Building Resilient Infrastructure For Connected India

Prof. Arup Dasgupta Managingarup@geospatialworld.netEditor

Reimagining Urban Planning

The recent rains in Bangalore and the havoc wreaked have brought to the fore a few issues. The first is that India is totally unprepared for Climate Change. The second is that the local administration has no clue about the features of natural topography that controls drainage and provides rainwater storage. It has failed to protect these natural features and control urbanization by creating safe building zones with proper provision of utilities like electric power, potable water and waste water management. The third is the rampant industrialization of cities like Bangalore and the resultant population explosion, leading to a building boom that ignores these natural features.

While Bangalore is in the eye of the storm today, other major cities have also faced similar problems in the past. The expo nential growth of Mumbai has resulted in the conversion of an inappropriately named Meethi River into a canal of raw sewage. As a result, the megapolis

witnesses horrendous flooding and damage. Chennai is not far behind as well. There too, natural wetlands have been built over and residential areas get flooded during heavy rains. Unusually heavy rains have also inundated cities like Jaipur. Flooding in Kolkata is legendary.

In this grim scenario, the prediction that in another decade 60 percent of India’s population will reside in cities is really a doomsday scenario. Mega cities are bursting at the seams. They are unable to provide the most basic of amen ities and host some of the most wretched slums in Asia.

If this is ‘progress’ then I am sure India can do without it. We need an alternate strategy to mega cities, undertaking seri ously what the former President of India, Dr. Kalam initiated –PURA or Providing Urban Amen ities to Rural Areas. We need to stop concentrating everything near major cities and take up a more distributive model of devel opment. The Shyama Prasad

Mukherji Rurban Mission is an attempt to realize this.

It is here that the AEC industry can make best use of GIS, BIM and Digital Twins. The growth of towns which are presently the source of migra tion to the metropolises need to be developed systematically in such a manner that migration can be stopped and a reverse migration can be initiated. This would reduce the pressure on mega cities.

It may sound utopian but this is a business opportunity which is distributed and not concentrated in one mega zone. This will result in a much better model of urban ization, better use of resources, and better development of rural areas as well.

It needs to be remembered that GIS, BIM and Digital Twin are all sources of information. Converting this information into plans and action is in the realm of administration and governance. While the technology is ready, will governance follow the track?

Sustainable Roads Sustainable Future

Reduce

© 2022 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley and the Bentley logo are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its direct or indirect wholly owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. 09/21

GOOGLE LAUNCHES STREET VIEW IN 10 INDIAN CITIES

Google announced the launch of its Street View experience in India in partnership with Genesys International, an advanced mapping solutions company, and Tech Mahindra, a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting, and business re-engi neering services and solutions.

Street View will be initially available for 10 Indian cities namely, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Nashik, Vadodara, Ahmednagar, andForAmritsar.datacollection, Genesys uses specialized camera installed on top of four-wheelers,

three-wheelers, two-wheelers as well as on bag packs to run on theTechstreets.Mahindra is responsible for the GIS processes ranging from data creation, resourcing, insights generation, and the actual collection of the streetlevel imagery.

KERALA BECOMES FIRST INDIAN STATE TO LAUNCH A DEDICATED GEOSPATIAL PORTAL

A revamped version of spatial data portal called the GeoPortal 2.0 has been launched by the Kerala State Spatial Data Infrastructure (KSDI) under Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM). The portal now covers major government departments in 22 maps, such as government hospitals, tribal hamlets, and density of government offices in Kerala, fire & rescue stations, and roads over the drainage network. For the public, the data that covers locations of Akshaya

centres, anganwadis and areas with KFON has been made available. The revamp also gets more robust system that allows people to share and explore data related to state’s transportation, infrastructure, natural resources, demography, agriculture, socioeconomy political, and admin istrative boundaries etc. The platform acts as a goldmine for researchers, entrepreneurs, and policy-makers.Theportalhas been launched

in its initial phase and as the development further proceeds the updates shall roll-in all the additional data.

T-HUB & HEXAGON TO BUILD GEOSPATIAL EXPERIENCE CENTRE IN HYDERABAD

T-hub has joined hands with technology major Hexagon to build a Geospatial Experience Centre in Hyderabad. This collaboration aims to provide technical expertise to startups in India and thus, accelerate the entire ecosystem.

The perks of the upcoming Geospatial Experience Centre, as expressed by T-hub, involves identifying innovative ideas while also boosting technological capabilities of individuals or start-ups. This will facilitate a new trend of proficiencies in the start-up sector such as experimentation, PoCs, networking, and partnership exposure.

Additionally, Hexagon will also provide an array of opportunities to startups, such as access to technology expertise (both hardware and software), co-creation and co-innovation of products, support in building pilots and providing mentorship

Further, the centre will provide access to Hexa gon’s geospatial technology for external research developments through academic and research partners. The collaboration is also aimed at creating solutions for the Indian and global markets.

UTTARAKHAND GETS INDIA’S FIRST SPACE SITUATIONAL AWARENESS OBSERVATORY

Bangalore-based start-up Digan tara is launching India's first-ever commercial Space Situational Awareness (SSA) observatory at the Garhwal region in Uttara khand. The observatory will expand the country's space knowledge by providing an insight into various information that was partially or completely inacces sible until now.

Its primary objective will be to detect space debris, traffic, and military satellites. Morevoer, it will

also reduce the possibilities of collision between various space objects like satellites and space crafts by analyzing the data it records.TheSSA sensor will help in keeping the flights from the Indian subcontinent in check, while also acting as a bridge for data between Australia and Africa.

To facilitate better and clearer images, the augmented spacebased sensors are placed from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to Geosyn

chronous Earth Orbit (GEO).

Presently, India has a Multi-Ob ject Tracking Radar at the Sriha rikota range in Andhra Pradesh that provides only a limited data.

NORTHEAST TO GET 110 PROJECTS BY 2024 THROUGH SATELLITE TECH

The government has decided to incorporate satellite tech nology to launch 110 projects in the 8 north-eastern states of India namely, Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur, and Meghalaya.Theprojects cover sectors such as ecology, agriculture, water, planning and development, disaster management, and UAV Remote sensing. These projects will be implemented with the joint funding from Department of

Science, the state government, and the Ministry of DONER.

The project management is being co-ordinated with the Shil long-based North East Space Application Centre (NESAC). The NESAC is an autonomous institu tion, established in 2000 under the Department of Science. In one of its many roles, the organi sation primarily provides space technology inputs and services for the development of the North Eastern region. Further more, it works in the field of

education, health and disaster management, infrastructure development, and natural resource management.

INDIAN ARMY INKS AGREEMENT WITH DRONE FEDERATION OF INDIA

Extending the support for the Indian drone industry, the Army Design Bureau on behalf of the Indian Army has signed a MoU with the Drone Federation of India. This collaboration will see a further development in research, testing, and manufacturing of drones.

More than anything, this part nership boosts the confidence of the Drone Industry and promotes indigenous drone advancement by creating business opportunities, developing a robust infrastruc ture, facilitating technology and knowledge transfers, developing standards, and promoting R&D efforts with Corporation Limited (MPMRCL), the metro will be convenient, affordable, safe, and modern.

It will work on the Commu nication Based Train Control (CBTC) technology, and will be

Army to be the facilitator for the R&D efforts with the Industry, Academia, DRDO and DPSUs to enable them to understand and appreciate user requirements in depth.

This MoU between the Indian Army and the Drone Federation of India will promote efforts to hand hold the industry and academia in order to assist them to develop niche technology and products for procurement by Indian Army.

BENGALURU AND 7 OTHER INDIAN CITIES JOIN HANDS WITH GOOGLE TO SOLVE TRAFFIC WOES

entirely driverless. The CBTC technology will also help in reducing the time intervals between two metro rails.

The Bhopal Metro, also called Bhoj Metro will have two train lines with 28 stations overall, covering 104.87 kilometres after the first phase of development.

While, the Indore Metro will have five metro lines as planned wherein, one is currently under construction. It will cover a distance of 124 kilometres overall, out of which 33.53 is under construction.

Google along with traffic police and authorities of Bengaluru and 7 other Indian cities is working towards mitigating traffic woes using real-time information sharing and local intelligence.

Crucial data such as live traffic, speed limits, and traffic light timings, is now made avail able on Google Maps. Moreover, for decreasing congestion in Bengaluru, Google has partnered up with the city’s traffic authori ties to improve traffic light timings at key Apartintersections.fromBengaluru, Google has partnered up with authorities from Delhi, Hyderabad, Chan digarh, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Gurgaon, and Agra. This part nership would enable the city dwellers to avoid congestion zones as they will have accurate information on road closures and related

Locationincidents.intelligence, real-time information sharing and visuali zation is at the core of building resilient infrastructure and enabling the smart mobility expe rience. By sharing reliable loca tion data, everyone from drivers to traffic authorities are able to make more informed decisions.

MP

Digital Transformation to Break Silos and Enhance Transparency

Digitalization would provide impetus to the construction and infrastructure sector by fostering a collaborative mechanism, and ensuring qualitative enhancement, transparency and effective decisionmaking. By Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways

In managing road construc tion and other infrastructure projects, we often don't learn from our past experiences, so we end up making the same mistakes again and again.

That’s why there’s a need of digital transformation in road construction, quality audit, and even performance audit, which are the three most important factors for the development of durable quality infrastructure.

Financial audit is also very important, but I always tell people that performance audit is even moreOnesignificant.oftheproblems related

to all the ministries lies with the Detailed Project Report (DPR).

When we select a company for making DPR, the criteria is set at theThislowest.iswhy

some of these companies have so far proven

to be the worst. They have been responsible for road accidents in the country.

Healthy competitive spirit

We need to identify the reasons for project delays. These days because of digital technology, everything is available. We can improve everything, and work towardsEveryperfection.twoorthree

years, we are working on maintenance. Every time we get a proposal, we implement it.

Every department and majority of people, the stakeholders, are always thinking in silos. There is no cooperation, coordination and communication between them, which is a big problem.

For instance, in my city, there’s a Remote Sensing Application Centre. During a visit there, I suggested them to prepare the green map of every district, every Nagar Parishad, municipal authority, gram panchayat and provide me an official record, so that we can organize a statelevel competition for tree planta tion and distribute awards for the bestThisoutcome.wasintended to inculcate a competitive social mindset towards tree plantations. But somehow the engineers were hesitant toward it.

Majority of people are always thinking in silos. There is no isbetweencommunicationcoordinationcooperation,andthem,whichabigproblem.

BIG MORTH PROJECTS UNDERWAY

Bharatmala

Development of 26,000 km of Economic Corridor, feeder roads, Border & International connectivity roads, Expressways, Coastal & port connectivity roads with an approved estimate cost of Rs 6,92,324 crore.

1,177 km of NHs and 4,276 km of State Roads in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) for an estimated total of Rs 7,300 crore. As of 31st March 2019, Development in 4,792 km length has been completed incurrin Rs 7,315 Crore so far.

Vijayawada-RanchiConnectivityPariyojanainLWEareas

A total of 592 km of state roads were to be built in Odisha on the route of Vijayawada-Ranchi at a cost of Rs 1,200 crore. The development on 569 km has been completed at a cumulative expenditure of Rs 1,053 crore up to March, 2019.

Char Dham Pariyojana

Connectivity Improvement of 889 km for Char-Dham (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunothri & Gangothri) in Uttarakhand.

Arunachal Package

Development of about 2,319 km length of road, the entire Arunachal Pradesh package is targeted for completion by 2023-24. An amount of Rs 30,315 crore has been spent in SARDP including Arunachal Pradesh Package.

Setu Bharatam

With an investment of Rs 50,000 crore for safe bridges and easy travel on national highways, total of 208 RoBs (roads over bridges) are chosen in 19 states.

When I asked them the reason for their reluctance, they replied that forest officials may declare roadside plantations as forest area. Another apprehension was, when there’s a need to widen the road, objection may be raised on the ground that there are trees in the

Wevicinity.often

face these types of problems due to lack of cooper ation, coordination, and commu nication between various stake holders. This is also the reason for a lot of project delays.

Enhancing transparency Technology makes deci sion-making process transparent, time-bound, result-oriented, and qualitative, enabling us to complete projects on time.

While using technology, we need to focus on cost reduction

using different types of materials, particularly waste materials. We also need to be mindful of cutting down cost without compromising on Digitalquality.technology and infra

structure is a vital subject, not only for rural sector but for roads, power projects, and all sorts of things. Digital technologies are crucial for reducing the cost and improving the quality. Time is another consid erable factor. We have to improve all types of systems, and for that we need to assess our strengths and weaknesses regularly on a case-to-case basis.

Then through the acute insights gained, we need to formulate the right policy. Digital technology usage is going to be the ultimate stage to develop quality infrastructure that meets the best global standards.

I always feel that innovation, entrepreneurship, science, tech nology, and research skills are harbingers of successful prac tices that are valuable every where. We term it as knowledge, and conversion of knowledge into wealth is the future.

Our Prime Minister’s vision is to turn India into a five trillion dollar economy. In line with it, we need to develop four sectors that are crucial for the country: water, power, transport, and communication. Without it, we cannot increase our GDP growth rate, which is essential for employment generation and poverty eradication.

Note: This has been converted into a column from a speech delivered by Shri Nitin Gadkari at the GeoInfra 2022 in New Delhi

BIM and Digital Twin InfrastructureReinventingDynamismIndia’s

Time is ripe for the construction industry to adopt ground-breaking innovative technologies such as BIM, geospatial, and Digital Twin. The decisionmakers need to mandate it across the project lifecycle. By Ananya Narain

Infrastructure is a core component of India's vision to be a five trillion dollar economy as well as an illus tration of its national ambi tion and growth trajectory. The sector is at an inflection point of creating economic prosperity, with drastically increased invest ments in recent years.

The country spent USD 1.1 trillion on infrastructure in the last decade and is scheduled to spend another USD 1.5 trillion by 2025. “India is at the cusp of investing a lot of money into

infrastructure build-up, creating eleven industrial corridors, building new highways, dedicated freight corridors, high-speed rail, suburban metros, inland waterways, says Rajan Aiyer, Managing Director, Trimble Inc.

"All these major projects are revolutionizing Indian infrastructure to become world-class,” he adds.

However, for the Indian construction sector to harness these opportunities efficiently, it must take past learnings into consideration to plan, design,

and build better in the future. "To make India a five trillion dollar economy, we need to strengthen four sectors: water, power, trans port, and communication. For the development of the infrastruc ture industry, we need digital transformation to take the lead. With digitalization, we can march towards perfection," says Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Road Trans port and Highway Minister, in his inaugural session at the recently held GeoSmart Infrastructure Conference in New Delhi.

In the wake of the pandemic, India’s construction and infra structure sector was paralyzed by long-standing inefficiencies and low productivity issues. But now the time is ripe for a complete digital overhaul.

As India embarks on massive infrastructural development, which will contribute to economic development, leading to a better quality of life and promote ease of living as per global standards, there is a need for the govern ment (project owners) and industry to enable mechanisms and strategies to enable digitali

Image courtesy: Autodesk

zation and leverage digital trans formation tools and technologies.

"It is important to use tech nology in all hasboostenhanceimproveprojectTwinBIM,technologystakeholderstherethemeetto(DPR),"priateshort-sightednesssarytiontodevelopmentinfrastructureprojects,especiallyimproveplanning,construcquality,andsaveunnecesfutureexpendituresduetoandinapprodetailedprojectreportheadds.ForthegovernmentofIndiaachievethesegoalsandtheaspirationslaidoutinInfrastructureVision2025,isanopportunityforalltoadoptadvancedsolutionssuchasgeospatialandDigitalatalllevelsofconstructionworkflow.Thiswouldquality,cutcosts,safety,reducerisksandprofitmargins.Andthistobedonenow.

Sunil MK, Country Head –AEC, Autodesk India, echoes the urgency, "We need to adopt technology at a faster pace, and we do not have much time."

On the Path of TransformationDigital

Traditionally, the Indian construc tion and infrastructure sector has been slow in incorporating the latest technology across its work flows. But now, the fast pace of digitalization everywhere coupled with challenges associated with remote work, labor shortage, and inadequate coordination and collaboration has made tech adoption an imperative.

The use of geospatial and other digital technologies such as BIM, Digital Twin, and Artificial Intelligence, ensures on-time project delivery and on-site smooth functioning.

“Geospatial, BIM, and Digital Twin technologies helps us under stand the complexities and visu alize the options so that we can see the whole value proposition of the infrastructure even before start working on it.” says Sanjay Kumar, CEO and Founder, Geospatial World; Convenor –Non-Executive National BIM and Digital Twin Think Tank.

In agreement is General (Dr.) Vijay Kumar Singh PVSM, AVSM, VSM (Retd.), Minister of State, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. General Singh sums up the need for digital trans formation in the country, “As technology gets used more, challenges like time overrun and cost overrun can be addressed. We need to develop technology such that users find it useful and easy, thus we can get benefit in terms of quality, methodology, time and cost effective. Infra structure industry and construc tion tech are changing by leaps and bounds. As land area is shrinking, we need technology and innovation to help us meet the requirements of infrastruc ture development as well as future of tionHowever,people.”theconstrucandinfrastructureworld is

highly complex and fraught with unique challenges. The majority of construction and infrastruc ture projects in India are highly fragmented, with different teams involved in the same project but working in silos, often with little or no synchronization or coordination.

The offices are very much disconnected from the work on the field, which causes delays, cost overruns, quality issues, and other inefficiencies in the project delivery process.

Kaushik Chakraborty, VP Asia-Pacific, Bentley Systems, says, “Life in the construction world is very tough. Often the entire process is disconnected, and here we use the word – dark data – meaning data which is disconnected across the lifecycle, so the stakeholders really don’t know what they have, creates huge challenges.”

BIM and Digital Twin –Definition and Need BIM and Digital Twin are the pillars for achieving produc tivity and efficiency in the Indian construction and infrastructure sector. Building Information Modelling or BIM is a collabora tive way of working, underpinned by digital technologies, which unlocks more efficient methods of designing, creating, and main taining infrastructure assets. It embeds essential product and asset data in a 3-Dimensional (3D) computer model to effec tively manage built asset data throughout the infrastructure project lifecycle – from concept through to operation.

Using BIM, architects, contrac tors, and structural engineers can work more collaboratively to access and update the design in a consistent and coordinated manner. BIM provides insights

New highways, dedicated freight corridors, high-speed rail, suburban metros, inland waterways, are revolutionizing Indian infrastructure to become world-class.

INDIAN CONSTRUCTION AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR: KEY FACTS

3rd Largest market in the world by 2025. 1.4 TN project owners, contractors believe risks rising rapidly. Offorinfrastructure2030isyettobebuild. Productivity boost expected by using BIM and othertechnologies.documentation

(Source: KPMG)

into the constructability of design, reduces errors, and improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the construction process. The Indian construction and infrastructure sector needs to transition from CAD to BIM for intelligent decision-making and optimal asset performance.

Further, BIM not only helps the stakeholders to complete the projects in less time with fewer resources but also helps them to develop a systemic understanding of the different dimensions of the technology – 4D (sequencing), 5D(cost estimation), and 6D (project lifecycle information and sustainability) to downstream benefits to common citizens who utilize infrastructure assets daily.

Digital Twin, on the other hand, is a virtual replica of a physical asset, process, or service. “Digital Twin is just BIM which is alive, always updated, and data-driven. CAD came from a 2D-docu ment-based world, BIM is a model-based world, and Digital Twins are data-centric. So it’s all about data and information you can gather and insights you can derive. Of course, GIS, CAD, and BIM are the foundation for Digital Twins,” explains Kaushik.

Digital Twins is rapidly progressing and will play a significant role in the coming

days, enabling asset-centric organizations to combine their engineering, operational, and information technologies into a portal or augmented/immer sive experiences. The pairing of the digital and physical entities allows for easy data analysis, and simulations that can help ward off problems even before they occur and allow for future plan ning. Implementing Digital Twins across construction and infra structure projects will help stake holders derive better insights, improve product performance, and enhance operational and strategic

Accordingdecisions.toSunil

MK, most Indian infrastructure projects are not delivered on time, and the only way to timely deliver projects is through digitaliza tion. He further added that if the government were to mandate BIM, or any collaboration and project management tool for infrastructure projects - with a planned spent of USD 1.5 trillion – a 20 percent productivity or 300 billion dollars in savings could be achieved.

“BIM takes all inputs and the construction data coming from the design world, from construc tion sites and fields, and also takes the output so that the information we get is up-todate”, adds Kaushik.

A Mandate for All

While everything about the technology sounds wonderful, India’s capability in implementing geospatial, BIM, and Digital Twin technologies across construction and infrastructure lifecycles are still at a nascent stage.

This maturity differs signifi cantly across the project lifecycle. GW Consulting assessed the on-ground reality of technology implementation and found India’s maturity to stand between levels one and two of the maturity curve, i.e., between the amateur and mature stages.

“This gap gives an opportunity to the policymakers to see where the industry is moving, where the technology is moving, and how they can create policies that are pro-business, pro-technology that will enable the growth of this infrastructure in terms of quality, cost, time and complex ities,” adds Rajan, affirming the need for a policy and technology mandate in construction and infrastructure projects.

Karthik Mani, BIM Strategy Manager, WSP, foresees policy as an important pillar in the digital ization process. “There is a need for cross-collaboration, knowl edge transfer, and information exchange between all diversified specialists. To achieve this, I feel

we need to develop some kind of policy

“Themandate”articulation

to the govern ment authorities has to be very transparent, illustrating the costvalue benefit and the entire futur istic roadmap. Suppose they can come up with a policy mandate, to begin with, technology mandate in infrastructure projects. In that case, I believe the integration of Digital Twin, GIS and BIM will defi nitely realize,” he adds.

National BIM and Digital Twin Strategy

A high-level think tank led by Mr. Kamal Kishore, Member Secre tary, National Disaster Manage ment Authority, and co-chairs Shri Amit Kumar Ghosh, Addi tional Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and Mr.

Hitesh Vaidya, Director – National Institute of Urban Affairs, has called for the development of an integrated National BIM and Digital Twin policy for India to harness the potential of tech nology and digital transformation for the Indian construction and infrastructure sector.

The Non-Executive National BIM and Digital Twin Think launched 'The National BIM and Digital Twin Strategy' report in the presence of Shri Nitin Gadkari at the GeoSmart Infrastructure Conference in New Delhi. The report considers a 'whole-sector' approach to springboard the development of a National BIM and Digital Twin policy across the sub-sector infrastructure projects (transport infrastructure and urban development projects) to

overcome the bottlenecks which the Indian construction and infra structure sector currently face. It sets out an action-oriented stra tegic plan for government and decision-makers across India's construction and infrastructure community to adopt BIM and Digital

WhileTwin.listing

the definition, role, importance, and return on investment generated from BIM and Digital Twins in infra structure projects, the report called for developing a National BIM and Digital Twin policy. The report suggests the policy be developed in collaboration with industry, academia, and govern ment to embed and develop BIM and Digital Twins capabil ities within different infrastruc ture projects.

BENEFITS ACROSS CONSTRUCTION AND INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS

•

ContractorsArchitects

•

• Exceeded perfor mance

• Better ability to consider duringronmentalenviimpactdesign

• Reduced material usage

• Improved ability to manage com plexity

• Reduced errors and reworks

• Better ability to meet custom er and requirementsdesign

•

•

• Improved Team Collaboration

• Improved Data Handover

• Increased Work load Capacity

•

•

•

•

Cost BenefitsRiskBenefitsControlReduction & Safety Benefits and

"Policies at the Government level are very important. The National BIM and Digital Twin Strategy is a good step in that direction, and I hope we can all work together and contribute to the advancement of the Indian AEC sector as a whole", says Viraj Voditel, Founder and Director, Techture.

Data has been a very sensi tive topic and is often referred to as the new oil. While it means different things to different people, its role within a BIM and Digital Twin environment is critical.

Data is also key to creating BIM and Digital Twin outputs. That’s why the strategy calls for the policy to have appropriate provisions on integrity, granularity, governance, accuracy, and sharing of data.

BIM models can be distorted and polluted if the data lacks integrity; for BIM to advance to Digital Twin, data interoperability is vital. Therefore, the strategy document focussing on data-re lated considerations while drafting a BIM Execution Plan for a project or a National BIM and Digital Twin policy.

The strategy also calls for the government to define appropriate performance-linked incentives, procurement guidelines, and capability submission guidelines as part of the policy framework and in sub-sectoral strategies.

For BIM and Digital Twin to be adopted, the government should release procurement guidelines in structured, detailed, classi fied, named, and coded format.

It should include aspects related to the management of risks, intellectual property, insurance, standards, and interoperability to ensure the seriousness of tech nology implementation required.

To foster innovation, educa tion, and skill development, the strategy asks for creating a National BIM and Digital Twin Education Taskforce to deliver a broad industry awareness program and develop tech nology-related vocational and academic courses. It calls for the Education Taskforce to collabo rate with academia and research organizations to develop indige nous technology capabilities while empowering technology vendors to establish Centres of Excellence for building competencies and capabilities in the domain.

The document emphasizes that a well-executed BIM and Digital Twin technology can boost productivity in the Indian construction and infrastructure sector by at least 25-30 percent on average. "Creating a federated and dynamic 3D Building Infor mation Model (BIM) aids in better multi-party communication and a unified understanding of infra structure through the 3D model.

The digitalization of infrastruc ture, roads, utilities, and electrical assets improves quantity estima tion and led to reduced timelines and increased cost efficiencies, by leaps and bounds," adds Viraj.

Changing the Tide

For India to sustain the momentum of transformation and continue on a high growth path, the govern ment has made significant invest ments to build national infrastruc ture assets. However, there is a

need to fast-track projects so that risks can be reduced. Currently, 80 percent of Indian project owners and contractors believe that project risks are rapidly rising.

Timely execution of projects within estimated costs and desired quality continues to be a challenge. The harsh reality of the Indian infrastructure industry is that the value of core construc tion technologies – such as BIM and Digital Twin, is still highly under-projected and marketed, especially by owners and construction enterprises.

While the value of geospatial and BIM is quite well recognized in the planning and design phases, its true potential is yet to be harnessed in the construction and operational phase. This conundrum makes it necessary for project owners, technology providers, and the construction and infrastruc

ture ecosystem to collaborate, raise awareness and showcase the value proposition of BIM and Digital Twin technologies in the sub-continent.

With the advent of the cloud, BIM, and Digital Twin have assumed greater significance in steering the course of technology adoption across construction and infrastruc ture projects. Comprehensive BIM adoption and connected IoT appli cations provide accurate insights and enhance decision-making capa bilities throughout the lifecycle of the built

Real-timeenvironment. connectivity with

online sensors has led to Digital Twins, enabling seamless monitoring and administration of the construc tion processes, facility management, and environmental monitoring. It also streamlines other processes in infrastructure lifecycle operations.

The use of BIM and Digital Twin across the lifecycle of infrastructure projects will, thus, play a seminal role in socio-economic transfor mation while furthering sustainable development.

Opportunity or Threat?

Technology is always perceived as a double-edged sword, particularly in the construction and infrastructure sector, which is renowned for being the least digitalized sector globally. However, times are changing, and winners will always be those who dare to take risks.

In this scenario, policy and strategy reforms in symphony with technology implementation and innovation will make a signif icant impact on the future of the construction and infrastructure sector in the country.

Ananya Narain Director - GW ananya@geospatialworld.netConsulting

Geospatial for Optimum Highway Network Strategy

With increased budgetary allocations and fast-paced construction, road network in India has become the second largest in the world. In an exclusive interview with Geospatial Artha, Amit Kumar Ghosh, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), shares how geospatial technology is vital for building resilient national highway infrastructure and supporting strategic repairs and upgrades of existing networks.

The Growth Chart

At 62.15 lakh kilometers, India has the second-largest road network in the world, with National Highway (NH) constituting 1.36 lakh km. Our National Highway construction rate increased by more than three times between 2014-15 and 2020-21, from 12.1km/day to 36.4km/day.

The growth in the road sector is simply commendable. The Road sector has the highest infrastruc ture expenditure, which increased at a CAGR of 13% between 2015-16 & 2018-19. The total allo cation to the road sector in the central budget has risen steadily over the past years, standing at INR 1.18 lakh Cr for fiscal 2022.

We encourage the adop tion of modern technology. The MoRTH has created various policies to support the wider adoption of these technologies for an even more incredible pace of highway construction in the country. The highway construction agency's stake holders have deployed various technologies for time and cost efficiencies, such as Ultra High-Performance Concrete and Pre-cast Geospatialconcrete.technologies have played a crucial role in deciding the optimal highway network strategy, considerably reducing logistics time and cost across the country.

Mapping HighwaysNational

GIS mapping of National High ways is being undertaken for planning and monitoring the road network and timely completion of projects. GIS maps contain a detailed visual representation of infrastructure facilities, including location, topography, facilities, structure, and DevelopmentHighwaysDepartmentIndiaNationalciesverifiednowNationalhasandInstituteBhaskaracharyaimages.NationalforSpaceApplicationsGeo-informatics(BISAG-N)mapped130,000KmofHighwayswhichisbeingcorroboratedandbydifferentagenfortheMinistryincludingHighwayAuthorityof(NHAI),StatePublicWork(PWD),NationalandInfrastructureCorporation

(NHIDCL), and Border Road Organisation (BRO).

GIS aids stakeholders in the highway construction industry in building resilient infrastructure for the future through designing and finalizing highway networks and supporting strategic repairs and upgrades to existing networks.

The Way Ahead

We are working to improve the ease of doing business through innovative Public Private Part nership (PPP) models to provide more rational risk-sharing across shareholders in the road development sector.

Under the Gati Shakti framework, we coordinate planning and execution across government agencies for infrastructural synergies. We are improving the average speed on economic corridors to reduce the time and cost of freight movement on highways across the country.

To reduce pollution during highway construction and oper ational phase, we are using new materials and state-of-the-art technologies, including geospa tial technology.

Streamlining Land Acquisition via GIS

We have taken steps to expe dite land acquisition process and make it more trans parent. The MoRTH has devel oped the BhoomiRashi portal to digitize the land acquisition process for National Highway Projects.ThePortal has been made mandatory for all the Project Implementing Agencies. It has also been integrated with Public Finance Management System

BHARATMALA PARIYOJANA

27 Greenfield Expressways and Access Control corridor areas mark a paradigm shift in the philosophy of highway development. GREENFIELD EXPRESSWAYS

12,000 ROUTES

Mapping of the shortest route for 12,000 routes carrying 90% of the freight.

1,500+ POINTS

Technology-based automated traffic surveys over 1,500+ points.

SATELLITE MAPPING

Satellite mapping of corridors to identify upgradation requirements.

GEOSPATIAL MAPPING

Geospatial mapping is leveraged for the creation of better quality DPR.

(PFMS) and made compulsory for disbursing land acquisition compensation for the projects executed by State PWDs. Further, disbursal of acquisition payment of NHAI projects has also started through the Bhoom iRashi-PFMS portal.

The Ministry has decided to revamp the BhoomiRashi portal and use GIS to plot survey numbers aligned with GIS-en abled revenue & alignment maps. This enhanced feature in the portal will help Competent Authority for Land Acquisition (CALA) to plot survey numbers through GIS.

Geospatial All Across Bharatmala Pariyojana was conceptualized as an umbrella

program with a corridor-based approach, utilizing geospatial technologies across design and construction phases.

27 Greenfield Expressways and Access Control corridor areas mark a paradigm shift in the philosophy of highway development.

Six categories of projects

• Economic Corridors.

• Inter-corridor and Feeder Routes.

• National Corridors Efficiency Improvement.

• Border & ConnectivityInternationalRoads.

• Coastal & Port Connectivity Roads.

• Greenfield Expressway.

Evolving Role of InformationGeospatialinAEC

While the use of geospatial for sustainable and resilient solutions in the realm of AEC has been amply demonstrated, there are challenges that need to be addressed, mainly around interoperability, scalability, inclusion, and openness. By Prof. Arup Dasgupta

The abbreviation AEC which stands for Archi tecture, Engineering and Construction applies to human-made environ ments like habitations and infra structure such as roads, railways, airports, dams, parks, gardens, etc. AEC requires information for planning, design, implementation and management. This informa tion can be graphical like engi neering drawings, site maps and alphanumerics like bills of mate rial, cost and project schedules.

Managing these data sets require systems for creation, modification, storage and retrieval.

Such systems initially were based on paper documents and ledgers but as AEC activities became more complex, computers were used to develop software systems to aid the creation of efficient systems of data creation and management.

Geospatial Technology Evolution and AEC Computer graphics have enhanced engineering documen tation through Computer Aided Design, CAD which enables the digitization of engineering draw ings. CAD also impacted mapping and led to the evolution of Automated Mapping and Facility Management, AM/FM which

again was a precursor to the evolution of Geographical Infor mation Systems, GIS. Another computer software, Data Base Management Systems, DBMS provided the means to digitally store alphanumeric data. DBMS is used in conjunction with CAD in AM/FM systems. GIS took this a step forward and enabled the close integration of graphics and alphanumeric data and the use of the integrated data in analyt ical

Goingprocesses.astep beyond AM/FM, Building Information Manage ment, BIM integrates 3D CAD with mechanical, electrical,

Source: wikimedia

BIM SUCCESS STORIES IN INDIA

Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) used BIM for design, fabrication, construction, operations, and maintenance of the new terminal-2 at the Kempegowda International Airport.

The Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC) is among India’s first wellplanned, greenfield industrial Smart Cities. Techture, one of the consultants on the Bidkin Industrial Area stretch of the AURIC city project, assisted in the project’s BIM-enabled virtual construction, including the design of the roads, utilities, and highway structures.

The India International Convention and Expo Centre (IICC) in New Delhi had The BIM Engineers as one of the design consultants on the project. They deployed the latest technological know-how in BIM to build the dynamic facilities of IICC.

plumbing, infrastructure, archi tecture, and other information in a computer visualization environ ment. It provides several levels of detail from the basic footprint of the construction to the internal details of the building. BIM is also being integrated with GIS to provide a comprehensive infor mation system that covers the construction details in the context of its geographical location as well as in terms of its natural and human-made environment.

The ability to visualize and analyze the data contained in

the integrated GIS and BIM has resulted in evolution of Digital Twins. Here the entire physical environment can be replicated as a digital model and any modi fications and additions which are planned can be visualized and their impact analyzed before committing action on the ground. Digital Twins incorporate both as built and as proposed in the model which enables the efficient management of new projects.

Present Status

A perusal of the recent publication by the Association of Geospatial

Industries on “Role of Geospatial Technologies for Urban Affairs in India” shows that the use of geospatial technologies is limited to the use of GIS in urban planning.

A quick survey of some of the key players in India reveals that usage of GIS ranges from a meagre five percent to an optimistic 100 percent! The interesting fact is that the corre sponding use of BIM ranges from from zero to 85 percent, clearly illustrating that the usage is more of an ‘either-or’ rather than a truly integrated use.

There are no examples of Digital Twins in the Indian context but there is hope expressed that it could ultimately be used in the future in twenty-five to forty percent of the projects.

The Future is Promising Viraj Voditel, CEO and Co-founder of Techture, has this to say about the three technologies:



GIS: One of the areas which are slightly unexplored but is becoming a more common

In the AURIC city project, BIM-enabled virtual construction was used in, including in the design of the roads, utilities, and highway structures.

NICDCCourtesy:

use case moving forward is Indoor mapping. That is where BIM, GIS and even Digital Twins need to converge and provide an effective solution. Maybe over the next 3-5 years, these things will become more crucial for the industry.

 BIM: As more and more projects are transitioning to BIM, our adoption will increase asymptotically towards 100% in the coming years.

 Digital Twins: We are seeing a rise in the use of Digital Twins for projects. Earlier, when this term was not coined and used in the way it is today in the industry, there was definitely a need for interlinking BIM models with Asset manage ment information and docu ments, although that was a more static linkage. Now, with IoT devices and the possibility to relay real-time or near real-time data to BIM models, Digital Twins are becoming a reality. We expect some stronger adoption in the next 2-3 years.

Parveen Sharma, CEO, The BIM Engineers opines, “We are always willing to stay ahead of the competition and we keep reinventing ourselves. Our R & D team is very strong and we can envisage implementing Full life

cycle Digital Twin technologies in our projects within 18-24 months from now.” Bharat Lohani of IIT Kanpur is confident of introducing Digital Twins within a year.

Benefits of GIS, BIM and Digital Twins

In general, the feeling is that adoption of these technologies will benefit all - administration, industry and the general public.

Administration Rajan Aiyer, MD, Trimble feels that the administration will be able to earn the trust of the people by completing projects - whether it is infrastructure build-out, smart cities, agricul ture, transportation and logis tics, land administration, natural resources, etc. - and acceler ating the growth of GDP.

Viraj has similar views. He avers that administration will benefit from increased visibility of project-wise information because these technologies enable data collection and standardiza tion in a manner that can be used for decision-making using dashboards and other intuitive interfaces. This information can also be used to improve and collect important statistical data and make informed choices and policies in the future.

Industry

Parveen adds that BIM is a blessing to the AEC industry. It benefits all the stakeholders from the Owners, Architects, Interior Designers, Structural and MEP Services consultants, contractors, sub-contractors, manufacturers (of equipment), and the Facility Management and the operation team, all can get the required data from the BIM process and can make their life better and managed. He also points out that “BIM and Digital Twins cater to the growing need as per human requirements, less travel, more convenience, community living, co-working, etc are some impor tant requirements, and BIM and Digital Twin cater to these specific problems. The tech nology approach has to adopt a holistic view covering a wide variety of the challenges that are happening in our industry.”

Viraj anticipates “More progress and productivity leading to advanced innovation.” He continues “As we solve challenges of today, certain other chal lenges of tomorrow arise and we also look to optimize the solu tions of the past. This will lead to advancements in hardware and software and in turn, processes andRajanmindsets.”adds,

“Employment growth with skilled workers in these technologies will enable industry to benefit from using these solutions for faster growth and greater profitability.”

Public

“Public will gain from seeing their tax money used for greater public good and economic growth of India,” says Rajan. Viraj adds, “They will be able to visualize how the built environment around them is changing and the impact

The BIAL project team used BIM to manage the entire project lifecycle from design, fabrication, and construction to operations and maintenance.

AutodeskCourtesy:

that it will have, in a positive manner. Have a better under standing of how the tax they’re paying is being utilized for the betterment of the community and increased transparency on the financials. Additionally, digital twins will focus on the lifecycle aspects of infrastructure, which will mean that the quality of assets is maintained for many years, thus leading to better quality of life.”

Resistance to Change

The future hope and benefit notwithstanding there is resistance to the adoption of new technol ogies. Some of the reasons have been identified as costs, unwilling ness to change and fear of trans parency. Specifically, Viraj feels that, “Rising costs of technology seem to be the most practical of resistances. Though this aspect is

usually overlooked when a Proof of Concept or research-based activity is undertaken, actual adoption of technology in the AEC industry is very price sensitive.”

On the issue of cost, Rajan Aiyer says “Resistance will also be in the form of whether Capex should be spent on these tech nologies (as an after-thought) which is wrongly believed to affect margins negatively. The truth is that the TCO is greatly reduced by using these technol ogies, the customer can bid more intelligently using the data from projects, and finish projects with higher quality and ESG, in shorter time and with greater safety.”

Parveen feels that “the old generation generally avoids experiments and the ‘no change

required’ attitude is the biggest hurdle in technology adoption but gradually things are changing.” Echoing this in a different way Bharat lists the customer's will ingness to move to new models as possible resistance.

“The biggest resistance will be from employees who do not want transparency of workflow processes and adherence to standards”, adds Rajan.

Overcoming Resistance

There are some interesting views relating to technology, costs, funding, policy and behavioural change. Viraj advocates more open standards which will enable lesser vendor lock-ins and in turn reduce the costs. He adds that, “If possible, certain grants (like the BCA Singapore BIM Grant)

THE KEY FACTORS FOR URBAN DESIGN IN THE CONTEXT OF SDGS

of a country’s population will reside in cities posing a huge challenge to local governments in low-income and lower-middle-income countries, where urbanization is happening the fastest. BY 2050, 86 PERCENT

RAPIDLY URBANIZING CITIES

have to be supported with transformative development initiatives, such that governments, institutions, and organizations can fulfil their commitments to meeting the SDGs and promote opportunities for increased prosperity.

into the portfolio of urban projects that will drive transformation in cities and build the capacity of local governments to achieve sustainable urban develop ment by 2030. INTEGRATE THE SDGS

and schemes should be intro duced to encourage adoption.” He also adds that, “…there is also a mindset change needed in organizations adopting tech nology where there should be sufficient official guidelines to set the right expectations of different stakeholders when working with newParveentech.”

opines that, “The push has to come from both sides (The government and the private sector). Some government poli cies related to Digital Twin and BIM implementation will steer the process and the resistance will dramatically decrease.”

Echoing this Rajan asserts, “The powers-to-be in the customer organizations have to educated on the efficacy of these solutions in increasing their margins, transparency and accountability, complete more projects with less resources and time and thereby overall business profitability and growth. This is

true for govt, public and private sector entities.” Bharat also stresses the need for educating the end-users.

Technical Issues

The integrated use of GIS and BIM and extension to Digital Twins is very promising but as the earlier sections illustrate, the full extent of the promise is yet to be realised. It is necessary to understand that there are differences between GIS and BIM at the data level, process level and application level. They have different standards which have to be Forharmonised.example,

BIM uses local coordinate systems while GIS uses a geographic coordinate system. For 3D data, BIM uses the Industry Foundation Classes, IFC model which is an open standard for the construction industry. On the other hand, GIS uses an open model CityGML. Further, IFC and CityGML have different classifications for the different Levels of Detail,

LoD. There are differences at the semantic level as well due to the different ontologies being used.

There are problems at both the process and applications levels as well which is aptly summed up by Viraj when he says that, “…there is a lack of uniform standards and best practices. Due to this reason adoption is stunted for the projects where it begins, but never ends.” He goes on to say that “…technologies are still not fully matured. For example, loading a 3D model is not as fast as streaming a movie on Netflix, and navigating a 3D model is not as intuitive as navi gating a PDF document. Hard ware limitations are still there. These things will further improve with time as there is a greater interest and additional research on various related topics.”

Digital Twins, brings together many technologies including GIS, BIM, IoT and many other technologies that are a part of

Industry 4.0. Digital Twins requires synchronization of technological heterogeneity so as to enable support for scenario playing and solution-space exploration. Digital Twins need to have a long lifespan to be useful, therefore the definitions used have to be dynamic. The systems have to provide continuity and must be scalable. Solutions such as these are still a work in progress.

As Viraj puts it, “However advanced BIM & Digital Twins become, they will remain tech nologies that are implemented through the use of tools and relevant products.”

Socio-economic Issues

Apart from this, there are larger issues which relate to socio-economic factors like Rural-Urban migration and the resultant growth of mega cities whose resources are already stretched and even broken in some cases, particularly in the context of disaster management and climate change. AEC has to therefore address the issues of sustainability and resilience of cities and infrastructure.

It is useful to see what industry leaders have to say in this context. Viraj agrees that organiza tions do not focus much on the

Human habitat situation. Apart from intangible motivations like saving the environment, serving humanity, etc., there is a need for some kind of tangible motivation provided to serve as an important opportunity cost in a practical manner. As an example, architec ture firms need to be incentivized financially, or through awards, recognition, certifications, etc, to deliver designs that care more for the habitat and the environment.

Tools are not the solution. BIM may be used to optimize solutions. But we are at such a stage in the industry that we should encourage organizations to address sustainable urban development. The tools will catch up

Parveen says that, “We have to admit that Climate Change is a real problem and we need to change the way the Design and Construction industry is working. Futuristic development needs to consider the envi ronmental factors. We should design the future infrastruc ture to be energy efficient and eco-friendly. Industry 4.0 will cater to these challenges and will find a win-win situation for all the

Oneeventually.ofthe

biggest ways these technologies can help us move towards those goals by 2030, according to Viraj, is through the use of Common Data Environ ments (CDEs). These platforms enable the right information to reach the right people at the right time, which in turn improves decision-making and removes silos. The right decisions and the ability to measure how they impact the environment, in an accessible and convenient way would be very important cata lysts in this journey.

“Digitialstakeholders.”Twinconcept is applicable for any interaction between physical and digital world whether it is an agricul ture field, forest, ocean, mines, refineries, utilities, airports, ports, water bodies etc. The underlying concept is envi ronmentally sustainable and responsible growth in every industry. Sustainable develop ment is a key goal of the digital twin and underlying solutions that companies like Trimble provide. This is applicable for urban mass housing, rail, airport, roads, mines, forests, etc”, believes Rajan.

Conclusion

The use of Geospatial technol ogies to evolve sustainable and resilient solutions in the realm of AEC has been proven. There are two major needs to be addressed. One is the evolu tion of the technology itself, particularly from the points of interoperability, scalability and openness. The other is to internalize the requirements of sustainability and resilience by mainstreaming social inclu sion in all types of projects and throughout all project phases.

Prof. Arup Dasgupta Managing arup@geospatialworld.netEditor

Sustainable building material like polycarbonate roof and marble has been used in the Auric city project.

IoT-led Behavioral Nudge to Improve Road Safety

Every year, road crashes and mishaps lead to loss of lives and grave injuries to millions of people. Evidence-based technological interventions that incentivize good driving can radically improve road safety. Akhilesh Srivastava leads the World Economic Forum’s initiative Road Safety 2.0 in India. He is also the IT Advisor to the Government of Uttarakhand

Road traffic injuries (RTIs) are the eighth leading cause of death globally, and the biggest cause in the 5–29 years age group. Close to 1·4 million people die each year and up to 50 million are injured by RTIs. More than half of these deaths are attributable to vulnerable road users (ie, pedestrians, cyclists, andEverymotorcyclists).fourminutes, one

person dies on Indian roads. It is estimated that road accidents dent the Indian economy by nearly US$ 55 billion, which is equivalent to 1.85% of our GDP.

Identifying Risks

Road safety has always been a complex and multifaceted issue.

Despite many factors leading to fatal and non-fatal road inju

ries, the evidence says that in the context of a safe systems approach, four main risk factors consistently increase the risk for road injuries and deaths: speeding, drunk driving, no helmet use, and no seatbelt or child restraint. These factors, which have a measurable impact on mortality and morbidity, are acknowledged by the WHO as major risk Accordingfactors.toa study

published in The Lancet, nearly 30,000 lives in India could have been saved just by the imple mentation of simple road safety measures to prevent the above-mentioned factors.

World Economic Forum-led Road Safety 2.0 pilot reveals that over 80% of accidents are due to human errors and most of them

can be prevented with the use of technology to compensate for humanBesideslimitations.human

errors – overspeeding, drunk driving, driving on the wrong side of the road, unlicensed driving, fatigue, stress, overloading, traffic rules violations – the deficits in road engineering also creates accident-prone spots: sudden appearances of potholes, etc. However, driving behavior remains one major reason.

Having identified the major risk factors of road accidents, the question arises, how to improve the driver's behavior?

Incentivizing Good Drivers

There is an urgent need for effec tive implementation of the safe system approach with evidence-

based technological interventions to reduce road traffic injuries. Technology has great potential for scalability with transparency and low-cost solutions.

The Lancet study reveals that the behaviour can be changed either by self-motivation or by the fear of penalty through strict enforcement.Foradensely populated country like India, self-motivating drivers through incentives & rewards is a better option.

The success of World Economic Forum (WEF) led Road Safety 2.0 pilots, demonstrated that this theory is more effec tive with a drastic reduction in accidents.

Safe Driving Scores

The driver’s behaviour can be tracked using IoT and converted into scores that may be called Safe Driving Scores

If these Scores are popular ised like CIBIL Scores and mone tised to reward good drivers, the change in driving behaviour, from recklessness to safe driving can be achieved, which will be

a real game changer for road safety in India.

There is a need to create an ecosystem to reward these scores. Few vehicle OEMs, fuel companies, wayside amenities and vehicle spare parts compa nies have shown keenness to be part of the Insuranceecosystem.companies who are the main stakeholders were not coming forward due to regulatory restrictions.NowIRDAI has given nod for the change. This will reduce the dependency on third-party funding for road safety and create a self-sustainable ecosystem. Good Driving Scores mean better drivers who will get more rebates in insurance premiums.

Durable Enforcement System

However, the self-motivating measures for improving driver' behaviour alone can’t be the complete solution. Strict and transparent enforcement of traffic rules is equally essential.

Due to dense population, manual enforcement system for

detecting traffic violations and penalising violators is practi cally impossible in India. The enforcement system needs to be automated, comprising of speed cameras, incident detec tion cameras, ANPR systems, IoTs and high-end software for real-time detection of violations and issuance of automated penalty challans with a robust recovery system.

World Economic Forum conducted a pilot for auto mated enforcement system in the PPP model with amazing results. It demonstrated an economically viable and successful model for the instal lation and operations of the automated enforcement system.

In this, the technology compa nies/OEMs bear the upfront installation cost of the auto mated system, and thereafter manage & operate through their skilled manpower. They can recover their capital and opera tion & maintenance cost as a part of challans/penalty recovered by theThisgovernment.isnotonly financially

viable but also brings additional revenue to cities/municipalities in addition to improving road safety and saving the lives of citizens.

While achieving the SDG 3.6, which calls for a 50% reduction in road traffic injuries and deaths by 2030, looks like a difficult task globally, especially in the wake of the pandemic, the Indian govern ment is on target and quite hopeful to fulfil it earlier.

Minister of Road Trans port and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari, is quite optimistic about reducing fatalities on Indian roads by 50% by 2025.

Assessing BIM Value Impact

Indian infrastructure sector is growing at a rapid pace, embracing latest technological processes and solutions, however, there’s a need to strategically evaluate BIM to further boost adoption and reap dividends By Titas Roy

If measure it, manage it

~ Peter Drucker

By 2025, India is expected to be the world’s thirdlargest havetivityPlanGatiShaktiflagshiplinethesustainablestructureinvestturalformationcuspmarket.constructionItstandsattheofimmensetransspurredbyinfrastrucdevelopments.ThegovernmentplanstoUS$1.4trilliononinfraprojectstoensuredevelopmentthroughNationalInfrastructurePipe(NIP)till2023.ApartfromtheNIP,otherprojectssuchPM-NationalMasterforMulti-modalConnecandSmartCitiesMissionbeenquiteinstrumentalto

realise the need for digital trans formation in the overall workflow of construction and infrastruc tureImpetusprojects.to

develop coun try’s infrastructure is attracting both domestic and international players. Private sector has been constantly emerging as a key player across various segments, ranging from roads and commu nications to power and airports.

Moreover, the Government of India has also come up with a single window clearance facility to ensure speedy approval of construction projects. All these factors are conducive towards accelerating the momentum of digital transformation in India, particularly in terms of BIM adoption across the various stages of construction workflows

in order to tackle the challenges plaguing the sector.

Why Calculate BIM ROI?

Digital transformation of Indian infrastructure sector needs a faster pace to be a key driver of development, innovation, and value-addition.Duetothepresence of global players in the ecosytem, the sector is realizing the potential of disruptive digital solutions such as BIM.

One of the key reasons for slow adoption of BIM hitherto has been lack of initial investment needed for acquiring technology solutions and training the work force. Most decision makers and industry leaders remain unaware of the varied nature of Return on Investments (ROI) in BIM.

It is extremely important to understand and realize the ROI to make informed decisions in terms of BIM adoption. Apart from the usual time and cost-saving benefits, BIM has the potential to deliver end-to-end sustainable infrastructure project delivery.

Calculating the ROI of BIM adoption will enable infrastruc ture development agencies and construction firms to optimize their investments in a proper manner. It will enable them to assess the organization’s BIM maturity level for future business transformation.

Closing the Gap

Today, at the most only 20 percent of the stakeholders of the Indian infrastructure ecosystem are implementing BIM. While more than 50 percent of them are aware of BIM as an extension to CAD.

This points to a huge gap between awareness and imple mentation. There’s a need to drastically enhance awareness and trigger implementation to plug the existing gap.

Most of the users are archi tects and designers who use it for design simulations, enhanced visualization, and better coordi nation and acrossBIMholdersROI.itdon’tawaremostAnothercollaboration.challengeisthatorganizationsthatareofthebenefitsofBIMconsiderimplementingduetolackofknowledgeonTherearealsosomestakewhoarenotawareofanditsvaluepropositioninfrastructureprojects.

Need to Ascertain

Currently, BIM is being utilized in a range of subsectors across the built environment in India. Analysis suggests that there is significant inclination towards BIM adoption particularly in residential, commercial, and mixed-use building construction, followed by airport terminals and facilities projects.

BIM maturity in the Indian infrastructure projects is at a nascent stage. It is used mostly in the planning and designing phase which includes feasibility study, schematic design devel

opment and tendering and procurement tiondifferentmentingandneedphaseandBIMforstage.theimplementationFurthermore,documentation.thelevelofBIMisthelowestinoperationsandmaintenanceOneofthemajorreasonsthisisthattheROIofusingsolutionsacrossthebuildingoperationsandmaintenanceisstillnotrealized.ThisestablishesastrongtoassessthequalitativequantitativeROIofimpleBIMsolutionsacrossphasesoftheconstrucandinfrastructurelifecycle.

Optimized Design with Qualitative ROI

BIM adds multiple benefits to deliver construction projects throughout the project lifecycle, including supporting concurrent construction. It can also facilitate development stages of a project lifecycle: from the early concep tual phase through design, construction, and operation phase to demolition. Most impor tant benefits of BIM implementa tion are enhancing productivity and increasing efficiency. BIM can

NEED FOR BIM IN INDIAN INFRASTRUCTURE SECTOR

The Indian construction and infrastructure sector is one of the major contributors to the Indian economy and the socio-economic growth of the country. Currently, the sector is undergoing a major transformation– including significant urbani zation and economic development, contributing approximately nine percent to the country’s GDP. GW Consulting research suggests that BIM has the potential boost productivity in the Indian infrastructure sector by at least 25-30%.

BIM can enforce a huge transformational change in Indian infrastructure project delivery by:

 Re-thinking design.





Enabling better collaboration in real time.

Improving on-site execution and reducing risks.

 Improving material efficiency and ensuring sustainable energy consumption.



Simplifying integration of design and construction information.

 Supporting green building assessment and certification.

ROLE OF BIM IN INFRASTRUCTURE LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

PLAN & DESIGN BUILD

OPERATE

RENOVATIONS & RETROFITS

Cost Estimation

Clash Detection

Enhance Visualization Energy Modelling

Reduce Litigations

integrate time and cost which supports real-time update and assesses efficient tracking and monitoring process along the project phases.

BIM can be applied in the assessment and analysis of green buildings. It can also be used for clashes detection and design optimization.

The ability to apply BIM in different

Develop Green Building Assessment Material Management

Reduce Carbon Footprints Schedule Time and Cost

Develop Simulation Models Environmentalfor Impact

Catalyse Lean Project Delivery Predictive Maintenance

Cost Optimization Change Documentation

Monitor and Maintain PerformanceSustainability visualizationEnhanced and data management Increased Energy Efficiency Resource, cost, and time optimization

To identify BIM’s strategic ROI, the study develops a comprehen sive systemic review of main stream case studies of BIM imple mentation in Indian infrastructure projects. A total of 84 projects have been taken into consid eration from different sources including conference proceedings, company websites, journals, etc. They have been validated through one-on-one interviews to eval uate the true value-proposition of BIM in infrastructure projects.

Transport Infrastructure Projects

Based on the analysis of 30 successful use cases of Indian transport infrastructure projects, it can be estimated that an average of about 30-35 percent

of design time was saved.

BIM played an instrumental role in optimization of design and alignment of routes through early visualization.

In the construction stage, BIM enables real time progress tracking and clash detection and helps speed up the construction work by an average of 45 days. Further, successful adoption of BIM can save up to an average of 15-20 percent of the overall project cost.

Utilities Infrastructure Projects - (Water, Power and Electricity, Oil and Gas)

Utilities infrastructure projects including water supply, power

Time saved during design stage. construction project cost

and electricity generation, and oil and gas pipeline projects can save up to average 25 percent of time during the design stage as BIM plays a pivotal role in facili tating simplification of planning processes and promoting work linkage during the early stages.

With regards to the construc tion stage, BIM adoption helps in efficient estimation of required resources and possess the ability to reduce the project completion time by approximately 50 to 60 days. Added to that, about 20 percent of the overall project cost can be saved by using BIM throughout the project lifecycle.

Buildings and Campuses Projects

In case of building projects, BIM enables faster and smooth collaboration among multiple stakeholders associated in the planning and design stage of the project and can save an average of about 42 percent of time during design stage.

BIM helps in real-time clash detection in case of constructing complex MEP designs and has the ability to save as much 60 days during the construction stage. On an average, building projects can save up to 22 percent of overall project cost .

Conclusion

By estimating ROI to assess BIM initiatives and implemen tation across Indian infrastruc

ture projects, organizations associated with infrastructure development of the country can prioritize investments for organizational effectiveness. This leads to sustained business improvement and increases competency levels.

Proper ROI estimation will help chart out a roadmap for future development, with stra tegic recommendations for devising impactful optimization strategies and designing frame works for sustainable infrastruc ture development.

Titas Roy Senior Research Manager AEC & Digital titas@geospatialworld.netCities

ManagementforTechnologyLeveragingDisaster

India has significantly developed its natural disaster management capability in the past two decades. Moreover, it has also emerged as a major donor to its neighbors and other countries in managing disaster. To optimize its relief and response work, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has started leveraging geospatial technologies for advanced prediction, response, and restoration. In an interview with Geospatial Artha, Atul Karwal, Director General, NDRF, shared his vision, plans, and the current challenges before the agency related to relief and response work.

Journey of NDRF

The geographical position of India—with the Himalayas in the north, the Peninsula in the south, and a vast desert in the west—makes it prone to all kinds of disasters. India has been ranked third, after China and the US, in the UN report for the disasters that occoured over the last 20 years (2000-2019). 27 of India’s 28 states and eight of union territories are exposed to recurrent natural disasters such as cyclones, earthquakes, land slides, floods, and droughts.

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was raised as a dedicated force in the year 2006, to combat all natural and man-made disasters under the provisions of the Disaster Management (DM) act 2005; initially with 8 battalions from different Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). Presently, 16 NDRF Battalions are functional across the nation to respond to any disaster. For a quick response, there are also 28 Regional Response Centers (RRCs) and 14 Tactical Prepositioning Locations (TPLs) to cover the vulnerable places.

Since its inception in 2006, NDRF has conducted more than 8,000 operations and rescued 1,46,500

citizens. NDRF rescuers have also evacuated more than 7,37,300 people caught up in disaster situ ations, to safer places. NDRF rescuers have also saved about 15,000 livestock during disasters.

Capacity building of the community and the State Disaster Response Forces, to make the country disaster resilient, is also one of the mandates of NDRF. Till now, NDRF has created this awareness among over 8.2 million people, throughout the nation.

In a short span, of time NDRF has earned the trust and respect of the citizens. Due to the selfless services of our rescuers, we are popularly known as the ‘Angels in Orange' among locals.

Progress in the Formation of SDRF

As per section 3.4.5 of National Policy on Disaster Management 2009, state governments are required to raise their own State Disaster Response Forces (SDRF). So far, 26 States have constituted their State Disaster Response Forces (SDRFs).

During any disaster, after community and local administration, SDRFs come into action. NDRF is

Since its inception in 2006, NDRF has conducted more than 8,000 operations and rescued 1,46,500 citizens. NDRF rescuers have also evacuated more than 7,37,300 people caught up in disaster situations, to safer places. NDRF rescuers have also saved about 15,000 livestock during disasters.

committed to the capacity building of SDRFs to strengthen their response mechanism. Till now, more than 21,000 SDRF personnel have been trained by us.

Annual conferences for disaster response are organized by NDRF where all stakeholders participate. The aim of these conferences is to increase the synergy between response agencies and to enhance their capabilities. Hon’ble Union Minister for Home and Cooperation graced the conference as the chief guest twice in the years 2019 and 2022.

NDRF Coordination with State Government NDRF HQ & the NDRF battalions have a system of regular coordination with the state SEOCs, Relief Commissioners, SDMAs, District Administration, and local authorities through meetings, workshops, mock exercises, pre-disaster planning, and exer cises and during all phases of any disaster /emer gency. Further, during major operations, if required, officials from HQ NDRF coordinate with officials of concerned states/UTs at the top level as well.

Challenges before NDRF

The strength of NDRF is small compared to the expanse of India and the profile and frequencies of disasters that we face. SDRFs need to be given due importance by the state and UT governments so that they can deal with disaster situations of less serious ramifications. As of now, NDRF sometimes gets pulled into even minor disaster situations, which leaves us with little time for retraining and recuperation.Thereliefitems

are provided by the state/civil administration. NDRF assists the state machinery in distribution of these relief materials to remote locations during disasters.

Utilizing Geospatial Technology in Optimizing Relief Work

Keeping in mind the 5th Point of Hon. Prime Minis ter’s 10-point agenda for Disaster Risk Reduction

which states – Leverage technology to enhance the efficiency of disaster risk management efforts, NDRF uses various kinds of technological aids to combat

Locationdisasters.isakey element in Disaster management – these Geospatial technologies include global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) such as the global positioning system (GPS), geographic information systems (GIS), and remote sensing (RS). Geospatial technologies can provide accurate and current location-based data for use in disaster

Remotelymanagement.senseddata can be used very effi ciently to assess the severity and impact of damage due to these disasters. In the disaster relief phase, GIS, combined with global positioning system (GPS), is extremely useful in search and rescue

Opticaloperations.datais

used to map surface damage such as destroyed buildings etc. Digital eleva tion models and other indices are used to assess floods. Temporal change detection is one of the most used techniques to determine the severity of the damage. Pre and Post images of the disaster/event are compared to assess the change in terms of damage. All of these can be very useful and we hope that in the future, these technologies become more widespread and embedded in our SOPs.

In adherence to the 7th Point of Hon’ble Prime Minister’s 10-point agenda- Utilise the opportuni ties provided by social media and mobile technolo gies for disaster risk reduction, NDRF is using social media platforms for disaster management as social media has more utility than just connecting with friends and family. It has become a powerful tool for information dissemination and in times of crisis, a lot of such ‘meaningful social media groups’ have become a tool to harness local resources to support community’s resilience. We also are many times informed of disaster situations through

Challenges Before NDRF In Relief Work

NDRF personnel face the following prob lems in providing response and relief:

1. Breakdown of communication network that hampers connectivity.

2. Law and order issues.

3. Threat of unhygienic conditions and Covid guidelines.

4. Scarcity of food and supplies of other essential goods including medicines as the strength of the victims is sometimes very large.

5. During flood disasters, washing away of connecting tracks and roads that hamper our movement.

6. Accessibility of airport/airbase in disasteraffected areas.

social media platforms, which enables us to give a prompt

Challenges before Resource Mobilization for The Relief

Terrain & topography of the affected area, inter rupted communication networks, road blockages, water logging, and long-distance from NDRF loca tions cause hindrances in response to a disaster.

But SDRFs are in the process of being raised, trained, and equipped and with the passage of time, even the community is becoming more resilient to such situations.

International Agreements on Rapid Response to Natural Disater

Moreover,response.ourpresence

on all the major social media platforms for dissemination of authentic infor mation and updates about any occurring disasters, operations of the task force, and related information ultimately prevents rumors and chaos, in real-time.

Requirements of New Technology

NDRF is a self-contained response organiza tion, equipped with all kinds of high-tech tools and equipment; whether it is cutting tools, search equipment, life-detector, rescue boats, advanced communication equipment such as QDA, Under Water Sonar System, Vehicle mounted VSAT antenna, etc. NRSC has created an NDEM portal for NDRF which is very useful to identify the locations and other aspects of damage during a disaster.

NDRF is collaborating with the AGNIi Mission of the Prime Minister’s Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry for the indigeni zation of technology and periodically holds Field Trials. Geospatial industries could be part of these field trials to examine how these technologies can sharpen the edge of NDRF response to disasters. Aside from evaluating the latest equipment for the Indian context, we need to evaluate the latest tech nologies for communication, data sharing, optimal use of resources, analysing trends in disasters for pre-emptive and proactive action, situational awareness, and even for rescuers' safety.

India has made tremendous advancements in handling disasters during the last two decades. The objectives have been zero casualties of humans and no loss of property. In this line, we have conducted various successful international exercises on disaster management with regional cooperation organizations such as BIMSTEC DM Ex, SAADMEx, SCO, and AMCDRR with the active participation of all member countries.

Regional mechanisms for disaster management for ASEAN countries and southeast Asia include and extend beyond an ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management such as the ASEAN Joint Disaster Response Plan, the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance (AHA Centre) which provides an early warning as well as coordi nates between member countries during disasters and the ASEAN Emergency Response and Assess ment Team that is deployed during disasters.

SAARC Agreement on Rapid Response to Natural Disasters was signed at the Ministerial level at the 17th SAARC Summit held at Addu City Maldives on 11th November 2011.

The objective of the agreement is “to provide effective regional mechanisms for rapid response to disasters to achieve a substantial reduction of disaster losses in lives and in the social, economic and environmental assets of the Parties, and to jointly respond to disaster emergencies through concerted national efforts and intensified regional cooperation.Overthelast

two decades, India has significantly reorganized and improved its domestic capability. In the meantime, India also emerged as a major donor that provides disaster relief to other coun tries, particularly regional neighbors.

thetheHarmonizingAncientandModern

To preserve Varanasi's cultural and spiritual heritage, Varanasi Smart City Limited deployed Esri’s ArcGIS software. It aims to facilitate map making and improve overall efficiency and productivity. By Titas Roy & Archana Pal

'Banaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together'.

~ Mark Twain ~

Varanasi is one of the oldest living cities on this planet, intertwined with complex religious, spiritual, musical, and educational traditions. The rapid urbanization, owing to the city's vast heritage, draws the atten tion of authorities for planned development.The100Smart

Cities Mission, launched by the Prime Minister of India on June 25, 2015, led to the formation of Varanasi Smart City Limited (VSCL), which focuses on initiatives that improve living conditions for the city's residents, the city's physical infrastructure.

Varanasi Smart City envisions to make Varanasi a pleasant location to live, through IT and non-IT initiatives, with a priority on improving living conditions and citizen upliftment while preserving and promoting Varanasi's cultural ethos and traditional roots. These initiatives are designed and managed using a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) system, i.e., VSCL.

The SPV's goal is to expedite initiatives that preserve the city's rich legacy, spirituality, and tradi tions while assisting with inclusive social and financial solutions.

Challenges in Implementation

Nearly the whole of India identifies with Kashi, the symbol of timeless continuity. It is a pilgrimage as well as a major tourist attrac tion. The foremost challenge is

of striking a balance between Varanasi's cultural and spiritual heritage and a modern city with better operations, administration, and holistic development.

The city’s overlapping growth, over centuries, has congested it. This makes it challenging to provide essential public infra structure such as water, sewage collection and treatment, street lighting, transit, and parking assets. Managing and retaining tourist traffic and other active citywide development initiatives, while Executing the Smart City project, also comes across as a challenge.

Solutions

ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Online, two comprehensive products by Esri that enable mapping, analysis, data manage ment, sharing, and collabora tion capabilities, come handy to solve a lot of challenges. The SPV developed an integrated, corporate-wide city GIS using ArcGIS Platform Technology. As a result, a variety of data sources and levels became available for analysis. ArcGIS Platform evolved into a digital mesh that overlayed all the city's smart elements over a shared set of base maps.

Conclusion

Varanasi Smart City’s SPV is able

KashiControlCommandIntegratedandCentre

municipalManagessecurityandtrafficsafetyusinglocation-basedtechnologies.

Kashi ManagementWasteSolidSystem

Optimises garbage collection facilities through the installation of smart sensors on smart waste containers. Sensors for air quality monitoring offer useful data that alerts people to circumstances that might be dangerous to their health.

EnvironmentalKashiMonitoringSystem

It maps a real-time data of air pollution in different parts of the city. Sensors for air quality monitoring offer useful data that alerts people to health-threateningthatcircumstancesmightcauseconditions.

Integrationwithtrafficsignals

In the most Indian cities, crashing signals call traffic police to handle traffic, deflecting them from their actual policing duties.

Real-time mapping of smart defectiveinformationup-to-the-minuteauthoritiesprovidesstreetlightspublicwithaboutlighting. streetlightsIntegrationwithsmart

to combine location data from the municipal and data from the internet of Things (IoT) sensors over GIS base maps to provide real-time analytics that compelled effective decision-making about city administration and opera tions. It enabled various systems such as public announcement system, Automatic Number Plate Recognition, Adaptive Traffic Control System, speed violation detection system and others.

The following are some details of how IoTs based sensors provide real-time analytics and enable authorities in making decisions:

 Public Announcement System (PAS) which allows officials to address large public gather ings, emergencies, and move ments at air and rail terminals.

 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) which maintains road user safety and tracks traffic patterns.

 Red Light Violation Detection (RLVD) System which ensures smooth vehicle movement and

improve adherence to traffic laws regarding red light viola tions.

 E-Challan automatic e-challan for lawbreakers on a 24x7 basis.

 Speed Violation Detection (SVD) identifies reckless drivers and passengers and imposes the relevant penalties.

 Video Management System (VMS) ensures the safety and security of its users (citizens).

 Environment Sensors realtime pollution levels are moni tored using sensors.

 Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS) reduces travel time and congestion at inter sections.

 Variable Message Signboards (VMS) provide information to commuters heading to the city,

 KICCC offers 24-hour moni toring for efficient manage ment, control of road traffic in theThroughcity. these initiatives, the authorities gained actionable insight for informed decision

making, improved inter-de partmental collaboration through geospatial mapping and geo-tagging of city assets; improved asset management and urban planning by providing insights into the use patterns of civic assets in the city.

The ArcGIS Platform was also used in creating heat maps for containment zones, GIS operating dashboards for health services, and CCTVs to track citizen mobility and social isolation in response to COVID-19. It also assisted in managing the health response; it built telemedicine facilities for remote health care and diagnostics, deployed drones to sterilise hotspots, and exam ined the availability of infrastruc ture to solve health issues.

Titas Roy Senior Research Manager AEC & Digital titas@geospatialworld.netCities

Archana Pal Research archana@geospatialworld.netAnalyst

The following are some of the smart systems that are now enhancing the administration and coordination of city services:

3D Model for Seamless Expressway Construction

Set to become India’s longest inter-state road, the aboutexpresswayDelhi-Mumbaispans1350kminlength.

On the cue to launch in March 2023, the expressway crosses 6 states namely, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.

The highway will cut travel time from 24 hours to 12 hours. Larsen & Toubro is responsible

for designing and building a 23.7-kilometer section between Mumbai and Vadodara. Their initial plan rapidly became complex because they had to build around an unstable ravine and design interchange loops and ramps with toll plazas to connect the existing highways.

Solutions

Bentley System’s OpenRoads Designer helped them create a 3D model of the project. The

With OpenRoad Designer software, we could reduce our resources by 25 percent for such projects of 24 kilometres of expressway. This collaborative BIM model has enabled avoiding errors and also avoiding revisions, thereby, huge amount of time has been saved in delivery. Subramanian R, DGM, EDRC L&T Transportation Infrastructure

Challenges

1. The ravine landform esca lated the challenge.topographical

2. Required a sophisticated system to manage and develop all the scenarios beforehand.

3. To minimize environmental and organisation distur bances.

application allowed them to accurately model the undulating land in the ravine, which assisted with cross-drainage structure

placement.OpenRoads

Designer was used to simplify the interchange layout and resolve any clashes with existing roads and struc tures, reducing construction design by 1.5 months. The new expressway will reduce vehicle operating costs and travel time by 50 percent.

Use of BIM in TallestWorld’sStatue

To pay tribute to the ‘Iron Man of India’, the country’s first Home Minister, Sardar Vallab hbhai Patel, a stalwart of the Independence Movement who unified princely states into Indian Union, the Government of India commissioned world’s tallest statue on the banks of Narmada river near the Sardar Sarovar Dam, which is 100 kms fromAtVadodara.182metres,

the steel, concrete and brass-clad statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, dwarfs the world’s tallest structures like the Statue of Liberty in New York, and Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. The total cost of the project was estimated to be about 2,063 crores by the Government.

Considering the complexity of the assembly, especially in terms of accommodating the manufacturingfabricated within a specific size of the galvanizing bath tub, it was a painstaking task for the stakeholder. However, the constructible 3D BIM model generated on Tekla enabled the engineers to complete the job accurately and within the stipulated time frame.

Saravanan Kaliappan

Senior Vice President, Eversendai Construction Private Limited

Challenges Solution

1. The structure was developed from a real-life photograph of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

2. To balance a 182 metre tall statue and to design in a walking pose with 6.5 metres gap between the two legs.

3. To engineer in a way that it can withstand wind speeds of 180 kilometres/hr and the suction effect it could create at the back of the statue.

4. To prepare the structural design to survive earthquakes meas uring up to 6.5 on the Richter scale.

5. To build a viewing gallery to accommodate 200 visitors at the height of 135 metres from ground level.

The Statue of Unity also holds the distinction of being among the fastest to be completed in just 34 months.

It devoured 210,000 cubic metres of cement concrete, 18,500 tonnes of reinforced steel, 6,500 tonnes of structured steel, 1,700 tonnes of bronze and 1,850 tonnes of bronze cladding.

Trimble's structural engi neering software, Tekla Structures helped complete the construction of the statue a full two months ahead of schedule and with a 25 percent efficiency gain.

The contractor for the stat ue's structural steel framework was awarded to Eversendai Construction Private Limited.

This massive project had multiple teams working simultaneously on various aspects utilizing different tools; therefore, accurate and complete exchange of information and smooth cooperation between every stakeholder was of utmost importance.Teklasoftware made multinodal real-time teamwork possible, which eliminated the clashes at an early stage. Tekla’s interoperability feature helped Eversendai’s project team to execute the project flawlessly with zero errors.

The constructible 3D BIM models enabled the team to identify and rectify at least 70 clashes before the fabrication stage, reduce wastage, help save time & cost, avoid rework.

Delhi's Grand New Convention Center

Agrandeur hub for all things grand, the India International Conven tion and Expo Centre (IICC), located in New Delhi, is a multipurpose conven tion centre. Spanning over 10,00,000 square metres, the IICC is India’s largest convention and exhibition centre. It sits right next to the Indira Gandhi International Airport and consists of multiple auditoriums, arena facilities, and exhibition halls. Developed

under the smart city initiative of the Government of India, it has vision to be an icon of India and to obtain platinum certification from the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).

Solutions

To make the entire plan-to-hand over method seamless, one of the design consultants on the project called The BIM Engineers deployed the latest technological know-how in BIM. This helped in

Initially, this project was started using traditional CAD-based tools, and BIM was a lateral entry platform. However, using Autodesk Revit as one of the BIM solutions, we were able to bring design improvement and construction efficiency to this project, which will be a landmark for generations to come. Palanimuthu Kasinathan, Vice President, The BIM Engineers.

Challenges

1. Difficulty in coordina tion between the ASMEP services.

2. Continuously evolving design expectations from the client.

3. Spatial coordination issues leading to delay in construc tion processes.

4. Software compatibility issues resulting in reworks.

5. Delays and breaks in work flow due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

developing the dynamic facilities of IICC. It further provided a seam less and efficient flow in designing the structure by transitioning from in-silos data in AutoCAD to collaborative Revit models to efficiently control and develop the design and coordination process.

This entire flow of process made coordination easier between design and document management, saved time, cost, and quantity estimates, and gave better control over site inventory and project plans. By using the Autodesk Navis works, clashes were discov ered early to monitor damage control whereas, Autodesk’s Revit helped in improving the construction quality.

Fast-tracking Chennai Airport Expansion

The air transport market in India is expected to grow by 262% by 2037 adding up to USD126.7 billion to the GDP of the country with almost 9.1 million jobs.

In airport construction, 3D design and modelling software is considered to have a high degree of impact and application, alongside project management software. Cost estimation software is also considered to have a high impact in this phase for accurately estimating quantity take-off thereby reducing material waste and project cost.

During the Chennai Annadurai Airport expansion project, Yugasoft was the contactor and Trimble's Tekla Structures provide the solutions. Drawing details were derived from the Tekla model for fabri cation and they were seamlessly used with Yugas oft’s in-house fabrication data package to produce

1. Maintaining accuracy in fabrication details for perfect alignment and assembly.

2. Avoiding change orders and material wastage.

3. Time and cost over-run.

BenefitsChallengesofusing

1. Optimised use of material.

2. Rapidly produced shop drawings.

3. Helped in managing the project timeline.

4. Reduced the material wastage by 3.5 to 4%.

5. Increased productivity by more than 30%.

NC files for use in CNC machines and to manipulate bill of material data. By using the centre of gravity from the Tekla model, the jigs were prepared for each segment of trusses to ensure perfect align ment and geometry during assembly.

After the project's completion, the Chennai Airport Expansion project has a departure lounge on the first floor and one for the arrivals on the ground floor. The design of the terminal has a Finnish architect Saarinen-like quality to its roof lines, organizing passenger circulation around two sustainable gardens. The new terminal buildings measure more than 140, 000 meters. Its passenger capacity has increased to 30 million annually.

Tekla Structures software

To make work faster, at peak times, two modellers worked on the same server using the software in multi-user-mode. We estimate a significant cost reduction by using and implementing BIM in this project. The multiuser mode worked very well and saved us a lot of time and money.

K. MAHADEVAN, Head of Yugasoft

The Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC) is among India's first well-planned, green field industrial Smart Cities, which has been developed in an area of 10, 000 acres, out of which the Bidkin Industrial Area spans 2,487

Theacres.design-and-build

contract for the construc tion of the AURIC city project was given to Larsen & Toubro (L&T) construction. Techture, one of the consultants on the Bidkin Industrial Area stretch of the AURIC city project, assisted in the project’s BIM-enabled virtual construction, including the design of the roads, utilities, and highway structures.

Working in close collaboration with L&T, Techture used Autodesk AEC solutions (Civil 3D, InfraWorks and Navisworks) to devise the project workflow

Creating a federated and dynamic 3D Building Information Model (BIM) for the AURIC city aided in better multi-party communication and a unified understanding through the 3D model. The infrastructure digitization of roads, utilities and electrical assets improved quantity estimation, reduced timelines, and increased cost efficiencies by leaps and bounds.

Viraj Voditel, Founder and Director, Techture

1. Creating an efficient workflow.

2. Clash disputes.

3. Lack of coordination and collaboration causing delay in project design delivery.

4. Improper planning leading to excessive wastage on the construction site.

5. Continuously evolving design expectations leading to significant rework.

Tech Redefines Aurangabad Industrial City Project ChallengesBIMvalueproposition

1. Dynamic clash detection and coordinated civil infrastructural modelling.

2. High-quality high performing building and infra structure design.

3. Project workflow optimization with integrated analysis, generative design, and visualization tools.

4. Easy design modifications with simulation tools.

5. Reduced rework and errors with 4D simulations.

6. Appropriate use of resources and saving on excessive wastage.

and provide a clash-free design, along with reliable, accurate and quantitative planning data for the project. This facilitated high-quality design from the pre-construction stage, for water-based utility networks, roads and highway structures.

The total budget allotted for the AURIC project was INR 6535.92 Crore (USD 873 Million) and was completed in 2020.

Eight Lane Expressway in Madhya Pradesh

Set to be one of the longest highways in the country, the Narmada expressway is a proposed eight-lane expressway in Madhya Pradesh. However, being close to many rivers, numerous cross-sec tions over lakes are consistent throughout the project.

The expressway features long-span bridges and tunnels passing through undulating terrain, rivers, and cities, compounded by challenging climate conditions. LN Malviya bid on the project and initially used conventional methods for conceptual design. However, they quickly realized they needed advanced 3D modeling and

analysis technology to optimize alignment and geometry of the long-span bridge and high-speed highway design.

Solutions that Paved The Way

The LN Malviya Infra Projects Pvt Ltd selected Bentley’ OpenRoads Designer to model roadway alignment, and Open Bridge and STAAD to model the bridge structure and analyze hundreds of load combinations, ensuring the bridge could resist high water currents and wind pressure. Bentley’s applica tions improved overall design efficiency by 25 percent and boosted productivity by 40 percent, reducing bridge design time by 200 hours and saving costs and resource hours. The

Challenges in the mix

Due to the complexity and expansive nature of the project, challenges were imminent.

1. Undulating terrain.

2. Roads going through rivers and cities.

3. Challenging climatic conditions.

4. Difficult to use conventional methods of design.

5. The need of 3D modelling.

integrated solution provided accurate geometric calculations and streamlined coordination, facilitating clear communication of design intent and technical management throughout the project development stage.

About the Product

LN Malviya Projects used three products from the Bentley Systems; the OpenRoads Designer which is primarily used for roads and highways, the OpenBridge which is used for various types of Bridges and the STAAD Pro which is an advanced 3D structural anal ysis and design software.

OpenRoads Designer

Provides a platform for plan and construction documentation, surveying, stormwater design and analysis, visualization, geotech nical, underground utilities, and detailed roadway design.

OpenBridge

Offers new 3D parametric model ling design environment, capa bilities for surveying, drainage, subsurface utilities, roadway design and site design.

STAAD Pro

Simplifies concrete and steel BIM workflow by using a physical model in STAAD Pro that automatically converts into the analytical model for structural analysis.

The GeoBuiz 22 report will allow your company and yourself to discover the latest market opportunities, analyse your competitors' strategy, exploit emerging trends and understand your potential in the USD 1.44 trillion geospatial market (2030). It contains level of insight that you simply won't find elsewhere at such a competitive price:

Global Geospatial Technology Market Overviewincluding size and analysis of key market segments and regions, growth drivers, industry trends and complete view of the geospatial market environment up to year 2027

Technology Trends and Directions – including technology trends, business trends and market trends expected to drive the geospatial industry

Business Environment – information on the most preferred business model by the different subsegments of the geospatial ecosystem, and the latest mergers and acquisitions and partnerships driving innovations in the geospatial industry

Innovation to Impact Matrix – Identify where your competitors stand in the Innovation to Impact matrix – who are the leaders, challengers, innovators and augmenters.

Steering Connectivity and Inclusion on the Frontiers

The Border Road Organization (BRO) epitomizes national integration. It works in inclement weather and the most treacherous terrain to construct road infrastructure, ensuring connectivity and boosting social inclusion in the most far-flung regions in the country, says Lt. Gen. Rajeev Chaudhary, Director General, BRO, in an interview with Geospatial Artha.

Nation’s Consistent Faith in BRO

Founded in 1960, the BRO soon acquired a leading role in infrastructure development along the border areas. Over the years, we have immensely contributed to security prepar

edness and adoptwithachievementKarmyogistion,ment,ning,tothehastrebledallotmentwitnessedhasagencies,gencedevelopment.socio-economicWiththeemerofnewconstructiontheroleoftheBRObecomemorevibrant. Ourorganizationhasatremendousbudgetsurgewhichhasinthelastfiveyears.ItreachedtoINR13500Crinyear2022-23,andweplanhitaroundINR15000Cr.Becauseofourrobustplanoptimalresourcemanagetimelyexecution,dedicaanddeterminationofBRO(staff),thegovernisallottingusmoreworktofasterresults.Forthis,wemustkeeppacethelatesttechnologyandinnovationatworktocarry

out infra projects in border areas at high and super high altitudes.

Successful Projects Along the Frontiers

Today, we are a premier organ ization playing a vital role in infrastructure development in the country. We are regarded as a symbol of nation-building and national integration.

The Border Road Organ ization (BRO) has recently constructed a 52 kilometers (km) long tarmac road through ‘Umling La Pass’ at 19024 ft, which is located at a distance of 15 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC). It is now the world’s highest motorable pass constructed at an altitude higher than the Mt Everest Base Camps. The road is way above the altitude of Siachen Glacier,

INTERVIEW

The Atal Tunnel in Rohtang, at an altitude of above 10,000 feet, has been certified as the world's longest by the World Book of Records, London. This year, it received Best Infrastructure Project’ award from the Indian Building Congress (IBC).

which is at 17,700 ft and super sedes the ‘Khardung La Pass’ in Leh, at an altitude of 17,582 ft. It was recognized as World’s Highest Road by Guinness World Records in Tunneling2021.isperhaps one of

the most challenging construc tion activities. However, BRO has acquired niche capabilities at high-altitude mountains.

We recently completed three tunnels. out of which Atal Tunnel in Rohtang, at an altitude of above 10,000 feet, has been certified as the world's longest by the World Book of Records, London. This year, it received Best Infrastructure Project award from the Indian Building Congress (IBC).

We have also finished the Chamba Tunnel underneath the busy Chamba town on Rishi kesh-Dharasu road. Besides, the work is progressing on Sela and Nechiphu tunnels on the alsoisSamparkroadTunnelontudetunnelbeanBalipara-Cardhuar-TawangtheinBalipara-Cardhuar-TawangroadArunachalPradesh.Selaishighestpassontheroadataltitudeof13800feet.Oncecompletedthiswouldthelongestbi-laneroadintheworldatanaltiabove13000ft.Workthe2.79kmlongSungalonAkhnoor-Poonch(NH-144A)underProjectinJammuandKashmiralsoprogressingwell.Wehaveundertakena105mlong

first departmental tunnel on Sela-Chebrela-BJ Gompa Road in Arunachal Pradesh.

Apart from this, preparatory work for the construction of 4.10 km Shinku La Tunnel on NimuPadam-Darcha Road, 8.20 km Key La Tunnel on Karu-Tangtse Road, 2.20 km Hamboting La tunnel on Khaltse-Kargil Road in Ladakh and 9.80 km Brahma putra River underwater tunnel in North East are at different stages and likely to commence shortly.

We have also constructed 19 airfields to date and work is in progress on two major strategic airfield projects at Bagdogra and Barrackpore.

Adoption of New Technologies

BRO is at the forefront of intro ducing the latest cost-effective and environmentally friendly technologies which help address many construction-related chal lenges that have been affecting road roadwangusedthesub-baseincrease&intheWewhichbasesWeconstruction.areusingcementitiousforroadconstruction,reducescarbonfootprints.areusingthistechnologyinconstructionofmanyroadsLadakh,Uttarakhand,SikkimArunachalPradesh. Geocellsarebeingutilizedtotheelasticmodulusofandbase-courseofpavement,whicharebeingonBalipara-Charduar-Taroad&Hapoli-Sarli-HuriinArunachalPradeshand

Sasoma-Saserla Road in UT of Ladakh on large scale.

Meanwhile, BRO predomi nantly works in the ecologically sensitive hilly terrains where special emphasis has been given to protect hill slopes.

We use various new tech nologies for slope stabiliza tion to mitigate landslides & protect hill slopes. Slope stabi lization is being carried out by using various methods such as Drapery with Hill Side Gabion Wall, Dynamic Rockfall Barrier, Secured Drapery with Micro Piling & Rockfall Embankment. The new Austrian Tunnelling Method has been used to construct all the tunnels.

Besides, CementitiousGeosyntheticComposite Mat is also being used for surface drains on Road TCC–Taksing in Arunachal Pradesh, while Geo-synthetic membrane has been used for sub-surface drains in Barrackpore runway works in West Bengal.

We have also adopted Plastic Coated Aggregates as an eco-friendly initiative to reuse plastic waste on various roads in India and abroad too.

With this technology, we constructed 4.5 km on Phuent sholing-Thimphu Road in Bhutan, 2.5 km on ra-Charduar-TawangBaliparoad, and 2.0 km on Hapoli-Sarli-Huri in Arunachal Pradesh and 1.0 km

on Roing-Koronu-Paya road in Arunachal Pradesh and 5.22 km on Hnathial-Sangau-Saiha Road in Mizoram. BROuse interlinking concrete blocks (ILCBs) on the pavement of roads at mountain passes, where heavy snowfall occurs. During snow clearance opera tions, bituminous road layers get damaged by tracked Dozers.

BRO has executed a pilot project in Arunachal Pradesh with all the pre-cast elements i.e., protective structures, reinforced earth walls, culverts, drains, and pavements. This technique is economical if the overall life cycle cost is considered.

On similar lines, pre-cast box culverts have been constructed in UT of Ladakh, which has been found extremely useful in speeding up construction and averting/ reducing disruptions to traffic.

BRO in collaboration with Indian Oil Corporation’s R&D Centre, Faridabad, has taken a lead to test certain workingwhenmaterialsGeo-SyntheticMixinBitumenPolybagproducts/technologiesconcepts/suchasBitumen,WarmMixinHAAs,UseofCRMB-55HighPrecipitationAreas,ReadyBitumenandUseofRecycledMaterial.ThesewillbeadvantageousimplementedinspecificconditionsofBRO.

Road Safety at High Altitude

We know that globally, a large number of lives are lost due

to road accidents. BRO is committed to improving road safety and making our roads accident-free.Overthelast few years, we have witnessed increased road accidents due to the influx of tourists and vehicles in the border areas. BRO is now constructing road infrastructure to sustain traffic for all weather conditions to reduce the chances and frequency of accidents on ourWeroads. have scaled up road safety awareness amongst all BRO personnel and other road users. As the nodal agency for all road safety aspects, we have established a Centre of Excel lence for Road Safety Awareness (CoERSA) at our headquarters.

It will prepare SOP/Policy formulation, conduct training for Road Safety Audit, and monitor and coordinate audit of roads. For the first time, an internal audit of all projects is taking place to identify potential accident sites and hotspots on vulnerable road stretches. We are also preparing a comprehen sive public outreach program.

Socio-economic Development

We build road infrastructure that helps in integrating the most isolated and economically back ward regions of the country with theFormainland.instance, we built a 180 feet bridge in Sanklang-Toong

in Sikkim on Tulung Chu road. This bridge is called the “Bridge of Hope” by the locals. Before this, the locals traveled 56 km by vehicle and 14 km on foot to reach Saffo Village.

In some places, these infra structures helped in preventing migration to the cities while it triggered reverse migra tion as villagers moved back. In addition, the Army and the Para Military Forces have constructed better accommo dation in the forward areas.

Environmental Concerns and Women’s Participation

Besides providing local employ ment opportunities, we also work with the administration to reduce the environmental impact of construction activities.

We always prefer local materials to avoid costly trans portation, and we use cemen titious technology to reduce aggregate consumption. In the meantime, we adopt modern technology to reduce our carbonSincefootprint. itsinception,

BRO has increased the number of women employed in various roles. Women officers are providing logistic support, looking after signal communication & IT at HQ DGBR, and a large number of medical officers providing essential health care services in the forward most areas of deployment.Becauseof these Women

Officers’ contribution to setting exemplary standards in being inspirational leaders, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) felicitated four women officers from Border Roads Organiza tion in 2022.

We build road infrastructure that helps in integrating the most isolated and economically backward regions of the country with the mainland.

TransportGeo-EnablingInfrastructure

Airports and Aviation Ports

Plan,

Monitor assets in real-time, optimise and

Improve &

Manage