India?s National Highway Development Project (NHDP) has the ?ambitious? goal of constructing 1,000 km of expressways. That?s in sad contrast to the fact that the US already had more than 1,210 km of toll roads that met express highway standards back in 1950. It?s got the largest number of expressways in the world today. We could put this down to a more than a half-century?s headstart, but for the China factor. Until near the end of the 1980s, China didn?t have an inch of expressway. In 1990, the Shenyang-Dalian link became operational. Rapid construction in the intervening years has put the country in the world?s second spot, boasting 60,300 km of expressways by 2008-end. China?s Transport Planning & Research Institute director has said that to facilitate the transportation of the same amount of goods and people, expressways use 40% less land than ordinary roads, simultaneously cutting vehicle emissions and traffic accidents by a third. With those kinds of returns on the horizon, it?s clearly worth India?s while to get on the expressway bandwagon even at this delayed stage. Now, India?s new Union road transport & highways minister proposes to put a concentrated focus on expressway construction by setting up an expressways authority separate from the National Highways Authority of India. We welcome this attentiveness, but raise some concerns.
Let?s first address issues raised by the existing expressways. The Mumbai-Pune link is definitely worth celebrating, but as it passes through crowded villages, traffic reportedly slows to walking speed sometimes. Ditto for the Delhi-Gurgaon link, which, in addition, has seen more than 100 accidental deaths since it started collecting tolls in January 2008 without anybody taking responsibility for them. Now, to cope with a manifold increase in traffic volumes, there is talk of splitting up the existing 32 toll plazas to add 16 more lanes. We don?t question that this is necessary, but surely it?s a symptom of really bad modelling. As we go ahead with future projects, India can ill-afford more of the same. Combined with regular policy changes, this really raises the risk profile of infrastructure projects, which, in turn, makes it harder to attract investors (Kamal Nath has also said that budgetary support will not be sufficient to support projects). Second, any new authority will necessarily face a clash of jurisdictions and interests. Third, expressways will call for new alignments, going beyond expanding existing roads. This will involve a whole new array of challenges?land acquisition, rehabilitation, refashioning existing utility grids like power lines, environmental clearances, etc. Not to mention new problems with allies. The minister has a reputation for efficiency. He has been talking to investors, researchers, contractors and policymakers. India needs better highways and expressways. Let?s hope he can deliver them.
