Bushroda
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Here is a good read for New Delhi Metro
New Delhi metro showcases Indian infrastructure
2007/4/14
By Alistair Scrutton NEW DELHI, Reuters
Meters below the rickshaws, hawkers and crowds of Delhi, a parallel world of air conditioned calm, marble-lined floors and punctual trains showcases how India's crucial infrastructure can get built.
Modern trains quietly arrive at stations to calm announcers. No tea or food sellers ply the platform. Elevators feature sari meshes to stop the flowing robes from getting caught in the gap, all in sharp contrast to India's mostly chaotic railway stations.
Worries over India's infrastructure shortcomings have reached a crescendo in the last months as signs of an overheating economy and supply bottlenecks from unfinished highways to packed ports have many thinking an economic boom could be short lived.
But Delhi's metro, whose first central phase was officially finished a few months ago, has shown what the public sector can achieve.
While not the only state project that has worked in India, the fact such a high profile project was completed on time and within budget has made it a national showcase, earning visits from business students as far away as Harvard to study its success.
"The Delhi metro is a stunning example of how a government project can be done properly," Delhi Metro Rail Corporation managing director Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, a 74-year-old, yoga-practicing civil engineer, told Reuters.
"It's been a good example for the politicians of what the professionals can do if they are given a free hand."
The prestige of a metro in the capital led the government to appoint a manager with an impressive record with full powers to hire people, decide on tenders and control funds -- a feat rarely repeated in India where graft and red tape slow many projects.
Sreedharan's success in this city of 14 million people has led authorities to look at metros across India, including the technology hubs of Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Some 600,000 commuters already use the metro daily, cutting road traffic and helping reduce Delhi's pollution by a third.
"The metro has cut my travel time by almost 75 percent. Earlier I travelled from home by bus, which cost me 80 rupees ($2). Now I pay only 14 rupees (US$ 0.30)," said Arpana, a commuter, as she hurried for a train.
guys but i can't see the video(s) can someone plzz post a video thx.
