[sustran] Re: Chennai monorail controversy

[John Ernst]

The experience in Chennai appears to be 
increasingly common in the larger Asian 
cities.  Following some initial work by ITDP, 
Hyderabad was considering a BRT system, but 
monorail and rail companies quickly came in with enticing proposals.

Typically, these companies overestimate demand 
and promise a totally self-sustaining system 
running with only private investment.  Though 
untrue, the promise is still appealing to governments.

After one false start, Jakarta had a privately 
financed monorail start construction.  But the 
company soon came to the government asking for a 
subsidy, then stopped construction.  The governor 
set a deadline of 6 days ago for the company to 
get started again or he would look for yet another set of investors...

It seems monorail is an easy dream to sell, a hard one to fulfill.

Best,
John

At 12:18 AM 2/6/2006, Paul Barter wrote:
>content-class: urn:content-classes:message
>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
>         boundary="----_=_NextPart_001_01C62AED.77CA1878"
>
>Some of you may be interested to know that 
>Chennai (formerly Madras) in India is in the 
>midst of a heated controversy over public transport.
>
>The Tamil Nadu state government decision to opt 
>for a huge monorail network is the issue.
>See 
><http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=chennai+monorail&btnG=Search+News>http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=chennai+btnG=Search&#43News 
>for the latest.
>
>Both 'Metro' supporters and BRT supporters seem 
>to be weighing in (with the heavy rail 
>supporters louder and more influential it seems).
>
><http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/03/stories/2006020315440700.htm>http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/03/stories/2006020315440700.htm 
>(Monorail plan ill-advised: Sreedharan)
>"The Tamil Nadu Government's decision to go for 
>monorail for Chennai city to meet its growing 
>traffic needs is most `unfortunate' as it will 
>not help meet the transport requirement of city 
>commuters," says Delhi Metro Rail Corporation managing director E. Sreedharan.
>
>Already the State had burnt its fingers with the 
>"ill-advised" mass rapid transit system (MRTS) 
>and the monorail would be its another 
>"ill-advised venture," he said in a letter to the State Government.
>
>The State, which had asked the DMRC to submit a 
>comprehensive report for a rail based metro 
>system for Chennai, dashed off a letter to the 
>Corporation recently asking it to stop all its investigations and surveys.
>
>Expressing surprise over the decision, Mr. 
>Sreedharan suspected that the State had been 
>"influenced by monorail lobby with its tall 
>claims and false promises." The lobby, the 
>letter noted, had already stalled the metro project in Bangalore. 

>
>or 
><http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/29/stories/2006012901640500.htm>http://www.hindu.com/2006/01/29/stories/2006012901640500.htm 
>(Divergent views emerge on utility of monorail project)
>
>Any comments?
>
>Paul
>
>Paul A. Barter  |  Assistant Professor  |  LKY 
>School of Public Policy  |  National University 
>of Singapore  |  29 Heng Mui Keng 
>Terrace  |  Singapore 119620  |  Tel: 
>&#4365-6516 3324  |  Fax: &#4365-6778 
>1020  |  Email:  paulbarter at nus.edu.sg  | 
><http://www.spp.nus.edu.sg/faculty/paulbarter/>http://www.spp.nus.edu.sg/faculty/paulbarter/ 
>
>
>I am speaking for myself, not for my employers.
>Are you interested in urban transport in 
>developing countries? Then try 
><http://urbantransportasia.blogspot.com/>http://urbantransportasia.blogspot.com/ 
>
>And consider joining the SUSTRAN-DISCUSS list, 
><http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss>http://list.jca.apc.org/manage/listinfo/sustran-discuss 
>or <http://www.geocities.com/sustrannet/>http://www.geocities.com/sustrannet/
>
>
>================================================================
>SUSTRAN-DISCUSS is a forum devoted to discussion 
>of people-centred, equitable and sustainable 
>transport with a focus on developing countries 
>(the 'Global South'). Because of the history of 
>the list, the main focus is on urban transport policy in Asia.

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John Ernst   -  Director, Asia Region
    ITDP - The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
Promoting environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide
  Visit http://www.itdp.org
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