NMC consultant's prediction fell far short

All the blame for improper planning and skewed growth of the city's infrastructure till the year 2031 could well lie at the doors of a

private consultant engaged by Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) in 2007.

The consultant had projected that the city would have over 10 lakh vehicles in 2021. In fact, this figure was crossed in March 2009, barely two years after the consultant's survey ended. The city had 10,09,198 vehicles in March 2009.

NMC had awarded a project titled `Preparation of Master Plan/Perspective Plan for Transportation System of Nagpur City 2031' to L&T-Ramboll Consulting Engineers Limited vide letter no 106/CE/2007 dated June 16, 2007.

The study aimed to update the long-term transportation strategy for NMC and identify a practicable and effective investment programme up to 2031.

The consultant had concluded that the city had 3.86 lakh vehicles in 2007 and projected 10 lakh vehicles in 2012! However, shockingly by March 2009, the vehicular population has reached 10,09,198.

This has put pressure even in areas like West Nagpur, Civil Lines, Central Avenue, Sadar and Wardha Road, where the roads are reasonably wider, while the less said the better about the narrow lanes of old Nagpur.

Estimates say close to 50,000 new vehicles are added to the city roads every year, with at least one vehicle per three households. Now, as mega projects like Mihan and SEZs come up, the traffic is bound to increase. With prosperity and more purchasing power, the L&T-Ramboll survey can only be consigned to the dustbin.

Adhering to this survey will ensure that the parking slots will never match the ever-increasing vehicles. The development agencies and traffic police should open their eyes to this problem.

Traffic cops cite always blame negative public attitude for the chaos. DPC (traffic) Harish Chavan says all measures to regulate traffic face pressure from locals. Commuters can't or won't get used to one-way traffic, he said, though he also accepts candidly that the 400 traffic cops are not enough to manage the present 10 lakh vehicles.

Even if it fell far short in properly predicting the city's vehicle population, the L&T-Ramboll survey had supported development of parking schemes. That the civic body has not taken any steps to address these concerns is clearly an understatement.