Invest 1% GDP to Improve Public Transport

PUDUCHERRY:  The government needs to invest at least one percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in public transport systems to reduce the number of vehicles on the road and reduce emission of green house gases (GHG) to create sustainable cities, said Peter Head, director of Arup.Speaking at a workshop on ‘Regenerative Townships of Tomorrow’, organised at Auroville on Thursday, he said such a measure would reduce GHG by 78 per cent. “Costs of mitigation of around 1% of GDP are small relative to the costs and relative to the risks of climate change that will be avoided,” Peter  said.Stating that global warming would lead to a catastrophe unless controlled in the next 10 to 15 years, Peter  said that there is a need for developing system models in small areas or townships that look at economics in relation to resources better than they do at the moment. The successful models could be adopted. “We just don’t have them which is quite scary”. The focus is on India, China and Africa where urbanisation is taking place rapidly.  He suggested a technical collaboration with Auroville in developing such models.Peter said that it was important to reduce the energy demand by half, capture  40 percent of the emissions at coal fired power stations for intensive hydroponics and food production using the waste heat, adopting other technologies like generation of power from biomass, bio-reactors and increase total food production by 30 percent on small land areas.Pollution has to be dealt with prudently, efficiently and effectively, including reusing and recycling residual waste. A recycling cooperative would be very important in future. He cited an example of waste rubber products  being used for fashion bags, jewellery and other products. Electric cars and other vehicles would be mode of transport in future. Further, he expressed the need for integrating a city with its culture for building sustainability.Urban planners, architects, project developers, engineers, policy makers and consultants are attending the three-day workshop  envisioning  regenerative townships of tomorrow.