The government has set up a high-level National Transport Development Policy Committee headed by Rakesh Mohan, a former secretary with the department of economic affairs and deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He will head the committee in an honorary capacity and will have the rank of a minister of state, an official statement said.

The high-level committe will draft policy measures needed to encourage competitive pricing and coordination between alternative modes of transport, in order to provide an integrated and sustainable transport system in the country.

This is necessary as the framework that the government provides for the transport sector largely determines the level of cost and efficiency in transport operations, an official release said today.

Mohan had, earlier, also chaired the expert group on commercialisation of infrastructure, which brought out the `Indian Infrastructure Report' in 1977; and the expert group on Railways, which drafted the `Indian Railways Report' in 2002.

The committee will include secretaries of all the ministries associated with the development of transportation along with the leading experts in the field.

A national policy on transport was last drafted in 1980 by the National Transport Policy Committee, which was chaired by the late B D Pande, a former cabinet secretary.

The integrated transport policy will take into account, inter alia, new technologies and environmental concerns.

"An efficient, reliable and safe transport system is vital for fostering rapid economic growth. Despite significant development of all transportation modes over the decades, transport capacity has not developed adequately in the country. This has led to increasing congestion, asset deterioration and high levels of energy consumption, pollution and accidents," the release noted.

"Moreover rural areas have inadequate connectivity hampering rural economic growth. The transport system comprises a number of modes like the railways, roads, air and shipping. The capacity of each mode has to be developed in a balanced fashion for ensuring harmonious development of the overall transport system, including an appropriate mix between private and public modes of transport so as to optimise energy consumption and efficiency," the release added.

The terms of reference of the committee are:

* Assess the transport requirements of the economy for the next two decades in the context of economic, demographic and technological trends at local, national and global levels;

* Recommend a comprehensive and sustainable policy for meeting the transport requirements keeping in view the comparative resource cost advantages of various modes of transport, ie, road, rail, air, shipping and inland water transport with a special focus on the modes that have developed less than economically desirable and the need to:

(a) Encourage a rational mix of various modes of transport in order to minimise the overall resource cost to the economy;

(b) Ensure balance between the ability of transport to serve economic development and to conserve energy, protect the environment, promote safety, and sustain future quality of life;

(c) Ensure universal rural connectivity;

(d) Address the special problems of remote and difficult areas on the one hand and of urban and metropolitan areas on the other; and

(e) Adopt and evolve suitable technologies for cost effective creation, economical maintenance and efficient utilisation of transport assets.

* Assess the investment requirements of the transport sector and to identify the roles of state and private sector in meeting these investment needs and to suggest measures for greater commercial orientation of transport services. (In this context, the committee should pay particular attention to reviewing the experience with the PPP approach or suggest ways of modifying it further.)

* Examine the laws, rules and regulations pertaining to various modes of transport and traffic and suggest measures for strengthening their enforcement in the interest of the community and streamlining the procedures and processes in line with the needs of a fast growing modern economy.

* Identify areas where data base needs to be improved in order to formulate and implement policy measures recommended by the committee.

* Suggest measures to improve the capacity to evolve and implement projects.

* Suggest measures for implementing various components of the recommended policy within a specified time frame.

* Recommend any other measure, which the committee consider relevant to the items above.

Other members of the committee are: Chairman of the Railway Board, secretaries of the ministries of urban development, road transport and highways, civil aviation, shipping, coal, power, petroleum and natural gas, secretary of the department of financial services, adviser to deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, chairman of RITES.

In addition, the committee will include K L Thapar, chairman of Asian Institute of Transport Development, M Ravindra, former chairman of Railway Board, S Sundar, former secretary of transport and shipping, DP Gupta, former DG Roads, Dinesh Mohan of IIT Delhi, Bharat Sheth, MD of Great Eastern Shipping, Rajiv B Lall, MD of IDFC, Mohandas Pai of Infosys, Cyrus Guzder, chairman of AFL Group as members.

B N Puri, senior consultant (transport) of the Planning Commission, is member-secretary of the committee.