A senior official of Telangana government on Friday urged IT/ITeS industry to collaborate with the government to promote use of public transport as reducing dependence on private vehicles is the way forward.
While the government remains focused on infrastructure development and during the lockdown, had expedited many projects, especially new roads, increasing share of public transport was significant for Hyderabad and its ecosystem in the backdrop of rapid growth, said Special Chief Secretary to the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department Arvind Kumar.
Noting that one of the yardsticks to determine how developed a city is, is percentage of people using public transport, Mr. Kumar, who was speaking at the Infrastructure Summit 2021, organised by the Hyderabad Software Enterprises Association (HYSEA), said that in some European cities, it is 75%. In Mumbai, it is around 66%, Delhi 50% and Hyderabad 33%.
Reducing dependence on private vehicles and driving gradual shift to public transport is an area of work on which industry can collaborate with the government. In doing so, the focus ought to be also on measures to improve the last mile connectivity and increasing share of electric vehicles, especially e-buses.
On its part, the State government had unveiled a policy to encourage development of integrated townships, beyond Outer Ring Road, through a scheme of incentives on land parcels of over 100 acres. All encompassing, the townships are aimed at encouraging the walk-to-work concept. Two developers have since evinced interest in promoting such townships, including one on 480 acres. Kokapet, on the outskirts, was one of the locations for a greenfield township and in future “we expect about a million people will operate from there.”
Special Chief Secretary to the Energy Department Sunil Sharma told the HYSEA Summit, which was focused on smart mobility, energy and workplace, that the State is comfortably placed on the energy front and untouched by the energy crisis triggered by a coal shortage recently. The government is committed to encourage renewable energy generation, specially solar power. Share of renewable energy at 4,445 MW in the 17,250 MW installed power capacity in Telangana is one of the highest in the country.
CEO of Mahindra Electric Mobility Suman Mishra called upon the IT industry to augment capabilities around embedded system design and power electronics as that would help build better electric vehicles. HYSEA President Bharani Aroll said an MoU with the government to promote usage of green power and reduce carbon footprint was on the anvil. A white paper by CBRE ‘The Next Normal: Re-imagining Hyderabad’s Real Estate’ was released at the summit.