The Hindu Business Line : `Shift focus from personal to public transport'

Announcing this here on Friday, Mr S. Jaipal Reddy, Union Minister for Urban Development, said Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra Governments could right away take up the project.

The gauge issue had been a bone of contention. While the Railways favoured that broad gauge (1.67 m) would go well with the existing network, States wanted to go for standard gauge (1.43 m).

Delivering the inaugural address at Cityscapes-2006, the two-day convention on `Urban infrastructure reforms with public-private linkages', here, he said the Cabinet took decisions based on the recommendations of Group of Ministers headed by Mr Sharad Pawar.

"The States can choose their own methods in grounding these projects," he said.

He, however, felt that metro projects would not solve the problem.

"We need to shift our focus from personal to public transport. We should have bus rapid transport system and separate lanes for cycles and pedestrians," he said.

He felt that water users, barring the poor, should pay fee. "It is not to meet project cost. But funds are required to take care of operational and maintenance costs," he said.

Stating that States had been asked to reform rent control norms, he said these led to urban decay in some parts.

"The Urban Land Ceiling Act has proved to be a counter productive. It prevented effective planning of urban areas and encouraged corruption," he said.

In his theme presentation, Mr Pradeep Singh, Chairman of FICCI's Urban Development Committee and Chief Executive Officer of IL&FS Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd, said there were several misconceptions about public-private partnerships.

It was generally perceived as privatisation. This was not true. It was misconstrued as efforts to usurp public resources to maximise benefits of private companies.

The public-private model allowed urban bodies to borrow funds for infrastructure development without burdening their finances.

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