Topic: Urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
1) Analyse the effect of Urban traffic congestion on economic growth and quality of life of the country. (250 words)
Why this question:
A recent study has ranked Mumbai as the most traffic-congested city in the world for the second straight year, and Delhi at fourth place. Thus its important for us to analyse the effects of congestion on economic growth and quality of life of the country.
Demand of the question:
This question seeks to examine the problems posed by traffic congestion in the Indian cities.
Directive word:
Analyze – When asked to analyze, you have to examine methodically the structure or nature of the topic by separating it into component parts and present them as a whole in a summary.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction
Start with brief introduction of the context of the question.
Body
One can start by stating the recent findings – Traffic Index 2018 published by TomTom, an Amsterdam-based company that offers traffic solutions and has been publishing city rankings for eight years. The latest index ranks 403 cities across 56 countries. Mumbai is the most traffic-congested city in the world for the second straight year, and Delhi is ranked at fourth place. Bogota (Colombia) is ranked at second and Lima (Peru) is ranked third.
Mumbai’s 2018 congestion level of 65%, therefore, means that the extra travel time is 65% more than an average trip would take during uncongested conditions. For Delhi, by the same yardstick, the extra travel time is 58% more.
Then move on to explain the problems posed by traffic congestion.
Explain the link between traffic congestion and economic growth, quality of life, as to how it is a key determining factor etc.
Economic Growth: A good transportation system is an important selling point to communities
that desire to attract development that provides for employment and growth of a city. If transport
costs due to congestion increase, goods and services produced within that city tend to increase in
costs thus losing competitiveness in international markets. Efficient transportation access is
therefore a very important consideration as it has a direct impact on sound and sustainable
economic growth and productivity. The cost of congestion in the Western Province of Sri Lanka
is over Rs 20,000 million per year (around 2 percent of Regional GDP). This includes the cost of
productive time and wastage of fuel.
Quality-of-Life: To some people, congested highways are a symptom of deteriorating quality-of-
life-in a community. The amount of time that is spent on commuting to and from work is also in
reality, time that is taken away from social interactions or pursuit of activities that have a personal
value and satisfaction.
Conclusion
Conclude with solutions to the problem.