Sunday, December 4, 2011

Urban Mobility India 2011 to Address Ways to Achieve Sustainable Mobility

The Four Day Conference-Cum-Exhibition to also Support the Sixth Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport (EST) Forum in Asia


India with 1.2 billion; over 31 per cent in cities; three mega cities with 10 million plus population,53 million pus cities and rapid pace of urbanization is poised at a critical threshold. Urban renewal and development has become a policy priority of the Government of India, which is an appropriate response to the challenge and a great potential opportunity. Cities that are livable, clean, green, energy efficient and sustainable need to be built. The most challenging impact of this urban growth and the rising income levels is the mobility crisis. This makes urban transport as the most important urban infrastructure for urbanisation and to ensure that lack of mobility does not become a bottleneck for economic growth, major investments shall have to be done in the field of urban transport in next 20years. The investment needed for urban transport in the 12th five year plan is of the order of Rs. 3,88,000Cr as per the report of the working group on urban transport submitted to planning commission recently.

In a continuing effort to get a better understanding of this critical issue, the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, has been organizing Urban Mobility India – a conference-cum-exhibition from 3-5th December of every year, for the last 4 years.

This year, Urban Mobility India (UMI) 2011 is being organized at The Manekshaw Centre (Dhaula Kuan) in Delhi from Dec 3rd to 6th, 2011. This year event is co-hosting 6th Regional Environmentally Sustainable Transport Forum(EST) having representation from about 40 countries with participation from 23 Asian countries. United Nations Centre for Regional Development (UNCRD), World Health Organization (WHO) and Ministry of the Environment Government of Japan are partner organizers.

Chaired by Prof. Saugata Roy, Minister of State (Urban Development) the conference-cum-exhibition will bring together under one roof the technology and service providers in urban transport from India and abroad in various modes such as pedestrians, non-motorized transport, bus operations, BRT, LRT, metro rail, environment and traffic management, congestion management, ropeways, parking and ITS etc., as well as, the policy makers, practitioners and officials.

Key note addresses would be delivered by Dr. E Sreedharan, MD, Delhi Metro and Mr. Robert O’Keefe, Vice President of the Heath Effect Institute (HEI) and Chairman of CAI-Asia. Shri Kamal Nath, Minister for Urban Development, will present Urban Mobility Awards to selected and best urban transport initiatives/projects.

The Conference and expo shall be formally inaugurated on 4th December 2011 by Saugata Roy, Minister of State for Urban Development. The awards would be presented by Minister for Urban Development during valedictory session on 6th December. The technical sessions as well as round tables cover almost entire gamut of issues relating to urban transport from pedestrianisation to metro including PPP, accessibility, intelligent transport System, land use and transport planning, public health and safety, last mile connectivity, mode choices for public transport, people and environment friendly urban transport planning, sustainable mobility and large housing projects, nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMA), financing options, fare integration for seamless travel, bike sharing, green freight etc.

About 1000 delegates are expected to participate in this four day event from all over India representing almost all the agencies including traffic police, planners, engineers, policy makers, consultants, industry etc. Post graduate Students and research scholars from various institutions are also participating.

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