WB assistances in 111 waterways

Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has requested World Bank to prepare total transport vision for India.

He also highlighted that 111 waterways are being prepared in different cities and rivers with World Bank assistance.

The Minister was 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 on 31 Jan 2019.

Through this advisory service, the Ministry will assist the recipient states Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and their State Transport Undertakings in improving their Public Transport Policy.

RAS would also enable the Ministry to guide States in public transportation matters and to carry out certain pilot projects in the recipient States which can be replicated in other States for the betterment of Public Transport system.

It is likely to help States improve their service definition and planning, enhancement capacity of public transport system through innovating contracting methods and improve service quality and safety through leverage of technology.

The Minister expressed satisfaction over engaging World Bank for consultancy services for carrying out Public Transport improvement studies in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, saying these can be replicated in other States for the betterment of public Transport.

Gadkari impressed on the States to improve their public transport strategy especially in urban areas.

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, he said.

Gadkari also recalled the Jan 2018 MoU with Transport for London (TFL) with the aim to bring in the best practices from world.

TFL has created a unique system of operating buses in PPP model with over 17 operators under a single brand.

He said the MoU aims at using the expertise of TFL to revamp the public transport architecture in a few select cities in the country.

Elaborating on reforms in transportation sector, he said the future belongs to electric and biofuel-based transport vehicles as these are cost effective, pollution free and help cut India’s petroleum the ever-increasing product import bill.

Using Ethanol and Methanol is also a good option, Gadkari added, citing 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.

Studies suggest that against the construction cost of Rs.350 crore per km for traditional metro, it comes to only Rs.3 crore for broad-gauge metro, he pointed out.

Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Mansukh Mandaviya, has underlined the need for a good transport policy regarding efficient bus transport system in India. fiinews.com