In India, our administrators are forcing a decision to construct elevated metro rail following the roads in the city, the fixed structure at 6m height from road level, creating a visually grotesque cityscape.
Further major demolition of existing structures and acquisition of land for stations displacing people, affecting very old heritage structures too- is the asking price being demanded in the name of providing transport solution.
In addition, since the project cannot sustain itself finanacially, viability gap funding is demanded even upto 40 to 50% of the cost of project. This subsidising appears finally as debt burden on the Government, leading to inefficient economy, progressively impoverishing the community, whom the metro is supposed to serve!
Further more, the road users are endangered by the running train overhead, which on escaping from the rail guidance, derails and has potential to destroy vast properties and many lives using the road. The commuter who buys a ticket and travels in train, is taking the risk as part of travel choice; but the road user who did not have anything to do with the train, has lost safety of his right of way, by the introduction of the elevated metro, based on the conventional rail technology, which is not derailment-free.
The additional roaring noise pollution of the trains is factor adversely affecting the quality of life.
The elevated metro rail cannot take care of trucks and cargo supplies within the city and the problems of transporting the refuse using road based vehicles continue. So pollution levels and resulting congestion of the road on this account continue.
So the citizens are doubly cursed- lose more money, destroy city beauty, weaken their economy, endanger their own lives and property on the road when they use the road, when the elevated metro rail is built over the road.
The remedy is worse than the earlier problem of congestion and pollution!
What an administrator of Urban habitat should do?
