Auto industry must focus on urban infrastructure

CHENNAI: Growing urbanization in India and China, the world’s two largest emerging economies, has forced automobile industry experts to chart a new strategy for improving the urban infrastructure in these economies to survive in the future.  Delivering the inaugural address of the 16th Asia Pacific Automotive Conference (APAC) on “Sustainable Technologies for Safe and Smart Mobility” here on Thursday, chairman of TVS Motors Venu Srinivasan stressed the need for automobile industry to join hands with the non-government organizations to focus more on urban planning or else the industry won’t be able to sell its products to consumers as can’t use them.  Ruing on the lack of planning to have satellite cities to take the load of main city, he said the state should plan schools, hospitals, shopping complexes so that the satellite cities can grow.  He said by 2030, 590 million people will live in cities, nearly twice the population of United States and the country will have 68 cities that will have population of 1 million plus, up from 42 today which requires an additional 2.5 billion square meters of roads to be paved, 20 times the capacity added in the past decade.  He said going by the growth of urbanization by 2030, 7,400 km of metros and subways will need to be constructed - 20 times the capacity added in the past decade. He also rued the lack of bus lanes and a proper traffic flow management to cut down on carbon emissions. He said in cities like Bangalore and Chennai, the average speed is 10 kmph which results in carbon emissions to grow by 60 per cent.  R Seshasayee, patron of APAC and vice chairman of Ashok Leyland, highlighted the need to focus on mobility solutions like technology and affordability.He said the technology needs for developing nations are different where the focus of safety is not only on drivers but also on pedestrians. He said the automobile industry should focus on alternative fuels. Ted Robertson, president of International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies and R Dayal, president of Society of Automotive Engineers India, spoke.