I am truly delighted to be here in your midst to inaugurate a new section of Delhi Metro. This is one more feather in Delhi's proud cap. Delhi Metro has already improved the quality of life of our citizens in our Nation's capital. It has become symbol of a really "New" Delhi. Your experience here has inspired so many other cities to push for similar mass transit facilities.

As I have said so often, our cities cannot continue to develop in the manner in which they have done over the past few decades. We urgently need new investment in world class public infrastructure for our cities. We have to invest in public transport, in roads with space for bicycles and pedestrians, in sanitation, in public parks, in airports, in railway stations, and many other amenities of modern life. Our cities have to become more livable and more people-friendly. We have to also take steps to enable people who work in the city to be able to live away from it thereby contributing to efforts underway to decongest. All this can be possible only with rapid public transport. As the population of a city grows, the importance of public transportation increases. In the absence of good, reliable and affordable public transport, private vehicles will dominate the road leading to congestion, pollution, more accidents and of course, more fuel consumption. We cannot force people to become dependent on costly private transportation. This will not only increase energy consumption and discriminate against those who cannot afford private transport.

That is why our Government has launched the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission. This is a unique programme. It is a programme giving a massive boost to investment in urban infrastructure combining it with reform of governance processes in our urban areas. Urban renewal implies both - investment in new physical infrastructure and policy reform to ensure new ways of governing our cities. I encourage State Governments to come forward and take advantage of this facility by preparing imaginative projects and undertaking reform of urban governance.

I am truly impressed by the quality of the new infrastructure we have build here today. I once again congratulate Mr. Shreedharan and all his colleagues, his managerial team and all staff who have contributed to this dream that has come true. I am told that the entire investigation, planning, design and execution of this line has been done with indigenous expertise. They have, therefore, set an example for all of us to follow - that India can do it, that Indians are equal to the best in the world, howsoever difficult the task, may be.

I am happy to learn that the Delhi Metro is on track and most of its proposed phases will be completed in time for the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Delhi Metro is an example of one of the most technologically advance and safe rail based mass transit systems in the world. Although capital intensive, metros have a case for them in high traffic intensity situations. I am sure the citizens of other cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Kochi are looking forward to this kind of facility. I am sure DMRC's expertise will be of use while planning metros in these cities.

While we do need more such metros in other cities, each city must evolve its own technically and economically feasible solution. There is a wide spectrum of other proven transport technologies successfully operating in other parts of the world. The choice of technology has, of course, to be city-specific. Each city has its own transport requirements based on its urban form, level of demand, direction and extent of urban sprawl, projections of future growth and the like. We have to build capacity in the country to properly understand and approve of relative cost benefit of alternative technology of planning urban transport systems of different cities. The Central Government will encourage and promote all proven technologies that are considered economically suitable and relevant for our conditions including rail, bus and other means of transport.

I am very grateful to the government and the people of Japan and the management of the Japan Bank for International Co-operation for their financial support for this project. I am very happy that PM Koizumi has agreed to continue Japanese assistance to urban infrastructure development in our country. The Delhi Metro Project has served to play the role of being the harbinger of increased co-operation between India and Japan in the field of modernising and expanding our infrastructure.

I compliment all those who have been associated with this great national saga of adventure and enterprise. This project could not have been conceived if its architects had not dared to think big. I urge our planners, our business leaders, our political and intellectual leaders, and all modern minded people across all professions to think bold, think big, think anew. The beginning of a new year is indeed a good time to take a new look at old ways of doing things and see how we can do things differently and better. Change is the law of life and we have to be prepared as a nation to accept the challenge of change and it's orderly and equitable management.

I once again congratulate the management of Delhi Metro Corp. and it's spirit behind it, Shri Shreedharan. He has become a role model for future generations to come. And I take this opportunity also to wish the citizens of Delhi a very happy new year. This Metro is a good New Year's Gift and I hope it cheers all our citizens.