Surat Bag Award For Best Public Transport, Kochi Bag Most Sustainable Transport Tag

Union Ministry and Urban Affairs Ministry awarded Surat for the city with the best public transport system. At the same time, Kochi was judged as the city with the most sustainable transport system by the Union Housing & Urban Affairs Ministry. Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri gave out the honours at the Urban Mobility India Conference, held on October 29.

Delhi got the award for the best Metro passenger services and satisfaction award. Furthermore, Delhi also won the best non-motorised transport system for the Chandni Chowk redevelopment project. Meanwhile, Nagpur's multi-modal integration with Metro rail was found to be the best in the entire nation.

Theme For 2022

Hardeep Singh Puri, during the Urban Mobility India Conference, announced the theme of the following year's conference which will be the 15th edition, as "Azadi@75: Sustainable Atmanirbhar Urban Mobility" to be held in Kochi. At the start of the day, Union Minister inaugurated the conference, held online 2nd year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The world's urban population was expected to increase to 60 per cent by 2030, from 56 per cent in 2020, and about 90% of this increase was expected in Africa and Asia. The need for sustainable mobility and universal access was crucial for achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda," Puri said as reported by The Hindu.

'Urban Transport Is The Break And Makes Of The Global Climate Agenda'

In the keynote address, the head of the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative, Germany, Daniel Mosser, said the world had 15 years to address the pressing issues. He said more urban areas would be constructed in the first three decades of the 21st Century than all of history.

"Urban transport is the break and makes of the global climate agenda," he said, adding that it accounted for 23 per cent of carbon emissions and 61 per cent of global oil demand. Cities needed to be become "hyperlocal", where all the residents can meet all their needs within a 15-minute cycle ride or walk, he said.

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