New Delhi: NITI Aayog has organized a two day long high level workshop on advancing passenger mobility and transportation on February 27-28, 2017 in the national capital. The workshop in association with Rocky Mountain Institute, an international non-profit organization, will explore technologies and business models to help India leapfrog traditional approaches to passenger mobility and transportation.
Union Minister of Urban Development – Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister of Road Transport – Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Railways – Shri Suresh Prabhu, and Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises – Shri Anant Gangaram Geete, will attend the high level meet. Leading experts, academicians, representatives from related Ministries, think tanks, civil society organizations, and leading Indian and international companies will take part in the deliberations. The workshop will be followed by the release of a report detailing specific and actionable outcomes and opportunities.
The workshop will follow a unique‘design charrette’format, whereby participants will collaborate in working groups to develop actionable steps to achieve an advanced mobility future. CEO NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant said that NITI Aayog is excited to partner with leading organization to advance next generation mobility solutions. Mobility affects all sections of society and the transformative solutions now emerging will enable India to fulfill its aspirations for growth for all.
Chief Executive of RMI, Jules Kortenhorst told that India has the unique potential to rapidly implement solutions that leapfrog outdated transportation models. He lauded the Government initiative and said the participation of key stakeholders from around the world in this charrette, supported by the Indian government and coupled with the ambition of the work itself, demonstrates the seriousness and dedication that India has applied in assuming a global leadership role in transforming its mobility sector.
Anand Shah, a transportation expert at the Albright Stonebridge Group who will participate in the event from the United States said that India has a unique advantage, in pioneering a new development pathway. India could benefit from emerging technologies, the nation could be a global leader in new transportation methods similar to when India skipped landlines and computers to embrace mobile phones and technologies.
BACKGROUND:
India is at an historic inflection point in global transportation, where new technologies and connectivity will drive a paradigm shift in mobility over the next few decades. Historically, as countries developed, low-occupancy, petrol and diesel based vehicles proliferated, leading to inefficient capital utilization, overburdened infrastructure, urban congestion, and pollution.
On the current path, the number of personal vehicles could increase three- to four-fold in India by 2030, at significant direct and indirect costs to the economy and society. At the same time, developed markets are testing technologies that could dramatically enhance access to clean and affordable mobility options.
India’s ability to leverage new technologies to design integrated systems of public and private transportation could deliver seamless and convenient connectivity to urban and rural areas in India while creating new jobs, improving the lives of millions of people, and protecting the environment.
It is expected that the deliberations over the next two days will provide an impetus to the Government’s efforts to find mobility solutions for the benefit of the people across the country.
NITI Aayog will be providing the directional and technical support for the workshop while partnering with US based Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). The RMI is an independent nonprofit set up in 1982 to transform global energy use for a clean, prosperous and low-carbon future. It engages businesses, communities, institutions, and entrepreneurs to accelerate the adoption of market-based solutions that cost-effectively shift from fossil fuels to efficiency and renewables. RMI has offices in Basalt and Boulder, Colorado; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing.
