First urban mobility event outside Delhi in Gujarat from Tuesday

A four-day "urban mobility conference", to be held for the first time outside New Delhi, begins here on Tuesday to go into various aspects of sustainable, equitable and climate friendly urban transport systems for the country.

The conference, which is being jointly organised by the Union Urban Development Ministry and the Gujarat Government, will be inaugurated by Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, in the presence of Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and his deputy Nitin Patel.

Giving details about the conference and an exhibition to be held alongside it, Union Urban Development Ministry's Director, Urban Transport, R.K. Singh told reporters that this was for the first time that the Urban Mobility India Conference is being held outside Delhi after it was conceived in 2008.

He said eight editions of the event have been held in the national capital on various themes related to urban transport with the objective of building the capacities of city governments for transport planning to enable better mobility.

The theme of the conference here on Tuesday is "Planning Mobility for City's Sustainability" and various issues to be discussed at different sessions include improving city bus services, financing Metro systems, comprehensive mobility planning for low carbon transport, solutions for multi-modal urban transport, intelligent transport systems for smart mobility as well as mobility in smart cities of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

According to Singh, an important feature of the Gandhinagar Conference is that about 1,000 Mayors and municipal councillors from the focus states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will be discussing how to improve access for pedestrians as a part of inclusive mobility, besides smart parking solutions.

Korea Transport Institute president Chang Woon Lee will deliver the keynote address during the inaugural session. Singh said more than 2,500 delegates from India and about 25 foreign countries will be participating in the deliberations over four days.

--IANS

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