Investment in infra will have a multiplier effect on the economy
India is witnessing the arrival of a new generation of mobility discourses, which are nuanced enough to provide sustainable urban mobility, said the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The Ministry has issued a detailed advisory, as to how the nation needs to move ahead in these testing times.
It rests on three key pillars, namely, promotion of public transport system, leveraging technological advancements and penetration of Non-Motorised Transport (NMT) systems in the urban transport paradigm.
Various studies show that about 16-57% of urban commuters are pedestrian and about 30-40% of commuters use bicycles in the country depending on the size of the city.
Considering this as an opportunity, elevating the priority of these modes gives travelers another private vehicle alternative, which is clean, safe, secured particularly if it is integrated with other modes and affordable for all, said the ministry in a release on 9 Nov 2020.
Non-motorised transport (NMT) will occupy the prime, non-negotiable, position in every form of urban mobility discourse and intervention, it said at the 13th Urban Mobility India Conference on “Emerging Trends in Urban Mobility”.
This crisis has presented an opportunity to guide the recovery of urban transport towards long-term development goals, it said.
The Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep S. Puri, told the conference that India is likely to experience a behavioral change in urban mobility in the aftermath of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
“Future mobility is about striving towards environment-friendly, integrated, automated and personalized travel on-demand. New advancements like intelligent transportation systems, and traffic management applications are in the pipeline for enhanced mobility in major cities.”
Investment in infrastructure to address more effective circulation and interchange of people and goods will have an economic multiplier effect — both job-creation in the present and boosting growth and productivity in the future, he said. #infrastructure #projects #investment #technology #transport #mobility #urban /fiinews.com
