The National Urban Transport Policy, promulgated in 2006 is a seminal document currently guiding urban transportation planning and infrastructure development. A number of other key policy documents are in the process of formulation. These include the submissions to the XII Five Year Plan process, the Report of the High Powered Expert Committee on Indian Urban Infrastructure and Services and the National Mission on Sustainable Habitat
SUM Net seeks to facilitate wider debate on the present and future needs in relation to urban transportation infrastructure with a view to informing policy evolution. Some aspects and questions of interest are:
- Development of a national policy on cycling
- Facilitation of city-level policies and plans that factor in transport demand management to obviate the need for creation of new infrastructure
- Democratic debate and citizen input into the processes of policy formulation
- Are investment in roads and metro systems in line with the new thinking on sustainable urban transportation
- How might one factor in the carbon footprint implications of creation of metro systems and roads