[sustran] Re: World Bank loan for MUTP
Bina CBalakrishnan
binac at rediffmail.com
Sun Mar 10 21:57:55 JST 2002
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
>
>
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