Magazine final august 2017

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AUGUST 2017 VOL. 03 ISSUE 11 `60 PR NO: UP/GBD-212/2015-17 Date of Publishing 05-08-2017 Date of Posting 07-08-2017

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August 2017 / Governance Today - 5

Editorial’s

Desk

National Highway Projects More Near and Dear To The Modi Government

W

hen the Modi government took over more than three years back, highways accounted for only 96,000 km out of 52 lakh km road network in the country. Presently, India boasts to have 1, 50,000 km of highways.The Ministry of Raod Transport & Highways has set a target of two lakh km of highways in the country by 2022. The ministry hopes that it will help divert 50 percent of the traffic from city to highways and also on the way to increase the road construction target of 40 km daily to meet in next two years to present 30 km of roads, which are being constructed daily in the country.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways also plans to invest the target of Rs 5 lakh crore by this year and had already invested over Rs 3 lakh crore. In Union Budget 2017, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced enhancing the outlay for National Highways by 11 percent to Rs 64,000 crore. Be it the ambitious Chardham Project or the Bharatmala Project, the Modi government is focussing a lot on development and expansion of highways.

The Chardham dream project at Rs 12,000 crore of the Modi government is likely to be completed by the end of 2018 The other hobby horse of the Modi government is first highway project-North East Express Highway- in the northeastern region will be developed along the Brahmaputra river in Assam at an estimated investment of Rs 40,000 crore. This 1300-km express highway will be axis-controlled and

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vehicles will be able to ply at very high speed.

Bharatmala Project at Rs 14,000 crore project close to the Modi government’s heart linking India’s vast west-to-east land border. The project will start from Gujarat and Rajasthan, move to Punjab and then cover the entire string of Himalayan states. In a way, this road network will garland the entire country.

The government is planning to finish this project in 5 years. And yet another feather in a cap of the Modi government is Setu Bharatam project at Rs 50,800-crore, which was launched by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi in March 2016 with an aim to make all national highways free of railway crossings by 2019. Under the project, 208 railway crossings will be replaced by rail over bridges (ROBs) at an estimated cost of Rs 20,800 crore. Also, 1,500 bridges of the British era across the country will be overhauled for around Rs 30,000 crore.

Recently, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari said that the DelhiJaipur express highway would be built at a cost of Rs 18,000 crore. The advanced cement-concrete 225-km express highway will be the second in the country after Mumbai-Pune express highway. The Union minister said that Mumbai-Baroda express highway is also in the plan.

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August 2017 / Governance Today - 7

Cover Story

NATIONAL HIGHWAYS PROJECTS CORE TO THE MEGA PLAN OF ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE When the Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently inaugurated 23 national highways (NHs) projects worth Rs 15,100 crore in Rajasthan, it looked like the Government was in war-footing mode and speeding with the Highways projects, opening new avenues of opportunities all across in the Country.

Mr Modi said on this occasion that his government had managed to complete highways projects in the state that had been pending for years together. Stressing upon the role of infrastructure for development, he said these highways will help farmers, give a boost to tourism and open up economic opportunities for the local people. He said these highways would not only help link Rajasthan more efficiently but would also be gateways to progress.

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T

he Prime Minister further said India could no longer afford to delay modernisation of infrastructure if it was to scale new heights, and added that his government was committed to completing infrastructure projects in time.

Infrastructure played a huge role in the nation’s development but earlier governments and policy-makers often avoided such time-consuming projects involving large investments “as people often lose patience”, said Mr Modi.

“But, we know that if we have to take the nation to new heights, there is a pressing need to modernise our infrastructure,” said Mr Modi.

“Be it rail, road, water or power supply, optical fibre network, waterways, or coastal connectivity, India will not benefit from any further delay in setting up this modern infrastructure,” he added.

The Prime Minister said that once everything was in place, it would bring many positive changes in people’s lives.

Planning of NH Projects and Expressways As the government plans that in the next five years, approximately Rs 7 lakh crore will be spent in building and expanding highways and constructing expressways across the country . While barely 15 per cent of this investment will come from the private sector, the remaining 85 per cent will

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come from fuel cess and toll, monetisation of completed highway stretches and NHAI raising funds from the market.

The government also plans at least a dozen new expressways, which would be constructed in the coming year to connect various states in the country, three out of which will be started in 2017 itself.

Road construction is considered a major employment generator. It was reported earlier that around 40,000 km of highways will be expanded till 2022, which includes about 24,800 km covered under ‘Bharatmala programme’. According to government estimates, construction of 10,000 km of highways annually has the potential of generating four crore mandays and this can be a weapon to blunt the opposition’s allegation that the government has failed to create employment opportunities.

Earlier the interministerial panel for approving government investment known as Public Investment Board (PIB) has approved the ‘Bharatmala programme’ and the entire financing plan for highway development for five years is set to be cleared. It is also learnt that the NHAI Board, which will have representatives from ministries and Niti Aayog, will get the authority to appraise and approve projects up to Rs 2,000 crore. This will ensure faster rolling out of projects. Works involving more than Rs 2,000 crore will be taken to the Cabinet for approval, Projects that entail construction cost of more than Rs 1,000 crore are appraised by the finance ministry and approved by the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA). All projects with construction cost under Rs 1,000 crore are appraised by

Standing Finance Committee (SFC), Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) and Public Investment Board (PIB) After these clearances projects to the 11-member NHAI board and then the board sends it to the roads minister for final clearance. “This is a major hurdle in rolling out projects as there are so many layers.

If we want to achieve the targets set by the Prime Minister, the ministry will need more autonomy,” said an NHAI official. The official further said that the highway construction cost has increased substantially and there’s no need to send as small as 150 km road construction project to cabinet for clearance.

The ministry has already floated the cabinet for the same. Roads ministry has prepared a plan to spend almost Rs 1.25 lakh crore every year on construction of highways starting next year. Most of the amount to be spent would come from fuel cess, toll, NHAI bonds and monetisation of government owned highway projects. Barely, 15-20% would come from the private players in for of Built Operate Transfer (BOT) or hybrid annuity projects.

In current financial year, Road Transport & Highways ministry is likely to spend Rs 90,000 crore, coming from budgetary grant, NHAI bonds and leasing out of highways, towards construction of highways.

The ministry has set an ambitious construction target of 15,000 km.

However, it currently looks unlikely that the ministry will be able to meet the target as the per day road construction target has been less than 30 km.

August 2017 / Governance Today - 9

With the government making it clear that user charge or toll will be collected on viable stretches, NHAI will recover the investment. It can even auction completed highways projects to private players to get money upfront for fresh projects.

For construction and widening of identified projects, the government aims to generate Rs 34,000 crore by monetising some of the completed stretches.

Bharatmala Road Project Bharatmala is a mega plan of the government and the second-largest highways project after the NHDP that saw development of about 50,000 km.

NHDP, being implemented in various phases was initiated by former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and includes Golden Quadrilateral connecting four metropolises besides North-South Corridor connecting Srinagar to Kanyakumari and East-West Corridor joining Porbandar to Silchar.

The ambitious highways development project-Bharatmalasubsuming all road projects in the first phase will see the construction of 20,000 km of highways.

Special emphasis will be given on providing connectivity to far-flung rural areas including the tribal and backward areas, he added.

Tipped as an umbrella programme for roads Bharatmala will hit the ground soon ending all existing highway projects, including the flagship NHDP, by October-end. The total investment envisaged under Bharatmala was pegged at Rs 10 lakh crore.

A Road Transport and Highways Ministry-appointed study under the proposed Bharatmala project by global consultancy firm AT Kearney has identified 44 economic corridors. The economic corridor project is aimed at faster movement of cargo and will be developing not only economic corridors with

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a length of about 21,000 km but 14,000 km of feeder routes.

The project includes development of around 51,000km of road length comprising economic corridors, coastal roads and expressways and will be implemented in phases.

The corridors include MumbaiCochin-Kanyakumari, BengaluruMangaluru, Hyderabad-Panaji and Sambalpur-Ranchi, to name a few.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has been consistently stressing on the need for reducing logistics cost in the country from the current 18 per cent.

Noting that high logistics cost has been one of the major bottlenecks in trade and business, the ministry has been stressing on the need to develop innovative methods for transport.

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has taken up detailed review of National Highways (NHs) network with a view to improve road connectivity to coastal / border areas, backward areas, religious places, tourist places, construction / rehabilitation / widening of about 1,500 major bridges and 200 Railway Over Bridges (ROBs) / Railway Under Bridges (RUBs) on NHs, improvement of newly declared

NHs providing connectivity to District Head Quarters, Connectivity Improvement Program for CharDham (Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamunothri & Gangothri in Uttarakhand) under proposed Bharatmala Pariyojana.

The Ministry has assigned the tasks of preparation of detailed project reports (DPRs) for about 17,200 km length of roads and about 205 ROBs / RUBs to various agencies in anticipation of approval of the programme; besides, the Ministry has invited bids for preparation of DPRs for about 1,500 major bridges on NHs. However, the Bharatmala Pariyojana is yet to be formally launched.

Special Accelerated Road Development Programme For North-East (Sardp-Ne) Improving road and transport infrastructure in the NorthEast India is a priority for the Government of India. MORTH plans to upgrade 10,141 km of roads in the region through three phased SARDP-NE, which aims to improve road connectivity in all district headquarters in the North Eastern region. ‘Phase A’ of the project includes upgradation of 4,099 km

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of road at an estimated cost of USD 3.3 billion. It is expected to be completed by March 2021. 3,723 km of road stretch has been approved at an estimated budget of USD 9.8 million under the Phase B. The third phase is the “Arunachal Pradesh Package of Roads and Highways” under which road construction of 2319 km road has been approved.

Taking ahead the Prime Minister’s vision to develop North-East India as a gateway to South-East Asia, the government is implementing the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project to connect Kolkata and Sittwe Port in Myanmar at an estimated cost of USD 82 million. The project involves constructing more than 200 km long road which passes through the IndoMyanmar border.

Development Of Roads In The Remote Areas In Central/Eastern India The government has approved the Road Requirement Plan (RRP) for the development of NHs and State Highways in 34 remote districts in states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. The estimated cost for this project is USD 1 billion and development of 5,477 km of National Highways and State Roads is planned.

Other Initiatives By Morth National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd. (NHIDCL) NHIDCL was founded in July 2014 by MORTH to speed up the road construction in strategic areas along the international border and North Eastern Region. It carries the responsibility of developing and

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improving road connectivity for 10,000 km long roads in the North Eastern region. NHIDCL is spearheading the construction of 142 National Highways for development of 8,100 km of roads with the budget of USD 15.3 billion. On the lines of fortune 500 companies, NHIDCL has adopted the use of e-tendering, e-office and e-governance tools.

Current Investment Opportunities in the Road Infra. Sector include the following: Project Highways- Construction & O&M Expressway projects including the following: Vadodara Mumbai Expressway 650 km Bangalore - Chennai Expressway (Green field) - 262 km Delhi-Jaipur Expressway (Greenfield)- 196 km Delhi-Ludhiana-Amritsar-Katra with connectivity to Chandigarh Expressway- 600 km Hyderabad- VijayawadaAmravathi (HVA) Expressway- 300 km Nagpur- Hyderabad- Bangalore (NBH) Expressway-1,100 km Kanpur Lucknow (KL) Expressway75 km Ringroad/ Expressway at Amravathi -186 km Asset recycling ToT (Toll-operateTransfer) model - proposed Innovative technologies, material, equipment etc.

Tunnel projects- many are at bid stage Projects related to efficient operations & network management for improving logistics including development of Transport Nagars and Logistic Hubs, enabling seamless inter-state traffic movement, improved public transportation etc.

Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Logistic Efficiency Enhancement Programme (LEEP) This programme rests around 4 pillars: Freight aggregation and distribution Multimodal freight movement Storage and warehousing Value-added services such as custom clearances.

Through addressing these, the programme aims to enhance freight transportation in India through improving cost, time by as much as 10 percent and tracking and transferability of consignments through infrastructure, procedural and Information Technology (IT) interventions.

Under the first phase of LEEP, USD 5 billion have been allocated for development of multimodal logistics parks and 15 locations have been identified for this purpose. These parks will ensure that shifting from one mode of transport to another does not result in excessive time loss and wastage in handling.

Other opportunities- Road Safety, Driver Training Institutes etc.

Reason for Investment in Road Infratructure The transport sector contributes 6 percent of the country’s GDP with road transport having around 70% share. More than 60 percnetof freight and 90 percent of the passenger traffic in the country

August 2017 / Governance Today - 11

is handled by roads.

Highway traffic in the country is on a growth trajectory Overall annual freight traffic in the country is estimated to reach around 13,000 billion tonne km (btkm) by 2030 from about 2,000 btkm in 2011-12.

Overall annual passenger traffic is estimated to reach around 168,000 billion passenger km (bpkm) by 2030 from about 10,000 bpkm in 2011-12. For both of the above, road transport is likely to cater to around 50 percent of traffic.

The Government of India has launched major initiatives to upgrade and strengthen highways and expressways in the country including enabling policy measures.

MoRTH awarded the highest ever kilometres of new highways in 2015.

In addition to highway development, focus is also on efficient operations & network management for improving logistics efficiency. This shall give rise to new

12 - August 2017 / Governance Today

investment opportunities.

MoRTH is implementing enabling measures like setting up of model driving training institutes for drivers of Heavy Vehicles. These schools will further help in streamlining the process of obtaining licenses. In addition, MoRTH envisages training of 20,000 construction workers such as pavement technicians, masons, carpenters, reinforcement technicians each year.

Fiscal incentives for the sector: 100 percent FDI through automatic route allowed subject to applicable laws and regulation.

Right of way (ROW) for project land made available to concessionaires free from all encumbrances.

NHAI/GOI to provide capital grant (Viability Gap Funding/Cash Support) up to 40 percent of project cost to enhance viability on a case to case basis.

100 percent tax exemption for 5 years and 30 percent relief for next 5 years, which may be availed of in 20 years.

Duty free import of modern high capacity construction equipment.

Sector Policy Development and maintenance of road infrastructure is a key Government priority the sector has received strong budgetary support over the years.

Standardised processes for PPP and public funded projects and a clear policy framework relating to bidding and tolling have been developed over the years.

Major policy initiatives undertaken

by MoRTH during last two years include: Mode of delivery - MoRTH is now empowered to decide on mode of delivery of projects-EPC/PPP Enhanced Inter-Ministerial coordination - An Infrastructure

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Group has been created under Chairmanship of Hon’ble Minister (Road, Transport & Highways) to resolve approval/clearance issues related to Environment & Forests, Railways and Defence, and most of the issues have been resolved.

Exit Policy -Private developers can now exit all operational BOT projects two years from start of operations irrespective of the date of award of the project.

Revival of Languishing projects - Now revival of BOT projects which are languishing in the construction stage is possible through one-time fund infusion by NHAI, subject to adequate due diligence of such projects on case to case basis through an institutional mechanism.

Promoting innovative project implementation modelsThe Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) has been developed and adopted for implementation of highway projects.

The model takes into consideration appropriate risk allocation. Fifteen projects have already been awarded under this model.

Amendments to the Model Concession Agreement (MCA) for BOT projects - Certain changes in the MCA have been approved by an empowered Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary based on stakeholders feedback. This would facilitate streamlined development and operation of highway projects.

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The Road Ahead Development of Roads and Highways is one of the priority areas for the government and an ambitious target has been set to increase the length of national highways to 200,000 km. The government aims to build at least 90,000 km of highway network in its 5-year tenure. For this, it plans to build 25,000 km of highway in current fiscal and another 30,000 km in the next.

NHAI plans to raise USD 770 million for construction of highways, tunnels and economic corridors in the country, and the ministry plans to monetize projects worth USD 2.2 billion.

Top priority has been assigned to correction of black spots on National Highways and significant thrust is being laid on road safety with USD 169 million being made available for this purpose. Several road connectivity projects with neighbouring countries have been identified and innovative initiatives such as “electric taxi project”, and “closed toll policy” (where the toll will be charged) on basis of distance covered on the toll road are also underway.

The vision to build an exceptional road infrastructure for the nation is already bearing fruit with a record 22 km of highway constructed per day in 2016-17. The Government of India has set the target of constructing 40 km of highway per day by Financial Year (FY) 2017-18.

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Article

14 - August 2017 / Governance Today

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R

oad infrastructure plays an important role in a country’s development.

There are two major types of materials widely used in road construction, namely concrete and bitumen. Concrete roads require low maintenance expenditure.

They are impervious to water and to the ill effects of oil and lubricant spillage. Bitumen is a by-product of the petroleum refining industry.

It is proven that the resistance of bitumen surfaces and their strength deteriorates rapidly under the influence of aggressive climate and usage conditions.

On purely techno-economic considerations, concrete roads have proved to be far superior as compared to bitumen roads.

In many European countries, notably Germany, France, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands and Switzerland, concrete roads were built on considerable length of the most heavily trafficked routes. In USA, nearly 60 percent of the interstate highway system was built in concrete. Most road networks in the EU were developed from a national viewpoint. The aim of the TransEuropean Transport Network (TEN) is to build a transport network that would facilitate the flow of goods and people between EU countries.

The TEN is set to encompass 90 000 km of motorway and highquality roads by 2020. The EU will eventually have a role in the safety management of the roads belonging to TEN through safety audits at the design stage and regular safety inspections of the network as for many European countries rural road fatalities account for the highest proportion of road deaths. Cement concrete pavements in Belgium have comprised a major portion (Over 70 percent) of the rural land reallocation projects in Belgium since 1958. The initial choice was based on the good performance of

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this type of pavement on state and secondary roads in the 1930s. Apart from this criterion, the selection of the type of pavement can also be influenced by the way construction projects are subsidized. In this regard, the selection of concrete structures is favored by financing structures that subsidize all or a portion of the investment costs for pavements except maintenance, which is often the responsibility of local organizations. India’s road infrastructure has seen consistent improvement in the last few years.

Connectivity has improved and road transportation has become a focus of rapid development. Roads are providing better access to services, ease of transportation and freedom of movement to people. Recognising the significance of a reliable and swift road network in the country and the role it plays in influencing its economic development, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) has taken up the responsibility of building quality

roads and highways across the country.

Global Scenario Recognising the need to foster competition and thereby ensure economical options, many European countries and USA have made it compulsory when calling for road-building tenders, to invite bids on both flexible and concrete specifications. In such cases, concrete roads scored over bituminous roads in several instances. The wide acceptability of concrete as a road pavement material is mainly due to certain principal advantages it scores over bituminous material.

The USA is often cited as the benchmark for rigid pavements.

Concrete roads were first built in US a century ago, beginning with a six mile stretch. That multiplied to 11,000 miles in 20 years. It is interesting to note that in USA, the growth of automobiles is correlated strongly with the growth of concrete

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roads. Today concrete roads link the country’s west coast on the pacific with the east coast on the Atlantic.

In a country where petroleum prices are much cheaper than here in India, it is cement rather than bitumen/asphalt that is the chosen paving material. Concrete roads make up more than half their roads.

In Netherlands as well, motorways and/or freeways are controlledaccess highways for fast motor vehicles only and are consistently built with multiple carriageways, guard rails and interchanges with overpasses.

Realising the loss of thousands of crores of rupees to the economy due to bitumen roads, which develop potholes and become unserviceable particularly after rains, the government of India has been providing major thrust to the construction of durable and longlasting highways, urban and rural roads. Several schemes such as NHDP, PMGSY and JNNURM have been launched to achieve this goal.

For the XII plan, the government has earmarked one trillion dollars for the infrastructure development of the country, a large chunk of this would be spent in the construction of roads and highways.

Road Infrastructure in India India’s preferred road-laying material has for long been bitumen.

However, a few of the National Highways have concrete roads too. In some locations, such as in Kanpur, British-built concrete roads are still in use. Concrete roads are durable, weather-proof and require

lower maintenance compared to bituminous roads. Moreover, new concrete technology has developed such as cool pavement, quick pavement and permeable pavement, which has rendered it more attractive and eco-friendly.

Just one glance at Mumbai’s most famous landmark Marine Drive will amply demonstrate the durability and resilience of concrete roads.

Mumbai residents will scarcely remember a single day when Marine Drive was closed for repairs or maintenance, unlike other bituminous roads. Even after seven decades of its construction, this seafront arterial road shows few signs of distress as compared to much newer stretches built in recent years.

Union Transport Minister, Nitin Gadkari recently said that all the roads in the country would be converted into cement-concrete ones to ensure their stability and durability. “In Mumbai the cement concrete roads built 20 years ago are still in a good shape. All the roads in the country would be converted into cement concrete ones. And I guarantee that they will last for 200 years,” he said.

India’s development agenda for the 21st century cries out for new impetus to rapid advancements and progress in building roads which are so vital to our economy.

The construction of roads has demonstrated that it can be a major development activity and quite literally the road to economic success.

India is now, hence, quickly

accepting and implementing traffic technology solutions in creating safer and durable ways for transport.

There have been rapid advances in concrete technology during the past three decades or so. The improvement in strength and other structural properties achieved earlier through the use of steel reinforcement are now accepted as routine and the reinforced cement concrete and pre–stressed concrete have become conventional materials. Later work led to the development of a variety of concretes in the form of, among others, fibre reinforced concrete, polymer concrete, Ferrocement, sulphur concrete, lightweight aggregate concrete, autoclaved cellular concrete, high-density concrete, ready-mixed concrete, self-compacting concrete, roller compacted concrete, high strength concrete, super high-strength concrete, high performance concrete, high-volume fly ash concrete, self-curing concrete, floating concrete and smart concrete. Some of these concretes are briefly discussed here: Fibre Reinforced Concrete Different types of mineral, organic and metallic fibres have been used.

Among the mineral fibres, use of asbestos in the production of asbestos cement products is well known. Since, water absorption of the asbestos fibre is high, its use in concrete increases water requirement. Consequently, there is reduction in strength of the

“In Mumbai the cement concrete roads built 20 years ago are still in a good shape. All the roads in the country would be converted into cement concrete ones. And I guarantee that they will last for 200 years,” Nitin Gadkari 16 - August 2017 / Governance Today

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concrete. Organic fibres such as, coir, jute, rayon and polyester are attacked by the highly alkaline condition in concrete. As a result, concrete containing these fibres loses strength with time. Other organic fibres namely, nylon, polypropylene and polyethylene are alkali-resistant. But, due to their lower modulus of elasticity, the incorporation of these fibres do not increase strength. Concrete containing nylon or polypropylene fibres, however is reported to develop higher impact resistance.

Virgin Poly-Propylene fibers of structural grades, such as Forta Ferro Fibres, having high strength and modulus of elasticity are now available from FORTA Corpn USA. These are being extensively used all over world for Pavement/ highways/Runway construction, Fibre shotcreting of tunnels, Repair and Rehab jobs and Bridge deck construction incl India. Among all fibres the use of steel fibre in concrete has received far greater attention, in the past but because of the corrosion problem structural grade poly propylene and other synth fibers are taking over now.

The compressive strength, tensile strength, fatigue strength, modulus of elasticity, abrasion resistance, skid resistance and thermal conductivity of steel fibre reinforced concrete has been found to be slightly higher than the corresponding plain concrete. While creep and shrinkage are more or less unaffected, there is over 100 percent increase in the flexural strength and impact toughness of

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plain concrete when reinforced with steel fibre. At the same fibre content, use of a blend of fibres having different aspect ratio, in place of single aspect ratio fibre, gives greater structural benefits. It has also been found more beneficial as well as economical to use steel fibres only in the tensile zone of the flexural member. Unlike plain concrete, steel, fibre reinforced concrete is not brittle and offers far greater resistance to cracking.

The fibres act as crack arrestors and restrict the growth of flaws in concrete from enlarging under stress into visible cracks. The ultimate failure is reached only when some of the fibres get pulled out of the matrix. As compared to plain concrete, the resistance of steel fibre reinforced concrete to thermal shock and heat spalling is also far superior. The major applications of steel fibre reinforced concrete are in pavements (both for new construction and overlays), precast concrete units, concrete reactor pressure vessels, blast resistant structures, machine foundations, tunnel linings and structures requiring resistance to thermal shocks, such as refractory linings.

Polymer Concrete Depending upon the method of monomer incorporation into the concrete, the polymer concrete is termed as: polymer impregnated concrete, when dried precast concrete is impregnated with monomer and polymerized in-situ, polymer cement concrete, when cement, aggregate, water and monomer are mixed together and polymerized after laying and, polymer concrete, when aggregate and monomer are mixed together and polymerized after laying.

A number of factors such as distance to be penetrated, degree of drying, total porosity and pore size in concrete, monomer viscosity, whether or not vacuum and/or pressure is applied, influence the extent of monomer filling in polymer impregnated concrete.

The widely used monomers are methyl methacrylate, styrene, acrylonitrile and chlorostyrene.

The monomer polymerization is done either by thermal catalytic process or by radiation.Â

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As compared to plain concrete, the strength and other properties of polymer concrete are considerably higher. At 6 per cent polymer loading, the mechanical properties of polymer impregnated concrete vis-à-vis corresponding plain concrete were found to be as follows: Compressive strength, 2 to 4 times higher Tensile strength, about 4 times higher Modulus or Elasticity, About 4 times higher Creep and Permeability, Almost Nil With almost nil permeability, the polymer impregnated concrete has much greater resistance to the attack of acidic and/or sulphate containing waters.

Economics permitting, applications of polymer concrete having good scope are: concrete pipe manufacture, concrete piles, concrete tiles, tunnel supports and linings, precast concrete decks, precast concrete building units for use in aggressive conditions, desalting structures, lightweight concrete constructions and providing surface protection to cast in-Situ concrete.

Cement and concrete in road construction and transports The contribution of cement and concrete to transportations and particularly to road construction is considerable. Bridges, tunnels, safety barriers, concrete roads and sound barriers are several examples of successful cement application. A characteristic of the use of cement in the aforementioned applications is the small maintenance cost together with the elongation of the service life of the structure. In road building, cement is also used for the treatment of aggregates and the stabilization of soils. The production of cement binding mixtures, contributes to the upgrade of the

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bearing capacity of sub grade along with an increase of the bearing capacity of the pavement layers.

This increased bearing capacity provides the ability to construct road surfaces of lesser thickness and thus of a significantly lower cost.

Furthermore, based on technoeconomic studies developed by highway owner agencies, the use of concrete overlays on existing deteriorated asphalt pavements that have failed due to increased number of passes or excessive vehicle loads is the solution most favored, in order to extend the freeways lifetime and upgrade their capacity to current design standards.

Concrete pavements Due to their high bearing capacity and increased stiffness, their specific property not to deform under heavy permanent loads, is the reason why concrete pavements are used for: Parking aprons, taxiways and runway takeoff areas in airports Parking grounds for vehicles of heavy weight Heavy duty Industrial floors (vehicles on tracks and military tanks) Floors for handling and storage of containers at ports Industrial floors with high requirements in terms of flatness and durability to abrasion and surface exposure to aggressive

attacks (use of toxic materials, welding etc) Bridge decks Road pavements in long tunnels for fire safety reasons, immediate reuse of the road following a fire and better energy consumption during service life (lower intensity lighting required) Pavements at toll stations (resistance to braking and acceleration) Concrete floors form an unrivalled type of paving for highways, roads of heavy traffic and simple rural and urban roads. These floors, apart from their ability to withstand permanent deformations and their high bearing capacity, also enjoy additional advantages, which render them attractive in application: A greater degree of safety in driving due to improved visibility.

The reason is that obstacles are more visible in concrete roads due to the bright color of the surface in comparison to asphalt road paving Small to insignificant maintenance cost High durability over time Reduced total cost of the floor (service life cost analysis) Insignificant rolling noise Low tire wear Lower overall energy consumption Soil stabilization with cement, cement and hydrated lime or cement and fly ash Cement can be utilized as well in the construction of pavement layers and

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for the stabilization of sub grade soil materials with average or small plasticity.

In cases of soil materials with more than average plasticity or in cases of swelling soil materials, a combination of cement and hydrated lime or cement and fly ash can be used with impressive results as far as the improvement of the mechanical properties of these soils is concerned.

In all these cases, the durability of the stabilized materials against environmental impacts is substantially higher than that of the non-stabilized material.

In this way, considerable savings are achieved due to the reduced thickness of the road pavements, while the environmental advantages are equally important, since there is no use of materials transported from elsewhere or use of quarried materials. Construction of this type is widely applied internationally, although quite limited in our country so far.

Recycling of pavements with cement It is a recent successful evolution, for the restoration and/or upgrade of worn out from traffic road surfaces, with the least possible environmental strain and a very low cost. In these cases, the material of the worn road surface in a depth of approximately 20-35 cm (including the asphalt layers) is being milled and pulverized in specialized equipment together with water and cement. The above materials are fully blended and spread to form a cement stabilized layer on the surface of which, one or two asphalt layers are added. With the new recycled road surface, the operating characteristics are restored and the pavement bearing capacity is substantially higher than that of

the old one. Using this method, the material that exists on the road surface is used on site, without the need of transportation to nearby installations or areas of disposal or transportation of new material. The environmental benefits are obvious.

Pervious concrete (no fines concrete) Pervious concrete is also known as ‘no fines concrete’. Even though its use as a structural material in Europe, dates as far back as 60 years, pervious concrete is becoming very widely used today, in the construction of concrete pavements and slabs on grade under low or normal traffic, pedestrian pavements, parking areas and landscaping works on grade. Due to its environmentally friendly impact, pervious concrete provides the optimal solution where extensive surface coverage is needed, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of a built area. Its use has been recognized as a Best Management Practice by the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S., because of the significant contribution pervious concrete has in the reduction of surface contamination and the successful management of storm water runoff. In the case of

a conventional pavement construction the surface runoff leads 90% of the contained surface pollutants (oils, hydrocarbons) directly into the sea and the rivers, whilst when using pervious concrete the pollutants are driven instead

into the ground, where they are being naturally cleaned through biological degradation.

In this way, using pervious concrete for parking lot pavements and city roads provides a direct opportunity to replenish the ground water table through a process of natural filtering, to provide sustainable planting within paved areas and to reduce the temperature level in densely populated areas (the heat island effect), since the surface moisture is retained into the soil.

Based on in situ measurements, the ambient temperature in parking lots made of pervious concrete, is lower than the temperature of similar areas, covered with asphalt.

In industrial applications, pervious concrete has been used successfully for the construction of the floors in greenhouses and industrial dairy farms (places of congregations of live animals such as poultry, pigs, etc.), thereby allowing for self-cleaning technologies of the floors that lead to improved hygiene conditions of the site.

The basic maintenance required by pervious concrete floors is the periodic cleaning of the floor with pressurised vacuum steam cleaners, in order to prevent clogging of the voids with organic materials. The absence of large drops in ambient temperature due to frost conditions in Greece makes its use in this climate much more appropriate.

From the technical point of view, the mix design of pervious concrete includes cement, limited amounts of water (a W/C ratio of about 0.35 to 0.45), chemical additives and aggregates having a very narrow gradation (and different maximum aggregate size on a case by case basis) and complete absence of sand. As a result, a concrete with a compressive strength of up to 35 MPa is produced, having a void content of 15-35 percent. The concrete exhibits a continuous porous structure, whereby the

cavities intercommunicate with each other so as to permit the flow of surface runoff water through the mass, with a drainage rate upto 700 lt/min/m2. Prior to the application of pervious concrete, a hydraulic design for the storm water runoff management is required, to collect the surface runoff through a specially designed base which is now required to provide both support of the pavement as well as storage and drainage of the surface water.

The Way forward In India, cement concrete roads were built in isolated locations on national highways, state highways and city roads since early 1950.

In the last decade of the 20th century, few major road projects like Mumbai-Pune Expressway (90Km), Delhi-Mathura (100Km section), Indore bypass road (35Km) etc. were undertaken with concrete pavement. These experiences accelerated the construction of 1600Km concrete road under Golden quadrilateral. Further the

advantages of cement concrete road over bitumen road in terms of longer life, less maintenance, good riding quality, better skid resistance, lower life cycle cost, no effect of rain water, no effect of spillage of oil, better reflectivity, saving in fuel consumption, etc. has also lead to construction of more concrete roads in several parts of India.

However, due to higher initial cost and the requirement of higher degree of care in design and construction, the concrete roads were not preferred over bitumen roads. Now the major road projects are being implemented using modern equipment, there has been substantial confidence and capacity building among the engineers and the contractors in the area of concrete roads. The cost difference between concrete and bitumen roads, which used to be over 50 percent earlier, has come down from 15 to 25% now. This gap has further come down to 10 from 15 percent due to adaptation of High Volume Fly Ash Technology in

concrete road.

High Volume Fly Ash (HVFA) concrete was developed nearly two decades ago. In this type of concrete, about 40-60 percent of the Portland cement is replaced by a suitable quality of fly ash for different applications including concrete pavements. HVFA concrete exhibits improved fresh concrete properties and excellent mechanical properties and long-term durability along with economy.

Good quality HVFA concrete can be produced with judicious use of cement and superplasticizers for different structural applications with varying percentage of fly ash additions. It can be used successfully in our country with very low life cycle cost and good performance, because fly ash is abundantly available and the temperature is also conducive for better reactivity of fly ash as compared to countries like Canada and US, where the cold climate is prevailing for most of the year.

“India’s preferred road-laying material has for long been bitumen. However, a few of the National Highways have concrete roads too. ”

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Article

ROAD SAFETY SPEED MANAGEMENT IN INDIA

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Global experience shows that building safer motor vehicles and re-engineered road geometry does not translate into a better road safety record. There are success stories, like Sweden, where a “vision zero� approach to road safety was able to bring down fatalities to five or six annually. The USA., on the other hand, managed to bring down the risk of road fatalities per kilometre travelled. However, the total kilometres travelled has grown exponentially in the past decades, hence total road traffic fatalities continue to be high.

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R

ather than focusing on improving the safety of fastmoving vehicles, the international road safety discourse now focuses on two objectives: reducing the average speed of vehicles and, importantly, reducing the total volume of vehicle kilometres travelled. Together, this is known as a “sustainable transport approach” to road safety. It includes the redesign of urban streets and transport systems so that greater emphasis is put on public transport, non-motorised transport and transit-oriented development. The sustainable transport approach can also be categorised by the AvoidShift-Improve (ASI) framework, where the objective is: avoid growth in vehicle kilometres travelled; shift trips to safer and more sustainable modes, like public transport and non-motorised transport, and improve the general condition of transport in terms of safety, time, cost, comfort.

Indian Scenario In India, it is unrealistic to expect speed limit regulations to be effective, given the poor level of traffic compliance. Road design in India follows outdated highway standards that have, in many cases, not been updated in decades. The generous lane width, wide road curvature, uninterrupted medians, and grade-separated intersections, allow vehicles to be driven at very high speeds. It is pointless to overdesign a road for a much higher speed, and then enforce a lower speed limit. This is both a waste of money, and a big contributor to the safety problem.

Releasing the ‘Road Accidents in India - 2016’ report, the Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari recently said while overall road accidents last year declined by 4.1 percent, the fatalities were up by 3.2 percent, meaning more than 400 people lost their lives

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daily on roads.

The report mentioned that as many as 17 people died in 55 road accidents per hour on average last year, with 46.3 percent of them in the 18-35 age group. The working age group of 18-60 years constituted 83.3 percent in the total road accident fatalities, it added.

Overall, 4, 80,652 road accidents took place in India last year resulting in the loss of 1,50,785 lives and inflicting serious injuries on 4,94,624 persons.

“We are working to reduce fatalities not only on national highways but on state highways and district roads as well. I have asked all state governments to utilise 10 percent of the Central Road Fund (CRF) in addressing flaws at accidental spots,” said Mr Gadkari.

Indicating a slew of steps to minimise accidents, Mr Gadkari said these included installation of crash barriers and correcting design and engineering flaws in projects besides identifying about 786 black accidents spots and steps to correct these through an expenditure of about Rs 12,000 crore.

“I have no hesitation in admitting that faulty road engineering is also responsible for road accidents which we are now amending,” he said, citing the example of Delhi-Jaipur highway where underpasses were constructed.

Based on the data reported by the police, drivers’ fault was the single most important factor responsible for road accidents (84 percent), killings (80.3 percent) and injuries (83.9 percent).

The report said 13 states accounted for 86 percent of accidents. These are Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Haryana, Kerala, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

So, in this context, India needs a two-pronged approach to road

safety, with an equal emphasis on reducing the risk of fatality per kilometre travelled and reducing the number of vehicle kilometres travelled.

There is a critical list of best practices under each approach.

Reducing the risk of fatality means strict enforcement of traffic rules— drunk driving, helmet use, seat belts and child restraint, as well as air bags. It means improving the behaviour of all road users: lane driving, keeping to speed limits, using and respecting pedestrian crossings etc. It also means improving road geometry— identifying accident-prone spots and re-engineering them. And finally, it means ensuring that the vehicles manufactured are safer.

Governments and planners should require many of these standards by law, and by building a strong system for its enforcement.

Reducing the number of vehicle kilometres travelled means increasing safe access to presently vulnerable road users—bicyclists and pedestrians. Planners should make access to urban streets safer through better design and adequate space for pedestrians and other non-motorised transport users. It also means encouraging alternate, preferably non-motorised, forms of transport, such as cycle rickshaws, for shorter or local commutes.

The use of mass-transit systems such as buses and trains to assist long-distance commutes is strongly recommended.

Planners should rationalise new road infrastructure investments by asking if it is a priority if only a small percentage of commuters own or drive cars. In Mumbai, for instance, just 14 percent use private cars or two-wheelers, whereas the majority spends a large part of their commute as pedestrians or users of public transport. As is often repeated within the transport sector, a rich nation is not one in which the poor have cars but one in which the rich use public transport.

Current status of Road Safety in

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India vis-à-vis Rest of the World According to the World Health Organization’s Global Status Report on Road Safety, 2015, more than 1.2 million people die on world’s roads each year, making injuries sustained due to road crashes a leading cause of death in low and middleincome countries.1 It has now been recognized as a development issue, in addition to being a public health problem, with low and middleincome economies losing up to 3 percent of their GDP to losses due to road crashes. While the number of road crash deaths in the world has remained fairly constant since 2007 at 1.25 million deaths in 2013, there has been a continuous increase in road crash deaths in India since 2007, with only a marginal reduction in 2012 and 2015. In fact, India surpassed China in 2007 as the country with the highest number of road crashes annually. Crash deaths among vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists have been intolerably high across the globe, amounting to almost half of all deaths on the

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In India, it is unrealistic to expect speed limit regulations to be effective, given the poor level of traffic compliance. Road design in India follows outdated highway standards that have, in many cases, not been updated in decades.

world’s roads. However, the likelihood of dying on the road as a motorcyclist, cyclist or pedestrian varies by region. While 92 countries have by 2015, put in place policies to ensure safety for pedestrians and cyclists, compared to 68 in 2010, India still has no laws protecting vulnerable road users, who account for over 35 percent of all road crash deaths in the country.

Sweden’s ‘Vision Zero’ designed city roads to dictate speed choice.

They set up three – and only three – standardised speed zones across the entire country, of 30 kmph, 50 kmph and 70 kmph. The speed limits were decided first based on what is suitable in the local context, and then based on the given road’s function in the overall road hierarchy. Rather than relying merely on speed limit regulations, road designs were altered to induce motorists to drive at the design speed, such that a motorist is almost automatically aware of the stipulated speed without having to look for speed limit signs.

In India, traffic police personnel

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have been the backbone of implementation and monitoring of speed limits in a township/city area. Inadequacy in numbers of traffic personnel, adverse weather condition, etc., are some of the reasons for lacunae in implementation of strict speed limits and repeated violation of speed limit leading to more crashes and injuries.

Installation of proven speed detection devices such as Radar and speed detection cameras systems can fill the gap. Radar speed guns, speed cameras, and digital still cameras have been already in use in a few Indian cities.

Chandigarh and New Delhi have already implemented the service of speed detection device such as digital still cameras (Chandigarh), speed cameras (New Delhi), and Radar gun (New Delhi) in traffic control, especially in accident-prone areas.

Although impact of these speed detection devices has not been evaluated, the results can be appreciated from decrease in number of persons killed per lakh population (Fig.1) and numbers of person killed per 10,000 vehicles (Fig.2). Trivandrum, Kochi, Hyderabad, and Bhubaneswar have implemented recently or are in the process of implementation of these devices in their traffic systems.

(Fig.1) Change in total number of persons killed per lakh population, 2012–2015 (Data source: Transport Research Wing, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India)

Recent developments in Road Safety legislation The sole statute governing Road Safety in India, the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (MVA) has been largely ineffective in tackling the rising road crash deaths in the country.

Due to the lack of a comprehensive and administrative framework for Road Safety in India, most interventions to tackle this epidemic

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(Fig. 2) Change in total numbers of person killed per 10,000 vehicles, 2012–2013 (Data source: Transport Research Wing, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India)

have remained unsustainable. In the Monsoon Session of Parliament (July-August, 2016), the Government of India introduced the Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2017.

The Bill aims to amend 68 out of 223 sections and insert 28 new sections in the MVA, 1988, in order to fill the legislative gaps existing in the current framework. The Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was

passed by Lok Sabha on April 10, 2017 and now awaits passage by the Rajya Sabha.

Vehicle safety As per WHO’s Global Status Report on Road Safety, 2015, there are seven recommended standards to ensure vehicle safety, which include standards on frontal and side crash impact, electronic stability,

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pedestrian protection, seat belts and seat anchorages, and child restraint regulations.

India meets only two out of these seven standards. In comparison, Russia meets all seven counts; Brazil meets five, while China and South Africa meet four each. The absence of five norms in India which includes electronic stability control, frontal and side crash impact standard, pedestrian protection and child restraint systems also means that India fails the international benchmark for all these standards currently. However, the government in the recent past has come out with notifications, putting in place the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme (BNVSAP).

The Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme to conduct assessment on vehicle safety in line with seven priority UN regulations for vehicle safety standards has been developed by the Government of India. This programme, will be voluntary from October, 2017 and mandatory by October, 2020 for all cars.

Additionally, the government is also set to mandate AHO headlights for two-wheelers in 2017. This means, henceforth new bike owners will not be able to switch off the headlamp when the bike is turned on, which will help in improving overall visibility.

Road Speed Management in Urban Areas With increasing urbanization, vehicle density on the roads has been increasing exponentially. Most of the vehicles and roads are designed for a particular speed. The improved roadway facilities have encouraged the drivers to drive fast in the urban roads. Excessive speed is a key risk factor for road accidents and greater severity of the injuries in the event of an accident. In such circumstances, it is very difficult to control a speeding vehicle unless some speed management measures are provided.

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Higher vehicle speeds also contribute to the increased green house gas emissions, fuel consumptions and noise and has adverse impacts on quality of life in urban areas.

Many research works indicate that the coordinated actions taken by responsible authorities can bring about immediate response to the problem of speeding. On Indian roads, it is important that mobility and safety should go hand-in hand for providing greener environment and reducing the number of fatality rate in the country.

Impact of Speeding on Accidents Speeding which encompasses excessive speed (driving above the speed limits) or inappropriate speed (driving too fast for the prevailing conditions, but within the limits) is dangerous. Speeding is a complex problem, involving the interaction of many factors including public attitudes, road user behaviour, vehicle performance, roadway design and characteristics, posted speed limits and enforcement strategies. Vulnerable road users are particularly exposed to vehicle impacts, especially in urban areas at speeds which are above the limits of human tolerance. For instance, pedestrians have 80 percent chance of survival if hit by a car travelling at a speed of 30 km/h or below, but less than a 20 percent chance of surviving an impact of 45 km/h or above. Speeding concerns all types of motor vehicles and all groups of road users. However, young drivers are the most involved in speeding behaviour. Accordingly, an interdisciplinary approach involving engineering, enforcement, and education is needed to reduce speeding-related crashes, fatalities and injuries.

Evolution and Application of Intelligent Transport System The problems of traffic congestion, accidents and traffic related issues gradually led to the introduction of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS).

It is essentially the application of computer and communications technologies coming in aid of the transport problems. ITS can be defined as the application of computing, information and communication technologies to the real-time management of vehicles and networks involving movement of people and goods.

ITS technologies enable gathering of data or intelligence and then providing timely feedback to traffic managers and road-users. ITS results in improved safety to drivers, better traffic efficiency, reduced traffic congestion, improved energy efficiency and environmental quality and enhanced economic productivity. Some examples of ITS include Advanced Traffic Management Systems, Advanced Traveller Information Systems, Advanced Vehicle Control Systems, Electronic Toll Collection Systems, Advanced Public Transportation Systems, etc. The application of ITS in controlling the speed of vehicles runs onto be a challenging task in Indian traffic condition.

As a result of saturation of the transport infrastructure due to the growing number of vehicles, traffic congestion, accidents, transportation delays and vehicle emissions have increased to an alarming extent. Although several solutions like implementation of safety belts, airbags, construction of new and better roads were introduced, it became clear that

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these were not the right solution as these were very expensive and cause a considerable environmental impact. These difficulties motivated the research community to centre their attention in the area of ITS. The purpose of ITS was to take advantage of the appropriate technologies to create “more intelligent� roads, vehicles and users. ITS have been around since the 1930s and it has been slowly creeping into our lives. The major developments on ITS was made in Europe, US and Japan, and it had gone through three phases which comprises of Preparation (19301980), Feasibility study (19801995) and Product development (1995-present) ITS involves a large number of research areas and the study focus on the intelligent traffic systems employed especially in the area of speed management and operations.

Different systems exist in the area of traffic speed management, ranging from informative to intervening systems.

ITS in Indian Conditions Traffic management and operations faces a big challenge for mixed traffic conditions prevailing in developing countries like India.

The introduction of ITS has made the task more complex with its implementation and suitability.

The prime focus of the study relies on use of an effective traffic management measure with aid of ITS in regulating the speed of vehicles within the urban roads in India. ITS are used extensively in countries like the USA and Singapore, where the traffic is homogeneous and abides by lane discipline. Traffic in India however, is heterogeneous and lacks lane discipline, thus the implementation of ITS poses several challenges.

However the following ITS tools may be implemented in the Indian urban cities to tackle the problem of traffic and accidents: Electronic Toll Collector at all Toll Booths

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Speed Detection using Speed Guns at all intersection Dynamic Route Guidance system may be developed for all urban arterials Tracking of vehicles using GPS Use of Variable Message Signal (VMS) in case of an accident and provide the detour route Installation of Radar Speed Guns along with video cameras. Speed Management can be effectively

Traffic management and operations faces a big challenge for mixed traffic conditions prevailing in developing countries like India. The introduction of ITS has made the task more complex with its implementation and suitability. The prime focus of the study relies on use of an effective traffic management measure with aid of ITS in regulating the speed of vehicles within the urban roads in India carried out in Indian urban conditions using the following two techniques: External Vehicle Control The primary step in traffic monitoring on urban roads is to detect the presence of vehicles for traffic management and operation.

Infrared sensors are made in use for vehicle detection which is laid across the road in the speed zoning locations of the city, especially in Indian conditions. It consists of a

transmitter and receiver provided at the either ends of road. IR sensors are connected to the Radar Speed Gun provided at some distance from the sensor. When the vehicle cuts off the IR beams in a definite sequence, it switches the Radar speed gun to measure the speed of the approaching vehicle within the zone.

The vehicle speed recorded gets stored into the computer database.

The information collected is made in view to the road user by means of effective driver feedback techniques like VMS or many other ways in real time itself. Simultaneously traffic camera is provided alongside with speed gun to record the video footages of the vehicle passing through. The speed of the vehicle and video footages are synchronized into a common database based on the clock time storage of both the data. Further processing of the video footages can be done to extract the license number plate of the vehicle in an offline stage.

The system provides an advisory method for traffic speed regulation by informing the road users on site regarding the speed of vehicles through Variable message signs, LCD display units, etc. This can be followed by enforcement of penalties for those vehicles successively violating the speed limits during shorter period of time.

The database stored provides the information regarding the speed of vehicle, license number plate, video footages and the time period of speed violations. The license plate number of each vehicle extracted can be linked with the RTO database in order to obtain the vehicular information. Further challan systems are employed for enforcing the penalties on the drivers violating the speed limits for the city. Challans are sent to the driver address as a measure of speed ticketing, but can be made practice in an offline stage. The method proves expensive in implementation terms but provides with an informative as well as an adaptive measure for speed management in the city road

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network.

In Vehicle Control In vehicle speed control utilises an open source mobile application that helps to track the vehicle position, vehicular speed, route path, etc. The application proves to be informative to the road users; in addition it helps the control centre to keep a check on the vehicles moving within the city limits. The primary objective of ITS Mobile application is to create a fully fledged application which provides information to the road users. The application must be outsourced or enforced by the government to be exercised by the road users. ITS mobile application must contain the requirements of GPS integrated mobile, nowadays available in most of the mobile phones.

A central control segment, here the government can provide the application having unique ID tagged to every vehicle user registered in a particular city. ID tag embedded with the vehicular information allows the control centre to track the vehicle within the city limits and also helps to communicate with the road user via message services.

The application is developed on an Android platform. It utilises Google map and GPS services of Android,

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it is supposed to have an active internet connection available in the phone along with GPS service active. This provides an indirect means of advising the road user to regulate the speed within the urban road network. Along with the above proposed ITS Tools, serious study needs to be carried out in this field, so as to propose some more ITS tools to curb the traffic and accident related problems.

The Outlook Vehicular speed is the most important risk factor for road traffic accidents, injuries, severity, and deaths. At any point in time, half of the drivers in urban areas are above the speed limits. Controlling the speed, when mobility is essential, is highly important. A mean reduction in vehicular speed by 10 percent can result in nearly 37 percent reduction in road traffic accidents and injuries.

Evidence from other countries has demonstrated the impact of speed detector in reducing the road traffic crashes and injuries Automated Speed Enforcement Programme in France, started in 2003, demonstrated a significant reduction in road traffic crashes and injuries as high as 19.7 percent. In the USA, cities with red-light camera enforcement have significantly lower

road traffic crashes and injuries compared to other cities.

An effective speed management system should be very flexible and easy to use such that it could be used in a real time traffic scenario and at the same time it should be efficient and accurate. External vehicle control proves an adaptive system for determining the violation of traffic speed limits within the urban areas. Thereby it involves high implementation cost in bring out traffic speed regulation practices when applied onto ground. The data executions are carried out in an offline mode which delays the process of enforcement and also needs a huge amount of storage area to keep in data records.

External vehicle control proves static in action and lack the flexibility for regulating the speed on the whole urban road network. On the other hand, the mobile application requires an initial thrust to enforce the road users to exercise the module unit. It is dynamic in action, and also provides advisory mode of operation in management of traffic operations. It encourages the road users with productive information of real time traffic scenario throughout the city.

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GOVERNANCE WATCH

NHAI takes steps to facilitate availability of FASTags for Electronic Toll Collection In order to facilitate the availability of FASTags for Electronic Toll Collection, NHAI has taken two revolutionary steps in consultation with RBI and NPCI . These include Online sale of FASTags and offline sale through Common Services Centre (CSC) near toll plazas.

FASTag can also be purchased online from Issuer Banks websites / NHAI website / IHMCL website and will be delivered by courier at the door step of the purchaser. It is expected that this move will increase the sale of FASTags by improving availability and access.

Apart from the online sale, from August 18, 2017, FASTags can also be bought from sale points of Common Services Centre (CSC) to be set up near toll plazas. CSC has a proven track record of making 20 crore Aadhar Cards and achieving many other milestones of Digital India in short duration due to their vast network. It is expected that the association with CSC will give the ETC ecosystem a further boost. Hybrid ETC work that involves installation & integration of RFID readers in all the Toll Plaza lanes is already under progress and is likely to be completed by 31st October, 2017. Out of all Hybrid Lanes, at least one shall be exclusively dedicated for FASTag vehicles where no other mode of Toll Payment shall be accepted. This exclusive one lane for FASTag vehicles has been made operational with effect from September 1, 2017.

In pursuance of PM Modi’s drive for a cashless economy, NHAI has been working on installation and efficient execution of ETC infrastructure at all the toll plazas under its jurisdiction. The work being done by NHAI in this direction will provide safe, smooth and seem less journey to commuters on National Highways.

GOI’s Street Lighting National Programme illuminates 50,000 KM of Indian roads The Government of India’s Street Lighting National programme (SLNP) has illuminated 50,000 KM of Indian roads with installation of 30 lakh LED street lights across the country. With this milestone Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a government of India company under the administration of Ministry of Power, has become the world’s largest street light management company.

The installation of 30 lakh LED street lights has resulted in 39 crore kWh of annual energy savings, avoided capacity of over 104.19 MW to the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs). Further it has also helped in reduction of

3.29 lakh tonnes of CO2 annually.

Under SLNP, Rajasthan is leading the country with an installation of 7.85 lakh LED street lights followed by Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat with 6.03 lakhs and 5.4 lakhs respectively. Presently, EESL is retrofitting 15,000 conventional lights with LED street lights every day. Project is near completion in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and Gujarat. EESL is also implementing a special heritage lighting project in Kashi region of Uttar Pradesh where 4,000 lights are being installed. The programme has also recently commenced in the cities of Chandigarh and Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Further, the procurement price of the LED Street Lights has been reduced from Rs. 135/watt to Rs. 80/watt due to mass procurement of the lights. EESL makes the entire upfront investment in installation of the Street Lights and no additional budget allocation from the Municipalities is required. Municipalities pay EESL from the savings in energy and maintenance cost over a 7-year period, making the LED lights affordable and accessible. EESL also undertakes social audits in ULBs where the project is under implementation and post the completion of the project. Few of the social audit results give a clear indication that the overall satisfaction level and the perception of safety among the citizens is extremely high from the newly installed LED street lights.

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Cabinet approves MoU between India and Sweden on IPRs The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi today has given its approval to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Sweden on cooperation in the field of Intellectual Property (IPRs). The MoU establishes a wide ranging and flexible mechanism through which both countries can exchange best practices and work together on training programs and technical exchanges to raise awareness on IPRs and better protect intellectual property rights. The MoU will enable India to exchange experiences in the innovation and IP ecosystems that will substantially benefit entrepreneurs, investors and businesses on both sides. The exchange of best practices between the two countries will lead to improved protection and awareness about India’s range of Intellectual creations which are as diverse as its-people. It will be a landmark step forward in India’s journey towards becoming a major player in global Innovation and will further the objectives of National IPR Policy, 2016.

Union Home Minister launches the Digital Police Portal under CCTNS project The Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh has said the Ministry of Home Affairs will undertake steps to integrate the various organs of the Criminal Justice System such as the Police, Courts, Prisons, Prosecution, Forensic Laboratories, Finger Prints and Juvenile Homes with the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) database. Launching the Digital Police Portal under the CCTNS project recently, he said this Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) will be a useful resource for all stakeholders including the policy makers.

Mr Singh said the Digital Police Portal will enable citizens to register FIRs online and the portal will initially offer seven Public Delivery Services in 34 States & UTs, like Person and Address Verification e.g. of employees, tenants, nurses etc, permission for hosting Public Events, Lost & Found Articles and Vehicle theft etc. Besides, the portal will enable restricted access to law enforcement agencies on topics such as Antecedent Verification and make assessment of FIRs.

HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar launches Swasth Bachche, Swasth Bharat ‘Swasth Bachche, Swasth Bharat’ Programme, an initiative of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan to prepare a physical Health and Fitness Profile Card for more than 12 lakhs of Kendriya Vidyalaya students was launched in Kochi.

This programme will provide a comprehensive and inclusive report card for children covering all age groups and children of different abilities. Making students, teachers and parents aware about the importance of good health and fitness and encouraging 60 minutes of play each day is an objective of the programme.

Swasth Bachche, Swasth Bharat programme also intends to imbibe values of Olympics and Paralympics amongst students. Bring back the childhood amongst children and make physical activity and recreational games an integral part of learning process , Motivating potentially outstanding performers in various games and sports of excellence, using technology for data capture and analytics, and giving access to schools, parents and teachers are also the objectives of the programmes.

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August 2017 / Governance Today - 31

GOVERNANCE WATCH

NITI Aayog launches Mentor India Campaign NITI Aayog has launched the Mentor India Campaign, a strategic nation building initiative to engage leaders who can guide and mentor students at more than 900 Atal Tinkering Labs, established across the country as a part of the Atal Innovation Mission. CEO NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant unveiled the online nationwide initiative in the national capital.

Mentor India is aimed at maximizing the impact of Atal Tinkering Labs, possibly the biggest disruption in formal education globally.

The idea is to engage leaders who will nurture and guide students in the Atal Tinkering Labs. These labs are non-prescriptive by nature, and mentors are expected to be enablers rather than instructors.

NITI Aayog is looking for leaders who can spend anywhere between one to two hours every week in one or more such labs to enable students experience, learn and practice future skills such as design and computational thinking.

Atal Tinkering Labs are dedicated works spaces where students from Class 6th to Class 12th learn innovation skills and develop ideas that will go on to transform India. The labs are powered to acquaint students with state-of-the-art equipment such as 3D printers, robotics & electronics development tools, Internet of things & sensors etc.

India and China put up Joint Proposal in WTO on Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) India and China has jointly submitted a proposal to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) calling for the elimination - by developed countries - of the most trade-distorting form of farm subsidies, known in WTO parlance as Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS) or ‘Amber Box’ support as a prerequisite for consideration of other reforms in domestic support negotiations.

This is an important proposal by India and China in view of the ongoing negotiations for the upcoming 11th Ministerial Conference of the WTO to be held in Buenos Aires in December 2017. It counters the efforts by some countries to target the subsidies of the developing countries while letting the developed countries retain their huge farm subsidies.

The joint paper reveals that developed countries, including the US, the EU and Canada, have been consistently providing trade-distorting subsidies to their farmers at levels much higher than the ceiling applicable to developing countries. Developed countries have more than 90 percent of global AMS entitlements amounting to nearly USD 160 bn. Most of the developing countries, including India and China, do not have AMS entitlements.

Listing the most heavily and frequently subsidised products by the US, the EU and Canada since 1995, the paper calls for elimination of such subsidies. The numbers reveal that subsidies for many items provided by the developed world are over 50 percent and some even more that 100 percent of the value of production of the product concerned, while developing countries are forced to contain it within 10 percent of the value of production. In other words, while developed Members have access to huge amount of AMS beyond their de minimis (these are the minimal amounts of domestic support that are allowed even though they distort trade — up to 5 percent of the value of production for developed countries, 10 percent for developing.) in contrast most developing Members have access only to de minimis resulting in a major asymmetry in the rules on agricultural trade.

The paper illustrates the adverse effects of concentration of AMS on a few products, which no other proposal in the WTO addresses. Elimination of AMS, India and China believe, should be the starting point of reforms rather than seeking reduction of subsidies by developing countries, some of which like India provide a subsistence amount of about USD 260 per farmer per annum compared to over 100 times more in some developed countries.

32 - August 2017 / Governance Today

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Cabinet approves MoU between India and Nepal on Drug Demand Reduction The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Nepal on Drug Demand Reduction and Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances and precursor chemicals and related matters. The MoU lists out the areas of cooperation on drug matters between the two countries. It also indicates the mechanism of information exchange and the competent authorities in the two countries who are responsible for the implementation of the MoU and exchange of any information. Cooperation on drug matters is expected to curb the illicit traffic of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursor chemicals in the two countries.

Cabinet gives in-principle approval for Public Sector Banks to amalgamate through an Alternative Mechanism (AM) The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given in-principle approval for Public Sector Banks to amalgamate through an Alternative Mechanism (AM). The decision would facilitate consolidation among the Nationalised Banks to create strong and competitive banks.

The salient features of the approval Framework for Consolidation of Public Sector Banks are as follows: · The decision regarding creating strong and competitive banks would be solely based on commercial considerations. · The proposal must start from the Boards of Banks. · The proposals received from Banks for in-principle approval to formulate schemes of amalgamation shall be placed before the Alternative Mechanism (AM). · After inprinciple approval, the Banks will take steps in accordance with law and SEBI’s requirements. · The final scheme will be notified by Central Government in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India.

Ashwani Lohani appointed as New Chairman, Ministry of Railways Ashwani Lohani, IRSME has been appointed as Chairman, Railway Board (Ministry of Railways) and ex-officio Principal Secretary to Government of India. Prior to this assignment, Mr Lohani was serving as Chairman and Managing Director, Air India.

Mr Lohani has worked in various capacities in Ministry of Railways, Union Ministry of Tourism and in Government of Madhya Pradesh.

Within the railways he has worked on the South Central, Eastern and Northern Railways besides the Diesel Locomotive Works at Varanasi and the Integral Coach Factory, at Chennai.

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August 2017 / Governance Today - 33

GOVERNANCE WATCH

Cabinet approves MoU with Myanmar for the Conservation of Earthquake-Damaged Pagodas at Bagan The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister ,Narendra Modi has approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Myanmar for the conservation of earthquake-damaged pagodas at Bagan, Myanmar. The MoU will be signed during the visit of Mr Modi to Myanmar during September 6-7, 2017.

Implementation of the project will further strengthen India’s enduring ties in culture and religion with Myanmar. It will also generate immense goodwill for India among the people of Myanmar due to the religious significance as well as the touristic significance of the project. It will also contribute to India’s development partnership with Myanmar. Bagan is one of the premier tourist attractions of Myanmar.

Cabinet approves Memorandum of Understanding by the Election Commission of India with the Election Management Bodies of other countries/International Agencies The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has approved the proposal of the Election Commission of India to enter into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of electoral management and administration with the Election Management Bodies of other countries/International Agencies. These are as follows: i. The National Electoral Council of Ecuador ii. The Central Election Commission of Albania iii. The Election Commission of Bhutan iv. The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan v. The National Independent Electoral Commission of Guinea vi. The Union Election Commission of Myanmar and vii. The India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA).

These MoUs contain standard articles/clauses which broadly express promotion of cooperation in exchange of knowledge and experience in the field of organizational and technical development of electoral process; support in exchanging information, institutional strengthening and capacity building, training of personnel, holding regular consultations etc. These MoUs would promote bilateral cooperation, aimed at building technical assistance / capacity support for the said Election Management Bodies.

85 lakh milk producing animals identified and their data uploaded on INAPH data base.

Pashu Sanjivni component under National Mission on Bovine Productivity scheme was initiated by the Government in November 2016.

88 million milk producing animals out of 300 million cattle and buffaloes are being identified using polyurethane tags with 12 digit unique identification (UID) number. Data of the identified animals is being uploaded on Information Network on Animal Health and Productivity (INAPH) data base. As on date 85 lakh milk producing animals have been identified and their data has been uploaded on INAPH data base.

The Pashu Sanjivni is crucial for control and spread of animal diseases, scientific management of animals, enhanced production and productivity, improvement in quality of livestock & livestock products, increase in trade of livestock and livestock products by meeting out sanitary and phtyosanitory issues.

34 - August 2017 / Governance Today

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Swiss technology companies should take part in our initiatives like Make in India, start-up India, Swachh Bharat and skill India, says President The President of India, Ram Nath Kovind while welcoming Ms. Doris Leuthard, the President of the Swiss Confederation, at Rashtrapati Bhavan said that Switzerland and India are natural partners. Switzerland is one of the oldest democracies and India is the largest democracy. A Treaty of Friendship between India and Switzerland signed in New Delhi in August 1948 was one of the first

treaties to be signed by independent India.

The President said that Switzerland is an important trade and investment partner for India. India is a preferred destination for FDI as it is the world’s fastest growing large economy. He stated that India has made great progress on the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ and in creating a unified market through GST and other measures. Swiss companies are ideally positioned to take advantage. He invited Swiss technology companies to take part in initiatives like Make in India, Start-Up India, Swachh Bharat and Skill India.

Subsequently, in his banquet speech, President Kovind said that the visit of the Swiss President assumes special significance as this year marks a milestone in bilateral relations. India and Switzerland enter the 70th year of the Friendship and Establishment Treaty. Both India and Switzerland represent democratic and plural societies that believe in the principles of “respect for differences” and “unity in diversity”. Switzerland is India’s seventh largest trading partner and 11th largest foreign investor.

The President said that India and Switzerland can grow and diversify their trade, investment and technological exchanges. The two countries need to pursue even closer business partnerships in priority sectors such as precision and high technology manufacturing, infrastructure, skill development, renewable energy and clean-tech research.

There is scope for creating partnerships between R&D labs and institutions.

Rajiv Kumar takes over as the New Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Dr. Rajiv Kumar has taken charge as the new Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog today. A renowned economist, he replaces Arvind Panagariya as the head of the premier think tank of the country. He said that the priority would be to carry forward the spirit of Team India for a better future, keeping in mind the aspirations of millions across the country.

The new Vice Chairman said there would be more emphasis on improving Government capacity at the state level to ensure the values of co-operative and competitive federalism. He underlined the need to bring in out of the box thinking and ideas to bring about transformational changes in the country to fulfil the Prime Minister’s dreams of a Shreshtha Bharat.

Dr. Kumar said policy making should not be elitist, rather it should be rooted in ground realities. He added that participative governance involving various sections of society can ensure that development becomes a mass movement. He said that in the Indian context, cross cutting issues are very important be it agriculture, environment, water, finances, investment and so on. NITI Aayog is well placed to play the role of a platform that cuts across these issues. The thematic focus will be on generating employment, enhancing investment, improving ease of doing business, transforming agriculture, and reforming education and health.

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August 2017 / Governance Today - 35

GOVERNANCE WATCH

Union Cabinet approves new Metro Rail Policy; Focus on compact urban development, cost reduction and multi-modal integration The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today approved a new Metro Rail Policy that seeks to enable realization of growing metro rail aspirations of a large number of cities but in a responsible manner.

The policy opens a big window for private investments across a range of metro operations making PPP component mandatory for availing central assistance for new metro projects. Private investment and other innovative forms of financing of metro projects have been made compulsory to meet the huge resource demand for capital intensive high capacity metro projects.

Private participation either for complete provision of metro rail or for some unbundled components (like Automatic Fare Collection, Operation & Maintenance of services etc) will form an essential requirement for all metro ra il projects seeking central financial assistance” says the policy, to capitalize on private resources, expertise and entrepreneurship

Road accidents in India decrease by 4.1% during 2016, fatalities rise by 3.2% Road accidents in the country have decreased by around 4.1 percent during 2016, with the year seeing 4,80,652 road accidents as against 5,01,423 in 2015. However fatalities resulting from these accidents have risen by about 3.2 percent during the same period.

Nearly 1,50,785 persons were killed in 2016 as against 1,46,133 in 2015. Releasing the Ministry’s annual publication ‘Road Accidents in India-2016 the Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Nitin Gadkari said that while the accident and fatality figures still leave a lot to be desired in the matter of ensuring road safety, the trends are encouraging. Road Accidents in India, 2016 is a compilation of data on various facets of road accidents as furnished by Police Departments of all States/U.Ts for the calendar year 2016.

Mr Gadkari also informed that the positive trend of 2016 is further bolstered by the accident figures for the first half of 2017, where there has been a 3 % reduction in road accidents between January to July 2017, along with a 4.75 percent reduction in road accident fatalities. While road accidents have come down from 2,43,870 between January to July 2016 to 2,36,458 during the same period in 2017, fatalities have come down from 79,354 between January to July 2016 to 75,583 during the same period in 2017. Road accidents deaths have reduced in 25 states and Union Territories in the first half of 2017. Only states like Assam, Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh seen increase in road accident fatalities between 2-8 percent during this period.

During 2016, 13 States accounted for 86 per cent of the total road accidents in the country . These are Tamil Nadu, MP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Kerala, UP, AP, Rajasthan, Telangana, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Haryana. Similarly, 13 States accounted for 84 per cent of the total persons killed in road accidents during 2016. These are UP, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan, MP, AP, Gujarat, Telangana, West Bengal, Punjab, Haryana and Bihar.

36 - August 2017 / Governance Today

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UJALA scheme launched in Melaka, Malaysia Energy Efficiency Services Limited ( EESL) , under Ministry of Power, Government of India has recently launched UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Lighting for All) Scheme in the State of Melaka, Malaysia. The Scheme was launched by Chief Minister of Melaka Datuk Seri Utama Ir. Hj. Idris Bin Hj. Haron. In due course of time, the successful Indian model of UJALA scheme has become a soughtafter example for the different nations of the world and will now be implemented in Melaka to extend programme benefits to people of the region.

Under this scheme, each household in Melaka will get 10 high quality 9-watt LED bulbs at a cost of only RM 10, which is a special price and is almost half of what in begin offered in the market. The distribution of these LED bulb will take place from 28 numbers of Japerun in the region. These Japerun are a unique community welfare and engagement centers, which are situated across the Melakan State. Under the extensive and ever-expanding idea of UJALA, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) plans to distribute about 1 million 9W LED bulbs, which will replace 18W CFLs. The initiative will have the logistical assistance and facilitation support from Green Growth Asia, which is a not for profit organization. The price of each bulb will be way lesser than global average price of the LED bulbs, which still swings between 3-5 USD. Notably, each bulb that is being provided

by EESL under the UJALA scheme in Melaka comes with a 3-year free replacement warranty against any technical defects. These bulbs sent from India will be of leading brands and manufacturers like Osram, Philips along with other companies of repute.

Ravi Shankar Prasad launches the NationWide Hackathon #OpenGovDataHack Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched a nation-wide hackathon #OpenGovDataHack. As part of the Startup Eco-system Development program, NIC and IAMAI have collaborated to conduct Nation Wide Hackathon #OpenGovDataHack across seven states of India. It aims to Support & Showcase potentially great Ideas/Talent from Inner India by reaching out in their own State/City (7 Cities). It is to enable them making their ideas developed into Apps/Infographics primarily by use of Open Government Data around the themes ofDrinking Water& Sanitation, Transport, Education, Crime and Health to a stage, after which it can be evaluated by jury and be selected for Prizes and future support/funding.

“The government is committed to make best use of big data in establishing rule of precision governance. While doing so every care would be taken to ensure that strict privacy rights of individuals are protected. However, unauthorised use of data would be dealt with iron-hand to ensure that nothing comes in the way of making dataanalytics a national movement,” said Mr Prasad.

“The big data analytics should focus on poor & under privileged and facilitate inclusive growth. While aiming at taking lead in data analytics it must be ensured that technology is inclusive, affordable, transformative & developmental. #OpenGovDataHack being taken up in seven states would catalyse further start up movement. I would like assure you all that the Government is determined to hand-hold successful start-ups and make it a big success.” added the minister.

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August 2017 / Governance Today - 37

Article

ROAD SECTOR IN INDIA INVESTMENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR GOVERNMENT

38 - August 2017 / Governance Today

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I The development of financing mechanisms will push the market for roads and highways infrastructure development in the country.

The major restraint in development of roads and highways has been aggressive bidding, land acquisition issues, encroachments, environmental clearances, etc.

ndia has the second largest road network across the world at 4.7 million km. This road network transports more than 60 per cent of all goods in the country and 85 per cent of India’s total passenger traffic.

Road transportation has gradually increased over the years with the improvement in connectivity between cities, towns and villages in the country. The passenger traffic In India, sales of automobiles and movement of freight by roads is growing at a rapid rate. Cognizant of the need to create an adequate road network to cater to the increased traffic and movement of goods, Government of India has set earmarked 20 percent of the investment of USD 1 trillion reserved for infrastructure during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012–17) to develop the country’s roads.

The high dependency on road transport network has led to increase in focus of the government on expanding the road infrastructure network in the country. There is a huge potential in India to make investments in roads and highways infrastructure. The government of India has planned to increase the rate of road construction in near future which will require huge investments in the sector.

The requirement for road infrastructure development is from all quarters of the nation which includes development in rural and urban areas. The development of smart cities and enhancement of accessibility to rural areas in India will attract huge investments in building road network.

Roads and Highways: Drivers and Restraints The increasing focus on upgrading and building roads and highways in the country will provide a big thrust to the same. The development of roads and highways helps in

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reduction of traffic congestion and hassle-free movement of traffic. The Indian government has allowed 100 percent foreign disinvestment in road sector which is a big boost for development of road infrastructure in the country. The implementation of Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in road construction projects has provided huge impetus to the sector with increasing participation of private developers getting into agreement with government agencies. The development of financing mechanisms will push the market for roads and highways infrastructure development in the country. The major restraint in development of roads and highways has been aggressive bidding, land acquisition issues, encroachments, environmental clearances, etc. The challenges faced in execution of road projects have resulted in time and cost overruns which needs to be addressed.

Market size The transport infrastructure sector in India is expected to grow at 6.1 percent in real terms in 2017 and grow at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.9 percent through the year 2021, thereby becoming the fastest-expanding component of the country’s infrastructure sector.

The construction of highways reached 8,142 km during FY 201617, with an all-time high average pace of 22.3 km per day. In the first two months of FY2017-18, 1,627 km of highway was constructed at an average of 26.3 km per day.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), 133-km roads per day in 2016-17 were constructed as against a 2011-14 average of 73km per day.

The increasing traffic and growing population in India has posed urgent need to develop roads and highways infrastructure in the country. The ageing road infrastructure and

August 2017 / Governance Today - 39

growing traffic has led to increase in traffic congestion in India which requires increasing investments in upgrading existing infrastructure and building new ones. The government of India envisages world class roads and highways infrastructure to ensure speedy transit of freight goods in the country. The development of expressways is a major initiative to develop world class highway infrastructure in India.

Key Investments/Developments The Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways has stated that the Government aims to boost corporate investment in roads sector, along with introducing business-friendly strategies that will balance profitability with effective project execution.

Some of the key investments and developments in the Indian roads sector are as follows: The National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL) has been awarded a contract to build five all-weather access tunnels worth Rs 23,000 crore in Jammu and Kashmir by 2024.

Abertis Infraestructuras SA, a Spanish infrastructure firm, has agreed to buy two toll road assets

40 - August 2017 / Governance Today

in operation in South India from Macquarie Group for Rs 1,000 crore to scale up its presence in India.

Government Initiatives In the Union Budget 2017-18, the Government of India has allotted Rs 64,000 crore to NHAI for roads and highways and Rs 27,000 crore for PMGSY. Some of the recent developments are as follows: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, Government of India, has approved the development of 19 kms long fourlaning from Pandoh Bypass end to Takoli section of National Highway (NH) -21 in Himachal Pradesh, which is estimated to cost Rs 2,775.93 crore.

The Road Transport & Highways Ministry has invested around Rs 3.17 trillion in the past two and a half years for building world class highways infrastructure in the country.

State Road Network – Review of Progress and Constraints Faced State Highways (SHs) and Major District Roads (MDRs) constitute the secondary system of road transportation in the country. Their total length SHs stands at about 154,000 km and that of MDRs is

estimated at around 300,000 km.

State roads carry heavy to medium traffic. It is assessed that the secondary system carries about 40 percent of the total road traffic.

Their present condition and stage of development varies widely from state to state. The status of MDRs is particularly worrisome. One of the main reason for this is that the funds made available for these roads are inadequate. Against requirement of Rs.25,000 crore per annum, a total amount of only Rs. 8,000 crore per annum is being made available. Some of the major constraints faced by different states in the execution of the programmes for state roads during the 11thPlan are – (i) Lack of Policy and Planning, (ii) Control on Pre-construction Activities, (iii) Capacity Constraints, (iv) Lack of Finances, and (v) Need for further strengthening Consultancy and Contracting Industry. There is lack of data base in the road sector. This needs to be strengthened with support from MoRTH and IRC. Planning for State Highway Development Project There is need now to identify a CORE NETWORK of major arterial routes. It is important that Core road network should have a Corridor Concept.

Holistic planning in this corridor

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essentially be part of the “Core Network”. All SHs / MDRs having traffic beyond a certain threshold (say e.g. about 5,000 PCUs per day AADT at present) may also be included under ‘Core Network”. Surfacing and 2-laning of such roads under “Core Network” may be done on priority if already not done. Priority may be given for development of “Core Network”. Further, Priority may be given for roads under “Core Network” for their future upgradation as National Highways.

needs to be done where necessary, involving SH and MDR under this concept. It should be possible for traffic to move at an average speed of 60-70 km per hour, so that commercial vehicles being the carriers of economy can cover a distance of 500 to 600 km in one day. The “Core Network” of State Roads should, essentially, comprise of SHs and MDRs, which have high volumes of traffic or have such potential. Further, entire length of existing 4-lanes and stretches on which 4- laning of SHs and MDRs are being / to be undertaken should

Length of State Highways per sq km Geographical Area (sq km)

LENGTH OF STATE HIGHWAYS IN KMS

LENGTH OF STATE HIGHWAYS PER SQ.KM.

STATES

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

Andhra Pradesh #

275,045

8349

9212

10231

10412

10518

10,470

10,481

10,491

10650

0.0304

0.0335

0.0372

0.0379

0.0382

0.0381

0.0381

0.0381

0.0387

Arunachal Pradesh

83,743

0

0

0

0

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

Assam

78,438

2821

2781

2821

2821

3134

3,134

3,134

3,134

3134

0.0360

0.0355

0.0360

0.0360

0.0400

0.0400

0.0400

0.0400

0.0400

Bihar

94,163

2382

3767

3767

3767

3767

3,989

3,989

3,989

4857

0.0253

0.0400

0.0400

0.0400

0.0400

0.0424

0.0424

0.0424

0.0516

Chhattisgarh

135,191

3213

3170

3164

3342

3419

3,213

5,240

5,240

5240

0.0238

0.0234

0.0234

0.0247

0.0253

0.0238

0.0388

0.0388

0.0388

Goa

3,702

279

279

279

279

279

279

279

279

279

0.0754

0.0754

0.0754

0.0754

0.0754

0.0754

0.0754

0.0754

0.0754

Gujarat

196,024

19176

18863

18702

18625

18447

18,460

18,421

18,421

18480

0.0978

0.0962

0.0954

0.0950

0.0941

0.0942

0.0940

0.0940

0.0943

Haryana

44,212

2536

2537

2537

2494

2523

2,523

2,521

2,521

2521

0.0574

0.0574

0.0574

0.0564

0.0571

0.0571

0.0570

0.0570

0.0570

Himachal Pradesh

55,673

1518

2164

2164

1824

1824

1,626

1,626

1,626

1626

0.0273

0.0389

0.0389

0.0328

0.0328

0.0292

0.0292

0.0292

0.0292

Jammu & Kashmir

222,236

67

67

67

67

67

67

67

67

67

0.0003

0.0003

0.0003

0.0003

0.0003

0.0003

0.0003

0.0003

0.0003

Jharkhand

79,714

NR

1886

1886

1886

1886

1,886

1,886

1,886

1886

0.0000

0.0237

0.0237

0.0237

0.0237

0.0237

0.0237

0.0237

0.0237

Karnataka

191,791

9590

17240

17405

18749

20738

20,905

20,528

20,770

20774

0.0500

0.0899

0.0907

0.0978

0.1081

0.1090

0.1070

0.1083

0.1083

Kerala

38,863

3523

3784

3788

4737

4137

4,341

4,341

4,341

4341

0.0907

0.0974

0.0975

0.1219

0.1065

0.1117

0.1117

0.1117

0.1117

Madhya Pradesh

308,245

8099

8098

8729

8729

8729

10,115

10,249

10,249

10501

0.0263

0.0263

0.0283

0.0283

0.0283

0.0328

0.0332

0.0332

0.0341

Maharashtra

307,713

33237

33406

33571

33675

33675

32,629

32,823

32,823

32596

0.1080

0.1086

0.1091

0.1094

0.1094

0.1060

0.1067

0.1067

0.1059

Manipur

22,327

1118

1118

1118

1118

1137

1137

1137

1137

1137

0.0501

0.0501

0.0501

0.0501

0.0509

0.0509

0.0509

0.0509

0.0509

Meghalaya

22,429

831

1134

1134

1134

1134

1134

1134

1134

856

0.0371

0.0506

0.0506

0.0506

0.0506

0.0506

0.0506

0.0506

0.0382

Mizoram

21,081

126

140

161

259

259

259

700

700

700

0.0060

0.0066

0.0076

0.0123

0.0123

0.0123

0.0332

0.0332

0.0332

Nagaland

16,579

398

404

404

404

404

541

683

763

1001

0.0240

0.0244

0.0244

0.0244

0.0244

0.0326

0.0412

0.0460

0.0604

Odisha

155,707

4957

4042

3908

3835

3806

3,798

3,707

3,576

3654

0.0318

0.0260

0.0251

0.0246

0.0244

0.0244

0.0238

0.0230

0.0235

Punjab

50,362

1515

1455

1431

1392

1393

1,477

1,477

1,477

1477

0.0301

0.0289

0.0284

0.0276

0.0277

0.0293

0.0293

0.0293

0.0293

Rajasthan

342,239

8412

9777

11263

11234

11240

11,218

11,238

11,300

10456

0.0246

0.0286

0.0329

0.0328

0.0328

0.0328

0.0328

0.0330

0.0306

Sikkim

7,096

186

186

184

179

179

179

179

179

179

0.0262

0.0262

0.0259

0.0252

0.0252

0.0252

0.0252

0.0252

0.0252

Tamil Nadu

130,058

7226

7207

6833

9256

9264

9,384

9,384

10,561

10764

0.0556

0.0554

0.0525

0.0712

0.0712

0.0722

0.0722

0.0812

0.0828

Tripura

10,486

689

689

689

689

689

689

689

689

689

0.0657

0.0657

0.0657

0.0657

0.0657

0.0657

0.0657

0.0657

0.0657

Uttarakhand

53,483

418

437

1543

1553

1576

1,576

1576

3788

7876

0.0078

0.0082

0.0289

0.0290

0.0295

0.0295

0.0295

0.0708

0.1473

Uttar Pradesh

240,928

9097

8888

8551

8449

8391

8,739

7957

7941

3788

0.0378

0.0369

0.0355

0.0351

0.0348

0.0363

0.0330

0.0330

0.0157

West Bengal

88,752

3337

1462

1517

1682

1682

4,505

4505

4505

4505

0.0376

0.0165

0.0171

0.0190

0.0190

0.0508

0.0508

0.0508

0.0508

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

8249

NR

146

146

146

146

146

146

229

246

0.0000

0.0177

0.0177

0.0177

0.0177

0.0177

0.0177

0.0278

0.0298

Chandigarh

114

0

0

0

0

0

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

D & N Haveli

491

42

42

42

42

42

42

42

42

42

Daman & Diu

112

0

0

0

0

0

Delhi

1483

0

0

0

0

0

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

Lakshadweep

32

0

0

0

0

0

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

0.0000

Puducherry

479

35

35

36

37

37

38

38

40

0.0731

0.0731

0.0752

0.0772

0.0772

0.0793

0.0793

0.0835

0.0793

INDIA

3,287,240

133177

144416

148071

152816

154522

158,499

160,177

163,898

0.0405

0.0439

0.0450

0.0465

0.0470

0.0482

0.0487

0.0499

0.0000

UNION TERRITORIES

38

BASIC ROAD STATISTICS OF INDIA 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 & 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10 & 2010-11, 2011-12, MoRTH No State Highway declared in Arunachal Pradesh. NR: Not reported #: Data relates to undivided Andhra Pradesh; estimates for newly created State of Telangana are not available separately in the source documents

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August 2017 / Governance Today - 41

Urban Linkages to National Expressways Network It is important to provide urban linkages to National Expressways Network or to any inter-city Expressways developed by the State Governments. These should also desirably be access controlled facilities wherever required and feasible. For this purpose, the Road Authorities responsible for Urban Road Development shall have to be associated. An integrated scheme may be parallely evolved and implemented to address the specific requirements to provide Urban Connectivity under a separate initiative involving Planning Commission, concerned State Governments and the concerned Road Authorities besides M/o Urban Development and M/o Road Transport & Highways with clear identification of the roles and responsibilities of each organization to obviate implementation difficulties, etc.

The State Governments shall have to be primarily responsible for development of these Urban Linkages.

Feasibility shall have to be explored to develop these Urban Linkages

42 - August 2017 / Governance Today

on PPP mode. For the sake of estimation, it is presumed that 50 percent of total length would be implemented through budgetary allocation. The balance 50 percent length would be implemented through private sector participation on PPP mode. For the projects to be taken up on PPP mode, about 30 percent of project cost is assumed to be met from budgetary allocations towards payment of Viability Gap Funding (VGF), etc. and balance 70 percent is to be mobilized by private sector. Like NHDP, the States should formulate State Road Development Programme/Project (SRDP) to be developed in defined phases. The total network of SHs and MDRs should be identified by each State as a long-term vision (say by 2031). The policy should be to cover the entire “Core Network” under this programme as far as possible. In relation to protection of environment the Concept of Green Highways is another initiative that can be appropriately planned and designed. States may take up some Pilot projects and

implement the same.

Rural Roads in India Availability of roads plays a pivotal role in the economy of any society.

It is accepted that benefits derived from roads are transmitted throughout the economy and its fruits are noticed in every sector of development. It has rightly been expressed by A.B. LEWIS tl1at “economic development depends mainly on education and transportation” Raul Manglapus made similar comments in Ills speech before the members of the Manila Lions Club. It is clear that many economists all over the world share the same idea. The vast effects of roads on the economy and on the well being of any Society are evident. There is no doubt that almost everything that one buys is moved once or several times by land transportation. Thus roads are the major channels of transportation in any country farmers, to a very large extent, depend on roads for transporting their products to market or other distribution centres.

Roads have equally important social values. Roads are often called the “highways of ideas.”

In a developing country like India

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Pic Courtesy: Dr. Samra t Mukhopadhyay A ssociate Professor: dept.of textile technology, IIT Delhi

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IMPACT Prevention from Trafficking 13,500 Education 1, 15,000 Children Home55,000 CHILDLINE 109828,400 Railway Children12,700 Health & Hygiene 1,75,000 Life Skills & Vocational Training Program- 63,000

the rural roads may be defined as those one with low traffic volume, the type being dominantly slowmoving animal drawn carts most of the time. Government of India has accepted in principle that all Human settlements are required to be provided with at least some kind of alI-weather access roads as a basic infrastructural necessity..

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) The objective of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, is to connect 1, 83,599 habitations (including habitations of 100 and above in LWE Blocks as identified by MHA), out of which, 1, 53, 431 habitations have been sanctioned by the Ministry and 1, 19,156 habitations have been connected by the States (up to September 2016). The target of completion has been pre-poned from March, 2022 to March, 2019.

PMGSY-II launched in May, 2013 aims to consolidate the existing Rural Road Network to improve its over-all efficiency as a provider of transportation services for people, goods and services based on their economic potential and their role in facilitating the growth of rural market centres and rural hubs.

Under PMGSY-II, only upgradation would be taken up. Till September, 2016, eight states namely Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh have been sanctioned works of 13,525 km road length under PMGSY II. Of all the government’s sponsored flagship schemes to promote holistic rural development in terms of providing basic services to country’s hinterlands, the PMGSY has impacted most by way of improving the quality of life in rural areas. This rural road construction programme remains one of the well-run and successful Central government schemes, benefitting poor rural

44 - August 2017 / Governance Today

inhabitation especially on a per capita poverty and welfare basis, says a report. The report attributes the success of the scheme to its unique format, design, evaluation, and monitoring system in- build into it. The scheme continues to be frequently inspected for its quality work and maintenance carried out regularly from time to time through an effective institutional mechanism.

Technology-driven best international practices like GIS and space imaging techniques are reported to have been deployed to oversee and speed-up the construction work.

The roads built under PMGSY are required to meet the technical specifications and geometric design standard as per the Rural Road Manual of Indian Road Congress.

All rural roads are covered by a five-year maintenance contract and work awarded as per Standard Bidding Document (SBD). All inspection reports are to be mandatorily updated with at least 10 on the job digital photographs.

Reputed technical institutes like IITs are designated as independent evaluators for this purpose. 100 percent of construction cost is borne

by GOI. At the end of five years, roads under this scheme are placed under Zonal Maintenance Contract for another five years and costs are borne by the states under State Rural Road Development Agency (SRRDA) through a separate dedicated Maintenance Fund Account. Thus, scheme’s distinctive management system and provision of a composite construction contract have resulted in better quality of rural roads across the country.

km of roads under different programmes such as National Highways Development Project (NHDP), Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in North East (SARDP-NE) and Left Wing Extremism (LWE). The government has identified development of 2,000 km of coastal roads to improve the connectivity between ports and remote villages.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to build 50,000 km of roads worth USD 250 billion by 2022 as part of a long-term goal of doubling the length of the national highway network to 200,000 km.

At present, the district roads which include the urban and rural road network have maximum length which is expected to remain the same in near future. The highways network in India which includes the national highways and state highways constitute 1.7 percent of total roads in India and they carry 40 percent of total traffic.

In order to meet huge traffic, the highways development is of paramount importance in India.

The expressways network in the country is in the nascent phase and it is going to witness huge growth in near future.

The Road Ahead The government, through a series of initiatives, is working on policies to attract significant investor interest. The Indian government plans to develop a total of 66,117

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Interview

IT’S TIME TO CREATE A PROPER & SAFE TRAFFIC ENVIRONMENT IN THE COUNTRY

R

oad accidents are considered to be a serious public health problem and this problem as ever has been more serious in India with around 5 lakh road accidents reported every year. However ensuring road safety is a priority area of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways and India is too a signatory to Brasilia Declaration that committed it to reduce the number of road accidents and fatalities by 50 per cent by 2020. With increasingly motorization/urbanization/migration has faced India severe road congestion in most areas and CAGR of motor vehicles over 10 percent, growth in road network only 4 percent causing congestion that led to impacting road safety. Road safety entails holistic issue involving roads, motor vehicles and human beings. It needs coordination between different stakeholders and in a federal set up like in India much depends on efforts of States to mobilise data on road accidents. Kriti Nath Jha Governance Today had a conversation with Dr Rohit Baluja about his drive to make traffic work in an orderly manner on cities’ roads with firm but users-friendly norms and legislations.

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Dr Rohit Baluja, President, IRTE

Q &A Q: How do you view the code of practice for design of urban roads to suit the changing urban context and particularly in the era of digital transportation?

A: Transportation still in the next two decades will be on the road.

Transportation itself in any way can’t get digital as digital is a means for

August 2017 / Governance Today - 45

transportation. The basis of the transport remains the same, but change based upon types of vehicles, types of road has to have with the code of practice.

Q: In a recent survey conducted by the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) that titled “Resolving the Crisis of Traffic Management” has revealed startling facts relating to road infrastructure including traffic lights, signs and marking in Delhi.

So, you think it should be a wakeup call for the government and concerned agencies related to road engineering and planning to rise to the occasion?

A: First and foremost road construction is done and for creating a proper traffic environment traffic engineering works to occur that match the need of the road. Geometrics, road safety signage, marking, signals and pedestrian movements all have to have a standard that give powers to road authorities to enforce traffic regulations for the road users with warning signs, information and regulation of traffic as per IRC and UN convention norms. As we found in our study recently that 70 percent of signals in Delhi were not working. The road safety signs based upon standard legislation were lacking and even many of them were faulty signage.

Q: How the proposed Motor vehicle amendment bill 2016 is going to rectify the deficiencies of traffic control devices and change the overall traffic management scenario, especially all across the mega cities that report highest number of deaths in road accidents?

A: The proposed Motor vehicle legislation will be putting heavy penalty on violations. If the violations are willful then the violators will have to pay more, but in case of the deficiencies of the road environment then the violations are caused by faulty marking and signage by

46 - August 2017 / Governance Today

the concerned agencies. So, the responsibilities to create sustainable road environment totally lies with the road authorities and traffic control devices in place to be prime goal to prevent traffic violations.

Q: India is signatory to UN decade of Action for reducing road accident deaths by 50 % by the year 2020.

But given the prevailing situation like rash and negligent driving, over-speeding and utter disregard for traffic rules on the roads in our country, isn’t it an uphill task to meet?

A: The initiatives in this direction were taken in 2010 with over 100 countries signatory to the UN decade of Action.

But it’s rather a political commitment and political will could move it into right direction. Above all, there should be realistic and scientific approach to deal with prevailing situation regarding traffic movement taking on board all the stakeholders to ensure road safety and for a conducive and secure traffic environment.

or hospitals, for example - where the limit could be much lower. On highways, on the other hand, 120kmph seems sensible.

Q: Do you think that the Interceptor, which was developed

by IRTE as a comprehensive enforcement and education system, has been proved to a deterrent for the speedsters?

A: Interceptor is a comprehensive system that records traffic violations and also records the deficiencies of the road environment. The road authorities to repair potholes and rectify faulty signals and road designs on time. Vehicles that weave in and out of traffic are a bigger hazard than fast-moving-but-disciplined ones. Also, what speed is ‘dangerous’ depends on many factors, including the width of the road, whether it is straight or curved, whether there are intersecting roads and so on. What we need, therefore, are reasonable speed limits combined with strict enforcement of all traffic rules. A limit of 80kmph on clear wide stretches even within cities is not unreasonable, while there might be other areas - in front of schools

Q: You have introduced a module and methodology, to teach Road Safety Education through the existing curriculum subjects. How it has gone so far to make the student aware of the hazards of the road as well as to develop an attitude of defensive road usage amongst them?

A: As seniors have failed to make road traffic safe and secure, they now want to children do this task. The CBSE curriculum prepared with the help of IRTE will educate the teachers with systems and supports through an interactive training system, and impart the thirteen objectives through already existing curriculum subjects including Geography, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Language, Art and Craft, etc. Interestingly, existing curriculum subjects, somewhere or the other, support all aspects concerning road usage and safety. So, it’s basically an interdisciplinary subject.

Q: How do you assess the initiative of IRTE as setting up the first Collision Investigation & Research Cell (CIRC) at Delhi to scientifically investigate the causes and consequences of road accidents/ collisions so as to work out remedial measures and improved road safety?

A: At present, investigations into road accidents are not done in a scientifically way as collecting or collating factual data and further analysing them further for the exact and precise cause of the accidents and their consequences. And based upon them remedial measures could be taken. IRTE has developed 19 courses for the training of traffic police personnel to make them enable to do the investigation on scientific and analytical pattern.

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