs 4,500 crore," Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy said while addressing habitat summit here.
The cities selected for BRT under JNNURM include Pune, Ahemedabad, Rajkot, Indore, Bhopal, Visakhapatnam, Vijaywada and Jaipur.
Reddy said, "When BRT was introduced in Delhi it faced a lot of flak. But it survived the criticism of those who never use public transport."
"Unlike Delhi, BRT will come up in these cities not on the existing roads. Separate route will be constructed for BRT. There will be space for pedestrians and cycle track along the BRT," he said.
Comparing BRT with the Metro system, Reddy said, "BRT is cheaper than Metro rail. But many cities including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Kochi, Hyderabad, Chennai are opting for Metro."
He said, "Rs 95,000 crore worth projects are already being committed under JNNURM. Projects involving sewerage, water, roads among others are being implemented in several cities under the scheme." There are 65 cities across the country where JNNURM schemes are being implemented.
"We are exploring of launching the second phase of it. However, there is a resource crunch. So we have approached the World Bank for the fund," Reddy said.
