Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy said on Wednesday that urban mobility is a major focus area for the state government which plans to expand Hyderabad Metro Rail, build a new Regional Ring Road and Ring Rail.
Addressing the roundtable on urban mobility at the WEF CII conference in Davos, he mentioned its four aspects – infrastructure, accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability. The Chief Minister invited solutions to move more than 40 million people across Telangana, in the fastest time, in the greenest way, at the lowest cost.
“If you want to predict the future of any city over the next 10, 20, 30 or 50 years, calculate the time and cost of moving one person, or one object for a distance. Cities where costs and time to move people and goods are low, will win in the long term and have a great future,” he said.
Asserting that urban mobility is the foundation for cities’ growth and future, he said, “The growth of nations depends on the growth of cities. So urban mobility will, along with sustainability and environmental factors, decide the future of mankind.”
Sharing his experience in Switzerland, he took a train from Zurich to Davos and it was a beautiful trip.
“My challenges back home are slightly more complicated. My capital city Hyderabad has a population of over 12 million. And growing fast. For me, urban mobility is to connect people inside my City, but also connect my city to towns and villages across the state,” CM Reddy said.
The Chief Minister mentioned that his government is building new lines for Hyderabad Metro, to over 100 km, more than double the existing capacity. Hyderabad has a 160-km-long Outer Ring Road.
“Now I am building a Regional Ring Road, of nearly 360 km to connect all my major towns and villages. I am also planning to build a Regional Ring Railway, around the Ring Road. Thus, our people will have 2 circles of roads and 2 circles of railway. We will also have Radial Roads connecting these Rings,” he said.
Asserting that Telangana is a land-locked state, he said the state government was building a major dry port to become a supply chain and warehousing hub.
“We are also connecting this dry port to their closet port, called Machilipatnam port, with a dedicated Highway and a dedicated Railway link,” he said.
The Chief Minister also revealed that the state government is replacing 3,000 public buses running on petrol and diesel with electric buses. Claiming that electric vehicles are a big focus for his government, he said it removed all road tax and registration charges on all EVs. Telangana has highest growth of sales in EV in entire India.
“We are also building a new Future City, a net zero city. We want to have the world’s best mobility options in this city,” he added.
(IANS)
