The special purpose vehicle for smart city projects has formed a mobility plan coordination committee to draft a vision document for the introduction of low carbon transport in the state capital.

Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL), the special purpose vehicle, organised the first committee meeting here on Tuesday. Experts in sustainable urban mobility suggested measures for effective implementation of this environment-friendly mobility plan for the city transport service.

Speaking at a special session, international mobility expert Dario Hidalgo from Bogota, Columbia, said better public transport options would make cities healthier and happier.

“There should be stress on non-motorised transport that would help build a better city,” said Hidalgo, who is the director, integrated transport, at World Resources International (WRI), a non-profit organisation.

He said there should be more use of walking, cycling and people-friendly urban designing so that people would depend less on cars. “The environmental sustainability will be an easier thing to manage in the long run. This would also make people healthy,” said Hidalgo.

Sources said drafting of the low carbon mobility plan had already been initiated by the Sustainable Urban Transport Systems for the Smart Cities (SMART-SUT) team comprising of WRI, India, and Wuppertal Institute with support from the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and Bhubaneswar Urban Knowledge Centre (BUKC).

Sarah Habersack, project manager SMART-SUT project, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), in her inaugural address urged all stakeholders in the city to be proactive in creating an asset in the form of urban transport that would help create more liveable city. “Mobility should be the focus area in developing a smarter city,” said Sarah.

Managing director, BSCL, Krishan Kumar, said the low carbon mobility plan for Bhubaneswar would explore multiple modes of transport. He added that the idea would be to provide better, cleaner options and not making the state capital dependant on motorised transport.

“We have already introduced the technology-empowered public transport, Mo Bus, for the city, which is comfortable, safer and smoother alternative to cars and rental services. It is an affordable alternative for the people. Integration of public bicycle sharing system with the bus service would also serve the purpose,” he said.

Citizens also lauded the ideas of the city administration to improve mobility options.

“The expansion of the city bus service has come as a great relief for us. We will not be in need of expensive cabs. The bicycle renting programme is also good, but it needs to be implemented properly,” said Sundarpada resident Priyabrata Tripathy.

Managing director of Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited Krishan Kumar speaks about low-carbon mobility plan at the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation office on Wednesday. Ashwinee Pati