No more room on the road

No more room on the road
Darryl D'Monte

One of the ugliest impacts of economic liberalisation is the increasing dependence on private motorised transport in cities. New Delhi has witnessed the biggest boom in the number of cars and two- and three-wheelers but has room to expand in most directions. With 300 cars registered each day, Mumbai is struggling to accommodate them within its geographical limits. Although they account for only 10 per cent of the peak hour trips in the city, they contribute to 60 per cent of the air pollution. Throughout urban India, the flow of traffic is grinding to a halt with this spurt in vehicles.

Successive Maharashtra governments have been building more fly-overs, freeways and sea links, oblivious of the fact that by increasing the road capacity, they are only worsening the problem in the long run. This at a time when cities in industrial countries are doing all they can to prevent cars from entering the central business district. Mumbai's Transport Commissioner has proposed restricting cars by their number plates each working day, which would cut numbers by a fifth. The average speed of traffic is declining; it can take as long for a businessman to reach the city centre from the airport as it does to fly from Delhi. The World Bank has been pressing for the second phase of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP II), which emphasises public transport, and has criticised the fly-over mania for encouraging car use.

What is worrying about the entire process in Mumbai is the conspicuous lack of planning. The investments are staggering: Rs 1,740 crore for 56 fly-overs, Rs 6,000 crore for the Sewri-Nhava Sheva sea link and Rs 2,000 crore for Western Freeway Sea Link from Bandra to Nariman Point. This Rs 10,000 crore is being spent without the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the top planning agency, or the municipal corporation being consulted. The executing agency, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), is taking all decisions itself, like a lab technician performing surgery on a critical patient. This is of a piece with the controversial Andheri fly-over, which has been taken to court by environmentalists, where the head of the Jog construction company earlier presided over an official committee to advise on the desirability of fly-overs and was awarded this Rs 140 crore contract!

The Collector recently called a public hearing on the second phase of the Western Freeway. This Rs-1,500 crore coastal highway and series of bridges will alter the face of the city, but the MSRDC did not even make a presentation at the hearing; supporters and opponents are in the dark about its techno-economic feasibility. Mumbai's traffic problem is its north-south axis, which is why planners have recommended the development of a new city on the mainland to the east. The Western Freeway will only reassert the importance of south Mumbai as the business district, when alternative suburban centres like Bandra-Kurla and Andheri are establishing themselves. All supporters of these freeways and bridges believe that the faster flow of traffic will reduce air pollution. It is true that the emissions per car will go down, but once the total number of cars increases, the overall load will go up. There is also a belief that over the sea, the offensive gases will somehow disperse into "thin air". Nothing could befurther from the truth. They will drift landwards, particularly with the prevailing winds. Also, where will all the extra cars park? There is just one multi-storeyed car park coming up in Nariman Point. Such are the skewed priorities that some of the world's most expensive real estate is earmarked for "the 10 per cent solution", while a bus depot gets short shrift.

After 12 long years, the state government appears to be stirring on MUTP II by setting up a railway corporation. This scheme augments commuter rail capacity -- Mumbai is unique among the world's largest cities because 83 per cent of the peak hour traffic is by public transport -- along with synchronising road traffic signals and so on. The major reason for this sloth seems to be the absence of kick-backs on rail projects. Funds may well have been diverted to the MSRDC and in any case, public resources are being spent on the transport needs of a tiny minority. If the authorities are prevented by courts from charging motorists tolls, as in the case of fly-overs, citizens will have to bear the costs.