‘BRT is the solution to New Delhi’s traffic problem’
Dr Andrew Steer, the president and the CEO of the World Resources Institute (WRI), talks about solutions to India’s transport and pollution problems. Having served as Special Envoy for Climate Change from 2010 – 2012 for the World Bank, he suggests the way forward for cities such as Delhi. put it into public transportation. There is no way that a good well managed and comfortable public transport system would not work.
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system is the solution — it is inexpensive and quite effective. Unfortunately, in Delhi, BRT did not work because it was not well designed.
It’s not either or. But accept it, Metro is sexy, buses are not! For the mayors or the state leadership, hi-tech
Metro and cutting ribbons are more exciting than going to a bus stop.
The mayor of Bogota, Colombia, Enrique Peñalosa Londoño, is a man who makes buses sound fabulous. Leadership involves that kind of narrative creation. From my work in the past I feel all industrial countries go through stages where their rivers are filthy and then they realise that something needs to be done about it. As far as I know, India now is doing something about it.
It does require the right kind of investment. Obviously, there is low cost technology available. The problem is cities are growing, the GDP is growing, so obviously they will have more and more waste. We have worked with the Chinese government for a while now to convert sludge for generating electricity. That’s part of a revolution as we move in a circular economy.
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One needs to identify exactly which part of the economy is creating what kind of pollution. And then one needs to do a marginal abatement cost curve. You have to start with the cheapest option and go after energy efficiency.
Take PM Modi’s push on renewable energy for example. It really made leaders across the world listen to his point and he made sense. So, what we really need is bold decisions.