BUILDING WORLD-CLASS INFRA CONNECTIVITY IN INDIA

In a conversation with Geospatial Artha, General Vijay Kumar Singh, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, (Retd.), the Union State Minister in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and Ministry of Civil Aviation, shares the vision and commitments of the ministry, future plans for India’s highway sector and the usage of geospatial technology in the development of India’s infrastructure.

In the past few years, a lot has been done to expand infra connectivity. India now has the second largest roadways network in the world, and highway connectivity extends to far-flung regions. What is the future focus of your ministry for the 75th year of independence and beyond?

We remain steadfast in our commitment to build world-class roads and highways in India, and to make road commute for the citizens faster, safer, and efficient. Access and connectivity is the fulcrum of socio-economic development as well as national cohesion, integration, and imbuing a sense of belonging.

India's road network today, at 6,331,791 kms is world's second largest, more than China and second only to the United States of America. We endeavour to expand roadways and national highways across the length and breadth of the country. Building road networks and highways as per the best of global standards is a key priority for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

In this Digital Era, technology is everywhere. We embed Information Technology and Geospatial Solutions for better stakeholder engagement, and offering hassle-free online services to the people. Through an investment of Rs10,000 crore, we aim to extend the highway length by more than 12,000 kms in the year 2023-2024. Enhancing road safety is also one of our core priorities. We are instituting signage standardization on leading expressways of the country, which would soon be extended to all the highways.

With 44 high-class expressways, road travel in India has been thoroughly reimagined. We have an enviable road and highway infra today that meets a lot of global qualitative benchmarks.

In line with PM Modi's vision of inclusive development, we aim to promote green highways with participation of the community, farmers, private sector, and other government institutions.

Please give a brief overview of the state of Indian road infra network in terms of enabling access and opportunities?

In 2020-2021, despite the pandemic-induced slowdown, the average speed of National Highway construction was 37 km per day, which is more than 12,000 kms a year. We continue to build durable roads at a record-breaking pace, with the objective to build over 2 lakh kms of National Highways by 2025. Innovative schemes such as PM GatiShakti and Bharatmala Pariyojna are true gamechangers in infra connectivity that will unveil immense opportunities for a lot of sectors, improving the livelihood of the people.

Unified, multimodal, integrated transit that leaves no one behind is one ultimate objective. Over the years, we have infused a new breath of life to the country's highways, which were plagued by a lack of private investment and maintenance. Through a participative approach, taking everyone along, and an unflagging attitude to quality, standards, and public safety we will extend connectivity to the remotest last mile.

6,331,791 kms

At whopping $10 trillion, the outlay for Bharat Mala is already the largest in the world for any road construction. Earlier, high freight and logistic corridor cost often deterred investors and hobbled the enterprising capabilities of our talented youth. With the dynamism and ease of PM GatiShakti, all of that is soon going to be past.

Once the logistic costs in the country are progressively slashed, through multi-modal integration, it will give a tremendous boost to entrepreneurship and economic development.

Recently in a meeting with the Swedish Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, you discussed about cooperating with Sweden on air traffic management, rural connectivity and ways to reduce carbon footprints, please shed some light on the same.

India is planning to work with Sweden especially in enhancing connectivity in rural areas because both the countries are large and face similar challenges when it comes to connecting the remote places. To do that, India is planning to invest in infrastructure and aviation and develop electric airplanes or small planes run on biofuel for short-haul, which are in developing phase right now and will be in the market in the next five years. These small flights can have a range for 800 kilometers with the seating capacity of 25 passengers.

We are working to promote aviation in a sustainable way while connecting the rural areas. India is already investing in building new airports and increasing capacity, while looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions.

India has plans to develop 100 airports by 2024 under the Regional Connectivity scheme (RCS)- UDAN infra- structure scheme. Moreover, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Guwahati, Ahmedabad, Mangaluru airports are being modernised and upgraded.

Airport Authority of India (AAI) and other airport operators have targeted capital outlay of approximately Rs98,000 crore in the airport sector across India by 2025 for the construction of Greenfield Airports and new terminals, expansion and modernization of existing terminals and strengthening of runways, among other activities. Out of this, more than Rs25000 crore capital expenditure is incurred by AAI and private airport operators and developers.

New airports will be developed in the next five years, which includes construction of Greenfield Airports at Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra, Vijayapura, Hassan and Shivamogga in Karnataka, Noida (Jewar) in Uttar Pradesh,

Dholera and Hirasar in Gujarat and Bhogapuram in Andhra Pradesh.

How crucial is geospatial technology for your ministry?

Geospatial technologies have been playing a pivotal role in the development of highways, as well as, in up-keeping them. Technologies such as Earth Observation, GPS, Remote sensing, and UAV devices are aiding end-to-end construction, operations, and maintenance of highways.

The government has taken crucial steps to embed these technologies into the infrastructure projects around the country. We are now seeing GIS, 3D modelling and BIM, and drones being used ever-so-widely to streamline the workflow and bring efficiency.

For example, drones were extensively used during the construction phase of the DelhiMeerut highway for site surveying, progress monitoring, and quality control.

These technologies collectively enable optimal route planning, real-time surveillance of road conditions, efficient asset management, and agile disaster responses. Ultimately, their integration yields a safer, well-organized, and adaptive highway network that caters to India's evergrowing infrastructure demands.

What are the pre-requisites for the successful adoption of geospatial technologies in the Indian highway construction industry especially under the framework of PM Gatishakti?

Though quite a few geospatial technologies have already found place in the Indian highway construction industry but there are still some challenges. For the successful adoption of geospatial technologies, we are addressing the challenges by creating digital awareness and pushing the stakeholder to improve their engagement.

We are using geospatial technologies to create a 3D model of the project that can be shared between all stakeholders, to allow better collaboration and coordination between all.

Integrating on-site technology solutions with off-site platforms can transform the approach to infrastructure projects, benefiting all stakeholders.

Numerous efforts are being taken by the government on decarbonising, which include the adoption of alternative and flex fuels, green highways, airports running on renewable energy, hydrogen cell technology, and electric vehicles, and PM GatiShakti plan.

The standards are changing, and if we need to keep up with the type of goals that we have laid out, then we have to change our mind sets.

To ensure that India achieves the target of $5 trillion economy the country needs to invest 5 times more in infrastructure development. The government is looking into creating common utility corridors to ensure speedy transportation, lower fuel costs and cost effectiveness. PM GatiShakti caters to all the challenges which have been causing hindrance to the speedy development in the infrastructure sector, all under one roof.