India to invest in transportation to boost urban economies

Grand plans have been announced for transport investment in India aimed at boosting city economies. India’s Government Secretary for Urban Development Sudhir Krishna explains all to Jason Barnes.

There are many reasons for developed countries’ high levels of urbanisation, not least of which is that the types of employment to be found in towns and cities tend to generate relatively greater wealth and so make greater contributions to a country’s economy. That creates the imperative for developing nations to follow the trend in order to grow further.

However, for India, the world’s seventh-largest country and the second most populous, that represents a particularly burdensome task.

The Indian Government has recognised the enormity of the undertaking. At 70 Intertraffic in Amsterdam earlier this year, India’s Government Secretary for Urban Development Sudhir Krishna, gave a presentation which included some substantial headline figures for transport-related investment: $78Bn is to be spent over the next five years and a total of $506Bn over the next two decades.

Challenges and opportunities

India shares with other developing nations the issues associated with starting from a low technological base, but it can more readily adopt newer-generation technologies and practices. The Indian Government’s acknowledgement of the size of the task ahead in financial terms is accompanied by recognition that an investment by overseas partners of intellectual property is also needed if success is to be achieved.

Krishna describes India’s current level of urbanisation, of around 31-32%, as grossly inadequate: “Rural landholdings have seen a secular decline and have reached the very low average level of one hectare. So, unless people migrate from rural to urban regions, the country will continue to carry a large rural population which has poor economic strength and which will continue to depend on financial aid from the Government for survival. Cities must provide the platform for economic growth of both the regions and their inhabitants,” Krishna says.

“For that, cities must be planned well, with adequate supporting infrastructure, starting with good public transport, followed by adequate water supplies, waste management, housing, education and healthcare, recreation and so on.”

But investment, however large, is not enough; it must be combined with concerted efforts on the part of all stakeholders, he states. The result is a ‘virtuous cycle’ of re-investment which invigorates urban centres.

Strong policies

“Poor infrastructure gives poor returns from investments, including from investments in human resources. Conversely, good infrastructure makes cities more prosperous by attracting investment and in turn, generating employment. The resultant enhanced prosperity pays for the cost of the infrastructure, including its maintenance.

“The algorithm mooted here calls for strong leadership at the policy-making level as well as in implementation. Deft handling of the policy and the programmes is required, coupled with strong government at the local level. Above all, citizens have to be taken into confidence and made participants in the decision-making processes as well as in monitoring the outcomes of implementations.”

Emphasising mass transit

In a country as large and populous as India, the potential for urban sprawl is always a concern – as is congestion; many developed countries are paying the price of the historical encouragement of high levels of car ownership. Much of the thrust of India’s current policy is towards the use of mass transit and metro rail is proving to be a popular mode of travel, owing to the reach, connectivity, comfort and security it offers to commuters.
“Women in particular find it far more convenient to commute on metro railways,” Krishna continues. “There is a trend of reserving certain coaches for female commuters. However, metro railways are costly so it has been found cost-effective to introduce them only in larger cities – those of two million inhabitants or more. But even there, metro rail alone is unable to provide a complete mobility solution. It needs to be supplemented by feeder bus services providing connectivity between neighbourhoods and metro stations.

“The second-tier cities need bus rapid transit (BRT) systems, of which Ahmadabad is a good example. Well-designed BRT gives commuters the same levels of comfort as metro rail.

It comes with a speed penalty of about 25%, but at a fifth of the cost, making BRT an ideal choice for smaller cities.

However, 6865 BRT systems also need to be supplemented by feeder bus services.

Stand-alone bus services suffice for the even smaller cities but the buses themselves must be modern, low-floor, low-noise designs with well-designed, comfortable interiors.

“In all cities, use of non-motorised transport, particularly bicycles, needs to be promoted. Bicycles were a very popular mode of mobility in all Indian cities until about 10 years ago. Over the years, city roads have been overwhelmed by motorised traffic. Cities need to revive bicycles but provide safe cycle lanes. Public bicycle systems need to be trialled, which should provide relief to commuters as well as gainful employment to entrepreneurs. Walking remains good for health, wealth and time management. In all of India’s cities, a very large proportion of commuters used to cover a part or even all of their daily commute on foot. The growth of motor transport necessitated the widening of carriageways and reducing the width of pedestrian footpaths was generally the first choice of city managers. Many street shops, and even police booths, have been set up on footpaths, making it less and less convenient to walk.”

The role of ITS

Injecting greater intelligence into all of this is a key aim. Krishna describes ITS as ‘a shot in the arm’ for public transport management. Cities such as Ahmadabad, Bangalore and a few others have experimented successfully with ITS applications, and ITS has proven to be a cost-effective transport management system for all metro railways, he says.

India is also working on a national common mobility card, which is a pre-paid debit card usable on all participating public transport systems. This has been named ‘More’, which is the local name for India’s national bird, the peacock. Jaipur has already adopted it in principle and will roll it out as soon as metro rail goes operational. In Delhi, Delhi Metro Rail and Delhi Transport Corporation (which provides the city’s bus services) have agreed to collaborate in introducing the More card.

Legislative reform

An historical barrier to foreign companies becoming involved in India’s transport sector has been the country’s arcane system of national, regional and local government. Reform is under way and Krishna is keen to stress the scale of opportunity for non-domestic stakeholders.

“We are conscious that technology is transforming itself on a global canvas,” he continues. “We need to learn from the experience of other countries and benefit from techno-financial collaboration with them. We allow foreign direct investment of up to 100% in various transport-related goods and services. For instance, tunnel boring machine manufacturer 6866 Herrenknecht has set up an Indian subsidiary near Chennai, while 513 Bombardier and 189 Siemens have set up factories manufacturing metro rail coaches. These are too few examples. We need to have more and bigger investments.”

India remains reliant on overseas expertise at present, Krishna says, and opportunities to become involved exist from the very beginnings of projects. There could also be collaboration training and recruiting staff within the transport systems, he adds.

“Going further, the collaboration could also be in the areas of technology supply and management. While many overseas companies are actively pursuing these issues in metro rail systems, the same degree of involvement is not seen frequently in respect of BRT or the supply of buses, cycles and so on. Now that we have identified these aspects as significant for effective city mobility planning and its implementation, the situation should improve substantially in the near future.”