[sustran] Re: World Bank loan for MUTP

[Bina CBalakrishnan]

Dear Mr. Mehta, Ms. Salvi,

Thank you for the gracious invitation to meet with you at your 
offices in Mumbai.

Maybe I should tell you where I'm coming from, and where I stand, 
first.

As I said earlier, I am an independent consultant in 
Transportation Planning and Engineering, based in Mumbai. I was 
fortunate to do a study for Mumbai in 1999-2000, where I 
interacted very closely with the senior officers of the MMRDA, the 
BMC, the Maharashtra Maritime Board, the Western and Central 
Railways, and the then newly formed MRVC. I was impressed with the 
commitment I saw there.

As we will all readily admit, Mumbai as a city is barely 
functional. These people try to do their best, despite tremendous 
odds, funds crunch, and the sheer weight of numbers. But as an 
independent consultant, once I finished my job, I moved on.

Last year, I was drawn into a very novel movement here in Mumbai. 
Aware of the problems facing the city, and also aware of the 
Government's limitations in resolving them, a group of NGOs had 
come together to stem the city's rapid downslide. The most obvious 
problem was transportation, and the immediate fallout - apart from 
other issues- was the increased levels of pollution in the city. 
The group targeted this, therefore. They called themselves NeTrA - 
an acronym for Networking for Transportation Alternatives. I am 
now very actively involved with NeTrA, and guide them on 
transportation related issues.

NeTrA is committed to improving the transportation system of 
Mumbai, and believes in working very closely with the concerned 
authorities in order to achieve this objective. Confrontations 
solve very few problems, and generally results in the waste of a 
lot of time. NeTrA therefore focuses on issues, and forces a 
meaningful dialogue with the Government, getting it to make 
commitments, and setting target dates for achieving these 
commitments.

Coming now to the much-discussed MUTP, we at NeTrA believe in 
trying the application of management solutions to solve a 
transportation problem, before resorting to an engineering, or 
supply side, solution. However, having done the earlier job in 
Mumbai, I am aware of the limitations of the road network of the 
city, and also of the transportation system as a whole. Therefore, 
I feel that those projects that have been identified within the 
scope of the MUTP are sorely needed, and the sooner they are 
implemented, the better off the city and its residents will be. Be 
very assured, however, that we are not any part of the "Car 
lobby", but are actively trying to promote mass transportation- 
both road based and rail based, and if possible, water based 
too!

This does not imply that we have blindly agreed to whatever the 
plans involve. We have been attending the public presentations, 
and making suggestions, some of which have been included in the 
scope of the MUTP. Where we do not agree, we raise an objection, 
and it has been looked into. As I said earlier, the entire EIA is 
on the net, and available to anyone who may be interested.

Having said this much, I would be happy to meet with you, either 
as an independent planner or as a member of NeTrA.

My very best regards to you and Ms. Salvi.
Bina C. Balakrishnan
Consultant
Transportation Planning and Engineering
e-mail: binac at rediffmail.com


On Sun, 10 Mar 2002 kisan mehta wrote :
>Dear   Bina,
>
>We were happy to read your elaborate response  to our emails to 
>the
>Sustran Colleagues and Walter Hook.on the World Bank Loan for
>the MUTP    We initially thought of replying on points picked 
>up
> from our reply for giving you response.   Then we observed 
>that
>you are a Mumbai resident. We thought it may be more 
>appropriate
>in the ultimate benefit of Mumbai residents (and visitors too) 
>that
>we discuss issues amongst ourselves and draw up a joint working
>plan, if necessitated, for obtaining all good and enticing the 
>MUTP
>promises with the Bank help. May we invite you to our office 
>for
>a meeting at a mutually convenient time?
>
>A Sustranmember, Mr William Ross is visiting Mumbai from
>16 till (I believe) 23 March.  We could request him as well to
>join after our preliminary meeting before the 16th.  Best 
>wishes.
>
>Kisan Mehta   kisansbc at vsnl.com
>Priya Salvi   priya_salvi at yahoo.com
>Save Bombay Committee
>620, Jame Jamshed Road, Dadar East,
>Mumbai 400 014
>Tel:   00 91 22 414 9688
>Fax:  00 91 22 415 5536
>
>----- Original Message -----
> From: Bina CBalakrishnan <binac at rediffmail.com>
>To: sustran-discuss <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
>Cc: kisan mehta <kisansbc at vsnl.com>; Walter Hook 
><whook at igc.org>
>Sent: Saturday, March 09, 2002 9:20 PM
>Subject: Re: [sustran] Re: World Bank loan for MUTP
>
>