The announcement in the Union budget to earmark a portion of the funds collected by way of cess on diesel for road development is welcome. Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's announcement that the government is planning to develop two six-lane super national highways in the north-south and east-west directions comprising of total length of 7,000 km has been greeted with intense scepticism. It is a fact, however, that the country needs well-built and operated infrastructure in the form of high speed super national highways.Infrastructure has always been the Achilles heel of the country. The problem, and the reason for scepticism has been allocation of funds for the vital road sector. From a modest 6.7 per cent in the First Plan, the allocation for roads has dropped to three per cent in the Eighth Plan. In the case of national highways from 1.4 per cent in the First Plan the figure has declined to a miserable 0.6 per cent in the Eighth Plan.
A 20-year prospective plan (1981-2001) prepared by a group ofstate chief engineers under the auspicious of the Indian Road Congress (IRC) has worked out a need for 66,000 km of national highway and 145000 km of state highway networks by 2001. Similarly an Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded study has established a need for 10,000 km of super national express way network in India by 2015. The existing grid also needs upgradation by way of widening, strengthening and provision of user-friendly improvements. According to a study conducted by an expert group, resource requirements for national, state and super national highways would be Rs 32,000 crore from 1996-97 to 2000-01 and an additional Rs 63,000 crore between 2001 and 2005-2006.
During my 35 years of working in the oil sector, I have had the unique privilege and opportunity to have extensively travelled on all the national Highways and almost all the state highways several times. I therefore felt that I will delve into my years of experience as a road-user, apart from having operated a fleet of tankers (owned andcontracted) for the oil company as well as oil industry, in order to see what contribution I can make to start a debate and open up avenues which need to be addressed so that a proper level of planning and conceptualisation goes into the design and construction of the super national highways.
A railways system is surely the cheapest mode of mass transportation of essential goods, people and of course arms and ammunition during war time.
Several questions have come to my mind. Some of these are placed below:
Railways vs road
The least cost option for the country should be the mass transportation of goods by railways. The question is: Have the railways totally given up any hope of participation in carrying additional freight? What is the experience in developed countries, including China and the Asian Tiger countries, on rail vs road tonnage? How much privatisation of railways can take place, if Indian Railways cannot generate funds for expansion? Will it be possible toutilise the space above the railway tracks for allowing the private sector to lay over its tracks purely for carrying freight on a point to point basis? Can the country take the lead in such an imaginative and bold step?Expansion vs new highways
Since super national highways are of utmost importance to the entire country, it will be desirable to call for a National Development Council meeting and seek the views and participation of all states of the Union of India. Participation by the state PWDs is vital for the success of the plan, since they are fully familiar with the local problems and can make significant contribution on the alignment of the roads. The alignment of the roads should also not compete with the states own individual plans, for various industrial and infrastructure development.Growth in industrial sector
Building of national highways would definitely give a fillip to industries such as steel, cement, metal forming, sand collection, oil refineries (bitumen)and transport sector apart from tourism and hotels.
Employment opportunities
There will be a substantial boost to employment opportunities in areas such as road-building, toll-collection, fuel stations, motels, weighbridges, transhipment points, repair centres, maintenance work and road, traffic aid posts and transportation sector.
Carrying capacity
It is a sad commentary on the road transport industry and the planners that even at the end of the 20th century, the average carrying capacity of the trucks in the country is only nine tonnes. As against this, developed countries and some underdeveloped nations including Pakistan, have set up super national highways capable of carrying 40/50 tonnes in huge container trucks. We have neither the capacity of the roads nor the trucks with the requisite engine power for such huge per truck carrying capacity.
Even the railways have increased their per wagon load carrying capacity to 40/50 tonnes by utilising high power and banking engines.The low per truck carrying capacity and the high shift of goods movement from railways to road has resulted in a most inefficient method of utilising the vital hydrocarbon fuel - high speed diesel - thereby resulting in a national loss as well as high cost of transportation of goods.
It would therefore be necessary that super national highways are able to carry up to 50-60 tonnes or even more by proper design of the road surface to withstand heavy loads at high speeds. The engine builders such as Telco/Ashok Leyland should gear up themselves for manufacture of high capacity horsepower engines and chassis to achieve maximum fuel economy. In this connection we have a lesson to learn from France which has developed its own turbine engines using CNG as a fuel for powering huge capacity trucks. By using higher capacity loads in road transportation, there will be a tremendous saving in fuel consumption per Kg of load carried out and thus, a substantial reduction in transportation costs of essentialgoods.
Essential requirements of super national highway
Some of the essential highway requirement which need to be build into the design of the super national highways are as follows:
Fuel stations: At every 50 km distance on both sides of the highways alternately, there should be fuel stations which can cater to fuels such as petrol, diesel, CNG, etc. Close to these stations there should be motels and restaurants including rest rooms for the amenities of the road users.
No crossing: There should be no crossing of the highways by any vehicle at any point. Entering and exiting the highway will be through smooth service roads in flow with the traffic and through flyovers for crossing the highways.
Transhipment points: Transhipment points with weigh bridges should be established near towns/cities where the large capacity trucks can be off loaded into nine tonnes trucks/LCVs for onward movement to town/villages and the interior. Adjacent to such transhipmentcentres, there should be repair centres opened by dealers of major truck manufacturers for prompt attention to the highway users.
The national highways will bypass all towns and villages in order that the trucks can move freely at optimum speed. There will be no U-turns on the highways and flyovers can be built at suitable distance for movement into the interior and turn-around of trucks. Highways should be fenced off suitably to prevent animals etc., from straying on to the roads resulting in accidents and slowing down of speed of vehicles. Depending upon the road distance built by each private party, on build operate transfer basis (it should be for a minimum distance of 25 to 50 km) toll stations should be provided with high speed ticketing. No octroi, state sales tax, forest or any other check post should be set up on any national highways. These posts will be set up on the roads leading from the highway to the towns. Bypasses/flyovers should be identified at an advancedistance of three km through glow signs/painted signs on the sides of the roads. There should be an adequately wide road divider of cement/concrete construction which should not be allowed to have any vegetation which will prevent visibility on the road.Financing
The India Infrastructure Report dated June 1996 submitted by director general NCAER has come up with a number of suggestions on the financing of the super national highways through private sector and public investment. Some thoughts on these are placed below:
Build operate transfer (BOT) through private sector investment including foreign direct investment (FDI). 100 per cent foreign investment to be allowed in the road sector on BOT basis. Joint venture companies of major construction companies in the world through a consortium approach should be allowed. ADB/World Bank loans on easy terms should be sought by the country. Tax free bonds should be allowed even for private sector investmentsuitably underwritten by financial institutions and the Government of India similar to relief bonds. Loans from financial institutions to the private sector developers with opening of escrow accounts on the toll station collection to repay loans.Incentives for investment: Apart from the tax free bonds, there should be several other incentives provided to the investors. Some of these can be:
a) Full tax holiday for a 10 or 15 years period until such time that the investment is recouped through toll collections.
b) Road fronts on both sides to be allowed to be exploited commercially provided the land is not in agriculture use or forest or defense land.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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