‘Congestion tax needed in Bangalore’

‘Congestion tax needed in Bangalore’
Tuesday February 5 2008 09:00 IST

ENS

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BANGALORE: “Neglect of public transport and the rate of growth of private vehicles will worsen traffic congestion and air quality, said Secretary to Government (Ecology and Environment) Aravind Jannu.

The transport sector is responsible for 23 per cent of the world’s energy-related green house gas emissions, with 74 per cent coming from road transport. Of greater concern is that carbon emissions would be about 80 per cent higher than the current levels by 2030, he said.

Jannu was speaking at the seminar on ‘Sustainable Mobility-Indo-Swedish Perspective,’ organised by the Swedish Trade Council and Embassy of Sweden in partnership with the Volvo Group and Volvo Cars here on Monday.

With a population of 6.5 million, Bangalore has almost 2.5 million vehicles plying at an average speed of 9 km per hour. With the Bangalore Metro Rail, the situation is expected to improve, with an average reduction of 60-70 per cent in the burning of fossil fuels. And with the average speed of movement going up to 40 km/hr, the gain in human energy and time lost in commuting is expected to be 600 per cent, he added.

Chairman of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board Sharatchandra said there is a need to impose congestion tax on busy roads in a 3 km radius around the Vidhan Soudha. But for this, alternative transport should be well developed.

Transport will be the single contributor to greenhouse gas emission by 2010. Around 15,000 vehicles are registered every month in the city. Thus, an integrated township is essential. Various departments should be integrated to work with a goal, he added.

Director Environmental Affairs Volvo Inge Horkeby said: “Transport is essential for growth, but we have to know how to address and cope it.” He stated that energy efficiency is a key issue.

The Swedish government intends to achieve a complete oil-free economy by 2020. Some of the environmental challenges faced by the transport industry highlighted in the conference included climate change, energy efficiency, air quality, phasing out of fossil energy and political uncertainty.

Several mitigation technologies like fuel cell vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles combining two or more sources of power to propel vehicles, electric cars and bio-fuels like ethanol, methanol and biodiesel, encourage walking or cycling to work and school were discussed.

The seminar intended to bring forward the critical challenges involved in realising sustainable transport solutions in the country and address these key areas.