[sustran] To decongest 30 cities, Urban Development Ministry asks American firm for roadmap

[Eric Britton]

Erp! I would be most eager to have comments on this article from last week's
Indian Express. It sends shivers down by back (Wilbur Smith??), but what do I
know, eh?

 

Eric Britton

 

PS. When Sigmund Freud was trying to exit Vienna for England in the late
thirties, the German officials insisted that he write a letter exonerating the
SS from any bad behaviour in his case. His reply was very short, reading more or
less: "Letter to anyone who might happen to require the good services of the SS.
They are indeed very good at what they do."  (End rough quote)

 

To decongest 30 cities, Centre asks American firm for roadmap


Maitreyee Handique - http://www.indianexpress.com/story/11223.html


 

NEW DELHI, August 22:

To decongest the traffic chaos and improve mobility in India's city roads, the
Urban Development Ministry is initiating a study to develop an infrastructure
model to ease traffic congestion. 

Wilbur Smith Associates Private Ltd (WSAPL), a subsidiary of the US-based
traffic and transportation planning company, Wilbur Smith Associates, has been
selected to conduct sample surveys in 30 cities, including metros like Delhi,
Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata. 

The other cities, which were finalised yesterday, include Jaipur, Gangtok,
Shimla, Ahmedabad and Surat. 

The report, which will be ready within a year, will cost Rs 1.32 crore. The
company presented its inception report to the ministry this week. 

WSPL was selected among at least six bidders through a tender process four
months ago, sources said. The study called Traffic Engineering & Transportation
Planning will focus on creating an infrastructure model based on its research of
different cities and suggest methods of traffic dispersal and creation of new
corridors. The survey will become a base model for replicating in other cities
in the future, sources said. 

The methodology will be based on traffic surveys, household interviews, as well
as secondary data and sample interviews of more than 4,000 people in big cities.


It will consider several parameters such as the shape of the city, population,
the available public transport and per capita income. The study will also offer
suggestions relating to public transportation requirement of cities. 

At present, dependence on public transport system in cities like Mumbai is over
70 per cent while in Delhi it's about 30-35 per cent. In Chennai, it's about 40
per cent whereas in towns like Kanpur it's as low as 5 per cent. The ministry
had last conducted a study of India's traffic situation in 1998. This is the
first time that the focus is being laid on infrastructure modelling to address
the issue of traffic snarl-ups.

 

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