Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu has called for a drastic shift towards public transport. Citing the example of Barcelona (Spain) where 80 per cent of people use public transport, he said less dependence on private vehicles would help reduce carbon footprint.

“We would like to do something in improving public transport,” he said.

Quick pace Addressing the inaugural of the 11{+t}{+h} Metropolis conference here on Tuesday, the Minister said that the process of urbanisation is happening at a fast rate. “It is still faster in Africa and Asia where the urbanisation levels are relatively lower than in the West,” he said.

The proceedings were telecast live to reporters at a place 1.5 km away from the Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC), the venue for the Metropolis meet.

He said about 54 per cent of people in the world live in urban areas. Cities are expected to add 200 crore people by 2030 as employment opportunities, educational facilities and health care in urban areas attract more people from villages.

Ready for the challenge About 82 per cent of North America is urbanised, 80 per cent in Latin America and 73 per cent in the EU. “Africa and Asia are behind with urbanisation levels of 40 and 48 per cent respectively,” the Minister said.

“About 30 per cent of Indians live in urban areas. This would go up to over 50 per cent by 2050. We must be ready for the challenges that urbanisation is throwing up,” the Minister said.

ESL Narasimhan, the Governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, has said that the Government should work on encouraging walk to work or cycle to work after the completion of Metro project in Hyderabad.

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