The government is currently in the process of preparing comprehensive mobility plans for 500 cities, having population of more than 100,000, said Shankar Agarwal, secretary ministry of urban development (MoUD) on Friday.

Addressing the inaugural session of the CII international conference on mass urban transportation, he said as a part of these schemes, the government would provide finance up to 50 percent for preparing detailed project report. He also emphasised upon the government’s commitment to come up with smart planning for Indian urban mobility. “This becomes even more pertinent in the wake of the fact that simultaneously with rapid urbanisation and a rapid growth of motorised transport,” he said.

Speaking about the lessons of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) he said,“Most of the public-private-partnership could not see the light of the day because we see the other party as a contractor instead of a partner.”

Sharing his perspective, Chittaranjan Kumar Khetan, joint secretary, MoUD said both urban development and transport are state subjects and ULBs in small and medium towns do not consider urban transportation as their responsibility.

It is under such a scenario the national urban transport policy, 2006, was created. He also brought out the need for greater harmonisation between different levels of government in view of the fact that as per our constitution, transport infrastructure and services is with the states and urban local bodies (ULBs).

Dr. O P Agarwal, director general, Indian urban transport highlighted upon the need for integration of not only different transport subsystems but also the land use and transport planning. “This becomes crucial as going ahead, India has to choose an urbanisation model that is congruent with low energy consumption,” he said.

“Already, fuel consumption on motorised vehicles is expected to reach 175 million tonnes by 2021 from 70 million tonnes in 2011. Consequent impact on fuel import bill would be 1850 thousand crores in 2021 from 750 thousand crores in 2011,” he added.