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ShareAhmedabad, Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Janmarg Limited's (AJL) Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) project has bagged accolades not only from commuters but also from technocrats and bureaucrats.
After a ride on the BRTS on Tuesday, Anil Baijal, former secretary of ministry of urban development department of government of India, was all praise for this highly ambitious urban transport project of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC).
The civic body has implemented the project very well within the given time and constraints, said Baijal. "The AMC has done a commendable job and has efficiently implemented the BRTS project. It should be projected as a model for urban transport projects in other cities of the country," he said.
He also said that the BRTS is being used by around 32,000 people and the figure is expected to increase manifold in the future. Moreover, there will not be any short-term strategy in urban transport, it will grow along with the city, he said. However, BRTS is an urban infrastructure and not a corridor like state and national highways, so there is no question of target-oriented development. "You cannot develop urban infrastructure first and then develop the area. It should be included in the planning itself," said Baijal.
It should be noted that AJL's as well as Pune's BRTS project got sanctioned during Baijal's tenure. Baijal refrained from commenting on BRTS project of Pune by saying that he did not want to pass any value judgement on it. "I haven't been to Pune after the BRTS project was sanctioned," he said.
