AHMEDABAD: The project work of 17 students of Centre for Excellence in Urban Transport at Centre of Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) has given CEPT an opportunity to serve as a consultant for the BRTS planned for the twin cities of Hubli-Dharwad in Karnataka. The students were working on a class project to design a BRTS for a 20-km stretch in Hubli-Dharwad. Their supervisors for the project were Prof Shivanand Swamy and Prof Prakash Gaur of CEPT.
Recently, Swamy and Gaur received a letter from Karnataka's directorate of Urban Land Transport, inviting them to submit a feasibility study and a detailed project report for the Hubli-Dharwad BRTS. The North-West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRT) is the main implementing agency for the project.
Swamy, who is also associate director at CEPT, said that they would be assisting the NWKRT in deigning the infrastructure for the 20-km route.
"We had invited some officials from the Karnataka government last month to show them the design (prepared by students) for the Hubli-Dharwad BRTS," Swamy said. "They were very impressed by the design and they thought that we could prepare the infrastructure design for the project."
Swamy clarified that the Hubli-Dharwad BRTS will not be a replica of the Ahmedabad BRTS. They will improvise on the Janmarg model to adapt it for the Hubli-Dharwad stretch, the professor said. The NWKRT is seeking a Rs146-crore loan for the project from the World Bank.
"We have suggested lanes for overtaking on the 20-km stretch, which is something we do not have in Ahmedabad," Swamy said. "There is heavy road traffic on the stretch as Hubli is a commercial hub and Dharwad an educational centre. It is estimated that around 2 lakh people commute every day on the 20-km stretch between Hubli-Navanagar and Dharwad." He added that, for this reason, an efficient public transport system is urgently needed there.
This would be the third BRTS project for which CEPT has been invited to design the infrastructure. Earlier, it was invited to design for the Indore and Raipur BRTSes.
Recently, Swamy and Gaur received a letter from Karnataka's directorate of Urban Land Transport, inviting them to submit a feasibility study and a detailed project report for the Hubli-Dharwad BRTS. The North-West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRT) is the main implementing agency for the project.
Swamy, who is also associate director at CEPT, said that they would be assisting the NWKRT in deigning the infrastructure for the 20-km route.
"We had invited some officials from the Karnataka government last month to show them the design (prepared by students) for the Hubli-Dharwad BRTS," Swamy said. "They were very impressed by the design and they thought that we could prepare the infrastructure design for the project."
Swamy clarified that the Hubli-Dharwad BRTS will not be a replica of the Ahmedabad BRTS. They will improvise on the Janmarg model to adapt it for the Hubli-Dharwad stretch, the professor said. The NWKRT is seeking a Rs146-crore loan for the project from the World Bank.
"We have suggested lanes for overtaking on the 20-km stretch, which is something we do not have in Ahmedabad," Swamy said. "There is heavy road traffic on the stretch as Hubli is a commercial hub and Dharwad an educational centre. It is estimated that around 2 lakh people commute every day on the 20-km stretch between Hubli-Navanagar and Dharwad." He added that, for this reason, an efficient public transport system is urgently needed there.
This would be the third BRTS project for which CEPT has been invited to design the infrastructure. Earlier, it was invited to design for the Indore and Raipur BRTSes.
SOURCE: http://epaper.dnaindia.com/dnaahmedabad/epapermain.aspx?queryed=5&username=&useremailid=&parenteditioncode=5&eddate=2%2f10%2f2011 |
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