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Ludhiana Metro: A Sustainable
Solution of Just
a Political Blunder
Navdeep Asija
10th October 2007
Yesterday Punjab Government signing of MoU for developing metro rail
project in Ludhiana and highlighted the same as Landmark in Punjab's
history which will mark Punjab's entry into the age of post-modern
technology. This is debatable here, whether it is going to be
post-modern or post mortem technology.
As Finance minister of Punjab quoted many times that financial
condition of Punjab is not good. Then who will bear this burder of
huge investment in the order of 3000 crore. Moreover these 3000
crores seem to be very unrealistic estimation; it does not include
the cost of rolling stock. Large projects like the Metro, the
viability gap funding tends to make huge demands on the state
exchequer. After this decision the financial burden born by Punjab
during militancy era would seem much smaller in comparison to this
upcoming mounting debt burden on the State going to be imposed by
our political leaders.
Instead of building a rail based mass rapid transit system; bus
rapid transit system can be a good option for a city like Ludhiana,
Mohali, Amritsar. Without changing much of existing road
infrastructure same can be accommodated and adopted. Bus based MRTS
can cater 80% of the total ridership in comparison to the metro,
whilst construction cost of 1km elevated metro line is almost 35
times higher than constructing a at grade dedicated bus lane. Other
advantages are, bus provides you node to node better connectivity
through open and closed system, whilst Metro Involved longer length
of walking trips followed by vertical up and down movement to reach
metro station. A City is just not a physical structure; it is a
social structure.
We need to address the role of each element and
development shall be made by keeping into mind minimal impact on
existing social and physical structure. Construction of metro will
disturb the skyline of the city and the best example is Chaura Bazar
flyover, which has almost spoiled the entire city structure of
Ludhiana without changing much improvement in city's congestion
situation. Another point of debate can be, metro is required to
cater the future demand; but future demand can be very well
addressed by developing a better master plan for the city, where
people needs to travel lesser distance from workplace to home.
Better planning can also results reduced congestion and pollution
due to vehicles.
In Delhi alone, modal share in total motorized trips of through
existing bus system is 60%. Punjab can learn the lesson from
existing studies and areas where Metro has been implemented. Per
kilometer Cost of Delhi Metro's Phase-I for the construction of
three lines of 65 km in total length is 163 Crore. 10, 571crore [1],
enough money to by 10 full-bodied Boeing 747s. At present metro
ridership is near about 7.5 lakh passenger per day, which is not
feeding the 1% of total Delhi's population. As per Delhi Metro
Corporation estimations [2] number of originating passengers per day
in the year 2011 for Phase I and Phase II corridors would be 26.17
lakhs. A total investment of 20847.92 [3] crore on 213.7 km long
rail network just to benefit 2% of the population is not a good
idea. In terms of road accidents fatalities on Delhi's Road are
increased by 8.6% between 2001 to 2005 period [4]. Passengers using
the Metro make up just about a fifth of the numbers projected
initially. There is also the sobering experience of the 16 km
Kolkata Metro, where ridership is limited to 10 per cent of capacity
[5].
Delhi Metro data reveals that metro is a viable option where people
travel corridor in one direction exceeds intra city demand 20,000
persons per hour. I am sure, just to make metro viable Government
won't let Ludhiana to reach at this level through wrong policies and
planning. Population density of L udhiana per Sq.kms is 804 [6]
persons in comparison to Delhi's population density 9,296 [7] person
per square kilometer. With the population density 11 times higher
than of Ludhiana, if Delhi metro is not able to generate half of its
estimated ridership, then I have doubt that how this metro project
will be feasible in the case of circular city Ludhiana well
connected with linear and radial roads.
17
October, 2007
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