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MOTORINDIA
l
July 2012
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of the country’s passenger traffic
and 65 per cent of its freight. The
intensity of India’s highway net-
work – at 0.66 km of highway per
sq. km of land – is similar to that of
the US (0.65) and much greater than
China’s (0.16) or Brazil’s (0.20).
However, most highways in India
are narrow and congested with poor
surface quality.
The key challenges in the Indian
transport sector are the rapidly in-
creasing number of vehicles with
the growing economy and the as-
sociated problems of traffic conges-
tion, deterioration in the quality of
service and efficiency of both pri-
vate and public transport, road acci-
dents, air pollution, and greenhouse
gas emissions.
Roads are congested and of poor
quality. Lane capacity
is low. Most national
highways are two lanes
or less. A quarter of
all-India
highways
are congested. Road
maintenance remains
under-funded,
only
around one-third of
maintenance needs are
met. This leads to de-
terioration of roads and
high transport costs for
users.
Sustainable transporta-
tion development: En-
vironmental impacts
v
Air pollution – par-
ticulates, SOx, NOx,
air toxins
v
GHG emissions
v
Noise pollution
The points to ponder with regard
to sustainable transportation devel-
opment are:
v
Carbon footprinting – assessment,
monitoring and strategy
v
Promoting the use of bio-fuels
v
Exploring possibilities of using
renewable sources of energy, such
as solar-powered trucks and con-
tainers
v
Setting up a co-ordination body
for inspection and certification of
vehicles at the national level
v
Introduction of green cess on old-
er vehicles to discourage pollution
and create a resource pool to en-
force environmental discipline
v
Introduction of tighter energy ef-
ficiency and emissions standards
v
Pricing transport for energy ef-
ficiency. Most Western European
countries levy high fuel taxes as
well as annual licence plate fees
and varying levels of vehicle pur-
chase taxes
v
Policy incentives to stimulate hy-
brid, electric, and fuel-cell freight
vehicles in the city
v
Enforcing emission restrictions
and labelling for trucks / contain-
ers. In 2001, Beijing introduced
an environmental labeling system
for vehicles. High emission vehi-
cles that are below Euro I standard
are identified with yellow labels,
while green labels are provided to
newer vehicles with more updated
emission systems.
High-emission vehicles are being
slowly phased out and barred from
entering the city center.
w
emission control