India has sought Japan's assistance in setting up more urban transport systems like monorail projects, intelligent transport networks and the Regional Rapid Transit Systems (RRTS). Japan has already been extending financial assistance for the construction of Delhi Metro.

Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, now in Tokyo participating in the India-Japan Business Summit, has acknowledged Japan's assistance in the development of India's urban transportation, elicited more assistance and invited investors to the Indian markets.

New Delhi Highlighting its inability to support increasing number of metro projects, the Centre has asked state governments to follow the models of Karnataka and Delhi for financing capital-intensive Metro rail projects by levying cess on residential and commercial developments, and increasing house tax. It has also urged them to set up state-level urban transport funds with such levies to finance the projects.

The Centre says its unable to support the increasing number of metro systems through the Budget and therefore wants the states to develop their own funding sources to part-finance such capital-intensive systems.

The four major commercial hubs of South Delhi will be connected via the Metro, once the Phase III of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is complete (DMRC) in 2016. Officials in the Delhi Metro said Sarojini Nagar and South Extension will have dedicated stations, while the the existing stations at INA Market and Lajpat Nagar will be converted into interchange stations. The upcoming 59-km-long Mukundpur-Yamuna Vihar-Shiv Vihar corridor has been specially aligned from Bhikaji Cama Place towards Sarojini Nagar to provide direct connectivity.

Interchange stations to further boost connectivity

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's Phase III expansions plans are sure to please many more residents of the city. First it was the ‘heritage corridor' for heritage enthusiasts, now plans to connect four of South Delhi's prominent markets will surely prove a boon for shopaholics. By 2016, four major markets — Sarojini Nagar, INA, South Extension and Lajpat Nagar — will have dedicated underground metro stations connecting them.

60 new buses connecting metro stations every 15 minutes

Commuters in the satellite towns of Gurgaon and Faridabad have reason to rejoice with the Haryana Roadways agreeing to introduce feeder buses connecting these towns to major metro railway stations in the Capital. The service has become operational with close to 60 buses plying on routes connecting metro stations such as Badarpur, Tughlakabad, AIIMS, Kashmere Gate and HUDA City Centre every 15 minutes.

Delhi Metro’s ‘Heritage Corridor’ has hit a roadblock once again. The Phase III project is stuck in a deadlock between the National Monument Authority (NMA) and the Delhi Metro with the former insisting on a “structural impact study” to be conducted by IIT in Delhi or Roorkee. However, Delhi Metro wrote to the NMA last week informing that both the institutes have refused to conduct the study citing lack of expertise.

With 2016 set as the goal post for completing construction of Phase-III, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is gearing up to complete the project within the tight schedule and estimated completion cost. “Phase-II was completed in half the time taken for Phase-I with the Commonwealth Games as the goal. For Phase-III we will proceed with the same conviction,” said DMRC Managing Director Mangu Singh, speaking at DMRC's 18th Foundation Day celebrations here this last week.

Global demand for carbon credits, especially in Europe for economic reasons, has been declining since 2010

With the prices sliding of Certified Emission Reduction (CER) certificates traded on the international exchange, Indian companies holding the credits are bracing for tough times. Brokers trading in CERs have started to downsize their carbon desk and the ones holding these are looking for buyers. “The demand for CERs is low, which saw the prices slide. Aggregators of credits and the intermediaries, have started feeling the heat.

New Delhi: Delhi Metro has again drawn the ire of environmentalists over construction of a bridge parallel to the existing Nizamuddin Bridge. This is not the first time DMRC is embroiled in a green row. Despite a condition set by the Yamuna Standing Committee that no labour camps, construction material yards or batching plants can be built on the floodplain or river bed for the project, DMRC has flattened the area in the intersection of the bridge and Ring Road in violation of norms.

As the construction of the first Monorail enters its final stages, the development authority implementing the project is in talks to invite the operator of Singapore’s mass transit system to conduct a safety audit of the line due to unavailability of expertise in India.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has received positive responses from Singapore’s SMRT Corp and Hong Kong’s MRT Corp to conduct an independent safety audit of the 9-kilometre Chembur-Wadala line.