The largest financer for the city’s development projects, the World Bank, feels that traffic congestion is not the responsibility of any single authority.
The largest financer for the city’s development projects, the World Bank, feels that traffic congestion is not the responsibility of any single authority. It says that a ‘co-ordinating authority’ needs to be set up to address traffic woes.
“This authority needs to be set up with officials from the traffic police, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and the city’s transport operator Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) undertaking,” said Hubert Nove-Josserand, senior urban transport specialist of World Bank.
“Irrespective of individual responsibilities, this authority must have the power to exercise any decision at any given time,” he said. “It must also be accountable,” he added. “We have different agencies with different sets of responsibilities. No agency can take action on issues pertaining to the other agency,” said Sanjay Ubale, secretary special projects.
In a presentation made to citizens, experts and people from the transport and traffic departments of the city on Thursday, Josserand pointed out that Mumbai needs to understand its road usage.
He said that they are funding large number of urban transport projects and aiding the government in traffic management. “One must understand that people are not obliged to use public transport, they must be attracted towards using it,” Josserand said.
“Resettlement and rehabilitation of encroachers and slums are two major issues that the government needs to focus on before undertaking any project,” Josserand told DNA.
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