NEW DELHI: With Metro becoming one of the successful transport models in the country, the Government on Thursday said it will be looking at building the modern transport system in cities with population of over 20 lakh and promote indigenisation in the sector to reduce costs.
“To meet the urban transport challenges, we are looking for a sustainable, economical and comfort transport system. With this background, the Metro rail system is being given highest priority and in the future we will be looking at a Metro transport system for towns with population of over 20 lakh,” Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath told a press conference here. He also announced setting up of a Research and Design cell for indigenisation in the booming modern transport sector. The new age transport system of Metro is already operational in Delhi and Bangalore. It is being constructed in cities like Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad, while proposals for building the system is smaller cities like Kochi, Nagpur, Pune, Lucknow and Ludhiana are being considered by the Centre.
Nath said the Government will support preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for such a system in the cities across the country with fifty per cent of its cost. A National Urban Rail Transit Authoirty will also be set up to lay donor technical standards and advise Government on various metro rail-related issues, he said.
As part of its efforts to promote indigenisation in the sector, Nath said he has directed the Delhi Metro to procure equipments for its Phase-III project through manufacturing facilities in the country.
With the sector set to throw up a number of employment opportunities as Metro systems come up in various cities, he said the Ministry was pursuing for launching of M.Tech in Urban Transport with specialisation in Metro technology in IIT-Delhi and Madras. (PTI)
