Building World Class Surface Transport Infrastructure and Poverty Allevation

8/9/2019 Building World Class Surface Transport Infrastructure and Poverty Allevation

1/8

MSD

WRITE- UP

FOR 50 MARKS

(25-MSD, 25- MARKETING PPT)

BY

VARUN BANSAL

05816603909


2/8

BUILDING WORLD CLASS SURFACE TRANSPORTINFRASTRUCTURE AND POVERTY ALLEVATION

The World class surface transport includes the modes of transport system that includemajorly two important portions- Road Network and Railways. These provide for thelifeline of a city, may it be Melbourne, New York or New Delhi. Now, why do we actuallyneed a world class transport system in a city? The answer is simple; the transportsystem brings in the mobility to the masses. It is not only people but also resources

moving towards demand segments, at a faster-better-safer transport. A potholed roadmay not be feasible for driving at higher speeds and in better cars. So, a shaky publictransport cannot provide for efficiency in transport and calling the city as world-class.Transportation performs a critical linking function in the world economy. Virtually everyproduct consumed by the public originates away from its final marketplace and requiresshipment by some form of carriage. Today, freight moves by rail, road, air and waterand increasingly involves some combination of these modes. As regional markets arebeing integrated into the global market and globalization is gathering momentum, freighttransportation will only continue to grow in importance for both users of these servicesand consumers at large. The transport system also plays an important role of promotingthe development of the backward regions and integrating them with the mainstream

economy by opening them to trade and investment. Tamil Nadu has made significantefforts to develop a transport network catering to the needs of the large number oftravelling public in the State. The State utilizes all the three modes of major transportingsystems viz., roadways, railways and airways in an effective manner. Roads play apivotal role in supporting the economic and social development of the State. The rapidindustrialization and urbanization of the State has thrown up new problems andchallenges in development, in which road transport occupies a position of crucialimportance. The bus transport system in the State enjoys the maximum publicpatronage and contact, much more than any other Government system.

The importance of any industrial branch for a national economy is generally measured

by means of indices which act as indicators reflecting its economic situation. The mostfrequently used indices are the number of persons employed in the economic branch,its turn-over figures, and its contribution to the national product. There are furtherindicators whose employment, however, largely depends on the object of study. Thisapplies likewise to the field of transport and traffic. The number of people employed inthe transport, sector as well as the turnover figures of passenger and goods transportcan be derived from relevant statistics. In the western industrialized countries thecontribution of transport to the gross national product lies on an average between 6 p.c.


3/8

and 8 p.c. However, all these data give only an incomplete picture of the importance ofa transport system or an individual mode of transport to the total national economy.Recent scientific studies have shown that a transport system can have a substantialeffect on the economic development of a geographic area. The nature and quality of atransport system are likely to generate processes of economic growth, but can just as

well hamper or change already existing impulses. From then economic point of view itmust also be considered that apart from its service functions transport also attractssubstantial investments and is consequently a considerably important factor for thegeneral economic development of a country.

Transport as a Service is a universal service to the economy and community. It is

intimately related to all other economic and non-economic sectors. Economicallyspeaking, transport - like money fulfills an elementary function in any economicsystem which is based on the division of labour. The function of transport can be putinto the following concise formula: covering of distances in the service of goods supplyby transferring goods, passengers and messages from one place to another. Transport,therefore, carries goods to the place where they are urgently wanted and thus helps toovercome local shortages, thus increasing the value of the goods concerned. Transportfulfills this function not only on the domestic level as inland transport, but also oninternational level, as international or intercontinental transport. The economicimportance of transport as branch of the services trade lies in the fact that, in fulfillingits transport functions, it promotes greater differentiation and integration of economicsystems as well as equal distribution of production and consumption. At the same timetransport increases the possibilities of competition which in turn aim at balanced prices,price stability and the prevention of monopoly prices. Geographically separated areasare brought closer together through the services of transport.

Globalization has had its impact on every parts of Cities. Cities today have to competewith each other for attracting the best businesses, the best brains and also betterconcessions from their governments. To do so, they have to offer something morethan their competitors, something world class! The subsequent quest led to the Dreamof developing World Class Cities. Even a preliminary research revealed that asignificant number of cities like San Francisco, Geneva, Johannesburg, Dubai andSeoul have already instituted and begun work to achieve the distinction of being aWorld Class city.

So, what is a World Class City? The Terms World Class Cities, also referred asGlobal Cities or simply World Cities are used to describe those cities that haveenormous concentrations of economic, political and cultural clout, which can bemeasured by such things as the number of corporate headquarters, the size of theirstock exchanges, the presence of national and international political bodies, and theirrole in music, fashion and other cultural activities. London, New York, Paris and Tokyoseem to be the only cities who can match this brief currently. Sadly enough, no Indiancity matches up to the standards or has the requisites to be even called a World Class


4/8

City-in the making. The problem, hence, doesnt seem as much to be the migrationitself, as it is the inability of the city to absorb them temporarily and provide basicamenities (housing and employment) to these people. Now, the big question! Is a cityreally expected to provide the Solution? The city planners can definitely plan for andmake available mass housing facilities in collaboration with the private sector builders

as is already being done. In fact, the central government must make it mandatory for allcity corporations to provide for temporary housing facilities for migrants outside the citylimits, which is easily accessible by public transport. The problem ofunplannedmigration and making the incoming migrants into the city employable is theprerogative of the Central Government as it requires a much larger concerted, nationaleffort.

Building an effectivePublic Transportation System is a boon in more than one way.It can contribute immensely towards reducing the congestion on the roads. The lessernumber of private vehicles on the roads also ensure cleaner environment with lesser

pollution. The Key Enablers include The City Corporation, City Traffic Police and theCentral Government. Firstly the considerations are on facilitating greater punctuality,reliability, accessibility and greater capacity of the Public Transport system. Actions thatcan be fruitful are conducting periodic studies on overcrowding and using the dataobtained to reduce it by providing more services or reducing the bottlenecks in thoseareas. Encourage Companies to have their Own Transports to pick up employees fromoutside railway stations, bus stations and other public transport terminals to reduce thenumber of cars. Also, implementing Conditional entry of Private vehicles into the city(like the mechanism in London where Cars with Even Number plates and Odd NumberPlates can enter the city on alternate days only). Next is increasing the Funding forexpansion of the public transport to ensure that adequate peak period capacity is

present. The next portion of this is improving the Pedestrian Experience that can bedone by ensuring that the pedestrian lanes are not taken up by hawkers and promotingroad safety. Lastly, encourage the Safety Awareness of the Commuters through SafetyDrives, that should be periodically conducted and Vigilance to be stepped up to naboffenders.

Coming to the next part, how the world class surface transport, we plan to make andimplement, would cater directly to the requirement of the nation, the one of the biggestchallenge of society and economy, Poverty Alleviation. The world class surfacetransport would unlock many boons to the societal and economic aspects of the city.The first one would be cheaper transit of material, people. The cost effective

transport would enable the poorer producers, sellers, distributors to use these servicesand expand the area of reach, with same time constraints. This added efficiency wouldhelp them earn more, and enable them to use resources in a better and efficientmanner. For example, the presence of metro in New Delhi has reduced thecommutation time, and cost for many. So, a person can now move to various locationscovered by Metro Rail with much comfort and lesser time. This added physical andmental relaxation and reduced time helps to increase the output of the personnel, inaccordance with the personnel management thoughts. Similarly, if the roads are world-


5/8

class, so the efficiency of vehicles increases proportionally. The mileage given to theconsumers increase, and reductions in the cost again would be surely beneficial for anybusiness module. Increased business would also provide increased employment andskills of the people involved. The better system helps to transport the produce to themarket. So, the poor producers, living in the outskirts of the city, can effectively

transport their produce towards the opportunity filled markets. This can provide a lot ofrelief to the financially thin businesses. Also, otherwise they might had to rent a land inthe city to maybe produce their item and then cell it in the same city.

Increased mobility of the consumers would increase the value of the produce, asconsumers can directly approach the producers. This way, both the parties arebenefitted and both have better chances of negotiating a win-win situation. For example,the presence of a retail outlet in proximity would not be much preferred if the transportsystem is very good. So, instead of purchasing the product, manufactured by someonein other part of city, through the retail outlet, spending extra cost, lesser choices, nonegotiations of prices, quality; the customer can directly approach the producer. In that

case, the customers satisfaction would directly increase, and the producer would alsobe helped because of various reasons. The first one is that the producer would directlyinteract, and come to know what is the actually need of the customer. Secondly, theproducer had to sell it to vendors, distributors at a lower price, restricting his income.So, in this way, the poor can earn more out of his work. Thirdly, there are chances thatinnovations can occur due to regular interactions with customers. So, these wouldprovide for competitive edge over the others. Considering the crafts materials, artworksand cultural souvenirs, the producers are generally poor those have inherited thetraditional knowledge and knowhow. The presence of products that can be produced inbulk, are more attractive and expensive but more in reach, create a wall between thecustomers and the cultural artifacts or utility items. So, people prefer walking to anearby retail outlet, than going to a not near place to buy the traditional item. The worldclass surface transport would propel the consumer near the producers itself, and thesetypes of products would again meet their customers. This directly would help the poor,while indirectly conserve the cultural richness of the city. The example can be the hand-crafted curtains. Now, the customer would purchase textured plain curtains available ata nearby departmental store, but, a world-class surface transport would lead him to thatpart of the city where the traditional hand-crafted curtains are sold and then he couldpurchase them. This keeps the craftsmen in business, as well as the cultural heritageintact.

Who would not wish to visit a city with a world-class transport in place? That indicatestourism is going to flourish in the city. Lets take example of Frankfurt. The city itselfdoesnt provide much for the cultural and scenic beauties that should attract the touristson its own, nor its a shopping destination, but the world-class airport present changesthings. Many flights heading towards Europe stop there, and this is adding the touristbase of the city. Other than that, the city offers a good transit system, including theunderground train network, on road train tracks, world-class roads, parking systems,etc. So, it is understandable that transport systems status is affecting the tourism base


6/8

of the city. For the pink city Jaipur the non-stop highway from New Delhi has attractedmore tourists than usual. Now, a 4-5 hr exciting high speed smooth drive can take youto Jaipur from the National Capital. Considering the increased tourism, it goesproportional to the employment availability and increased opportunities to the culturalheritage owners, traditional craftsmen. Also, the number of hotels, restaurants, local

food joints would increase, thus helping towards poverty alleviation.

Then, coming to the basic part, when the infrastructure is in place, the funds areallocated, then what? Now its the builders, engineers, skilled workforce, labour,concrete manufactures, vehicle manufacturers that would be required in place. So, thebuilding part, maintaining and improvements over the existing transportation system andreplacing it with a world-class system would employ many. Firstly, the skilled workforce,the engineers, would come together to design a system that would be apt for presentstate as well as coming future. The obsolete systems would requires scrapping up toleave space for the newer ,better one. For example, the famous Trams in the Kolkata

city had a very good image associated, but now these are felt as pressure on theexisting space crunch of the densely packed city. Often, there are re-planning over thecity plan to implement a world-class transport system. These at-times help the poorsocieties and relocation with better facilities can be there. Now coming back, theopportunities would increase with building up of the transport systems. For example, theMetro construction in New Delhi required so much of extremely good quality concrete,that increased the number of concrete manufacturers in the city, and that too the qualityproviders. This increased the employment of the skilled as well as unskilled labourforce. Many workers got trained and increased their value in the organizations, and thusgrew financially. Talking specifically, the thick, low load pillars of metro required a M25grade concrete, that too specifically the OPC higher strength cement. The thinner ones,with higher load required concrete of at least M35-M50 grade that would require microsilicates and other chemical compounds to increase the concrete strength to that level.So, technologies were imported, quality of service improved and lots of employmentwere generated during the process, and it still remains to provide for the running andupcoming plans of the national Capital. A single concrete manufacturing plant employsabout 50-70 skilled-unskilled workers. A single cement manufacturer employs a lotsmore, a single builder can employ more than 300 people. Thus, a lots of employment isgenerated in the due course of time. Also, as the city turns world-class, lots of builderswould come up with daring plans to provide world class apartments, houses to thepeople, thus a lots of work is initiated over the system. At the end, Its not just theproprietor who earns through a business, but all people who are engaged with thebusiness gain through it, and finally it is a great help towards poverty alleviation.

The Highway programs by NHAI involve such a big infrastructure and generate biggeremployment opportunities for unemployed laborers. But, it has problems too.Considering the case of the NHAI, recent findings by the Supreme Court of India showthat the Road and Surface Ministry has undue influence over the working of NHAI. Veryfrequent changes and transfers in the department and undue excessive control has lead


7/8

to great inefficiencies in the projects undertaken. As a matter of fact, the NH1 Kundli toMukarba Chowk flyovers and widening project has been there for more than 8 years,but much of the work is left incomplete. It is because almost 6 contractors have fled thesystem and thus halting the work. Even now, a joint venture of two working firms kept atpace with the project and successfully finished three single sided flyovers, but its not

enough, and the contractor firms had to halt the work due to unethical prospects by theofficials. So, a world class infrastructure is not enough, its also the implementation thatshould be tackled with utmost care. In the above case, it is evident that NHAI has failedto deliver, what was essential requirement for the exponentially growing inbound andoutbound traffic over the NH1. It is essential that the government authorities work in aeffective manner and exhibit competitive skills in operation. Consider the case of DelhiMetro, there is a perception amongst even the builders, that are building up theconcrete structure, that it is the speed that metro exhibits which is non bearable bythose with habit of slow work. The result, they said, was the destruction that occurred onthe metro pillar under construction. The point to be emphasized was it was enrichmentand setting up of concrete, that is slow and careful process, was overlooked and it

caused a very lesser strength than expected, even with one of the best quality concreteavailable. So, before implementation of the world-class projects the government mustprune itself of the non performing bureaucratic systems and allow the entrepreneurswith optimal control system in place. It is the zest and zeal of those who belong, the toilthey put up to build their own city, for their own businesses, but not for the official whogets paid on time, relaxed and earns out of sluggish system as bribes.

Thus, concluding the topic, the world-class surface transport is quintessential for a cityto grow effectively. It grants many boons, out of which poor are affected, almostpositively. Indirect and direct effects create employment opportunities and businessopportunities that again generate lots of employment. It also contributes in a big way topoverty alleviation and helps in protection of cultural heritages, and historic craftsmen.The living standard of people is improved with the city turning to be world-class andmany aims are achieved. But, the care of implementation must be taken actively atmultiple stages. Bureaucratic system is prone to become pathogenic to the wholeenvironment, and it should be reduced with active decisions.


8/8

References :

1. Case Study ofPoverty Impacts of Road Projects from the 2007 SectorAssistance Program Evaluation of Asian Development Bank.

2. The role of transport and traffic in national economy by Dr Horst Heldmann,Bonn

3. The Path Forward: Funding and Financing Our Surface TransportationSystem: Interim Report of the National Surface Transportation InfrastructureFinancing Commission, February 2008.

4. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Comparative Real Gross Domestic Product PerCountries, 1960-2004, 2005 at http://www.bls.gov/fls/flsgdp.pdf

5. Bureau of Transportation Statistics: 1990 - 2003 data from the Journal of

Transportation and Statistics, Volume 8 Number 1, 2005, Pages 23-44

6. Indian road statistics at http://morth.nic.in/motorstat/brs_table7.htm

7. The Economic Effects of Surface Transport Deregulation by Yong Li,Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2002

Documents

Building World Class Surface Transport Infrastructure and Poverty Allevation