Road Test

With an enviable programme in place for expanding India’s roads & highways network, the Government has set the ball rolling. But the true test lies in ensuring purposeful execution.

- Mitalee Kurdekar

 India boasts of the world’s second largest road net-work, and given the length and breadth of the country, this is no surprise. With an expanse of 5.4 million kms, Indian roads support the ferrying of more than 60% of goods and 80% of people movement across the remotest corners of the country. However, what is astonishing is that Indian roads carry such stupendous loads despite having poor conditions and unsatisfactory road management.

Therefore, although the feat achieved is great, it also means that we are incurring costs arising from the wastage of resources, including scarce, imported fuel. It is therefore heartening that the Government of India has taken it upon itself to pursue projects that would result in changing the face of Indian roads in the coming 5-10 years. Does that mean that the issues that plagued such infrastructure projects have just evaporated? The answer is both no and yes. While issues such as land acquisition, red tape, resource crunch, lack of skill sets & technology, and more importantly the absence of co-ordination between agencies continues to hamper progress, industry players now approach projects differently, and try to resolve these issues up front with the help of an resolute intent and firm plans in the form of DPRs (detailed project reports).

The development of roads & highways has been a focus area for the Indian Government as it tries to realise its objective of all-round economic development. On the other hand, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has set a goal before it of building at least 90,000 kms of highway network during the course of its current term to take the length of Indian highways to an ambitious target of 2 lakh kms. The transport infrastructure of India is expected to grow by around 6% in quantum terms in the next 3-4 years, thereby becoming one of the fastest growing infrastructure components of this vast economy.