Setting the context for the Conference Ms Rumjhum Chatterjee, Chairperson, CII Delhi State Council said that Delhi would be hosting the first green Commonwealth games this year. The city has taken this as an opportunity to transform itself into a world class city. Sustainable mobility solutions are an integral part of this objective, she added and expressed confidence that the conference would identify specific issues and also arrive at solutions. The conference was organized by the CII Delhi State Council, at the Auto Expo, Delhi, and supported by the Government of NCT Delhi.
Addressing the inaugural session, Dr Noor Mohammed, Member Secretary NCR Planning Board shared the details of the Integrated Transport Plan for NCR prepared by the board. Connecting NCT to neighboring areas which could act as counter magnets for Delhi, integrating different modes of transport, promotion of walkability and cycling and their integration with the transport system, integration with the forthcoming projects like the DMIC, and opening up of the less accessible areas are some of the key elements of the plan.
Elaborating on the financials of the plan Dr Mohammed said that the total plan cost was estimated to be Rs 176,000 crores to be spent till 2032. This will have to be raised through Innovative resource mobilization, he added.
Emphasizing on the constraint of road space in Delhi, Mr J S Sindhu, Joint Commissioner (Transport) Government of NCT Delhi said that while the road length in Delhi has grown by 3.7% over the last 40 years the number of vehicles has increased 26 times. Out of the 60 lakh vehicles plying in Delhi, 90% of the buses were private vehicles. This has led to a congestion of the roads. A reliable, affordable, environment friendly, comfortable and safe public transport system was the only solution to this problem, he added.
Mr Sindhu also shared some of the transport related government initiatives as a run up to the Commonwealth Games. These include 11,000 new buses, streamlining of the systems for better monitoring of the public vehicles through measures like smart card based RC, licenses and driver badges and creating more road space wherever possible.
Mr Schmidt Manfred, Director – Sales & Marketing Hybrid Drives World Wide, Siemens AG shared the concept of hybrid transportation which runs on a combination of batteries and fossil fuel. This he said reduces the carbon emissions by 40%. Appreciating the metro initiative and also the efforts towards using environment friendly CNG, he suggested that India should adopt hybrid transportation. He elaborated on the initiatives taken by other countries on this front, including UK, USA, China and Japan. He also emphasized on the importance of the government support required for promoting this environment friendly transportation concept.
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