UNPRECEDENTED DEVELOPMENT IN THE ROAD TRANSPORT SECTOR

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Three Years of Government

Since Independence, road transport, the very backbone of trade and commerce and, consequently, the economic growth of the country, has been under-utilized. However, in a short span of three years, the Government has initiated far-reaching reforms in the road transport sector.

National Highways Development Project (NHDP) launched

The NHDP is a major initiative towards qualitative and quantitative enhancement of 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). In the words of Hon’ble Prime Minister, "The Project envisages a Golden Quadrilateral linking the Delhi-Kolkata-Chennai-Mumbai-Delhi circuit, a North-South Corridor connecting Kashmir to Kanyakumari and a similar East-West Corridor connecting Silchar to Saurashtra. It is indeed the largest and the most ambitious infrastructure project undertaken in independent India – a highway to prosperity. The project will not only further integrate our great land through a network of world-class highways, it will also place India on the fast lane to socio-economic development."

The programme set by the Prime Minister includes:

• The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ), i.e.Phase-I: Delhi-Kolkata-Chennai-Mumbai-Delhi circuit, involving 5,846 km of road and costing about Rs. 25,050 crore. The date of completion of this project was December 2004. It has been advanced and now the GQ is being targeted for substantial completion by December, 2003.
• North-South & East-West Corridors, i.e. Phase-II: From Srinagar to Kanayakumari and Silchar to Saurashtra (Probandar), involving a distance of 7,300 km and costing Rs. 30,000 crore. The date of completion of this project, earlier given as December, 2009 has now been advanced to December, 2007.
• Other works include port connectivity to major ports: The major ports (Haldia, Paradip, Vishkapatanam, Chennai, Tuticorin, Cochin, Mangalore, Mormugoa, Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust, Kandla) are also to be connected by about 400 km of roads. Other projects involve about 600 km of road development.
• No railway level crossing on NHDP, which means approximately 250 Railway Over/Under Bridges would be constructed.

The work on NHDP is proceeding as per plan and till September 30, 2002, an amount of Rs.9,604 crore has already been spent and Contracts worth Rs.18,579 crore have been awarded. Out of the total GQ length of 5,846 km, work has been completed on 1,159 km and is under implementation on 4,551 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 800 km. The work is under implementation on 688 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 133 ongoing contracts, as many as 86 contracts worth Rs.10,490 crore have gone to Indian firms, 35 contracts worth Rs.6,115 crore to joint ventures while 12 contracts 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.

Tremendous Boost to Cement and Steel Industries

An annual average consumption of 40 lakh metric tonne of cement and 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.

Huge Employment Generation

The Project will 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.

Central Road Fund revamped

The 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.

The total length of national highways in the country is 58,112 km. Out of this, the length of national highways under NHDP, Port Connectivity and other programmes being implemented by the National Highways Authority of India is 14,000 km. 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 that constitutes a length of 44,112 km. Under the Improvement of Riding Quality Programme (IRQP), riding quality of 23,000 km length was improved during 1999-2002. Riding quality of the balance length is targeted for improvement by 2003-04.

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

In another major initiative, standardised formats/operating system of smart cards for use of driving licenses, registration certificates and permits has been finalised. In certain States, computerisation has already started to enable building up a proper nation-wide database on vehicles.

The NHDP and other road development projects will result in immense 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