YEAR 2002 WITNESSES TREMENDOUS ROAD BUILDING ACTIVITY

UNDER NATIONAL HIGHWAYS DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

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YEAR END REVIEW - 2002

With highway construction moving into top gear, the year 2002 saw concrete steps being taken for ahead of schedule completion of the Prime Minister’s dream National Highways Development Project (NHDP). India’s largest ever highways project, the NHDP is a major initiative towards qualitative and quantitative enhancement of the National Highways, involving development and 4/6 laning of about 13,150 km of road at a cost of over Rs. 54,000 crore (at 1998-99 prices). While the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) part of NHDP is being targeted for substantial completion by December 2003, the completion of North-South and East-West Corridors has been advanced by two years to 2007.

The work on NHDP is proceeding as per plan and till November 30^th 2002, out of the total GQ length of 5846 km, work has been completed on 1159 km and is under implementation on 4335 km. Work on the remaining 136 km will soon be awarded. Out of the total North-South and East-West Corridor length of 7,300 km, work has already been completed on 817 km. The work is under implementation on 671 km and the balance is to be awarded during 2002-05.

NHDP’s prime focus is on developing international standard roads with (i) enhanced safety features like better riding surface, better road geometry, better traffic management and noticeable signages, (ii) divided carriageways and service roads, (iii) grade separators, over bridges and underpasses for uninterrupted traffic flow, (iv) bypasses and (v) wayside amenities alongwith ambulances and cranes.

Another striking feature of NHDP is that Indian firms have won a majority of Contracts. Out of 132 ongoing Contracts, as many as 85 Contracts (of length 2,859 km) worth Rs.10,455 crore have gone to Indian firms, 35 Contracts (of length 1,792 km) worth Rs.6,115 crore to joint ventures while 12 Contracts (of length 654 km) worth Rs.1,974 crore have gone to foreign firms.

NHDP: Immense Benefits

According to a World Bank study, the completion of GQ alone will result in an annual saving of approximately Rs. 8,000 crore (at 1999 prices) on account of fuel savings, reduced wear and tear of vehicles and faster transportation etc.An annual average consumption of 25 to 40 lakh metric tonne of cement and 2.5 to 3.0 lakh metric tonne of steel during 2001-04 has been estimated on just the GQ, thereby providing thrust to cement and steel industries. In fact, the impact is already being felt.The Project will also provide direct employment to 2,50,000 workers (skilled and unskilled) per day and 10,000 supervisory staff per day, resulting in employment generation of 18 crore man-days for Phase-I.

Incentives to Road Construction Industry: In order to encourage road construction industry within the country, the Central Government has offered many incentives, some of which are:-

• Total Custom Duty exemption on road building equipment not being produced in the country. Twenty-one such items have been identified.
• Income- Tax exemption for 10 years from NHDP earnings.
• In the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) schemes, grant upto 40 per cent can be given.
• The NHAI Bonds have been exempted from Capital Gains.

The Control of National Highways (Land and Traffic) Bill, 2002 passed

The Bill was passed in both Houses of Parliament in the just concluded Winter Session. Aimed at preventing unauthorised occupation of highway land, the Bill seeks to control access points to National Highways and regulate traffic on them, besides establishment of Highway Administrations to enforce the law and setting up of Tribunals to hear appeals against their orders. The Bill also seeks to control use of road land for public utilities and drains.

Central Road Fund revamped

The present Government has taken a number of notable steps to arrange finances for the Nation’s roads. In a historic decision, a nominal cess has been introduced on both petrol and diesel. The funds so collected are to be put aside in a non lapsable Central Road Fund (CRF) for the development of a modern road network. This has resulted in an allocation of Rs. 1192 crore, Rs. 5590 crore, Rs. 5962 crore and Rs.5880 crore from the revamped CRF during 1999-2000, 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03 respectively as per details given below:

(Rs. in crore)

Year	National Highways	State Roads	Roads of inter-State connectivity & of Economic Importance	Rural Roads	Rail - ways	Total
1999-2000	1192	-	-	-	-	-
2000-2001	1800	985	5	2500	300	5590
2001-2002	2100	962	100	2500	300	5962
2002-2003	2000	980	100	2500	300	5880

It is for the first time that such large funds are being mobilised for the development of state roads and rural roads all over the country.

At the time of Independence, the length of National Highways in the country stood at 21,440 km. During 1947 to 1997, only about 12,858 km of National Highways was added to the road network in the country. However, during the 9^th Plan, renewed focus on the road sector has resulted in 23,814 km of roads being declared as National Highways. The total length of National Highways in the country today stands at 58,112 km.

The tremendous thrust to road development under the present Government can be gauged from the fact that whereas in the 50 years up to 1997, only 556 km of National Highways were 4-laned, but in just 9 years between 1999 to 2007, over 14,000 km are being 4-laned.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has also taken up improvement of riding quality and widening of national highways other than those covered under the NHDP, a length of 44,112 km. So far, riding quality of a length of about 23,000 km has been improved. Riding quality of the balance length is targeted for improvement by 2003-04.

With a view to induct information technology in the Road Transport Sector, common standardized software specifications in respect of driving licence and registration certificate of vehicles have been framed and circulated to all the States and Union Territories. Similarly, the working document for Command Set Operating System, based on ISO 7186 standards has also been standardized and the application software to be operated on terminal and hand held reeds also circulated to all States/UTs. The back-end software is being provided free of cost to all cities and UTs. This would ensure inter-operability of the system throughout the country.

The 13^th Road Safety Week was observed from 7^th to 13^th January, 2002 throughout the country with the involvement of State Governments, Voluntary Organisations, Vehicle Manufacturers, State Road Transport Undertakings etc. The theme for the 13^th Road Safety Week was Live and Let Live – Obey Traffic Rules.

The NHDP and other initiatives will result in tremendous economic and social benefits for our country, like:

• Employment generation
• Thrust to road construction, cement and steel industries
• Benefits to trade especially in movement of perishable goods such as agricultural produce from hinterland
• Savings in vehicle operating costs
• Faster, comfortable journeys
• Reduced fuel consumption
• Reduced maintenance costs
• Safer travel
• All round development of areas