New Delhi: A Unified Metropolitan Transport
Authority should be set up in all major cities to streamline
public transport, Union Urban Development Minister S Jaipal
Reddy said here Wednesday.
He was speaking after launching the Rs 1,400 crore
Sustainable Urban Transport Project here, which aims at
training over 1,000 people involved in transport sector and
taking up environment-friendly transportation projects in some
select cities.
"Every city in the country has various modes of
transport. But there is no unified metropolitan transport
authority. We will try and push the state governments to
establish separate metropolitan transport authorities to
streamline public transport sector in cities," he said.
Reddy said the new project is an outcome of the
realisation about the need to build capacity for implementing
sustainable urban transport and to encourage implementation of
National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP).
He also said some states were not using the JNNURM funds
to develop public transport in their cities. "I recently went
to a big city. It did not have any public transport," he said
and added that it was under the JNNURM project. However, he
refused to name the city when asked.
The project will be launched in five cities -- Pimpri
Chinchwad (Maharashtra), Naya Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Indore
(Madhya Pradesh), Mysore (Karnataka) and Pune (Maharashtra).
The programme, which will be implemented with financial
assistance from Global Environment Facility, World Bank and
the UNDP, has for the first time introduced a moving train
concept where more cities and projects can join as the project
moves along.
Reddy rued that urban transport was never part of any
government`s planning and said it has assumed importance only
in the wake of rapid urbanisation that is taking place in the
last few years.
"The Centre, under the JNNURM, has sanctioned 15,000
buses to various cities and already 7,000 of them have been
received. Public transport is being encouraged in major cities
and Bus Rapid Transit is being implemented in over 10 cities,"
he said.
Reddy also asked private companies to come forward to
implement transport projects in urban areas along with the
government.
"We need lot of funds for implementing the projects. We
want private companies to partner with the government," he
said and exuded confidence that the ministry will be achieving
its goals at least during the 12th Five-Year Plan.
Urban Development Secretary M Ramachandran said urban
transport was an "orphaned child" a few years back and that
the Centre has taken a number of steps to develop the sector
in major cities.
He also said big cities should establish transport funds
and metropolitan transport authorities to streamline the
public transport sector.
PTI
