The Hindu reports: Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) K. Sanjay Murthy, on Thursday said that global congestion indices had risen from 20% to 25 % as of 2025 costing each urban commuter between 100 and 180 hours of productive time every year.Mr. Murthy, who was speaking at the 5th BRICS Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) Leaders’ Summit here, said that urban mobility failed not for want of roads or rails, but for want of systems that worked together.“We build metro lines that don’t connect to bus networks.
We build flyovers that merely shift congestion. We measure outputs, km of road laid, stations built, rather than outcomes: did commute times fall? Did air quality improve?
Background
Did inequality in access reduce?” Mr. Murthy said.On Indian cities, he said that our cities today occupied just 3% of our land, yet they contributed 60% of our national GDP.“By 2030, 70% of all new jobs in India will be created in cities. A city that writes the software powering the world’s most advanced enterprises, and where, on the very same morning, a nurse boards an overcrowded bus for a ninety-minute commute to save lives that software cannot reach.
Key facts
- Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) K.
- We build flyovers that merely shift congestion.
- We measure outputs, km of road laid, stations built, rather than outcomes: did commute times fall?
What this means
Bengaluru, in that way, is not just a host city. It is the living argument for why this summit matters,” Mr.
Originally reported by The Hindu. This story has been edited and re-presented by BRIC Team.
