NEW DELHI: More than 50 years after they were scrapped in the Indian capital, trams are set to make a comeback on New Delhi's congested streets, a redevelopment official said Thursday.

The Delhi government is planning to bring trams, first introduced by India's British colonial rulers, to the old city where pedestrians compete for space with rickshaws, handcarts, cars and cows.

Government official Nitin Panigrahi, who will work on the project, said the aim was to encourage people to abandon cars for the trolleys as they travel between historic sights in Old Delhi.

"The work will begin next year and the project will be commissioned in 2018," Panigrahi, deputy general manager of the government's Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi) redevelopment corporation, told AFP.

Delhi government ministers announced the plan during a visit to the walled old city this week.