Put Chennai metro rail on fast track: ASSOCHAM

NEW DELHI: To meet the growing demands of travellers and to cap the inadequacies of the current infrastructure, Chennai’s Mass Rapid Transit System should become functional at the earliest, insists a report submitted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)The apex industrial chamber cautioned that infrastructure in Chennai would be inadequate to bear the projected population of 1.1 crore by 2030, as compared to the present headcount of 89 lakh. “The transportation infrastructure in Chennai is dismal, as buses and trains are acutely overcrowded and sorely lack in comfort and convenience for commuters,” it said.The study, ‘Urbanising India and Mega Metro Network: Vision for the Emerging Cities of India 2030’, advised that the `14,000-crore metro rail project, envisaging a 45-km public transport system with elevated and underground sections, should be put on the fast track.Across the country, the number of cities with over 10 lakh people will increase from 48 to 68 in the next two decades, according to the ASSOCHAM study. The number of cities with a population of 40 lakh and above will increase from seven to 13 in the next two decades. The subsequent growth explosion in these cities will account for almost 70 per cent of India’s GDP.It said implementation of the metro network in Delhi had led to multiple benefits. “Fuel savings due to the Delhi Metro Rail could notch up to `8,000 crore in 2011-12 and rise progressively to `15,000 crore by 2020,” said the study. “Over two lakh officegoers and others travel back and forth via metro, and use their cars to move from home to station and back on weekdays.”The Delhi Metro has also become world’s first railway project to receive valuable carbon credits for regenerative braking and the environmental technology has also contributed over `2 crore under a United Nations-backed initiative to combat climate change.About 80,731 four-wheelers and 4.8 lakh two-wheelers on roads have been reduced and the number of buses has dropped by 4,767 because of it.  By 2015-16, the reduction in number of four-wheelers and two-wheelers is projected to reach 2.4 lakh and 1.5 lakh, respectively. Likewise, 12,388 buses will be withdrawn by then, according to a projection by the the ASSOCHAM.