Hindustan Times (Delhi) / Subhendu Ray

NEW DELHI: Chaos outside Delhi Metro stations might soon become a thing of the past. Now, traffic police who would be posted outside the city’s busiest Metro stations willhelp you catch that rickshaw or autorickshaw for your onward journey.

To deal with the growing problem of congestion outside Metro stations, created by autorickshaws, rickshaws, cars and buses that throng the station’s entry/exit points to pick up or drop commuters, Delhi traffic police have decided to deploy its personnel outside selectstations that see high footfalls. They will be tasked with regulating traffic to facilitate the movement of commuters.

“We have selected 45 such stations including 12 in south Delhi,” said a senior trafficpolice officer, adding that a deployment plan is being prepared.

The plan is to improve traffic flow near Metro stations and also ensure last mile-connectivity.

Delhi traffic police recently held a meeting with the officers of security cell and operations cell to discuss the proposal, said Anuj Dayal, the chief spokesperson of DMRC. Some of thestations where deployment would be made include Rajiv Chowk, Kashmere Gate, Vishwavidyalaya and Central Secretariat.

Source-http://paper.hindustantimes.com

In an indication of a revival of interest in Indian roads sector France’s Vinci Construction is in talks with at least one infrastructure firm to acquire its concession.

“We are looking at acquiring the concessions of those developers who are looking to exit. While we have been present in the engineering, procurement and construction space in India since 2010, we are looking at expanding our portfolio. We are in talks with one or two companies for acquiring their concession,” said Thomas Bigueure, head of Vinci Concessions India Pvt. Ltd, the Indian arm of the French firm. He declined to name the firms or the concessions as the talks are underway.

This comes at a time when Indian infrastructure developers, who had earlier bid aggressively for securing road contracts, are now claiming declining viability of highway projects.

GMR Infrastructure Ltd and GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd walked out of their agreements with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) earlier this year, the agency that oversees construction and maintenance of roads.

The French construction and concession firm which operates 5,500km of roads in France, with interests in roads, highways, stadiums and airports has been bidding for Indian highway projects in equal partnership with Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd (HCC) but have been unable to secure any such project.

In response to a question about Vinci Construction entering a sector which others have been exiting, Bigueure said, “There is nothing wrong with the projects. We have the appetite. Maybe they bid too high. The kind of aggressive bidding that happened is not sustainable. It is a good opportunity to find the right projects. We are looking at project specific opportunities. There are clearance problems but they are project specific.”

A case in point being GMR Infrastructure which won the concession for the Rs.6,000 crore Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway wherein it agreed to pay a so-called premium payment—the money developers pay NHAI for building a highway and collecting toll from users of Rs.636 crore in the first year. The payout would have increased 5% for the subsequent years over a 26-year period of the premium payment. GMR Infrastructure and GVK Power and Infrastructure walked out of their agreements with NHAI earlier this year.

The distressed infrastructure developers, hit by a funding crunch and high borrowing costs in the face of slowing economic growth, and delays in securing mandatory government approvals have sought easier payment terms. However, this effort has been rejected by India’s law ministry last week with it turned down a proposal by the ministry of road transport and highways for restructuring premium payments.

This also comes in the backdrop of NHAI’s inability to meet the target to build 9,500km of roads set by the ministry of road transport and highways and its own internal target of 3,000km last fiscal. In the fiscal year ending 31 March, the government awarded only around 1,000km of road construction projects, about one-tenth of its target of 9,500km.

In an attempt to ease the anxieties over the road sector, the Economic Survey presented earlier this year said exit routes for promoters need to be eased to allow them to sell equity to raise money for new projects. Vinci Concession India clocked a revenue of €200 million in the last fiscal and is currently involved in active bids for highway projects. Of the global revenue of €38.6 billion, concessions contribute €6 billion with the balance generated from the construction business.

“We have participated in bids along with HCC. We are getting there with our last bid falling short by 10% of the winning bid,” said Bigueure.

The French firm also plans to bid for the Goa airport project.

“While partnering with a local partner makes sense to understand a new market, ours is not an exclusive arrangement with HCC,” said Bigueure.

India’s infrastructure growth has hit the skids. As many as 103 central government infrastructure projects mainly roads, highways and railways, costing more than Rs.150 crore each have been delayed by 4-20 years, according to data compiled until March by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation. The delays have led to costs rising by about 85%, or about Rs.70,000 crore, over what had been estimated originally for these projects.

This comes at a time when the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) envisages new infrastructure investment of about Rs.56.3 trillion between 2012 and 2017 owing to the urgent need to upgrade India’s shoddy and inadequate roads, ports and utilities to boost flagging economic growth.

The writer is in France as a guest of the French government.

Source_http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com

Hindustan Times (Delhi) Atul Mathur

NEW DELHI:

The Delhi transport department will revise fare for radio taxis from next week. A ride in an AC taxi will cost R23 per km and an economy taxi will charge R13 per km. From June, you have to pay more for travelling in radio taxis. After auto-rickshaws, the transport department has now decided to revise fares of air-conditioned as well as ‘economy’ radio taxis in the Capital.

Sources said a ride in an airconditioned radio taxi will now cost R23 per kilometre while the economy taxis will charge R13 per kilometre. The transport department had increased auto-rickshaw and taxi (black and yellow) fares by 25% earlier this month. While the radio taxi operators are demanding a similar hike, sources said the government has agreed to increase their fare by 15%. The radio taxi fare was last revised in September 2010. The existing radio taxi fare in air-conditioned and economy radio taxis is R20 and R10 per kilometre.

“The radio taxi operators have been demanding fare revision. We could not do it when we revised auto-rickshaw fares but it will be done soon,” Delhi transport minister Ramakant Goswami said. He said the transport department was likely to submit a final proposal early next week and the revised fare would come into effect immediately after his approval.

Radio taxis are a popular mode of transport in Delhi. There are about 5,000 AC radio cabs and 3,800 economy radio taxis plying in the Capital.

Available on demand and fitted with global positioning system, radio cabs are considered a safe transport for women and those who travel late at night. According to an estimate, more than two lakh people travel by radio taxis every day.

The move, traffic police officers believe, will provide an alternative route for hundreds of motorists who commute daily between several West Delhi locations, including Dwarka and central Delhi, and reduce traffic congestion on existing roads connecting the two districts. The Delhi traffic police have recently drawn up a proposal in this regard and submitted it to the Unified Traffic and Transportation Infrastructure (Planning and Engineering) Centre (UTTIPEC) for clearance.

According to officials, the four-lane elevated corridor has been proposed along an existing un-tarred road presently is used as a horse track by the Army and not for any vehicular movement.

“We have submitted the proposal to the UTTIPEC and hope to get its approval soon,” said additional commissioner of police (traffic), Anil Shukla. The final go ahead, however, would require permission from the Ridge Management Board and Army authorities.

Traffic police claim that if the elevated corridor is constructed, it would significantly reduce travel time between places such as Dwarka and Janakpuri in west Delhi and Karol Bagh in Central Delhi. The corridor will also help decongest several other arterial roads such as station road, NH-8, Sardar Patel Marg, Upper Ridge Road, Loha Mandi road and Patel road among others, which are currently used by commuters for travelling between west and central Delhi and vice-versa.

Shukla said the traffic police made the proposal based on a survey conducted on the stretch. The survey found that 30% of the traffic on station road would be diverted to the proposed corridor while traffic on NH-8 would reduce by another 10 -12% if it is implemented.

The traffic police have also proposed to construct a flyover or an underpass at Brar Square in a bid to prevent conflict of traffic on Ring Road, Shukla said.

Source-http://www.hindustantimes.com

The congested industrial suburb is a hub of medium and small-scale industries that houses corporate offices and call centres of several business process outsourcing (BPO) companies and there has been a long-pending demand for a robust public transport system in the area.

The two new stations — Okhla Phase 3 and Okhla Vihar — will come up on the Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden corridor, said a spokesperson of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Okhla is divided into three phases. As per a traffic survey conducted by the Delhi Metro, the two upcoming stations will cater to more than 20,000 new commuters, when they open by 2016. The ridership is expected to rise to about 25,000 by 2021.

Presently, Okhla has just one Metro station on the Central Secretariat-Badarpur Metro corridor (violet line). The station is located in Harkesh Nagar area of Okhla’s Phase 2 and registers a footfall of nearly 5,100 passengers every day.

“The Okhla Phase 3 Metro station will be a big boon for the Okhla Industrial Area Phase 3 complex, which houses many industrial units and offices of private companies. There is no Metro connectivity to this area right now. The nearest Metro station is Kalkaji on the violet line,” said Anuj Dayal, chief spokesperson of DMRC. The tenders for the construction of these Metro stations have been awarded and work has begun.

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Reliance Infrastructure Limited, through its subsidiary, Delhi Airport Metro Express Private Limited (DAMEPL), has introduced special discounted fares for families and groups of two or more travelling on the Airport metro — which connects New Delhi with Dwarka via IGI Airport.

Starting Tuesday, the discount scheme will be available at all six stations on the 22.7km corridor.

This discounted “family fare” scheme would benefit commuters by making their travel cost effective. The existing maximum fare is Rs. 180 and minimum is Rs. 35.

As per the ‘family fare’ structure, a group of four commuters will now pay only R400 for maximum travel (New Delhi-Dwarka) and save Rs. 320.

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In a bid to ensure world-class cleanliness, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has procured a set of new equipment and machinery – including electrically operated scrubber drier and back pack vacuum cleaners – at all its stations and their surrounding areas in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad.

“These new equipment would provide mechanised cleaning operations and ensure dust free sweeping and cleaning. The new system will also dispose waste and garbage in bio-degradable disposal bags,” said Anuj Dayal, spokesperson of DMRC.

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In a bid to reduce vehicular chaos, all new Metro stations coming up under phase III will have separate slots for four wheelers, autos and buses in their premises.

While some existing stations are currently on roads or just beside roads such as Laxmi Nagar, Preet Vihar and Nirman Vihar among others, a major number of those in Phase III will come up on the city’s busy Ring Road and Outer Ring Road.

“We have plans to create drop-off pnsoints at all 91 metro stations to be built in phase III. The provision for drop-off points will depend on the availability of land,” said a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) spokesperson.

The Delhi traffic police had in February approached DMRC to ensure halt-and-go facilities for auto-rickshaws on the station premises so that commuters, especially women, do not have to come out to board vehicles.

“This arrangement will make sure roads along metro stations are not decongested by rickshaws, autos and buses that pick and drop passengers. Besides, this will ensure smooth and safe shift of commuters from one mode of transport to another,” said Ashok Bhattacharya, director, UTTIPEC, which has proposed a multimodal integration at 68 metro stations in phase 3.

Additional commissioner of police (traffic), Anil Shukla said dedicated drop-off points for auto-rickshaws and other transport vehicles inside the station premises will provide better and safer last-mile connectivity to women commuters.

The traffic police had asked DMRC to explore possibilities for similar arrangements at all existing busy metro stations, wherever possible, to ease traffic woes for commuters.

Source_http://www.hindustantimes.com