BEAUTIFICATION OF YAMUNA IS DOABLE, GOVT WILL DO IT: CM

Kejriwal along with Satyendar Jain is currently visiting South Korea

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that the development, beautification of Yamuna river and its drains is 'doable' and the government will do it. CM Kejriwal, accompanied by Urban Development Minister Satyendar Jain is currently visiting South Korea, his first bilateral visit to a foreign country after taking charge. "It is doable to clean the drains of Delhi and make them beautiful. It is also doable to clean the Yamuna,” said CM Arvind Kejriwal.

He further added, “AAP govt, we will work hard on cleaning drains and Yamuna. It will take time. Koreans did it in 27 months. But I am confident that we will succeed.” At his keynote address at the International Conference on Urban Regeneration, he said: Delhi is a vibrant city-state and popularly known as miniindia, where people of different religions, regions, and cultures live happily and contribute to India's economy in a major way. Capital cities, the world over, are administratively run differently and Delhi too has a unique and somewhat complex administrative structure, which however is a matter of a separate conversation at some other occasion.

He also said, “Delhi's waterscape heritage is unique as it has a continual natural water system and there is a huge potential for pedestrianisation and urban connections along these waterways. The aim is to channelise pedestrian movement within the city, using the existing waterways, greens, historic and transit features of the city in order to enhance connectivity within the urban fabric. The endeavor shall be Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal was addressing the International Conference on Urban Regeneration in South Korea

to create a pedestrian-friendly city.”

Kejriwal said, “The Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project in Seoul, which I myself saw on Wednesday at the downtown, was centered on revitalising the stream that had been covered for decades by a highway overpass. The city of Seoul

used its own resources to bring new life to the downtown by enhancing the urban environment. The restoration of the Cheonggyecheon Stream led to the revitalisation of Central Seoul, unleashing the potential for green public space.”

The Delhi CM said, "Besides this, Delhi has devel- oped as a seamless city with an urban continuum comprising of a number of rapidly growing towns in neighboring states. This has added to the flow and movement of traffic within Delhi. Despite measures by way of increasing the length of the road network and road surface through widening, construction of a number of flyovers/grade separators and, launching of the Metro, the traffic congestion has continued to increase unabated.”

I have heard a lot about the public transport of Seoul and the successful use of technology for public transport in Seoul is a talking point across the world. In Delhi, the Metro has emerged as a very successful model of public transport over the last 15 years and it is known for its professionalism and efficiency," Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal further added.