Delhi plans an Urban Transport Development Fund

With a number of projects in the pipeline that will upgrade the city’s transport services , the Delhi government plans to create a special fund to appropriately finance such schemes.
The Urban Transport Development Fund will pool resources exclusively for all transport projects planned for the future. Delhi is likely to see an extended bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor, more low-floor buses and upgraded interstate bus terminals (ISBTs) and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus depots in the near future, besides a network of monorail and light rail transit systems by 2020, in addition to the Delhi Metro. Senior officials in the government said it was imperative to have an independent system of generating funds to avoid any delay in the projects. “We are currently dependent on the Centre and schemes like the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to fund our projects. We can’t get on with our work until the Central government releases funds, which means delays and escalation of costs,” said an official. He said there might be new deadlines for various projects, with the government facing a cash crunch after a slump in realty rates and stamp duty collections since last year. Though the Union government has already earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for the Commonwealth Games—after Delhi Finance Minister A K Walia raised an alarm regarding the cash deficit faced by the agencies involved in building infrastructure for the event—the officials said the fund was meant for long-term projects. With the new fund in place, the officials said, the government could look at pooling in revenue generated through different ventures and then use the money to fund future projects. While the Delhi government has recently turned down a proposal to build a dedicated transport fund to partly finance the third phase of the Delhi Metro, by levying a cess on the sale of petrol and diesel, purchase of new cars and twowheelers and on existing cars, the officials said the Urban Transport Development Fund would be partly raised by pooling in revenue earned through resources like commercial development of ISBTs and bus depots. “We want to pool in at least Rs 100 crore every year and gradually build a fund that will make the government self-reliant,” said an official, adding that agencies like the DTC, Delhi Police and others involved in developing transport schemes would be made party to it.
Transport Commissioner and Principal Secretary R K Verma said the department was in the process of drafting the scheme. “The proposal will be sent to the Lieutenant-Governor soon and, if approved, will be sent to the Centre,” he said. The Delhi government has till now set aside Rs 614 crore for the procurement of 2,500 buses to modernise the DTC bus fleet by March 2010.
■ Six BRT corridors by 2010 at a cost of Rs 1,810 crore, approximately
■ Three light rail transit corridors covering a length of 45 km in Phase 1, feasibility study under way
■ Three monorail corridors covering a length of 47.8 km in Phase 1
■ Upgrade and renovation of the inter-state bus terminals at Kashmere Gate, Anand Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan
■ Two new inter-state bus terminals to come up at Narela and Dwarka on public-private-partnership basis
■ Upgrading the 27 existing
■ Procurement of 2,500 modern buses for the DTC. There will be 1,402 low-floor buses, 750 semi low-floor buses, 600 AC low-floor buses, 250 AC semi-low floor buses and 1,000 standard buses DTC bus depots and increasing their number to at least 35, with parking facilities for low-floor buses. It has been planned to commercially exploit the depots by renting out space for malls and hotels .