IRB is really going forward with some projects.
Here is the next one.
IRB Infra emerge as preferred bidder


IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd has informed BSE that the Company has emerged as a preferred bidder for the project of Four Laning of Goa/Karnataka Border to Kundapur section of NH-17 from Km 93.700 to Km 283.300 in the State of Karnataka under NHDP phase IV on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (Toll) Basis (the "Project").Key highlights of the project are as under :- Project is on DBFOT pattern.- The estimated Project Cost of the Company is approximately Rs. 2400 crores.- Concession period is 28 years.- Construction period is 910 Days.- IRB has sought Rs. 536.22 Crore as Viability Gap Funding from NHAI.Source : BSE




http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/announcements/irb-infra-emerge-as-preferred-bidder-_710597.html

27 wedding guests killed in Indian highway crash
http://news.yahoo.com/27-wedding-guests ... 15849.html


This has gone on for far too long and we need to come up with a plan to educate people for proper driving.
If it is not a wrong side driver then it is a drunk driver or it is a son of a politician or a cop or a driver who wants to prove something for his girlfriend. Why do so many people have to die and why do we let it go on for these many years?

How many of us are going to continue to brag about how the roads are improving and how many beautiful bridges are we building and how many four laned or six laned highways are we building but the bottom line is that we need to educate ourselves and start from us to teach others about following traffic rules for safety or ourselves and others to stop this bloodshed on highways.

Stop at a red light regardless of a day or night, regardless of how heavy or light the traffic is.
Never drive on the wrong side of the road to save barely thirty seconds from a trip.
Never drive a traffic police officer for not having a driver's license or registration on hand.
Drive in a proper lane where there are proper lane markings. If lane markings are faded then think of others who are driving on the road and drive properly.

We the people could change ourselves. We can not continue to blame others and the government for the mess.

Please let us stop this uglyness.
Jai Hind.

We should definitely try to have some awareness movement . last year 140,000 people died in India in road accidents :(

Tell that to Mr. Aamir Khan.

The problems are for us to solve . Till we say "chalta hei" , tedhi chaal chalte hi rahegi.

Be the [positive] change you want to be, and the rest will follow.

But we Indians are too smart . We will say "mera positive ye hei ki mei overspeed karoonga.. aur ghar ko jaldi pauchoonga"

^^Change must come from within.

^^Change must come from within.

+1 Agreed

I think government has a huge responsibility in this regard. They have to enforce traffic rules, standardize rules, increase awareness and education.

In this the change had to come from higher up.

I think government has a huge responsibility in this regard. They have to enforce traffic rules, standardize rules, increase awareness and education.

In this the change had to come from higher up.
And ban Shahrukh Khan's Santro Xing ad. :)

I think government has a huge responsibility in this regard. They have to enforce traffic rules, standardize rules, increase awareness and education.

In this the change had to come from higher up.

I agree man, but everyone should be in the spirit, the government as well as the people. Law enforcement is a very big issue in India. In Singapore, for eating bubble gum, you can be fined 1,000SGD, thats, 43,000 Indan rupees! The police here have round bellies and probably can't even run. Most cannot even handle a small gun. :ohno:

Law enforcement is one of the biggest problems in India. Till we solve that problem it is impossible to implement any rule ... Police reforms are something no government wants to touch ...

Law enforcement is one of the biggest problems in India. Till we solve that problem it is impossible to implement any rule ... Police reforms are something no government wants to touch ...



Jaadu, Police reforms are definitely needed but I am sure you would agree that we the people need to reform ourselves first.
During my frequent visits to India, I observe educated individuals like you and me throwing trash on the road. It can be the gutkha packets or candy wrapper or anything else for that matter.
These are the same individuals driving on the wrong side of the road, bribing police and not stopping on red lights.
We the people on this site (who seem really interesting and people who care for our glorious country) must start making efforts to do the right thing and make others think to do the right thing. I do not advocate teaching people but have them do the thing by just starting it do it ourselves.
Let us hope for the best and I know that very soon we'll teach the world like what we are doing with Yoga and organic food.
Jai Hind.

Bad news - for the first time ever, two highway projects are being cancelled because the contractors could not achieve financial closure.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/infirst-highway-projects-nixed-as-they-falterfinancial-closure/476219/

Both these show up on my spreadsheet as "waiting for implementation" - one is NHDP IV and one is V. Now they would have to be rebid from scratch (or awarded to 2nd highest bidder). I wonder if these are first of many such cases about to show up!


In a first, highway projects nixed as they falter on financial closure
Mihir Mishra / New Delhi Jun 04, 2012, 00:24 IST

Two projects awarded by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in May and July last year have been terminated after failure to achieve financial closure. This is the first time that highway projects awarded by the NHAI have failed to achieve financial closure. It would impact the government’s target to build roads at 20 km a day from the next financial year.

A senior NHAI official told Business Standard the authority had awarded two projects worth about Rs 2,450 crore to DSC Ltd and Gannon-Dunkerley Co Ltd last year. “This is for the first time that our projects have not been able to achieve financial closure even after an extension of 120 days, after the 180-day period elapsed. This failure raises the concern whether banks are finding our projects, a lot of them awarded at a premium, as unviable,” he said.

A company gets 180 days to financially close a project. If it is unable to do so, it gets a grace period of 120 days, with a penalty. If the company is still unable to complete it, the project award is cancelled. It is either rebid or awarded to the second lowest bidder.
DSC Ltd, in its reply, said the delay was because of certain points of disagreement between the NHAI and the West Bengal government. “It appears there are some points of disagreement between the West Bengal government and the NHAI regarding the location of the toll plazas and date of commencement of collecting toll,” it said in an email response.

Calls to Gannon-Dunkerley’s managing director’s office in New Delhi did not elicit a response.

A number of projects awarded last year had seen aggressive bidding. Of the 51 projects, covering 6,700 km, awarded by the NHAI last fiscal, 31 projects were at a premium.

Quoting at a premium amounts to committing an annual payment to the government over a period of time. Companies bid a premium if they are confident the toll revenue accruing to them would more than offset their costs.

“Failure by the two concessionaires in achieving financial closure has raised a question mark over the implementation of projects in the days ahead. We do not know how many more may falter because we saw a lot of aggressive bidding last year,” the official said.

He explained the traffic projections done by the NHAI were based on five per cent annual growth in traffic but companies must have assumed much more.

“Even if the economy grows by more than five per cent, traffic growth would be in the range of 6.5-7 per cent -- much above our projections. But, the companies must have taken into account higher traffic growth projections of 7.5-9 per cent, which seem unachievable due to slower growth in the economy,” the official said. Bankers have always raised concern over aggressive bids received by the NHAI. “Banks will not have problems in financing one or two projects fetched at a premium but too many projects ring alarm bells. These failures in financial closure are just the tip of the iceberg,” said a Mumbai-based analyst, who did not wish to be named.

Feasibility of the contracts awarded :

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/06/05/high-road-to-a-mess/

Feasibility of the contracts awarded :

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/06/05/high-road-to-a-mess/

Totally negative :ohno: . I dont know if this is catering to their audience.

What we want is a good 4 lane National Highways for District Headquarters with 2 lane State Highway connectivity interlinked with taluks.

I am sure many of our National Highways have better traffic density than US and these construction firms would not have bid on those roads if the traffic density is less.

Better and safer roads(2 lanes are not even 10% safe compared to 4 lane) will entertain more people travelling .

Totally negative :ohno: . I dont know if this is catering to their audience.

What we want is a good 4 lane National Highways for District Headquarters with 2 lane State Highway connectivity interlinked with taluks.

I am sure many of our National Highways have better traffic density than US and these construction firms would not have bid on those roads if the traffic density is less.

Better and safer roads(2 lanes are not even 10% safe compared to 4 lane) will entertain more people travelling .
the problem is more to do with financing...traffic numbers i think are ok(unless they wanted to do a scam :-) )

L&T is best bidder for Rs 4,800-cr road projects (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article3496937.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home)



L&T said it has emerged as the successful bidder to develop two contiguous road projects of 484 km at a cost of Rs 4,800 crore.

L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd, which bagged the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) contract, said it will be executed through special purpose vehicles. The concession period is 20 years and includes 30 months for construction.

The two road sections are part of NH 6, which connects Surat to Kolkata, and a prominent East–West connector. The NH 6 passes through states such as Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The stretches extend from Amravati to Jalgaon (275 km- Project 1) and Jalgaon to Maharashtra, near Surat (209 km- Project 2).

L&T said the projects are the longest stretches to be offered in Maharashtra on BOT (build–operate-transfer) basis.

Currently, the road has two lanes. It will be widened to four with bypasses, flyovers, overbridges across all railway level crossings, besides underpasses, bridges and toll plazas.

L&T said the projects will be built by the construction arm of L&T as an engineering, procurement and construction contract.

The project is expected to facilitate seamless, safe and faster commute between cities such as Surat, Dhule and Nagpurand and also pave the way for the development of the Vidharbha region.

only one sector of economy which is still bursting with orders, thank god for this otherwise infra firms would have collapsed.

only one sector of economy which is still bursting with orders, thank god for this otherwise infra firms would have collapsed.
PM says aiming for below in Roads:

1. Total Road length to be awarded in FY 12-13 will be 9,500 kms, an increase of 18.7% over last year. The investment will rise by 73.6%.

2. 4,360 kms of roads will be awarded for maintenance under the OMT (Operate, Maintain, Transfer) system for the first time.


Govt should give incentives for the road sector and launch a couple of greenfield expressway projects...

L&T is best bidder for Rs 4,800-cr road projects (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/article3496937.ece?homepage=true&ref=wl_home)
This bid means that from surat to Nagpur (and nearly until Raipur), all bids have been awarded...Now if Raipur is connected to Cuttack via Keonjhar by awarding the remaining sections, then in a few years we will have another East-West corridor via maharashtra, Chattisgarh and Orissa :-)

NHAI Chariman's interview : http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/nhai-to-award-nearly-55-projectsbot-basisfy13_714645.html

Also, Isnt 6 laning already started in some stretches btw bangalore -chennai?

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/nhai-finalising-dpr-for-chennaibangalore-six-lane/1008823.html

NHAI Chariman's interview : http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/nhai-to-award-nearly-55-projectsbot-basisfy13_714645.html

Also, Isnt 6 laning already started in some stretches btw bangalore -chennai?

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/nhai-finalising-dpr-for-chennaibangalore-six-lane/1008823.html
I think they are talking about expressway other than the existing 4/6 lane (u/c) via Hosur.

The 6 laning is awarded till Walajapet from Hosur already as a part of NHDP Phase V.

I think they are talking about expressway other than the existing 4/6 lane (u/c) via Hosur.
Yes. It has nothing to do with the existing one.

The 6 laning is awarded till Walajapet from Hosur already as a part of NHDP Phase V.
I think the Walajahpet-Poonamallee stretch is also awarded recently. :)

Found thin on NHAI's website:
Concession agreements.
http://www.nhai.org/concessionagreementcj.asp

NHAI Chariman's interview : http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/nhai-to-award-nearly-55-projectsbot-basisfy13_714645.html

Also, Isnt 6 laning already started in some stretches btw bangalore -chennai?

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/nhai-finalising-dpr-for-chennaibangalore-six-lane/1008823.html


New Chairman NHAI chairman now ..AK Upadhyay, will continue as Secretary of MORTH.
Old morth Secretary cum NHAI chairman will be as new NHAI chairman- RP Singh.

Chennai Bangalore six laning is in good condition actually.
More than 30% widening of Hosur Krishnagiri is done.
They're building boxes at a reasonably fast speed.
Reliance has sub contracted it to L&T.

Krishnagiri to Walajahpet is fully under L&T.
Around 30% of it was already 6 lanes.
They're building boxes and wideing a few bridges now.
A major challenge is to build a second bridge across the river.

L&T wins India's longest roading contract


Larsen & Toubro has secured an $860 million (INR 4800 crore) contract to develop a 484km stretch of road, part of the NH 6, known as the Great Eastern Road, connecting Surat to Kolkata.

The company says the projects are the longest stretches to be offered in Maharashtra on a Build–Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis.

Agreements were signed with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), to widen the road from its current two lane configuration to four lanes.

Made up of two contiguous contracts, Project 1 from Amravati to Jalgaon is made up of 275 km and 115km of service road. Project 2 stretches from Jalgaon to Maharashtra, Gujarat border near Surat, and is made up of 209km, and 62 km of service road.


The road passes through mineral rich states like Orissa and Chattisgarh and industrial states like Maharashtra and Gujarat, and the road is expected to pave the way for development in Vidharbha region of Maharashtra.

Construction will take 30 months to widen the road, and to develop other facilities like bypasses, flyovers, over bridges across all railway level crossings, underpasses, bridges, toll plazas.

Between the two contracts, there are 31 major bridges, 255 minor bridges, 12 rail over bridges, and 29 passenger underpasses.

According to L&T, the project will be built to the latest safety standards and will have facilities like crash barriers, guard rails, bus shelters, ambulance, and crane service.

The projects will be built by the construction arm of L&T as EPC contractors.

http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-17320-lt-wins-indias-longest-roading-contract/

I think the longest road contract awarded till date was 555 km road section on NH-8 awarded to GMR for 6 laning.

Folks, April updates from NHAI are out and I've updated my spreadsheets.

Top-line is this - there's a severe deceleration in highway construction in April compared to the previous month - down a massive 45%! And the slowdown is across the board - almost every project (with some exceptions) did less in April compared to March. NS-EW virtually screeched to a halt (down by 80%) and NHDP V slowed down considerably (by 65%) as well. I know some of this is probably seasonal (result of soaring temperatures), but the magnitude is concerning. Total speed of 4/6 laning is down to about 6km/day again.

Don't know if this is a temporary slowdown, or perhaps return to the normal "baseline" pace after unusual spurt last few months. Time will tell.

I have converted the sheets to PDF for ease of viewing and uploaded them on Google -

NHDP III and IV: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwAgV5i5mEJMWEVYNlFzUjNzQTA
NHDP V: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwAgV5i5mEJMMDJLallVQTdodVk

Just download the PDF files on your computer (with File->Download in the Google docs menu) and open them with Adobe Acrobat reader (most computers already have it installed). Otherwise you can view them in the browser within Google docs, although resolution is better in Acrobat. You can zoom in all the way for better viewing.

:cheers: Hobbes, great efforts. It has indeed drastically slowed down. Hope it's temporary. The estimated completion dates are in some cases completely nonsensical. Also, in row 6, column 2 of NHDP Phase V file, it should be corrected to '(km 42.70 to km 270)'.

Top 10 Indian States with longest National Highways (http://in.finance.yahoo.com/photos/10-indian-states-with-longest-national-highways-1335762271-slideshow/scenes-of-india-photo-1335762226.html)


Uttar Pradesh - 6,788 Kms
Rajasthan - 6,373 Kms
Madhya Pradesh - 5,027 Kms
Tamilnadu - 4,832 Kms
Andhra Pradesh - 4,537 Kms
Karnataka - 4,396 Kms
Maharashtra - 4,191 Kms
Orissa - 3,704 Kms
Bihar - 3,642 Kms
Gujarat - 3,281 Kms

Can anyone confirm whether there has been any official notification regarding conversion of the road to Digha, West Bengal from Kolkata via Kolaghat/ Nandakumar (ie the stretch between Nandakumar and Digha) into a NH?

The Principal Secretary, UD Department, GoWB wrote about this in his blog.
http://principalsecretarysblog.blogspot.in/2012/06/landscape-design-for-new-town.html

15 flyovers on old Mumbai-Pune highway to cut travel time by 45 min
Source (http://ibnlive.in.com/news/mumbaipune-highway-to-have-15-flyovers/268954-3.html)

Mumbai: In yet another push to bring a marked infrastructure development in improving the connectivity between the two cities — Mumbai and Pune, the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) has plans to construct around 15 flyovers on the old Mumbai-Pune Highway (NH-4) at an estimated cost of Rs 2,600 crore. The latest initiative was discussed at the recent MSRDC board meeting, which was held last month, and is to be built on the lines of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Highway, which boasts of flyovers at major junctions.

“Every passing day the volume of traffic on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway is increasing, and it is anticipated that in the coming years the old Mumbai-Pune Highway will also witness surge in vehicular traffic. Hence, it is better to plan and have a proper infrastructure in place in advance,” confirmed Arun Deodhar, MSRDC superintending engineer and in-charge of the project.

“The current estimated cost of the project is Rs 2,600 crore, and will be undertaken on a Public-Private Partnership financial model. We intend to complete the project by 2017,” said Deodhar.


According to MSRDC plans, the flyovers will come up at major intersections on the NH-4, though exact locations haven’t been finalised yet. SRDC will appoint an expert committee that will conduct a feasibility study, after which the report will be prepared and tabled before the MSRDC board for final approval. Once approved, the tenders for the project will be invited next year and the construction is expected to be complete in five years. But, the striking benefit for motorists is that they won’t have to pay any additional toll to use the new flyovers.

Some of the locations or important intersections on NH-4 where these flyovers might be built are Dan Phata, Lodivali, Chowk Naka, Karjat Phata, Ramwadi-Nishiland Park, Nadode Gaon, Khalapur, Ghodawli Phata, Mahad, Palasadhari, Shedwali and Khopoli.

“The idea behind building these flyovers is to curb accident rates at key intersections along the NH-4. As per a survey by our experts, there are several villages along the way and vehicular traffic converges at these junctions, thus making them susceptible to accidents,” explained another MSRDC official, on condition of anonymity.

Presently, traffic is a major issue on the NH-4, especially on the notorious ghat section. Many motorists use the old highway to reach Lonavala and Pune in order to avoid paying the heavy toll levied for using the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. By constructing the flyovers, MSRDC will augment the capacity of the old highway and segregate both the highways connecting the two cities. Currently, vehicles plying on either of the highways share a portion of 16-km between the Khopoli and Lonavala stretch. It is a known fact that the section between Khopoli and Lonavala is notorious for several breakdowns, and many accidents occur due to the steep ascent and sharp turns on the ghat.

It should also be noted that, presently, motorists using the Mumbai-Pune Expressway (MPE) are often stuck in the traffic jams occurring at the ghat section, as the stretch of the old highway bypassing the ghat has been closed.

As the traffic from the old highway converges with MPE at the ghat section, it creates a bottleneck in the area. The issue of taking up this project on priority basis was also discussed at the MSRDC board meeting.

“In order to solve the present traffic problem on the MPE stretch along the ghat, we have plans to construct two tunnels that will start at Khopoli and end just before Lonavala. The project is in its planning stage, and soon we will appoint a Technical Advisory Committee to study the project,” said MSRDC Managing Director and Vice Chairman Bipin Srimali.

As per the proposal, two sets of parallel bridges of 865 and 810 metres (either way) will be constructed, apart from two sets of tunnels measuring 1,620 and 7,755 metres between Khalapur, Khopoli and Sinhagad Technical Education Society (Lonavala).

The tunneling project is part of MSRDC’s expansion plans for the expressway. At present, the expressway has five tunnels and the longest tunnel is at Kamshet, near Pune, which is 1.5 km long. Once completed the tunnel will be the second longest tunnel in the country after the 9km-long tunnel in Rohtang Pass, which at present is the longest road tunnel in India.

Also, the old highway will be widened from four lanes to six lanes. The MPE will also be expanded from six to eight lanes. At present it takes four and half-hours to reach Pune from Mumbai via the NH-4, and once the flyover and tunnel work is complete, it will take three hours and forty-five minutes. This means that motorists will save 45 minutes, and also a lot of fuel that is used while climbing the ghat section. The approximate length of these flyovers will be 300-500 metres, and will be built between Panvel and Pune.

IL&FS TN signs concession agreement for Rs 6.51 bn project (http://www.myiris.com/newsCentre/storyShow.php?fileR=20120702101713715&dir=2012/07/02)



IL&FS Transportation Networks has announced the update on signing of concession agreement with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for development and operation of Sikar-Bikaner section via Sikar Bypass and Bikaner bypass in the state of Rajasthan.

It is through Public-Private Partnership on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. The project is on toll basis with a concession period of 25 years including construction period of 2 years and the estimated cost of the project is Rs 6.51 billion. The company had quoted a grant of Rs 2.47 billion for the project.

The concession agreement for the captioned project was signed on June 29, 2012 between NHAI and Sikar Bikaner Highway, the special purpose vehicle incorporated by the company for undertaking the project.

Badly laid speed breakers could damage your spine (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/Badly-laid-speed-breakers-could-damage-your-spine/articleshow/14701851.cms)

TRICHY: Riding a two-wheeler on the city roads is often a back-breaking experience for motorists, thanks to speed breakers that are not laid in line with guidelines of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC).

A fortnight ago, a speed breaker with a steep height was laid sans the required markings on it in Melapudhur. Unaware of the structure, a motorcycle borne youth met with an accident but managed to escape with injuries. E Paul Guna Loganath, a social activist from Trichy recalls a similar incident a few days ago, after a speed breaker with a steep height was laid in front of the Trichy corporation building. In both instances, the markings were put in place only after the mishaps took place. With the essential parameters being flouted, speed breakers that are meant to prevent accidents are proving instead to be the cause for road mishaps.

In accordance with IRC guidelines, a perfect speed breaker should have a height of 10 cm with a 1.5 metre ramp on both sides. They should be painted with alternate black and white markings and luminous paint is recommended for better night visibility. Signboards warning riders should be placed 40 metres before speed breakers. IRC also makes the maintenance of speed breakers compulsory at regular intervals. The mud or dust collected on either side of the hump should be removed and repainting of the markings on speed breakers must be done regularly.

However, most of these guidelines are often flouted with the height of speed breakers on arterial roads as well as on streets being too steep. The violations continue with no markings on the speed breakers as well as the lack of warning signboards. "We have taken up the issue in the district road safety council meeting several times. But the violations are still going on," says M Sekaran, president of the federation of consumer and service organisation. "We advocate the use of rubberized speed breakers instead of the existing method. Also, we find that the speed breakers disappear in case of a VVIP's visit," he said.

A Trichy corporation staff on the condition of anonymity admitted that they rarely followed the guidelines of the IRC. Meanwhile, speed breakers built without the prescribed norms can be dangerous and cause various health hazards. "The spinal cord is vulnerable to damage in case of a sudden jerk due to improper speed breakers. It can also cause vertebral compression fractures or a disk prolapse ," ortho specialist Dr S Jaikish said.

13 flyovers, 45 underpasses to come up on Pune-Satara highway

The 140-km stretch of Pune-Satara highway will get as many as 13 flyovers as well as 29 vehicular and 16 pedestrian underpasses. Of these, 10 flyovers will be in Satara district, while Pune will have three. Also, three major bridges — two in Satara and one in Pune — will come up.
Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra), which is giving the 140-km stretch of the Pune-Satara Corridor from Dehu Road in Pune to Shindewadi in Satara a makeover, has got the approval from the National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) to the construct underpasses and flyovers.

NHAI project director Vipin Sharma said, “The project was already sanctioned but due to public demand, we gave RInfra an in-principle nod.” NHAI officials said RInfra can be innovative in its design but it has to stick to the “standard procedure”.

The underpasses and flyovers on the highway would come up at Ajantha Chowk, Limb Phata, Bhuinj Phata, Surur Phata and Joshi Vihir. All the flyovers are 895 m long (including approaches) and 25 m wide. The flyovers at Katraj and Surur will have three lanes (95 m long and 12.5 m wide). In Pune stretch of the highway, a six-lane flyover will come up at Nasarapur junction and Nagar junction and a three-lane flyover will be at old Katraj bypass junction, beside the existing flyover.

RInfra officials said construction of the underpasses and flyovers was not part of the agreement that was signed between the NHAI and RInfra in 2010. “However, RInfra, in the interest of users, trespassers and local villagers and their safety and security, understood the necessity and approached NHAI with the proposal.”

Rinfra is also setting up swanky toll plazas on the corridor. The Khed Shivapur toll plaza will have 20 lanes and the one at Anewadi will have 16 lanes. At present, Khed Shivapur toll plaza has 10 lanes — five for commuters travelling from Pune to Satara and the rest for commuters travelling from Satara to Pune. Anewadi toll plaza has eight lanes at present, RInfra officials said.

NHAI awarded the project for widening the Pune-Satara highway from four lanes to six to RInfra in January 2010 on DBFOT (Design, Built, Finance, Operate and Transfer) basis.

http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/13-flyovers-45-underpasses-to-come-up-on-punesatara-highway/973369/

Government approves Rs 6,429 crore road projects in 4 states including J&K


NEW DELHI: The government has approved eight highways projects worth Rs 6,429 crore in four states including the strategic Z-Morh tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir connecting Leh to Srinagar.

"Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee in its meeting last night has approved eight highways projects in four states - Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, mostly to be built under build, operate and transfer (BOT) toll mode," a Highways Ministry official told reporters.

These eight projects include 6.5 km long Z- Morh tunnel on Srinagar-Leh highway, the fourth strategic tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir to be built at a cost of Rs 773 crore, he said.

The tunnel would provide all-weather connectivity to the people of the Ladakh region, he added.

The other approved projects include three highway schemes in Rajasthan including Rs 668-crore Rajsamand-Bhilwara, Rs 530-crore Rajasthan border-Salasar project and Rs 332-crore Jodhpur-Pali highways scheme.

The official said of the remaining four projects, three schemes -- Rs 1,282-crore Chakari-Allahabad, Rs 909-crore Hadia-Varanasi and Rs 605-crore Kashipur-Sitarganj - for widening of roads are in Uttar Pradesh.

Besides, the PPEAC also approved four-laning of Hubri-Hospet 77 km stretch in Karnataka to be built at a cost of Rs 1,330 crore.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-17/news/32714204_1_crore-road-projects-highways-projects-srinagar-leh

After 3 years, Centre to release funds for upgrading of roads


Upgrading of rural roads will soon become a reality with the government today deciding to release funds after a gap of three years for enhancing the quality of these roads.

The release of funds for the upgrade under Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) was not taking place for the past three years as the government was giving priority for constructing new roads.

"Since June 12, 2009, upgrading proposals have been put on hold in order to give priority to give new connectivity. Today, we have reopened the upgrading window," Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh told reporters here.

However, he said the government will support both new connectivity as well as the upgrade of roads in 82 Naxal- affected districts of the country.

"We will entertain proposals from Assam (8000 km), Bihar (5000 km), Chhattisgarh (6000 km), Gujarat (2000 km), Jammu and Kashmir (3000 km), Jharkhand (7000 km), Kerala (800 km), Madhya Pradesh (roughly 3000 km), Orissa (9000 km), Punjab (2000 km), Tamil Nadu (7000 km), Uttar Pradesh (7000 km), Uttarakhand (4000 kms) and West Bengal (10000 km)," he said.

The upgrading window was lying closed when Ramesh took over as the Rural Development Minister last year and only habitations over 1000 plus were being taken up for rural road construction under the programme.

"The first thing that was done was to remove this. Now all new connectivity of habitations of 500 in normal areas and over 250 in tribal areas and Naxal-affected areas are being considered (under the scheme)," he said.

According to Ramesh, five states including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana and Karnataka have already got sanction far than excess of their entitlement for the upgrade.

He also said that his ministry would soon launch the improved version of PMGSY - 2.0 making it as a joint programme of both Centre and states.

"PMGSY 2.0 is expected to cost Rs 59,000 crore over a five-year period. The Centre's share will be Rs 32,000 crore. It is not exactly 50:50 since there are some special category states where our share will be more than 50 per cent. This will go to Cabinet soon. Planning Commission has agreed," he said.

http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/after-3-years-centre-to-release-funds-for-upgradingroads/34812/

Centre sanctions Rs 1,248 cr project for Jammu and Kashmir


SRINAGAR: The Centre has sanctioned road and bridges projects worth Rs 1,248 crore for Jammu and Kashmir helping to open up its far-flung and remote areas for economic betterment and welfare of the people there.

This would enable the state to initiate 484 road connectivity works and construction of 50 bridges involving total road length of 2651.23 kilometres, :banana::cheers:an official spokesman said today.

"The Union Ministry of Rural Development has accorded clearance to the proposals of Jammu and Kashmir Government pertaining to road connectivity under Phase-VIII New Connectivity of Bharat Nirman, PMGSY and long span bridges involving over Rs 1248.15 crore," the spokesman said.

The approved grants include Rs 310.37 crore under Bharat Nirman Stage-I, Rs 851.92 crore under PMGSY Stage-II, Rs 21.02 crore under normal PMGSY (for border blocks), Rs 55.39 crore for long span bridges and Rs 9.45 crore under roads and bridges Stage-II, he said.

The spokesman added it will help to cover 10 habitations of more than 1,000 population each, 63 habitations with over 500 population each and 42 habitations each with more than 250 population.

The projects were approved following a request from state Chief Minister Minister Omar Abdullah to Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh for expeditious clearance.

Expressing his gratitude to the Union leadership, Particularly Ramesh, for the assistance to the state, Omar said, it will help in a big way to open up far-flung and remote areas for economic betterment and welfare of the people. PTI

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-21/news/32776812_1_road-connectivity-jammu-and-kashmir-bridges

RInfra announces commencement of Salem-Ulundurpet four- lane stretch

The corridor will connect major tourist destinations

http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/01163/SA02_ROAD_GT25C1E6_1163516e.jpg
A view of the Salem - Ulundurpet national highway. —Photo: P. Goutham

Reliance Infrastructure Limited (RInfra) has announced the official commencement of the operation of the 136-km. Salem-Ulundurpet four- laning National Highways. It has started colleting tolls too.

A press release from the Mumbai-based firm said that the project executed on Build Operate Transfer (BOT) pattern for National Highways Authority of India by RInfra, through a Special Purpose Vehicle, was executed at a cost of Rs.1,061 crore. The completed corridor would connect major tourist destinations, industrial zones and Chennai Airport besides Yercaud.

Sudhir R Hoshing, CEO (Roads), Reliance Infrastructure, said that the road would provide a hassle-free and safe and smooth driving.

“The corridor will not only connect centres of tourism and industrial zones, but will connect 79 villages with Chennai, Bengaluru and other major cities. It will have 8,500 vehicles per day, which is expected to double in the next four years,” he pointed out.

The release added with the opening of the corridor, five out of six road projects of Reliance worth Rs 3300 crore in Tamil Nadu had become operational.

The Salem road was realigned and widened into four-lane removing a few dangerous curves and steep rises, so that vehicle users could maintain the minimum speed to enjoy the comfort of drive with an average speed of 70 km per hour for a reduction of time to 40 to 50 per cent and fuel cost by almost 40 per cent.

Keeping the traffic density in mind, three toll plazas had been constructed with each one having Automated Toll System. Two were currently operational. Commuters residing within 20 km radius of the respective toll plazas could avail of the benefit of monthly discounted passes. All toll plazas would be having Emergency Control Rooms that would provide medical services within minimum response time.

The fare chart would be for a car, passenger van or jeep, it would be Rs.37 for single journey and for multiple journey, it would be Rs. 56. “Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) will be charged with Rs. 65 for single and Rs. 97 for multiple journey. Bus and truck will be charged Rs. 130 while for multiple journey, it is Rs. 195,” said the release

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/article3715310.ece

Is that Sikar-Bikaner road going to be 4 laned? They should not put a divider in the middle. They should make it a simple dual carriageway. Dividers are annoying if they are too close to your lane.

Is that Sikar-Bikaner road going to be 4 laned? They should not put a divider in the middle. They should make it a simple dual carriageway. Dividers are annoying if they are too close to your lane.

Dividers make roads safer. Particularly during rainy season / blowouts / etc.

For reducing costs, cable barrier - called guard cables or wire rope dividers - are a good option. An example would be E20 in Sweden; either dual faced as on the Oresund bridge between Denmark and Sweden, or simpler tensioned ones where road conditions are acceptable.

Switzerland and New Zealand have found them very effective too where space is limited, traffic occasionally heavy and accident prone.

If space is available, dividers help in other ways too.

I have seen sensor-based traffic signals very commonly used in the USA. I first saw them in the US in 1993. It likely was already prevalent many years prior to 1993. Nowadays, it is ubiquitous, present in about 90% of all traffic signals in the US, not just in big cities but even in small towns. Not just traffic signals, they are also present on freeways (ie. highways) to sense flow/stoppage of traffic, and I have also seen them in between 2 traffic lights on surface streets (ie. non-freeways).

Most of these sensors are based on an induction loop embedded just below the road surface under every lane at a junction. See an image at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inductance_detectors.jpg . You can see the circular (about 2 meters diameter) or octagonal grooves covered up with tar linings. Thats where the sensors are embedded sub-surface.

These sensors are connected to a Micro-Controller based System (MCS) that acts on the sensor being activated. These MCS's can have one of various kinds of algorithms, that, besides the sensor activation inputs, take into consideration things priority of carriageways, rush hour direction at that time of day, synchronized to a neighboring signal in both perpendicular directions, etc. The technology and its effectiveness (that I have witnessed for 20 years in the US) amazes me. So much so that recently I suggested my child to do a project on it.

Using this technology needs strict adherence to road construction standards Eg. when repaving a road, use a milling machine to dig out the old layer, carefully take out and preserve the induction loops, and reinstall them using a groove cutter after repaving (see http://www.lochwynd.com/cutting3.jpg for a picture), etc.

Question:
I recently came across a March 2008 article saying Ahmedabad is introducing this technology. See http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/sensorbased-traffic-signals-to-ease-congestion-on-ahmedabad-roads/279227/. Has this been implemented in Ahmedabad? Any other Indian cities too? How is it working out?

Is that Sikar-Bikaner road going to be 4 laned? They should not put a divider in the middle. They should make it a simple dual carriageway. Dividers are annoying if they are too close to your lane.

Agreed. Instead they could plant small plants at regular intervals. Alternatively they could have a simple concrete barrier in the middle of the wide median, so there is some part of the median on each side between the barrier and the asphalt carriageway. There should also be patches of asphalt connecting the 2 carriageways at regular intervals (200-500m). This will allow for crossing and turning.

NHAI meets only 20% of road target
TOI (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/NHAI-meets-only-20-of-road-target/articleshow/15468386.cms)

NEW DELHI: The highways sector, which was the sole shining light in the infrastructure sector, has joined the list of laggards with the government unable to award new projects due to lack of interest.

During the first four months of 2012-13, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) could only award contracts for construction of 4.25km-a-day, which is around a quarter of the 20km-a-day target fixed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The current pace of award is a little better than the situation in 2008-09, when contracts for construction of 643km were awarded. Between April and July this year, contracts for 507km have been awarded, which is one-fifth the target of 2,560km for the period. In terms of onground activity, the report card is only marginally better with daily construction estimated at 6km-a-day.

The government has repeatedly said that it is critical to step up infrastructure construction to remove a key hurdle to faster economic growth. Several countries have used more rapid infrastructure expansion to boost economic activity, something that India too did successfully during the NDA regime when the National Highway Development Programme was conceived and four-laning of the Golden Quadrilateral was taken up.

While UPA-I did little to maintain the pace when T R Baalu was the road transport and highways minister, the situation improved after 2009. Kamal Nath tried to ensure that the pace picked up and more contracts were awarded after UPA-II came to power.

Highways are not the only infrastructure sector where the government is facing difficulty. The state of railways, starting with operations to finances, is in a mess and power shortages are taking a toll on the industry. In the ports sector too, data available with the government reveals that targets fixed by the PM were missed. Against the target of awarding 42 projects, the shipping ministry has been able to award only a couple of projects despite weekly monitoring by secretary P K Sinha.

In case of highways, ministry sources said large private players were not bidding for new projects since their hands were full. "Until they tie up funds for the already bagged projects, why will they bid for new projects? In many cases, the developers have sought extra time to achieve financial closure. There is a stress in the market," a senior official said.

Even NHAI chairman R P Singh, in his recent letter to Union highways secretary A K Upadhyay, wrote that there was a perception that in the recent past, the award of highway projects was above their potential.

NHAI awards contract for widening NH 66 from Kundapur to Goa border (http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article3783568.ece)

*The Rs. 2,400-crore project is expected to be completed in three years
*IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd. confirms receiving the Letter of Award
*Bridges across Sharavathi, Kali, and Aghanasini will be built
The Rs. 2,400-crore project is expected to be completed in three years
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has awarded IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd. the contract for widening the 189-km stretch on the National Highway 66 from Kundapur to the Goa border, according to sources in the NHAI.

Sources told The Hindu that the NHAI had proposed to widen the stretch of the highway into four lanes under phase IV of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP).

The cost of the project had been estimated at Rs. 1,790 crore. It would be taken up under design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. Meanwhile, the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on August 1 that it had received the Letter of Award (LoA) dated July 31, 2012 from the NHAI to this effect.

The company said: “…the NHAI has accepted four price bid and has declared us as the ‘selected bidder’ for the project…”

The company informed the BSE that according to it (IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd.) the cost of the project would be approximately Rs. 2,400 crore. The construction period would be 910 days. “The company has sought Rs. 536.22 crore as viability gap funding from the NHAI,” it said.

The stretch proposed for widening was part of the 296-km highway from Goa border (near Karwar) to Kerala border (near Talapady) in the State.

The stretch between Kundapur and Talapady, via Mangalore, on the same highway was now being widened by the NHAI under phase III of the NHDP. With the new project on the anvil, the highway passing through Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, and Uttara Kannada districts via Karwar, Ankola, Kumta, Honnavar, Bhatkal, Kundapur, Udupi, Surathkal, Mangalore, Thokkottu, and Talapady was all set to get a facelift.

New bridges for major rivers such as Sharavathi, Kali, and Aghanasini would have to be built under the project, sources said.

A main feature of the project was an elevated highway of 350-metre length and 12-metre width which would come up at Maravanthe, a tourist spot, where the existing highway passed through a narrow stretch between the sea and the river. The highway would be built along the river at about a metre height from the existing highway, sources said.

Quoting the final feasibility report of the project prepared by a private company, the sources said that 14 major bridges, 41 minor bridges, six road-over-bridges (RoBs), and three road-under-bridges (RuBs) would be built.

Four tunnels and an equal number of flyovers would be built. There would be 53 bus bays and four truck bays.

The Government would have to acquire 260 hectares of private land in 66 villages and 122 hectares of forestland for completing the project, the sources said.

Lok Sabha clears NHAI expansion

The Lok Sabha on Monday cleared a bill to expand the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for development, maintenance and management of national highways. The NHAI consists of a chairman, up to five full-time members and up to four part-time members. It will now consist of
a chairman, and up to six full-time members and six part-time members.

At least two of the part-time members must be non-government professionals with knowledge or experience in financial management, transportation planning or any other relevant discipline, as per the bill.

The National Highways Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, CP Joshi Dec 19, 2011.

Later, the Bill was referred to the Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture in January 2012.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/Lok-Sabha-clears-NHAI-expansion/Article1-923814.aspx

Four-laning of Shimla-Pathankot highway gets nod

Shimla, Sep 3 (IANS) The central government has given its nod for executing the four-laning of the 300-km-long :cheers::banana:
Shimla-Mataur-Pathankot national highway that passes through five districts of Himachal Pradesh, an official said here Monday.

The central government has included the highway under its National Highways Development Programme, said a government spokesperson.

The highway is a major contributor to the economy of the state and plays an important role for the development of tourism.:cheers:

The spokesman said the main objective of the four-laning of Shimla-Mataur-Pathankot road is to reduce the time and cost of travel. Pathankot is in Punjab.

Official sources said Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma had also raised this issue with the chairman of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to complete four-laning of the road on priority.



http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/2012/09/03/318--Four-laning-of-Shimla-Pathankot-highway-gets-nod-.html

Folks, April updates from NHAI are out and I've updated my spreadsheets.

Top-line is this - there's a severe deceleration in highway construction in April compared to the previous month - down a massive 45%! And the slowdown is across the board - almost every project (with some exceptions) did less in April compared to March. NS-EW virtually screeched to a halt (down by 80%) and NHDP V slowed down considerably (by 65%) as well. I know some of this is probably seasonal (result of soaring temperatures), but the magnitude is concerning. Total speed of 4/6 laning is down to about 6km/day again.

Don't know if this is a temporary slowdown, or perhaps return to the normal "baseline" pace after unusual spurt last few months. Time will tell.

I have converted the sheets to PDF for ease of viewing and uploaded them on Google -

NHDP III and IV: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwAgV5i5mEJMWEVYNlFzUjNzQTA
NHDP V: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwAgV5i5mEJMMDJLallVQTdodVk

Just download the PDF files on your computer (with File->Download in the Google docs menu) and open them with Adobe Acrobat reader (most computers already have it installed). Otherwise you can view them in the browser within Google docs, although resolution is better in Acrobat. You can zoom in all the way for better viewing.

Folks, I have updated my highway construction spreadsheet for May-June. NHAI didn't release full data for May separately, so May-June numbers are together.

As many might suspect, highway construction speed has slowed down considerably. And this trend doesn't seem to be temporary - it has been going on for several months now. Now we're officially back to 5-6km/day speed for 4/6 laning under NHDP - same speed that we have seen for majority of last 10 years. After all the bluster of accelerating to 20 km/day by UPA, things seem to be back to square one! Besides, with new contract award virtually coming to a stop since March of this year, and existing contracts struggling with financial closing, signs are not good for the future.

Like before, I have converted the sheets to PDF and uploaded on Google. Best way to view them is to download them and open in Adobe Acrobat. You'll have to zoom in a lot to be able to read.

NHDP III and IV: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwAgV5i5mEJMcE1KNmhJYVJwdkk

NHDP V: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BwAgV5i5mEJMNnFoVk1hYVRVNk0

Small positive is that contractors that were doing well (building fast) earlier, are still that way, so relative performance across contractors has generally stayed consistent.

20 km a day road-building target not possible for now: CP Joshi (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-07-25/news/32848467_1_road-transport-cp-joshi-nhai)

NEW DELHI: With annual award of 9,500 km, it will take minimum three years before the much-touted target of building 20 km a day roads is achieved.

"If everything is positive and if we award 9,500 km every year for three years, then we can achieve building 20 km of roads a day target," Road Transport and Highways Minister C P Joshi told PTI in an interview.

Asked whether the target set by his predecessor Kamal Nath was over-ambitious, Joshi said, "...with all good intention we had announced 20 km".

Nath had announced building 35,000 km in five years, which translated into 20 km a day. Nath, who has since moved to the Urban Development Affairs Ministry, had announced the target immediately after the UPA-II assumed office in 2009.

Under the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), at present 10-12 km roads per day are being built.

The NHAI, which is responsible for 76,000 km of highways, had awarded contracts for 7,957 km in the 2011-12 financial year.

"This year, we have set a target of awarding 9,500 km," Joshi said, adding, "Road award is a process. Once the competition is there... The day we award and the day we start construction, on an average it takes three years, provided the stretch does not fall under the Wildlife area".

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in a meeting with core sector ministers last month, had set a target of over Rs 2 lakh crore investment in the infrastructure projects, including road-building.

Earlier this year,a Parliamentary panel had also stated that the NHAI's plan of building 20 km a day is a "distant dream".

Govt to award 4,000 km road projects via EPC route this year (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/govt-to-award-4000-km-road-projects-via-epc-route-this-year/186625/on)

Government is targeting awarding road construction projects of 4,000 km length in the current fiscal through the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode.

Of this, bids for road projects of 2650 km length has been invited by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).

The remaining will be done by the National Highways Authority of India, MoRTH Secretary A K Upadhyay said today.

He was speaking on the sidelines of an event organised by International Centre for Automotive Technology.

"RFQ document for annual pre-qualification has already been uploaded at our website. The qualification bids will be generic and it not specific to a project. Selection will be valid for one year".

As per the criteria, the prospective developers will be qualified for one year period and it will depend upon their technical and financial capacity as defined in the bidding document.

The selected developers can then bid for specific projects as listed by the government.

"We will start rolling out (awarding projects) in 2-3 months time. After the qualification stage, we will float request for proposal (RFP) for specific projects from the selected developers. By end of the current (financial) year, we hope to award all the projects," Upadhyay said.

Last month, the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure had approved the Model EPC Agreement Document for construction of various sections of National Highways (NH).

According to the government, the EPC document has been structured in a manner that time overrun and cost overrun in implementation of NH works shall be minimised to a great extent and there will be optimisation of design and quality construction.

Further, this will enable a faster roll-out of projects with least cost and greater efficiency and flexibility, encouraging contractors to participate in such projects.

All the NH works, which are not done on public-private partnership (PPP) mode would be undertaken primarily through the EPC mode.

HCC wins Rs 1,534 cr contracts including 10.2 km tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-09-11/news/33763044_1_hcc-infrastructure-hcc-concessions-udhampur-srinagar-baramulla)

NEW DELHI: Infrastructure major Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) today said it has bagged two major contracts worth Rs 1,534 crore in various business segments including one in Jammu & Kashmir for construction of a tunnel.

"The first order is for the construction of a 10.2 km tunnel on the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla railway line in Jammu & Kashmir...This contract is worth Rs 884 crore and will be completed in 60 months," HCC said in a statement.

The tunnel contract on the Dharam-Qazigund Section in the state has been given to HCC by IRCON International Limited, which is engaged in constructing the Udhampur-Srinagar- Baramula railway line, the company said.

This will be the second largest tunnel in India after the 10.96 km long Pir Panjal Tunnel between Qazigund to Banihal in Jammu and Kashmir, which has also been built by HCC. The tunnel is nearing completion.

"The second is an EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) order for expansion of a section of the National Highways-8 between Vadodara and Surat, which also includes the construction of an extradosed bridge across River Narmada," the company said.

The order, with a value of Rs 650 crore, is a contract from HCC Concessions, a step down subsidiary of HCC.

This contract was awarded to HCC Concessions by the National Highways Authority of India in April this year for the six-laning of a section of NH-8 between Vadodara and Surat, the statement said.

The scope of work also includes the construction of a new four-lane extradosed bridge across the Narmada River in Gujarat on a DBFOT (design, build, finance, operate and transfer) (Toll) basis, it added.

Work has already commenced on this project, and is scheduled for completion in 36 months.

The company claimed it has executed a number of India's landmark infrastructure projects.

This included constructing 25 per cent of Hydel Power generation, over 50 per cent of country's Nuclear Power generation capacities, over 3,100 lane km of Expressways and Highways, more than 200 km of complex Tunneling and over 324 Bridges.

HCC's other projects include the Bandra Worli Sea Link, Mumbai - India's first and longest open sea cable-stayed bridge; the Kolkata Metro, Farraka Barrage and India's largest nuclear power plant at Kudankulam - Tamil Nadu, it said.

The group, which comprises HCC, HCC Infrastructure, HCC Real Estate, Lavasa Corporation and Steiner AG in Switzerland, has a turnover of Rs 8,157 crore.

State highways get 4.4L crore boost (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-13/india/33815748_1_state-highways-shs-state-roads)

NEW DELHI: UPA-II wants to take a leaf out of NDA's book, and is keen to launch National Highways Development Project (NHDP).

However, the government wants to start a drive to give fillip to state highways (SHs). The 12th Plan proposal, which is likely to be considered by the full Planning Commission on Saturday, has provisioned Rs 4.4 lakh crore for the initiative —over three-fold increase in investment for the road transport and highways sector in the next five years.

SHs and major district roads (MDRs) constitute the secondary system of road transportation. The total length of SHs stands at about 154,000 km; while MDRs are estimated at around 300,000 km. State roads carry heavy to medium traffic and function as secondary road system.

Under the new scheme, government plans to launch a massive four-laning of state highways, which will connect all the districts with state capitals. The government is looking at 20% private investment in the venture. Politically, too, the improvement of SHs would work as a "feel good" factor. As per the estimates provisioned in the 12th Plan, the gross budgetary support for the ministry would be Rs 1.44 lakh crore — around 86% more than the 11th Plan.

The thrust areas for development in NH sector in the next five years would include special package for development of 1,000 km in tribal areas at an investment of Rs 5,000 crore.

State highways get 4.4L crore boost (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-13/india/33815748_1_state-highways-shs-state-roads)

NEW DELHI: UPA-II wants to take a leaf out of NDA's book, and is keen to launch National Highways Development Project (NHDP).

However, the government wants to start a drive to give fillip to state highways (SHs). The 12th Plan proposal, which is likely to be considered by the full Planning Commission on Saturday, has provisioned Rs 4.4 lakh crore for the initiative —over three-fold increase in investment for the road transport and highways sector in the next five years.

SHs and major district roads (MDRs) constitute the secondary system of road transportation. The total length of SHs stands at about 154,000 km; while MDRs are estimated at around 300,000 km. State roads carry heavy to medium traffic and function as secondary road system.

Under the new scheme, government plans to launch a massive four-laning of state highways, which will connect all the districts with state capitals. The government is looking at 20% private investment in the venture. Politically, too, the improvement of SHs would work as a "feel good" factor. As per the estimates provisioned in the 12th Plan, the gross budgetary support for the ministry would be Rs 1.44 lakh crore — around 86% more than the 11th Plan.

The thrust areas for development in NH sector in the next five years would include special package for development of 1,000 km in tribal areas at an investment of Rs 5,000 crore.

Amazing. Even if India achieves and delivers quality 4 lane SHs for half of the planned mileage, through this initiative, it will change the face of the country. It may raise the average per capita income and GDP to well above US$5000 per person within 10 years after this infrastructure is in place.

It will create numerous construction jobs - both on local SH projects and housing developments near these SHs. It may also significantly boost farming incomes, and reduce extreme poverty by another 10 to 15% points just like China has recently accomplished.

Amazing. Even if India achieves and delivers quality 4 lane SHs for half of the planned mileage, through this initiative, it will change the face of the country. It may raise the average per capita income and GDP to well above US$5000 per person within 10 years after this infrastructure is in place.

It will create numerous construction jobs - both on local SH projects and housing developments near these SHs. It may also significantly boost farming incomes, and reduce extreme poverty by another 10 to 15% points just like China has recently accomplished.

+1

very valid points. :cheers:

20 km a day road-building target not possible for now: CP Joshi

Looks like corruption is slowing taking down the pace. How else can one explain the dismal goal setting and the even worse execution pace. These guys make it seem like a maha monumental task. They don't understand that you can break up any complex problem into small pieces. Each small piece is independently executed and in no time you have solved the larger problem. Even 20km a day is pathetic. We have more than 30 states in the nation and each state cannot build 1 km per day across their various districts.

These guys who man the department are stuck in some old school "serial program" mode thought. When will we get enlightened leadership that can light a fire under these babus. The babus are ensconced in cushy offices with steady stream of contract corruption money flowing. Why would they upset the apple cart. Unless a no nonsense mantriji kicks the barn doors and has them achieve "above and beyond" targets.

Road Min asks MoEF to solve clearance tangle

As fate of over 400 highways projects are uncertain over Forest and Environment Clearances, :bash: the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has asked the Ministry of Environment and Forest to delink the grant of environment clearance from the forest clearance.

In the wake of EC and FC emerging as major roadblocks in NH projects, MoRTH has sought delegation of more power to the regional offices of MoEF (for up to 100 hectares) for reserved forest and all powers for protected forest.

“In case of widening projects, constructions should be allowed in the non-forest area as there is no infructuous expenditure involved in that. No Objection Certificate under Forest Rights Act 2006 should be dispensed with in respect of widening projects,” said a top MoRTH official.

It has also sought exemption from public hearings for highway widening projects as provided under the earlier Environment Impact Assessment Notification of 1994. With several projects stuck for want of environment, forest and wildlife clearances, the Centre is also looking for viability for a single window system for EC and FC.

Seeking changes in rules pertaining to mining issues, the MoRTH has demanded cancellation of the earlier notification of Ministry of Mines and Minerals which declared the “ordinary earth” to be minor minerals and not minerals. During road construction works it is used for filling or leveling purposes in constructions of embankments, roads, railways, buildings.

Another problem cited by the MoRTH is that NHAI has to procure the “illogical” environment clearance for even borrowing earth/soil from ‘borrow areas’ of less than five hectares. “There should be no separate environment clearance for the earth soil because all highways projects commence only after obtaining necessary environment clearance for the projects,” added the official.

It has said that there should be a provision of additional Right of Way width so as to make the total RoW as 60 metres, which is the standard norm for the NH and also the length to be increased from 30 km to 100 km. This will require amendment in the schedule of EIA Notification, 2006.

While the maximum number of 270 road projects under the Border Roads Organisation are at present stuck for necessary EC and FCs, 29 are held up in Andhra Pradesh, 11 in Chhattisgarh, nine in Madhya Pradesh, seven in Uttar Pradesh, four in Maharashtra, two each in Gujarat and Jharkhand while one each is awaiting nod in Kerala and Odisha. http://dailypioneer.com/nation/95758-road-min-asks-moef-to-solve-clearance-tangle.html

Omar announces ring roads for Srinagar, Jammu

Srinagar, Sep 25: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Tuesday gave nod for the construction of Srinagar and Jammu Ring Roads to decongest traffic and provide alternate communication for commuters.

Approving the prestigious and most required duo projects involving an expenditure of about Rs 3000 crore at a high-level joint meeting of National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) and Jammu and Kashmir State R&B Department here, the Chief Minister directed the NHAI executing agency for the projects to formulate the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) and put up the proposals to the R&B Department for finalization, an official handout said.

The proposed Ring Road project for Srinagar will start at Galandar near Pampore and meet the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad highway near Narbal junction in its Phase-I.

The road will be 4-lane with 6-lane future projection. Under the Phase-II of the project, a two-way road will start at Narbal and meet the Srinagar-Leh highway near Ganderbal.

The project is likely to cost Rs 1195 crore in Phase-I and Rs 448 crore in the Phase-II. The road length in the Phase-I will be 34.72 kilometers and in the Phase-II, 27.2 kilometers. There will be a Toll Plaza at Narbal junction.

In the proposed 4-lane road project from Galandar to Narbal there will be 155 culverts, two road-over bridges, two flyovers, five major junctions, 17 minor junctions and one Toll Plaza.

The two-lane road from Narbal to Ganderbal will have 135 culverts, 5 major junctions and 9 minor junctions.

The Chief Minister said that the projects should keep room for widening from 4-lanes to 6-lanes and from 2-lanes to 4-lanes to cater to futuristic needs.

The Jammu 4-lane Ring Road involving an expenditure of Rs 1355 crore will have one Toll Plaza in each of the homogenous sections. It will start near Vijaypur (Raipur) and meet the highway at Akhnoor where from it will go up to Nagrota Bye-Pass.

The road project will be about 60 kilometers in length. It will have 4 major bridges in Phase-I and 4 similar bridges in Phase-II while the number of minor bridges in Phase-I will be 5 and 4 in Phase-II. The number of culverts in Phase-I will be 215 and in Phase-II 102. There will be two flyovers in each package while as two overhead bridges will be constructed in the Package-II.

Under the Package-I the road length from Raipur to Akhnoor will be 43 kilometers and in Package-II it will be 16.9 kilometers.

Omar said that upto mark ring roads for the cities of Srinagar and Jammu are need of the hour and to cater to the futuristic requirements of the two capitals growing on faster pace.

The Project Director NHAI in a PowerPoint presentation explained the salient features of the proposed road projects and highlighted the main features of the projects. http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2012/Sep/26/omar-announces-ring-roads-for-srinagar-jammu-66.asp

Govt likely to relax highway bid norms

NEW DELHI: With virtually no bids coming for highway projects on toll mode, the road transport and highways ministry is likely to seek relaxation in the bidding norms. The ministry is now finalizing a proposal to move before the Cabinet for allowing NHAI to award the projects with 100% government funding, which have no takers under build-operate-transfer (BOT-Toll) mode.

The highways ministry is also pushing for an approval to award projects with complete government funding where traffic flow is less than 10,000 PCUs (passenger car units) per day. At present, this norm is applicable for highway projects where traffic flow is less than 5,000 PCUs per day.

At present, NHAI follows the waterfall system for awarding highway projects since the public-private-partnership (PPP) model was introduced. Under this system, in the first stage, tenders are invited on BOT-toll mode and in case there is no taker then annuity mode (government paying the entire cost to the company in staggered manner) is tried. If this also does not get bidders, then the authority awards the tenders on engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) mode. In this case, government bears the entire project cost and the payment to contractors is done based on the progress of work. Now, government is moving a proposal before the Cabinet to allow award of the projects under EPC mode where there are no takers under BOT-Toll and annuity mode.

The new EPC document, which largely takes care of likely cost and time overrun, has already been approved by the Cabinet and NHAI has started the pre-qualification of bidders/contractors to expedite the project awarding in the next couple of months.

Against the target of awarding 9,500km highway stretch in the current financial year, so far NHAI has been able to award around 1,000km. :bash::bash:With only two more quarters remaining, government wants to come out with a new strategy to push awarding of highway projects.

NHAI officials said there is little hope of private developers bidding for toll projects since in many cases the already awarded projects are struggling to get finances from lenders. Already, some of the developers have said that they would no more bid for BOT projects. "Banks are demanding 100% land availability before they commit funding, which is next to impossible," one official said.

In case of EPC contracts, which will largely two-and-half laning of highways, government needs minimum fresh land. Sources said the expansion can be done within the land that is already available with the NHAI. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Govt-likely-to-relax-highway-bid-norms/articleshow/16550869.cms

double post

Looks like corruption is slowing taking down the pace. How else can one explain the dismal goal setting and the even worse execution pace. These guys make it seem like a maha monumental task. They don't understand that you can break up any complex problem into small pieces. Each small piece is independently executed and in no time you have solved the larger problem. Even 20km a day is pathetic. We have more than 30 states in the nation and each state cannot build 1 km per day across their various districts.

These guys who man the department are stuck in some old school "serial program" mode thought. When will we get enlightened leadership that can light a fire under these babus. The babus are ensconced in cushy offices with steady stream of contract corruption money flowing. Why would they upset the apple cart. Unless a no nonsense mantriji kicks the barn doors and has them achieve "above and beyond" targets.


I think it's not about building two lane roads but about building six to eight lane expressways. 20km/day or over 7000km of expressway each year is monumental, isn't it? I also think corruption has gone down else there can’t be so much of progressive development activities.

^^ it isn't really... There are so many highway project in so many places all over India, 20 km/day is not even close to being monumental! Especially considering that it isn't one entity which is implementing all these projects!

And we need to 2 lane highways just as much as the eight lane expressways!

I think it's not about building two lane roads but about building six to eight lane expressways. 20km/day or over 7000km of expressway each year is monumental, isn't it? I also think corruption has gone down else there can’t be so much of progressive development activities.

This figure includes 2 lane highways too.

Reliance Infrastructure begins widening, tolling of Delhi-Agra road (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/infrastructure/reliance-infrastructure-begins-widening-tolling-of-delhi-agra-road/articleshow/16836312.cms)

Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra) today said it has commenced work on the widening and tolling of Delhi-Agra road, costing Rs 2,945 crore.

RInfra would execute the project through its Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), DA Toll Road Private Ltd, on DBFOT (Design, Build, Operate, Finance and Transfer) pattern under the aegis of National Highways Authority of India, the company said in a statement.

RInfra has been awarded the contract to construct, operate and maintain the road for a concession period of 26 years, it said.

The four to six lanes widening of Delhi-Agra road will involve a cost of Rs 2,945 crore that would cover construction and renovation of 16 flyovers, two overpasses, 14 vehicular underpasses, eight bridges on service road, 10 pedestrian underpasses among others, it added.

"Once the...widening work of Delhi Agra road is over, the corridor will start handling 70,000 vehicles per day from existing 17,000 vehicles per day. This will reduce traffic jams and bottlenecks and provide faster, safer and comfortable travelling experiences," RInfra CEO (Roads) Sudhir R Hoshing said.

RInfra, a leading infrastructure firm, is developing projects, through various Special Purpose vehicle. The Company is also developing two metro rail projects in Mumbai and operating Airport Metro Express in Delhi among others.

Reliance Infrastructure begins widening, tolling of Delhi-Agra road (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/infrastructure/reliance-infrastructure-begins-widening-tolling-of-delhi-agra-road/articleshow/16836312.cms)


this is wierd because there was news last week that land has still not been acquired.

Also, Today there was a news abt the meeting of the officials in which they were discussing that flyovers are not enuff and need some more u turns underpasses etc

Indian Road sector update by MoRTH -- www.pib.nic.in/archieve/others/2012/oct/d2012101204.ppt

^^ Isnt the e-way figure of 200 km wrong? The YE itself is 165 km and Vadodara-A'bad, MPE are around 95 km each

^^ Isnt the e-way figure of 200 km wrong? The YE itself is 165 km and Vadodara-A'bad, MPE are around 95 km each

That's a historical figure that I am seeing since years.

^^ Yes, but the report is latest (8 oct) still they have not updated the figures :nuts:

I have doubt that they are only counting NE1 and NE2.

But according to NHAI NE-2 is Eastern Peripheral e-way or KGP e-way which was tendered only recently (http://www.nhai.org/Doc/11july12/NIT.pdf). How can they include it in completed network as it is yet to start construction

^^ Yes, but the report is latest (8 oct) still they have not updated the figures :nuts:

Yeah, they have been capturing this historical figure everywhere and one more fact that NHs have 2% of road length but carry 40% of traffic in India. This must have changed over the years/decades.

^^ Yes, I've been reading that since schooling :lol:

According to Wikipedia , India has the third largest road network in the world and was the second largest five years ago, I know quality matters but still that is impressive.

I'm guessing that America and China are first and second.

China overtook us just a few years ago but then USA and China have more land to build their roads on

I'm guessing that America and China are first and second.
That would be correct.

But china has 85000 km of expressway that is more than US...around 76000 km...India unfortunately hardly has 900km of expressways and barely around 10,000 km of 4 lane highways...We still have a long long way..

And most of that 85000 km of expressways were built in last 10 years .. the change in china in terms of infrastructure has been amazing. Anyways its not been too bad for India and I believe we have not peaked yet .. we will peak by 2015 and continue at that rate for soem time.

^^ They are communist so they don't need to care about protests or rights, here there are protests by farmers , landlords etc. so it takes time , if the government can get its act together, I don't think so it would take much time for us to have 80000-90000 km of expressways , probably 10-12 years .

^^ They are communist so they don't need to care about protests or rights, here there are protests by farmers , landlords etc. so it takes time , if the government can get its act together, I don't think so it would take much time for us to have 80000-90000 km of expressways , probably 10-12 years .

Its not so. Dictatorships are there everywhere in the world. Even Pakistan was a dictatorship for years and we know how good infra there is. :lol: Come on, give credit where credit is due, Chinese government planned and implemented infrastructure development which other dictatorships didn't, be it in Africa or elsewhere. Govt had political will to develop infra in China. If GOI/states use infrastructure projects as a vote gathering mechanism rather than populist schemes, things will change. :)

^^ They are communist so they don't need to care about protests or rights, here there are protests by farmers , landlords etc. so it takes time , if the government can get its act together, I don't think so it would take much time for us to have 80000-90000 km of expressways , probably 10-12 years .

The US developed the interstate system under Eisenhower in 10 to 20 years as well...would you call us dictatorships as well? The Indian government and States simply have not been able to setup a reliable, fast, efficient land acquisition and compensation redressal system (both China and America set that up very quickly)...if you are going to continue to keep matters in the grey for the landowners, sure, the process is going to be slow...you need to take a leaf out of the US or EU's or China's book...efficient land acquisition and compensation. Looking at how the Indian Government operates, I believe the basic flaw is in how the Indian constitution was written...unlike the American constitution written in 1789 and the beautiful Bill of Rights amendments, Indian constitution is just an extension of british Colonial laws with a few more amendments thrown in for affirmative action. Inheriting a governance system that works for a small island but not in a large country like India's has tanked the way India governs its folks...what India really needs now is to revisit the Constitution, and do what America did or what EU did in forming their Union - get real achievers from Society to draft a very good federation constitution that can make the nation economically progressive...therein lies the real freedom.I encourage everyone to read the Federalist papers that led to the creation of the US Constitution...you will be amazed at the foresight the Founding fathers had...they were anticipating issues 100 years down the line and framing laws for that...simply amazing. India, you can do it, but you need a freedom struggle, an economic awakening. And the fact that such awakened thinking existed in 1789 was what too America places.

Here's a link to the Federalist papers written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison: http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/

Also, the Bill of Rights:http://www.foundingfathers.info/documents/billrights.html

Enjoy and let me know your thoughts...wouldnt mind starting a new thread on how facets of American constitution can apply to India.

^^
You have no idea of what you speak my friend , absolutely none.

US interstate system was built in 35 years, also most of the roads were over the present roads and there was not much land acquisition involved. You also forget that India has much higher density of population and much smaller land holdings.

Your rant about Indian constitution is ludicrous, Indian constitution was completely rewritten and actually the longest written constitution in the world. You will be amazed to know that Indian constitution was one of the first which granted equal rights to everyone and not just said it ( unlike American Constitution) anyways because you knowledge is so limited about India I would suggest you to read more. Wiki may be a good start (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India)

The problem in India are never laws but implementation though I do agree that land acquisition laws in India need to be revamped, ( BTW I hope the difference between Constitution and laws )

The only comparable country to India in terms of land acquisition problems is China but still they have 3 times more area than us. Land acquisition works differently in CHina as people have no rights to the land. Actually it is one of the major issues of discontent in China but because people have no rights they are silenced. We have nothing to learn from them in field of land acquisition and compensation. We can learn execution and vision of projects though.

^^
You have no idea of what you speak my friend , absolutely none.

US interstate system was built in 35 years, also most of the roads were over the present roads and there was not much land acquisition involved. You also forget that India has much higher density of population and much smaller land holdings.

Your rant about Indian constitution is ludicrous, Indian constitution was completely rewritten and actually the longest written constitution in the world. You will be amazed to know that Indian constitution was one of the first which granted equal rights to everyone and not just said it ( unlike American Constitution) anyways because you knowledge is so limited about India I would suggest you to read more. Wiki may be a good start (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_of_India)

The problem in India are never laws but implementation though I do agree that land acquisition laws in India need to be revamped, ( BTW I hope the difference between Constitution and laws )

The only comparable country to India in terms of land acquisition problems is China but still they have 3 times more area than us. Land acquisition works differently in CHina as people have no rights to the land. Actually it is one of the major issues of discontent in China but because people have no rights they are silenced. We have nothing to learn from them in field of land acquisition and compensation. We can learn execution and vision of projects though.

You say: "The problem in India are never laws but implementation though I do agree that land acquisition laws in India need to be revamped, ( BTW I hope the difference between Constitution and laws )"

But this is what the American Constitution did...it understood that politicians wont implement laws properly under several circumstances (read the Federalist papers...they anticipated all this in 1789)..listed them all out and built in constitutional provisions that would prevent such behavior. A long document in my opinion as you proudly claim may not be efficient..there might be too many protections that slow down commerce for example. What you need to assess is if it was built for promoting prosperity, liberty, and Justice with minimal government involvement? I dont think so because in India, it appears the Government is everywhere. I ma basing all my interpretations on what I see happening in India today...that is the inability of the Constitution to have prevented all things afflicting India today...one key provision is the US Representatives' are elected for 2 years only and therefore their interests are closely tied with the interests of their constituents, direct election of the Chief Executive and Governors is another area, Direct referendum based law making is another areas...the much longer time frames in India and indirect electoral college based voting (all fine for a small island called England) promotes dissonance with what people of various interests in India want..I can go on and on, but I'd like to maintain that the Indian Constitution was not written in anticipation of human frailties and inclination to succumb to the path of least resistance, and also ended up adoption a protectionist, socialist style system which has stifled growth and prosperity for so many years...

As far as the IS system, the bulk of it was built in 15 to 20 years...technically (or by Law) there is no end to building IS and much of the coastal constructions and exits ended up taking much longer and pushed the project into massive cost overruns and 35+ years ...but that does not mean it took 35 years to build the basis system that favored commerce , counting all the small mileages and improvements built later on..even assuming 20 years, that is 10 KMs a day...something I believe the Indian Government says it can easily do...but the point is it is NOT doing so...so it is a Constitutional issue of unaccountability. That's my central point.

^^

Dude can you cite land acquisition laws in the "constitution" of america ? Land Acquisition in US is not a federal issue at all .. it depends on states and heck even on counties in some places. It has varied wildly from the times of American independence, It has changed continuously. ..
Your position here is basically just preaching that the US of A is such a great system and we should follow it.

Let me tell you .. when US got independence the area it has is much different from now from that time till now they have had a huge civil war, a huge movement to give equal rights to everyone. The whole damn interpretation of the basic bill of rights has changed. ( remember equal rights ? )

Indian constitution is more like US constitution than any other country ( UK does not have a formal constitution ) , you will find a lot of similarity between US and Indian constitution . Actually when Indian constitution was being made they studies the constitution of all liberal democratic nations and incorporated the best practices in Indian constitution.

US has always been a rich country with plenty of resources, its original inhabitants disenfranchised and chased away while emigrants slowly settled. I appreciate American sense of equality and hard work as much as you but it was not perfect and still is not perfect. I think India's parliamentary democracy is much better modeled than the American system to handle Unique Indian conditions.

^^ They are communist so they don't need to care about protests or rights, here there are protests by farmers , landlords etc. so it takes time , if the government can get its act together, I don't think so it would take much time for us to have 80000-90000 km of expressways , probably 10-12 years .

You are too much optimistic....10-12 years and 80000 km of expressway...lol...NHAI planned to build around 15000 km by 2020...When planning happens in India implementation is equally poor and opposite. I dont say build 80000 km..at least 20000 will be much sufficient. lol

You are too much optimistic....10-12 years and 80000 km of expressway...lol...NHAI planned to build around 15000 km by 2020...When planning happens in India implementation is equally poor and opposite. I dont say build 80000 km..at least 20000 will be much sufficient. lol

True. I read that Golden quadilateral was supposed to be finished by 2004, till date it hasn't finished. :lol:

You are too much optimistic....10-12 years and 80000 km of expressway...lol...NHAI planned to build around 15000 km by 2020...When planning happens in India implementation is equally poor and opposite. I dont say build 80000 km..at least 20000 will be much sufficient. lol

NHAI is run by inefficient bureaucrats, not engineers. Privatizing and giving reputed companies a controlling position in these organisations will certainly do wonders. Jaypee did such a fantastic job on the Yamuna expressway and if land acquisition delays weren't there, they would have completed it much earlier.

True. I read that Golden quadilateral was supposed to be finished by 2004, till date it hasn't finished. :lol:

Golden Quadrilateral is 99.7% complete for a quite a few years now. Even in the NS corridor very small pockets are left because of local issues.

^^

Dude can you cite land acquisition laws in the "constitution" of america ? Land Acquisition in US is not a federal issue at all .. it depends on states and heck even on counties in some places. It has varied wildly from the times of American independence, It has changed continuously. ..
Your position here is basically just preaching that the US of A is such a great system and we should follow it.

Let me tell you .. when US got independence the area it has is much different from now from that time till now they have had a huge civil war, a huge movement to give equal rights to everyone. The whole damn interpretation of the basic bill of rights has changed. ( remember equal rights ? )

Indian constitution is more like US constitution than any other country ( UK does not have a formal constitution ) , you will find a lot of similarity between US and Indian constitution . Actually when Indian constitution was being made they studies the constitution of all liberal democratic nations and incorporated the best practices in Indian constitution.

US has always been a rich country with plenty of resources, its original inhabitants disenfranchised and chased away while emigrants slowly settled. I appreciate American sense of equality and hard work as much as you but it was not perfect and still is not perfect. I think India's parliamentary democracy is much better modeled than the American system to handle Unique Indian conditions.

Actually the Interstate system is als owned and operated by the States. But I dont see the point there. In the US, the States cannot implement laws that is inconsistent with the US Constitution or even Federal Laws, even though the States may have their own constitutions. The Federal Government regularly sues the States when they resort to such shenanigans. What about the terms of the representatives and the direct voting that I talked about for key positions such as the President and Governors? Or, the referendum based voting? Or, the Constitutional ability to recall your representatives? These plus constant vigil by non-partisan groups are what has made the politicians at least not go berserk with their powers. Does anything like that happen in India or is written in the COnstitution? The answer is NO, I believe. My basic point is the electoral college based system works only for small populations and not for a large country like India. To me these matters continue to be the primary failing of the Indian Constitution.

Actually the Interstate system is als owned and operated by the States. But I dont see the point there. In the US, the States cannot implement laws that is inconsistent with the US Constitution or even Federal Laws, even though the States may have their own constitutions. The Federal Government regularly sues the States when they resort to such shenanigans. What about the terms of the representatives and the direct voting that I talked about for key positions such as the President and Governors? Or, the referendum based voting? Or, the Constitutional ability to recall your representatives? These plus constant vigil by non-partisan groups are what has made the politicians at least not go berserk with their powers. Does anything like that happen in India or is written in the COnstitution? The answer is NO, I believe. My basic point is the electoral college based system works only for small populations and not for a large country like India. To me these matters continue to be the primary failing of the Indian Constitution.

Maybe we should start an Indian Constitution Tutorial thread in chaibar?

Maybe we should start an Indian Constitution Tutorial thread in chaibar?

yes that would be more informative..
Somebody will post "So and So has been stated" in article "so and so" of section "so and so".. lol..

........ is the electoral college based system works only for small populations and not for a large country like India. To me these matters continue to be the primary failing of the Indian Constitution....... :ohno:

1. India does not have a electoral college based voting for the central government.

2. US does not have a central land acquisition law.

3. Right to recall law is state based in US and no system is there for the President except impeachment, in India's the parliamentary system the PM and the whole cabinet is responsible to the parliament and can be removed anytime with simple majority.

I don't know why you think a directly elected president who can appoint anyone whom he likes in his cabinet and not be answerable directly to the parliament for executive decisions is better for India than the parliamentary system .. why ? I would rather say that the parliamentary system in India is much better than the System in US, especially if you look back 60 years back when we had so many breakaway princely states and so much diversity and poverty in India.

None of these are relevant to this thread except for the land acquisition topic we were talking and you incorrectly stated that US has a better system in place or there is a more coherent Federal Law for this. You divert from topic all the time ... I think we should drop this now..

Maybe we should start an Indian Constitution Tutorial thread in chaibar?

Naah .. I just wanted to say to him that Land acquisition is not a constitutional issue, neither in India nor in USA

खेड ते सिन्नर रस्ता चौपदरीकरणासाठी भूसंपादन प्रक्रिया आजपासून सुरू झाली आहे. केंद्र सरकारने जमीन भू-संपादनाबाबत राजपत्र प्रसिद्ध केले आहे. येत्या दीड ते दोन महिन्यांत संपादनाचे काम पूर्ण झाल्यास, खेड ते सिन्नर या 135 किलोमीटर लांबीच्या रस्त्याचे प्रत्यक्ष काम जून 2013 मध्ये सुरू होईल, असा अंदाज आहे. या रस्त्याच्या कामासाठी एक हजार 200 कोटी रुपये व भू-संपादनासाठी 300 कोटी रुपये असा एकूण एक हजार 500 कोटी रुपये खर्च अपेक्षित आहे. नाशिक राष्ट्रीय राजमार्ग प्राधिकरण यांच्या नियंत्रणाखाली बीओटी तत्त्वावर रस्त्याचे काम होणार आहे.

पुणे-नाशिक रस्ता वाहतुकीसाठी सध्या अपुरा पडत आहे. चाकण औद्योगिक वसाहतीमुळे या रस्त्यावर वाहनांच्या संख्येत लक्षणीय वाढ झाली आहे. पेठ-अवसरी व खेड घाटातही झालेल्या अपघातांमुळे अनेकवेळा वाहतूक बंद पडली आहे. राजगुरुनगर, मंचर, कळंब, नारायणगाव, आळेफाटा गावांतून रस्ता जातो. त्यामुळे वारंवार होणाऱ्या वाहन कोंडीचा फटका प्रवाशांना बसत आहे. रस्त्याच्या कामाची मागणी गेल्या अनेक वर्षांपासून करण्यात आली होती. या मागणीची केंद्र व राज्य सरकारने दखल घेतली आहे. या चौपदरीकरणासाठी 561 हेक्*टर जमीन संपादन करावी लागणार आहे.

Read more: http://www.esakal.com/esakal/20121102/5224203398948591032.htm

Summary:
Land acquisition for the 135km long 4-laning of the Pune Nashik highway between Khed and Sinnar has started from today. Land acquisition is expected to be completed within the next one and half to two months. Actual construction expected to start in June 2013. Cost of 4 laning is 1200 crores for construction and 300 crores for land aquisition. It is to be done on BOT basis. 561 hectare land is to be acquired.

Naah .. I just wanted to say to him that Land acquisition is not a constitutional issue, neither in India nor in USA

Dude...are you just flippin' around for the sake of it? Land acquisition is a constitutional issue in the good 'ol USA. All US States have their own constitutions, all of which govern land rights etc. But there are Federal land laws too...the Eminent Domain Law and Native American Reservation Law -all federal laws - are blessed by the Constitution. Every single federal law derives its powers from the authority provided by the Constitution. We can start a separate thread somewhere but you dont seem to grasp what a constitution is and what it is not. India does elect its Prime Minister through an electoral college of members of parliament. Do you get the concept of an electoral college? I like Sun City's idea, a separate thread might help...it appears that folks out here do not know what a Constitution is and how it provides powers etc...will close this out now and can continue discussion somewhere else.

You have no idea of what you ate talking.. You did not even look up for one if the things i said.
PM in India is the leader of the majority group in parliament it is very different from electoral college, most laws in US ate not written in 'constitution' . Anyways
I give up .. believe whatever you want.

Dear all,

I do not know if you remember the huge amount of work made by Hobbes on NHDP statistics (find it here: http://indiatransportportal.com/road-construction-data/)

Well, IndiaTransportPortal worked with Hobbes on an infographics based on such statistics in order to highlight some NHDP issues.

It is just a beginning and we plan to work on a special magazine that will tackle road construction challenges but it would be great if Hobbes and us, at IndiaTransportPortal could have some feedbacks from you guys.

Well, here you can download the infographics: http://indiatransportportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2012_NHDP.pdf

I hope that the .PDF is not too big. It shoud be less than 1 Mo.

Thanks and regards!

Arnaud,
Deputy Chief Editor
IndiaTransportPortal.com

Dear all,

I do not know if you remember the huge amount of work made by Hobbes on NHDP statistics (find it here: http://indiatransportportal.com/road-construction-data/)

Well, IndiaTransportPortal worked with Hobbes on an infographics based on such statistics in order to highlight some NHDP issues.

It is just a beginning and we plan to work on a special magazine that will tackle road construction challenges but it would be great if Hobbes and us, at IndiaTransportPortal could have some feedbacks from you guys.

Well, here you can download the infographics: http://indiatransportportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2012_NHDP.pdf

I hope that the .PDF is not too big. It shoud be less than 1 Mo.

Thanks and regards!

Arnaud,
Deputy Chief Editor
IndiaTransportPortal.com

This is a great PDF thanks!!! ... am now looking into your website.... A small suggestion... At times the PDF uses "," to represent decimals and at times it uses "." ... Gets a little confusing ... Thanks!!!

You score a point! The document is edited according your remark. It will be soon available on our portal and we will try to update it regularly with Hobbes.
We also try to be media partner with Infrastructure Events so we can go further with interviews on the matter. Thanks again, much appreciated.

Edit: Here is the amended document: http://indiatransportportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2012_Road_Construction.pdf
Please tell us if you see anything that is still wrong.

Any plans to update with State Highway status across India ?

You score a point! The document is edited according your remark. It will be soon available on our portal and we will try to update it regularly with Hobbes.
We also try to be media partner with Infrastructure Events so we can go further with interviews on the matter. Thanks again, much appreciated.

Edit: Here is the amended document: http://indiatransportportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2012_Road_Construction.pdf
Please tell us if you see anything that is still wrong.

Any plans to update with State Highway status across India ?

To be honest, that is Hobbes who's in charge of data compilation. He did all the work. Our team is actually involved on other issues and materials. Of course, we hope to keep tracking such topics, and upgrading our statistics but I'm not sure how it will be possible.
This infographics is, for India Transport Portal, a basis to (try to) reach infrastructure stakeholders so we can ask precise questions to them.

Guys does anyone know the status of the project to convert the 4-lane highways of the golden quadrialteral into 6-lane ones?

You score a point! The document is edited according your remark. It will be soon available on our portal and we will try to update it regularly with Hobbes.
We also try to be media partner with Infrastructure Events so we can go further with interviews on the matter. Thanks again, much appreciated.

Edit: Here is the amended document: http://indiatransportportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/2012_Road_Construction.pdf
Please tell us if you see anything that is still wrong.

Arnaud, thanks for all the hard work in putting this together!

Folks, Arnaud and the ITP team has done a great job converting the statistics from my sheet into an easy to understand visual document. Please provide any feedback to further improve it.

Once the infographics document is posted on the portal, let's try to publicize the link and help disseminate the information. The more awareness we can create about the real state of highway construction in India, the more we can push the govt get its act together on this matter.

Guys does anyone know the status of the project to convert the 4-lane highways of the golden quadrialteral into 6-lane ones?
I think you can actually find out all the details in the individual state highway threads.

NH 4 | Hubli - Dharwad Bypass, Karnataka

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8198/8210104781_52783def66_b.jpg

By Manjunath Kasigavi (www.flickr.com/photos/manjunathkasigavi) on flickr

^^
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8481/8210106145_5c6fcd9721_b.jpg
NH 4 | Hubli - Dharwad Bypass, Karnataka by Manjunath Kasigavi (www.flickr.com/photos/manjunathkasigavi) on flickr

^^
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8341/8210117543_f62330882b_b.jpg
NH 4 | Hubli - Dharwad Bypass, Karnataka by Manjunath Kasigavi (www.flickr.com/photos/manjunathkasigavi) on flickr

Nice greenery. Love to drive through this road.:)
^^
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8341/8210117543_f62330882b_b.jpg
NH 4 | Hubli - Dharwad Bypass, Karnataka by Manjunath Kasigavi (www.flickr.com/photos/manjunathkasigavi) on flickr

^^It's the only section along the GQ between Bombay and Madras that's not yet dual carriageway.

And here it is: the final url with the road construction infographics:
http://indiatransportportal.com/2012/11/nhdp-where-do-we-stand/
The document is embedded from Scribd but there is also a link to download it directly from the portal. Hope it doest not take too long to download it.
Thanks and regards,
Arnaud

Ps: Nice pics Manjunath kasigavi!

http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=88061 (a) The Ministry will try its best to award road projects as per the original targets for FY 12-13 and will certainly cross 8,000 kms of awards this year by March, 2013. b) Road projects of at least 3,000 kms length will be awarded under OMT by March, 2013.)
a) The Ministry will try its best to award road projects as per the original targets for FY 12-13 and will certainly cross 8,000 kms of awards this year by March, 2013.

b) Road projects of at least 3,000 kms length will be awarded under OMT by March, 2013.

X-posting from the International thread on 'Motorway openings':

3 December 2012

The last 33 kilometer section of the Hyderabad Outer Ring Road opened to traffic today.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/states/andhra-cm-commissions-outer-ring-road/article4160890.ece

Asian Development Bank approved $300 million loan for the state of Chhattisgarh to build and upgrade 900 kilometers of state/rural roads over 2013-2017. For details, see here (http://www.adb.org/news/300-million-adb-loan-major-road-upgrades-indias-chhattisgarh-state).

Another source for recently approved road and highway projects in many states of India, particularly with some international funding, can be searched/read at World Highways (http://www.worldhighways.com/search/?q=india). It covers, for example, the December 2012 announcement for Bihar; the state launched US$ 4.22 billion project to build 34,000 kilometers of paved rural roads by 2017. Another example, World Bank approved a $320 million fund in November 2012 for road projects in the eastern state of Assam.

^^It's the only section along the GQ between Bombay and Madras that's not yet dual carriageway.

Mumbai and Chennai you mean? :)

GMR Infrastructure today said it has terminated its contract with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for building the Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad Highway project.

“The GMR Kishangarh Udaipur Ahmedabad Expressways Limited, a subsidiary of the company, has terminated the concession agreement entered into with NHAI for six laning of the 555 kilometres Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway,” the company informed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The company had won the project in September 2011, through the international competitive bidding route. It was to be implemented through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer basis. Financial closure for the project was achieved in May 2012.

The infrastructure major currently has four annuity projects and six toll road projects totalling 6,685 lane kms under its Highways business segment.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/business/companies/gmr-infra-treminates-contract-with-nhai/article4283322.ece

Mumbai and Chennai you mean? :)

Bombay and Madras.
My Birth Certif states Madras, and it was Bombay when I shifted to the city.
That's how I call them..


Any updates on the Poonamalle Walajahpet Section. It's the only section on the Bangalore Madras section that is still four lane. It was apparently cancelled after a High Court order.

The Environment Ministry on Friday cleared GVK Power and Infrastructures Shivpuri-Dewas national highway project, sources told.

The clearance comes after the infrastructure major had issued a termination notice to National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), citing delay in nod from the ministry. The company was reportedly unhappy with delays in getting necessary clearances. The Supreme Court has made it mandatory to get environmental clearances for projects that involve excavation work and boulder removal.

GVK had, in October 2011, bagged the Rs 4,000 crore order for the four-laning of the Shivpuri-Dewas section of National Highway 3 in Madhya Pradesh from the NHAI. The project entails widening and strengthening of the two-lane highway to a four-lane over a 332 km stretch as part of the National Highway Development Project (Phase IV).


http://profit.ndtv.com/news/corporates/article-gvks-shivpuri-dewas-project-gets-environment-ministry-nod-sources-316009

Not being from India (of Indian origin though), please forgive this question:

In today's Times of India, Chidanand Rajaghatta, in a rant about India's films not being good enough for the Oscars, implied that India's new road and bridges etc were substandard in the West and worse than those being built in Africa and Latin America.

Now having visited India and my parents having travelled extensively in North and South, the roads and bridges look good - very good - by any objective standard.

Outside a few pockets in Africa and Latin America, even in prosperous countries, some of their road aren't all that great.

So my question is, Rajghatta's comments: Indian self-loathing or true ?

Thanks

Not being from India (of Indian origin though), please forgive this question:



So my question is, Rajghatta's comments: Indian self-loathing or true ?

Thanks

it varies considerably but in general the state of Indian roads isn't good. There may be a few highways that are really world class but not enough.

Also some of the design features of the newer roads don't look world class. That includes entry and egress ( where you need acceleration / de-acceration lanes) etc.

Large parts of India (UP especially) still have the ramshacke roads of yore. There is a tendency in India to point one or two really good roads /highways and say that India has good roads. There is no consistency

Are you from UP? How frequently do you drive in UP to comment on the quality of roads?


it varies considerably but in general the state of Indian roads isn't good. There may be a few highways that are really world class but not enough.

Also some of the design features of the newer roads don't look world class. That includes entry and egress ( where you need acceleration / de-acceration lanes) etc.

Large parts of India (UP especially) still have the ramshacke roads of yore. There is a tendency in India to point one or two really good roads /highways and say that India has good roads. There is no consistency

Are you from UP? How frequently do you drive in UP to comment on the quality of roads?

yes

Not that frequently but nothing changes in UP. Also becasue driving in UP is hard.

UP roads are bad because of corruption. The roads are built to a shoddy quality (like they always did), but the traffic has increased so even new roads break up very quickly

Some roads in UP are like driving on a bombed out track (e.g Delhi- Saharanpur). Speed 10 kph. It is worse than what it was 20 yrs ago.

F1, YE, Auto Show Shifted to G Noida, check my images from Lucknow and also check my images of different roads in UP and if you still says nothing happens/changes in UP.... sorry no one can help you


yes

Not that frequently but nothing changes in UP. Also becasue driving in UP is hard.

UP roads are bad because of corruption. The roads are built to a shoddy quality (like they always did), but the traffic has increased so even new roads break up very quickly

Some roads in UP are like driving on a bombed out track (e.g Delhi- Saharanpur). Speed 10 kph. It is worse than what it was 20 yrs ago.

F1, YE, Auto Show Shifted to G Noida, check my images from Lucknow and also check my images of different roads in UP and if you still says nothing happens/changes in UP.... sorry no one can help you

well this is what I mean. UP is not G Noida or even YE. Once you drive out of Noida you get the same old UP. UP is a huge state. One thing is most UP roads are wide, so the land is there

Delhi-Saharanpur-Yamunotri Road (SH57)

206.089

1718.35

M/s SEW - Prasad Consortium Infrastructure Limited, Hyderabad selected as a developer. Concession agreement signed on 01.08.2011. Independent Engineer selected, agreement signed on 28.02.2012.
-----------------------------------

reason why govt did not invest to repair the SH57. Next time when you drive do not complain about the toll tax.....

other SH under implementation under PPP
http://udyogbandhu.com/topics.aspx?mid=U.P.%20State%20Highways%20Authority




yes

Not that frequently but nothing changes in UP. Also becasue driving in UP is hard.

UP roads are bad because of corruption. The roads are built to a shoddy quality (like they always did), but the traffic has increased so even new roads break up very quickly

Some roads in UP are like driving on a bombed out track (e.g Delhi- Saharanpur). Speed 10 kph. It is worse than what it was 20 yrs ago.

when you do not know about other regions then why to comment? My images are not from Noida/G Noida

well this is what I mean. UP is not G Noida or even YE. Once you drive out of Noida you get the same old UP. UP is a huge state

do you know most ambitious Expressway projects ever executed in Indian history by any state are under implementation in UP?


well this is what I mean. UP is not G Noida or even YE. Once you drive out of Noida you get the same old UP. UP is a huge state. One thing is most UP roads are wide, so the land is there

do you know most ambitious Expressway projects ever executed in Indian history by any state are under implementation in UP?

So how are the road in UP in your opinion and what is the National Highways network like in terms of road condition ?

My family is from rural UP originally so I have a very keen interest in developments in that State.

How is it faring in human and economic development ?

Thanks

Year End Review, 2012 report ---Department of Road Transport and Highways

Road Transport Scenario in India
http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=91384

Year End Review, 2012 report ---Department of Road Transport and Highways

Road Transport Scenario in India
http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=91384

there has been a slowdown with road construction under the UPA govt . 8 long years :ohno:

I just travelled from Hyderabad to Pune and back a few days before the new year, and my warning to anyone using NH9 on this stretch right now is DONT!

I saw 2 major accidents and at least two deaths (that I saw, might have been more) on this road! I cannot believe such an important and busy road is just now being upgraded. The part between Hyderabad and Solapur is still two lanes and a deathtrap at night. The stretch between solapur and Pune is being upgraded to 4 lane, but while this work is going on, it is a complete mess! By the looks of things, it wont be done anytime soon!

Even the two laned part is fine till you cross over from KA to MH, then it is horrid!

I have been going on driving holidays all my life in India, but never have I been more scared for my life!

On the flip side, took a bus from Hyderabad to Vijayawada. The original schedules of the bus was that it would leave at 10 from Hyd and arrive at 5 AM, but the road is so amazing now (since the four laning work has been completed) that the bus got there at 3 AM instead! if you clear Hyderabad, you can reach Vijayawada in less then 3 hours!

So how are the road in UP in your opinion and what is the National Highways network like in terms of road condition ?

My family is from rural UP originally so I have a very keen interest in developments in that State.

How is it faring in human and economic development ?

Thanks

As far as I know, it lags behind Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in economic and social development respectively.

BTW, are you from the West Indies? If so, are you a trini Indian or Guyanese/Surinamese Indian by any chance? :) Just asking as I lived there for a long time. :)

I just travelled from Hyderabad to Pune and back a few days before the new year, and my warning to anyone using NH9 right now is DONT!

I saw 2 major accidents and at least two deaths (that I saw, might have been more) on this road! I cannot believe such an important and busy road is just now being upgraded. The part between Hyderabad and Solapur is still two lanes and a deathtrap at night. The stretch between solapur and Pune is being upgraded to 4 lane, but while this work is going on, it is a complete mess! By the looks of things, it wont be done anytime soon!

Even the two laned part is fine till you cross over from KA to MH, then it is horrid!

I have been going on driving holidays all my life in India, but never have I been more scared for my life!

Better on AP side or MH side? :)

Better on AP side or MH side? :)

Simple answer is neither, to be honest, the only stretch which was ok was a short (20 odd km) stretch within KA border. the rest was pot-marked and rough!

AP side the problem is the two laned road and MH side it is the four laning work!

for anyone who needs to use this road though, Pune-Satara-Pandharpur-Solapur route is better. Cant avoid the two lane bit from Solapur to Hyd, but sure beats going on the Solapur-Pune stretch!

We made it in almost 5 hours from Hyd to Solapur, but took over 9 hours to get to Pune after that

Simple answer is neither, to be honest, the only stretch which was ok was a short (20 odd km) stretch within KA border. the rest was pot-marked and rough!

AP side the problem is the two laned road and MH side it is the four laning work!

for anyone who needs to use this road though, Pune-Satara-Pandharpur-Solapur route is better. Cant avoid the two lane bit from Solapur to Hyd, but sure beats going on the Solapur-Pune stretch!

We made it in almost 5 hours from Hyd to Solapur, but took over 9 hours to get to Pune after that

I myself used that Kesineni sleeper bus from Pune to Hyderabad and back two months ago. In the night, the bus just rattles and rattles. :ohno::lol:

As far as I know, it lags behind Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in economic and social development respectively.

BTW, are you from the West Indies? If so, are you a trini Indian or Guyanese/Surinamese Indian by any chance? :) Just asking as I lived there for a long time. :)

Yes - Trinidadian. Where did you live ? Always curious about UP. I know what you've said is true. My question was more aimed at finding out if anything is improving from where things were.

Yes - Trinidadian. Where did you live ? Always curious about UP. I know what you've said is true. My question was more aimed at finding out if anything is improving from where things were.

Hear me naah man, hear meee. Yuh come and tell me dat you is a trini? Baas, aint you dun know how lang I is waitin to meet a trini? Come na man, dont be dotish na maan. I tell you is a lang time since I drink eat me dhal purie, my aloo chokha, me baigan chokha, and bake n shaaark. Yuh is a trini? Dat is something. Lemme tell ya something-I was living dere self. Right dere man, in Chaguanas. :cheers: And also before dat, in Gaargetown (if you're a trini, you'll know this accent.) Is a freeness man, you overstand, I talking like dis. Me naah get a chance to talk in we style man since dem days when I was dere in the west Indies (now so I does be in West India :lol:)

Now to answer your questions, as far as I know, in Noida-G.Noida region, thanks to proximity to Delhi there is some growth and development. Other regions people who does be living dere culd tell yah. I doesn't be talking about what I dont know maan. :lol:

I just travelled from Hyderabad to Pune and back a few days before the new year, and my warning to anyone using NH9 on this stretch right now is DONT!

I saw 2 major accidents and at least two deaths (that I saw, might have been more) on this road! I cannot believe such an important and busy road is just now being upgraded. The part between Hyderabad and Solapur is still two lanes and a deathtrap at night. The stretch between solapur and Pune is being upgraded to 4 lane, but while this work is going on, it is a complete mess! By the looks of things, it wont be done anytime soon!

Even the two laned part is fine till you cross over from KA to MH, then it is horrid!

I have been going on driving holidays all my life in India, but never have I been more scared for my life!

On the flip side, took a bus from Hyderabad to Vijayawada. The original schedules of the bus was that it would leave at 10 from Hyd and arrive at 5 AM, but the road is so amazing now (since the four laning work has been completed) that the bus got there at 3 AM instead! if you clear Hyderabad, you can reach Vijayawada in less then 3 hours!
I thought the MH section from Pune to Solapur was being done by IRB and Tata?

not sure who is doing it, but it is mess with all the diversions at this point. Certain sections are done, but a lot more work remaining. I am guessing at least another 2 yrs to complete it...

I thought the MH section from Pune to Solapur was being done by IRB and Tata?

Why cannot they six-lane the road? I thought you could reach Vijaywada in 4 hours. :ohno:

NHAI to approach Supreme Court against Environment Ministry over delay in forest clearances (http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-01-09/news/36237721_1_forest-clearances-environmental-clearances-highways-projects)
NEW DELHI: Amidst about 350 highways projects stuck for green nods, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to approach the Supreme Court against Environment Ministry seeking clarifications on the issue.

"We will approach the Supreme Court seeking clarification in regard to forest clearance as a number of our projects including major ones are stuck for forest clearances," a top NHAI official said. The development follows infrastructure major GMR, this week, announcing exit from prestigious Rs 7,500 crore Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad project and 21 other projects -- of worth over Rs 1,000 crore each facing delays in forest clearances after getting environment nod.

Meanwhile, sources said that another infrastructure major GVK Group too has threatened to pull out from the 330-km long Shivpuri-Dewas highway in Madhya Pradesh, citing delays in environmental clearances.

The official said NHAI would seek delinking of forest and environment clearances as was the practice earlier as Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoEF) pleads that norms were in accordance with a Supreme Court judgement.

The official added that the Supreme Court in 2011 had allowed cement major Lafarge to mine limestone in the forests of Meghalaya and had asked the government to make an interim arrangement for forest clearance till a national environment regulator was set up.

Earlier NHAI Board too has approved the plan to approach the apex court in the matter including seeking relief from getting a no objection certificate from gram panchayats under the Forest Rights Act.

The government has recently admitted that as many as 347 road projects including those pertaining to Border Road Organisation, mostly on build, operate and transfer (BOT) mode were are awaiting green clearances.

It had said that green hurdles have delayed 21 major highways projects on crucial sections like Ahmedabad-Vadodara, Delhi-Agra and Lucknow-Raibareli were facing delays.

The delay is mainly on account of linking the environment clearance with forest clearance and condition of obtaining no objection certificate from Gram Sabha of the concerned village under the Forest Rights Act.

For road projects, the environment ministry gives environmental clearances only after forest clearances are obtained.

The official said that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Ministry (MoRTH) and NHAI had drawn the attention of the MoEF in this regard umpteen times but to of no avail.

NHAI gets cracking on developers exiting road projects midway (http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/NHAI-gets-cracking-on-developers-exiting-road-projects-midway/Article1-988953.aspx)
With some road developers expressing their inability to complete projects and threatening to exit midway, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the central agency that builds highways, has decided to go tough on defaulters. To prevent “willful default” on part of
concessionaires, the road ministry has decided that in recent cases where developers had terminated their contract midway, NHAI can not only invoke security deposit as per law but also debar them from bidding in future projects for the next five years.

It was decided in a meeting chaired by road minister CP Joshi on January 3 to review the progress of highway projects. “...It was decided that NHAI can take action like invoking their (concessionaires) security deposit as per law and debarring them from further participating in tender in any form for the next five years. This will help to check willful default on part of concessionaire,” reads the minutes of the meeting.

The decision comes in the wake of two highway developers — GMR Infrastructure and GVK — which bagged the project to build 555 km long Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad highway and the 330 km Shivpuri-Dewas stretch respectively in 2011— serving termination notice to NHAI recently. Both cited delay in getting environment clearance as reason for exiting the project.

Delay in getting environment clearance has even forced the NHAI to drag another government agency – the Ministry of Environment and Forest – to the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Failure to get this crucial clearance without which work can’t start has resulted in 17 projects worth over Rs. 1000 crore getting stuck.

http://www.livemint.com/Companies/riFD3qgxoYN4kBtpNuuU2L/GVK-terminates-NHAI-contract.html

The company said in a stock exchange filing that its unit GVK ShivpuriDewas Expressway Pvt. Ltd had terminated the 12 January, 2012 concession agreement it executed with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the four-laning of the Shivpuri-Dewas section of National Highway No. 3 (NH3) in Madhya Pradesh.

The termination of the agreement is the latest setback to India’s deficient infrastructure sector, which has been struggling with slowing economic growth and weak market sentiment. Delays in land acquisition and securing environmental approvals have hurt project execution.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/ramky-infra-tiesfunds-for-agra-etawah-road-project-in-up/201074/on

Ramky Infrastructure has secured finances worth Rs 1,225 crore for its Agra-Etawah road project in Uttar Pradesh, the company said today.

"An agreement to this effect was signed between Agra Etawah Tollways Ltd, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed to undertake the project and consortium of bankers led by Oriental Bank of Commerce and other participating lenders ... on December 29, 2012," the company said in a statement

Ramky Infra was awarded the project by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for six laning of the Agra-Etawah bypass section of the National Highways 2 (NH 2) to be executed on design-build-finance-operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis. Concession period for the project is 30 years.

NHAI hopes to build 2900km in 2012-13, highest ever (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/NHAI-hopes-to-build-2900km-in-2012-13-highest-ever/articleshow/18160121.cms)

NHAI hopes to build 2900km in 2012-13, highest ever


Dipak Kumar Dash, TNN | Jan 24, 2013, 07.15AM IST

NEW DELHI: National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) expects to build at least 2,800-2,900 km highways under the NH Development Programme during 2012-13, which will be the highest ever completion in the authority's history. The maximum NH construction record so far has been 2,693 km in 2009-10, sources said.

According to officials, the highways minister C P Joshi has asked the authority to achieve its internal target of 3,000 km by March-end and to expedite construction on small pending stretches so that large corridors can be brought under "completion" category. "Issues relating to every under construction stretch was discussed on Tuesday and Wednesday at the highest level where top NHAI and highway ministry officials were present," said a source.

Till December, NHAI has constructed around 1,650 km. Officials claimed that the pace of construction usually increase during this period and the fresh target can be achieved. This could be a little compensation for the authority, which has failed to meet the target for awarding projects due to poor response from bidders.

The ministry and NHAI will also work out a plan to ensure that concessionaires have a long stretch available to undertake construction instead of getting lands in small patches. "If we get 60-70% contiguous land without any pending clearance or problem, the construction will be faster," said a private concessionaire.

The Centre on Wednesday set an incredible target for the NHAI, ordering it to finish construction of 8,500 kilometres of national highways by the end of this financial year. This is despite the fact that only 1,000 kms of projects have been awarded or partly constructed during the last ten months. The total target was 9,500 kms during the current fiscal year.

The revised deadline was set following an urgent review meeting between the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and all stakeholders.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already expressed concern over the tardy progress of highway construction projects.

The UPA Government had in 2009 unveiled its ambitious target of building 35,000 kms of highways in five years at the rate of 20 kms daily.

Worried over the dismal performance of national highway construction during the current financial year, MoRTH Minister C P Joshi summoned top NHAI authorities and directed them to expedite the work, at least in awarding of tenders.

According to sources, Joshi has assured the stakeholders that they should convey their problems to the Ministry, which will seek immediate redressal.

Sources said that according to the presentation made by the NHAI, raising of equity for awarding projects was its major concern as building 10,000 kms of roads a year, including 7,000 kms of national highways, requires an investment of `90,000 crores.

NHAI chairman RP Singh stated last week that in view of delays in environment clearance and issues of land acquisition, building 20 km of roads a day is not sustainable.

The National Highways Builders Federation (NHBF) too has sought intervention from the NHAI and the Finance Ministry for liberalising the policy on financing of road projects.

I was looking at the Indian map and I think they should a highway connecting gandhinagar,indore,bhopal,jabbalpur,ranchi,jamshedpur and kolkata. If built this highway would greatly envigorate the economies of four states.

It will run parallel to nh6 but this connects the capital cities and also main economic centers.

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/918/87512800.jpg

Of this gandhinagar to Bhopal is already 4 laned and Bhopal - Jabbalpur will be 4 laned so will be Ranchi - Jamshedpur. They only need to connect Jabbalpur to Ranchi and Jamshedpur to Kharagpur. I wonder if this idea has ever occured to someone in NHAI or not. I guess not.

Why is it that other countries have tens of thousands of kilometers of expressways and we have only a 1000 kms of them even though we have the third largest road network in the world ? I mean if expressways are simply access-controlled highways, Will getting some proper signage and facilities to the existent 70000+ km of highways and controlling access to these qualify them as expressways ? Do they necessarily have to be like Yamuna expressway or NH8 Gurgaon-Delhi expressway ? Do the other countries have separate highways and expressways or is it one and the same thing ?

Expressways are far more than beautiful signages or wayside facilities. Grade separation itself costs a bomb. Imagine building 100 six lane flyovers and interchanges on a 500 km highway!

There are many reasons .. Expressways are access controlled and are more expensive to maintain. The traffic in India still has a lot of two wheelers , autos and other rural vehicles and also many of them are poor so highways with 4 lanes with separate carriageways are considered better. Things will change though and I am pretty sure a lot of these highways will slowly be converted to Expressway standards.

Expressway and highways are not an 'either or' question. They must co-exist.

Expressways are direct connections between major cities or points of economic/cultural/military/etc importance. They are like aorta, the main blood vessel in a living being.

Highways with 4 or more lanes are distributed connections, typically flexible and slower with more open connections. They are like numerous arteries inside a living being; these try to serve local resource transport and traffic needs at high speeds.

Expressways, also known freeways (tollways) or motorways or autobahn etc, have many features including access control for entry, exit, as well as fencing of some form all along the way.

An efficient, high-quality-of-life economy averages about 0.4 to 0.6 miles of expressways/freeways per 1000 people. In addition, it averages about 2 to 4 miles of all weather, high speed 4+ lane highways per 1000 people.

As an example, for the United States, we have 0.55 miles of freeway equivalents (interstates + NHS) per 1000 people, plus 2.8 miles of high speed highways per 1000 people. Total roads (all weather, high quality paved) tops 20 miles per 1000 people.

By these measures, adjusted for its larger population, India needs well over 300,000 kilometers of expressways and 2,000,000 kilometers of high speed GQ-quality highways. Today, Indian government and World Bank claim that the country has over 4,000,000 kilometers of paved and unpaved roads.

For more discussion on differences and design principles for safe, efficient modern expressways/highways/feeder roads, see these sources:

Freeway Management and Operations Handbook (http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freewaymgmt/publications/frwy_mgmt_handbook/toc.htm)

Design and construction guidelines for highways/motorways (http://www.forschungsinformationssystem.de/servlet/is/275112/) (in German)

Some design practices in road design (http://international.fhwa.dot.gov/pdfs/geometric_design.pdf)

length of roads will be much more correlated to area rather than population only. ANyways Let us think of driving from LA to SFO , can you show me any way other than expressways to do that ? Though there are "highways" in US they are much much less in number and almost all intercity connections are through access controlled freeways. This system is not possible in India as of today and thus we are having situation like Yamuna expressway and 6 lane NH2 running parallel to each other.

The parallel roads may be ok in high density sectors or new expressways for completely new alignments but for most of the country the 4-6 lane highways will be turned into access controlled expressways as the road traffic in India becomes more modern.

length of roads will be much more correlated to area rather than population only. ANyways Let us think of driving from LA to SFO , can you show me any way other than expressways to do that ? Though there are "highways" in US they are much much less in number and almost all intercity connections are through access controlled freeways. [...]

Interstate 5 is, traffic permitting, the fastest link between LA and SFO. But there are a number of alternate highway routes, 1 to 3 hour slower, and quite scenic. US 101, or California State 99, etc are some of these - and these are not built to or feature interstate standards. Some of these are in the process of being upgraded, for example in the case of SR 99.

The higher speed highway system in the USA is extensive, about 4 to 5 times of total interstate expressway lengths.

For example, in mountain states here we have higher speed Hwy 287 which connects many major towns and cities (like your NH2) and it features uncontrolled access, and is slower than Interstate 25 which sort of runs parallel to it in upper states. Another example, would be uncontrolled access Hwy 90 (Imperial hwy in California) which sort of runs parallel to higher speed controlled access Riverside Freeway 91. There are zillion such examples.

The length of road has a strong relation to population and population density, and not that much to area. Alaska is a huge state here, is sparsely populated, and its expressway and highway density is very low.

Japan is a classic example of a developed country, but with population densities that rival India. Japan's expressways (kōsokudōro) and national highways (Kokudō) are strongly correlated to its population densities and they run sort of parallel, many within 10 kilometers of each other.

As average income levels rise, quality of life improves, the amount of food / water / fuel / clothing / electronics / necessities / school supplies / etc that needs to be transported from producers to consumer increases for each person. This has to travel over roads inside and often between cities. Similarly every person including kids need to travel for jobs / studies / hospital / etc. every day or every so often. More people per square kilometer means more road traffic per square kilometer.

Regardless of the above points, your suggestion has merit. There are many examples, in several countries, where it has been easier to upgrade roads rapidly... from rural 1-lane unpaved, to 2+ lanes all season paved; from intercity 2-lane roads to intercity median separated 4-lane highways; from uncontrolled access 4-lane highways to 6-lane controlled access expressways.

An important point to remember is that each road lane has a maximum capacity at a given speed. As the economy develops, and for the economy to develop, road/metro/traffic density becomes a strong function of population density.

Interstate 5 is, traffic permitting, the fastest link between LA and SFO. But there are a number of alternate highway routes, 1 to 3 hour slower, and quite scenic. US 101, or California State 99, etc are some of these - and these are not built to or feature interstate standards. Some of these are in the process of being upgraded, for example in the case of SR 99.

The higher speed highway system in the USA is extensive, about 4 to 5 times of total interstate expressway lengths.

For example, in mountain states here we have higher speed Hwy 287 which connects many major towns and cities (like your NH2) and it features uncontrolled access, and is slower than Interstate 25 which sort of runs parallel to it in upper states. Another example, would be uncontrolled access Hwy 90 (Imperial hwy in California) which sort of runs parallel to higher speed controlled access Riverside Freeway 91. There are zillion such examples.

The length of road has a strong relation to population and population density, and not that much to area. Alaska is a huge state here, is sparsely populated, and its expressway and highway density is very low.

Japan is a classic example of a developed country, but with population densities that rival India. Japan's expressways (kōsokudōro) and national highways (Kokudō) are strongly correlated to its population densities and they run sort of parallel, many within 10 kilometers of each other.

As average income levels rise, quality of life improves, the amount of food / water / fuel / clothing / electronics / necessities / school supplies / etc that needs to be transported from producers to consumer increases for each person. This has to travel over roads inside and often between cities. Similarly every person including kids need to travel for jobs / studies / hospital / etc. every day or every so often. More people per square kilometer means more road traffic per square kilometer.

Regardless of the above points, your suggestion has merit. There are many examples, in several countries, where it has been easier to upgrade roads rapidly... from rural 1-lane unpaved, to 2+ lanes all season paved; from intercity 2-lane roads to intercity median separated 4-lane highways; from uncontrolled access 4-lane highways to 6-lane controlled access expressways.

An important point to remember is that each road lane has a maximum capacity at a given speed. As the economy develops, and for the economy to develop, road/metro/traffic density becomes a strong function of population density.
Australia is another example.

Cities, Highways and Railways:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/43/Geovisualization_of_places_and_river_systems_in_India.png/707px-Geovisualization_of_places_and_river_systems_in_India.png (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Geovisualization_of_places_and_river_systems_in_India.png)

From highways photos & videos thread.....

I share the sentiment....

My comments were with reference to ring roads for Indian cities with Hyd 8-laned ring road as an example of a great road that does not include provision for a sustainable mass transit option. NHAI & Delhi-Gurgaon expways were quoted to make the point clearer.

Low proportion of freight movement by rail in Japan /Europe or elsewhere do not have to be basis for recommendations for India – those countries themselves are decrying the low stat for railways freight & wish to increase the share to reduce pollution. Also, the number of vehicles per 1000 people in Japan /Europe cannot be basis for India since India has very poor enforcement record & also has more people per sq km than does Japan or any European country. In fact, Indian cities are amongst those undesirable cities which are the most densely packed. Those Indian cities not already amongst the most densely packed in the world will soon reach there. Good roads are needed, but unrestrained massive road developments around cities without provision for mass transits will hasten the process.

Indian cities need to take effective measures to prepare themselves for the future since there are examples from China, a similar country with very huge population & lesser density than India that is already seeing the adverse effects of excessive motorization with heavy smog & pollution in Chinese cities & also choked highways.

For convenience of discussion here, I link the posts
From highways photos & videos thread.....
Original post (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=100089754&postcount=6330)


Reply (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=100103000&postcount=6332)



My comments were with reference to ring roads for Indian cities with Hyd 8-laned ring road as an example of a great road that does not include provision for a sustainable mass transit option. NHAI & Delhi-Gurgaon expways were quoted to make the point clearer.

Ok, I now understand. Your comments are for ring roads around Indian cities. They were not on appropriateness of railway tracks versus roads for freight etc. between different cities, between rural and urban areas, across states or elsewhere.

We agree metro is desirable within cities as a major means for public transit. As I noted before, both metro/train and road are best developed together. Hyderabad, I am told, is already developing its metro (see here (http://www.hyderabadmetrorail.in/home.html)).


Low proportion of freight movement by rail in Japan /Europe or elsewhere do not have to be basis for recommendations for India – those countries themselves are decrying the low stat for railways freight & wish to increase the share to reduce pollution. Also, the number of vehicles per 1000 people in Japan /Europe cannot be basis for India since India has very poor enforcement record & also has more people per sq km than does Japan or any European country. In fact, Indian cities are amongst those undesirable cities which are the most densely packed. Those Indian cities not already amongst the most densely packed in the world will soon reach there. Good roads are needed, but unrestrained massive road developments around cities without provision for mass transits will hasten the process.

Indian cities need to take effective measures to prepare themselves for the future since there are examples from China, a similar country with very huge population & lesser density than India that is already seeing the adverse effects of excessive motorization with heavy smog & pollution in Chinese cities & also choked highways.

This is confusing. If your comment is for Indian cities, are you saying freight inside cities should be moved by trains and metro? How will this work?

I am not aware of any successful example where a densely populated large city used metro and railway to distribute majority of routine freight to 100s of neighborhoods inside a city.

While India does not have to copy Europe and Japan or anyone, the experience of fellow human beings is worth some reflection. Why repeat the same mistakes, or avoid the useful lessons and successes we humans have learnt from experience?

Why not study and learn from real pollution data from European, American and Japanese cities that have all three: trains, high population densities and high density of vehicles, as well as cities that have high population densities and high vehicle densities but no significant metro?

FWIW, developed cities with very high population densities in Japan and Europe, have extensive metro and between 500 to 800 vehicles per 1000 people. India has limited metro and between 15 to 20 vehicles per 1000 people (this is all 2011 data). Yet, why is it that Japanese and European cities with more vehicle traffic and extensive expressways/highways, have air quality that is zillion times cleaner and healthier than India? These Japanese and European cities meet global World Health Organization/UN standards for air quality; Indian cities don't.

Counter-intuitive as it may be, congested poor quality roads and slow traffic worsen air quality per 1000 people, free flowing high quality highways and expressways improve air quality per 1000 people. See this (http://www.vtpi.org/tca/tca0505.pdf) report, for example.

The reasons for vast majority of air pollution in India aren't vehicles or highways/expressways. See this (http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/11/air-pollution-india) and this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_India), for some reasons.

We should re-frame the discussion and see the utility of 8 lane ring road in the context of size of city.

Better question to be asked is what is the optimal size of the city for it to be sustainable and energy efficient and at same time easy to manage and reflects the local culture.

after living in different size cities in europe/US and India i personally think that 2-4 million is the best size for city to be manageable and sustainable. In India we failed to develop cities and all focus is on to fix few unmanageable cities (Delhi/Mumbai etc).

Appropriate question is should we expand Hyd to 10 million+ city or expand the development to other parts of AP by developing new cities.

The UP model of developing new cities along the new expressways in most of districts is one of best model I can think for sustainable and energy efficient cities.

Most of states in India have one or two cities which drive the growth of the state. The massive urbanization that we have to face in next few decades the model of 1 or 2 cities in a state will just collapse irrespective of mode of transportation we choose.


For convenience of discussion here, I link the posts





Ok, I now understand. Your comments are for ring roads around Indian cities. They were not on appropriateness of railway tracks versus roads for freight etc. between different cities, between rural and urban areas, across states or elsewhere.

We agree metro is desirable within cities as a major means for public transit. As I noted before, both metro/train and road are best developed together. Hyderabad, I am told, is already developing its metro (see here (http://www.hyderabadmetrorail.in/home.html)).



This is confusing. If your comment is for Indian cities, are you saying freight inside cities should be moved by trains and metro? How will this work?

I am not aware of any successful example where a densely populated large city used metro and railway to distribute majority of routine freight to 100s of neighborhoods inside a city.

While India does not have to copy Europe and Japan or anyone, the experience of fellow human beings is worth some reflection. Why repeat the same mistakes, or avoid the useful lessons and successes we humans have learnt from experience?

Why not study and learn from real pollution data from European, American and Japanese cities that have all three: trains, high population densities and high density of vehicles, as well as cities that have high population densities and high vehicle densities but no significant metro?

FWIW, developed cities with very high population densities in Japan and Europe, have extensive metro and between 500 to 800 vehicles per 1000 people. India has limited metro and between 15 to 20 vehicles per 1000 people (this is all 2011 data). Yet, why is it that Japanese and European cities with more vehicle traffic and extensive expressways/highways, have air quality that is zillion times cleaner and healthier than India? These Japanese and European cities meet global World Health Organization/UN standards for air quality; Indian cities don't.

Counter-intuitive as it may be, congested roads and slow traffic worsen air quality per 1000 people, highways and expressways improve air quality per 1000 people.

The reasons for vast majority of air pollution in India aren't vehicles or highways/expressways. See this (http://www.economist.com/blogs/banyan/2012/11/air-pollution-india) and this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution_in_India), for some reasons.

We should re-frame the discussion and see the utility of 8 lane ring road in the context of size of city.

Better question to be asked is what is the optimal size of the city for it to be sustainable and energy efficient and at same time easy to manage and reflects the local culture.

This is an important, difficult and open question, m_1973. In a free society, people and corporations must have the freedom to move, accept or create jobs, live where they want, and leave a place if they so want.

Yes, sustainability, quality of life, efficiency, air quality and local culture are very important aspects of infrastructure planning. But there is no reason to assume that 7 cities with 1 million population will be better than 1 city with 7 million population. After all, you can have 1 city with interconnected 6 satellite sub-cities in a suburban-style setting, then call it a metropolis.

Even with Hyderabad, if I recall my visit there 2 years ago, Secundrabad is another city close by, could easily form one of the city in a network of cities you are suggesting. Japan, with Tokyo and Osaka, by the way, are large metros of interconnected cities/towns. Major cities and capitals have mega ring roads (see this (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=169155)). Houston here, for example has several ring roads, with the longest ring being the Grand Parkway of 185 miles beltway (~300 kilometers, nearly twice the size of your YE)!!

Paris has several ORR like rings too, called as the Périphériques; 8 lanes to 10 lanes in some places, and with slower Boulevards des Marechaux running just some 200 meters inside one périphérique. Oslo, which some consider one of the more sustainably designed cities, has many ORR like rings, such as Ring 2 and Ring 3. Munich has Bundesautobahn 99. ORR type rings are very common in cities with 1 to 25 million people, yet these cities are clean, offer high quality of life, are culture rich, increasingly adopting measures to further improve sustainability.

In other words, the population count and metro size isn't the issue that determines sustainability, quality of life, efficiency, air quality and local culture.

after living in different size cities in europe/US and India i personally think that 2-4 million is the best size for city to be manageable and sustainable. In India we failed to develop cities and all focus is on to fix few unmanageable cities (Delhi/Mumbai etc). [...]

For cities with large populations, the quality of life, efficiency, healthy economy, culture, air quality and sustainability is most dependent on the following

* extensive and balanced network of street roads, highways, expressways, bridges, skyways and tunnels
* good, reliable, fast, affordable metro
* cleanliness - clean streets, working sewer system, public bathrooms (free or tolled), safe properly laid out electricity distribution grid, potable water / fountains, water works
* many large and small nature parks within urban layout (like Englischer Garten in Munich, Central Park in NY, Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, Hama Rikyu or Ueno in Tokyo, etc.)
* City squares and pedestrian only plazas, with local art celebrating local artists, cultural decorations, cafes and shops, with places to sit
* effective zoning laws, key landmarks, skyscrapers and interesting architecture

We must also note few other things:

1. almost all countries in Europe (Switzerland is one such exception), Japan, China went through the same chaos, 30 to 70 years ago, that India is facing today. Hard work, passionate people and proper leadership can get the job done.

2. construction of parks / skyscrapers / plazas / metro / sewer system / weekly cleaning equipment etc. requires that heavy equipment, construction supplies and workers be able to move efficiently and quickly on a daily basis to the construction/job site. Efficient street roads and ORR type highways are therefore the necessary first step.

3. much in Middle East modern cities such as Dubai have been built within budget and on time primarily by expat workers mainly from India and a few other South Asian countries (see this (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/world/middleeast/06dubai.html) article). This suggests that people of South Asia have the talent and culture to build spectacular and difficult structures. To repeat Dubai-like rejuvenation of cities in India, is primarily a matter of political leadership and commitment.

.....is primarily a matter of political leadership and commitment......passionate people and proper leadership can get the job done.
This is what I was referring to. When we have a citizenry that cannot follow any discipline & a multitude of political parties with no cohesive or integrated policies that ensure sustainable development, excessive focus on mega city road developments to score points by political parties & "because western cities /china have them..&..we do not" is a recipe for disaster, as we have seen in china - even with tolled roads. We have people protesting tolls almost everywhere with politicians buckling, we have subsidized fuel, cheap motor vehicles, & so on. It's only a matter of time before even 8/10-lane roads become insufficient. The bureaucracy will start imagining that 14 /16-lane roads would do the trick, & so on endlessly.

There is the "National Urban transport policy-2006" that speaks of sustainability & environment-friendliness to encourage non-motorized modes & mass transit systems, but clearly no city /state is following it & it has remained largely on paper.

Needless to say, road systems without traffic growth restraints (much higher tolls, congestion pricing, parking fees, high vehicle taxes, etc) & lesser attention to mass movement systems such as BRT /railways or metros will push everyone towards excessive motorization, congestion & associated problems. Hyderbad's metro does not reach out to the ring road - provisions for reserving & planning two lanes for BRT /emergency vehicles out of the 8 lanes was what was required, but all 8 lanes have been opened to mixed use road traffic. Retrofitting BRT usually ends up going nowhere & has failed in all Indian cities, except Ahmadabad, which is doing a great job to ensure sustainability with road network being built.

As regards freight movement, IR has long had a policy of subsidizing passenger fares with high freight costs, again because our stupid politics demands so - we are talking about inter-city freight movement here & not within cities. Freight movement within cities will always be more convenient by trucks, no doubt. Truck movements on highways must be reduced to bare essential for perishables, odd sizes, etc with high costs (through restraints at every stage) to wean freight traffic on to goods trains with supporting infrastructure in cities for quick receipt & transfer to trucks - develop goods railways network like Mum-Delhi freight corridor everywhere, transhipment facilities, truck terminals, etc.

What we have are some piece meal efforts trying to be patched up together with no master plan for sustainability. I think examples like other nations went through similar chaos during their motorization paths need to be used to refine what we do, but sadly, this is being used to justify the excessive attention to roads & motorization.

As regards freight movement, IR has long had a policy of subsidizing passenger fares with high freight costs, again because our stupid politics demands so.
That is a tragic policy indeed.

How reliable and on-time are Indian Railways for passenger traffic and freight? Do you have any Indian Railways performance data report for last 3 years?

FWIW, there can be no sustainability without high reliability. To be sustainably viable, do you think Indian Railways are increasingly getting as reliable as Japan Railways and Swiss Railways?

What we have are some piece meal efforts trying to be patched up together with no master plan for sustainability. I think examples like other nations went through similar chaos during their motorization paths need to be used to refine what we do, but sadly, this is being used to justify the excessive attention to roads & motorization.

Actual data seems to suggest India is not paying due attention to quickly developing a balanced network of metro and quality street roads, intra-city highways, intercity highways, ring roads, expressway infrastructure.

For many many months, India has commissioned just 3 to 5 km per day of new highways - very small given the area and population of the country. India should be commissioning 20 km/day, preferably 50 km/day of quality roads, highways and expressways to ease traffic congestion, reduce pollution, replace slums with healthy housing, enable schools for kids, jobs in business parks for its growing youth population, etc.

Media too is not paying attention to delayed infrastructure projects. I am surprised to see Indian media reporting an accident or fender bender on Yamuna Expressway, but have zero investigative reporting on the status or reasons for long delayed but important KMP Expressway or other delayed infrastructure projects.

Government bureaucracy similarly is not paying attention to delayed infrastructure projects. Some 300+ highway projects in India have made no progress for a while now, because they await approval from forest ministry/department in Delhi. About a month ago, I was looking at satellite images of proposed paths for 5 of these 300+ highways. I zoomed in and searched for forest - but I could not see any. There are hardly any significant cluster of trees on the proposed route, only what seem like occasional routine shrubs. I could not understand why those projects have been held back by India's MOEF for a long time, when real satellite data suggests there are no forests there. I do not understand what your MOEF has been doing, or how they work? Linear projects should be exempted from forest review; if there is a real concern, the construction rules should require elevated highway/expressway through forests, just like Brazil does for its rain forests.

Some states with new governments have made promises, but are not paying attention to infrastructure projects. For example, the party of the young chief minister of Utar Pradesh promised 4 lane highways between every district/town/city - but nearly a year after elections, there is little proof of actual start of any significant construction projects. I hope this situation will change in the coming months.

Those are some facts that suggest: India is not placing proper and necessary attention to its road infrastructure. It should.

As I said, India's highway & city road traffic nightmares are going to get far worse than it already is, similar to china's when the attention & focus of it's electorate is squarely on questions about:

"how less highways we develop for the size of our country, others have more of it, then why are we not building more roads faster, etc etc"

instead of questions like

"see the trap that china fell into with excessive road building & road dependence, rapid motorization has led to chaos almost everywhere in the world - we don't want to repeat their mistakes, why are we not using railways more for freight i/o roads, why do we not try to improve efficiency of railways, why are cities not reserving BRT lanes on available wide city roads or urban expways & new ring roads, take singapore's or london's or cities from scandinavia as examples to fight traffic growth with congestion /cordon pricing & non-motorized transport options, we do not want american-style car-dependent urban /suburban development".

"see the trap that china fell into with excessive road building & road dependence, rapid motorization has led to chaos almost everywhere in the world - we don't want to repeat their mistakes, why are we not using railways more for freight i/o roads, why do we not try to improve efficiency of railways, why are cities not reserving BRT lanes on available wide city roads or urban expways & new ring roads, take singapore's or london's or cities from scandinavia as examples to fight traffic growth with congestion /cordon pricing & non-motorized transport options, we do not want american-style car-dependent urban /suburban development".

I have tried to avoid the China discussion, because it is really long and complex. But lets consider it briefly, if we can.

What is the data and facts behind your China diagnosis? Have you considered scientific studies on causes of air pollution in China?

Granted, there are media reports that blame vehicles for air pollution in Beijing and a few coastal cities. Yet, all systematic studies, see this (http://www.wri.org/stories/2008/07/beijings-air-pollution-it-isnt-the-cars) for example, by Chinese and non-Chinese professionals reach the same conclusion: The real causes of Beijing’s and China's air quality woes lie elsewhere. Contrary to popular perception both inside and outside China, Beijing’s air pollution problem is not primarily due to increases in personal vehicle use. Yes, vehicles contribute, but they are a minor source.

FWIW, I have travelled extensively in China, both coastal cities and inside rural areas 1000s of miles from coast / Beijing / Shanghai. Pollution is bad everywhere, even in central China where there are very few vehicles per 1000 people per 100 square kilometers. China's problem is in part state-owned companies that have lax controls on air and water emissions, in part because of heavy use of coal in China to produce electricity but without the environmental controls on thermal power plants you find in Europe, in part because of rural use of traditional fuels for cooking, in part other causes. Vehicles contribute to pollution, but they are a minor part of the China's air pollution problem.

If you have some other data and scientific studies for China, I will be delighted to consider it. Allow me to avoid sensational but poorly researched media reports.

On BRT lanes, these are best implemented when the traffic grows to near congestion levels. At 20,000 vehicles per day, a 6 or 8 lane ORR is far from being near congestion levels. It is prudent to wait, and adopt congestion policies on ORR based on real data and facts. Even London, and others you mention, have congestion charge based on real data and facts; the city has no congestion charge on weekends and outside of busy daily hours, for the same reason (see here (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/roadusers/congestioncharge/whereandwhen/)). As you say, blindly adopting congestion policies in India because other countries are doing it, is silly.

For developing countries, like India, building infrastructure rapidly is necessary and the best way to address congestion, reduce and prevent pollution, create jobs for the youth, replace slums with better housing, create accessible schools to educate the children, provide proper hospital care of the elderly, empower women, enable social mobility, raise household incomes above $2 per day, reduce crushing poverty for 100s of million human beings, etc.

The “China discussion” is neither long nor complex. The link to the article you posted also states following:

There is no question that smart transportation planning would help China avoid vehicle-caused smog and global warming in the future – this says it all in a nutshell.

And just as you may have, I have also traveled enough within China & seen the heavy pollution there. Everyone knows about pollution from coal plants & industries in China & no one denies that there are other factors that contribute to air pollution in China or elsewhere in the world.

What we are discussing is an India that is refusing to accept, much less learn from the adverse effects of rapid motorization that China is facing (& other parts of the world are also facing) with increasing air pollution & heavy urban congestion with unrestrained road projects & nil efforts to stifle road traffic growth. Arguments that try to side-step vehicle-induced pollution do not answer questions about the severity of city street or highway congestion problems that are already being faced & which will get worse with such mega road projects whilst neglecting mass transport modes.

If the ring road is carrying just 20,000 vehicles a day, where was the hurry for an 8-laned road? & is an 8-laned ring road really necessary? Why were two lanes not kept physically separated for a future BRT to start with, like they are doing in Ahmedabad? Yes, it’s prudent to have waited for traffic to increase before unleashing an 8-laned ring road as everyone knows the history of opposition & hostility towards BRT lanes being carved out of existing road traffic lanes. So, prudence should have been exercised there instead. It’s much more silly to follow unrestrained road development even after knowing these adverse effects than to try to enforce congestion pricing or heavy tolls that have been successful – at least GoI has thought about these problems & brought out the NUTP-2006 that recommends it, but city authorities, faced with citizen demands such as these that continue to argue for more roadways have done nothing so far other than yielding.

And yes, for developing countries, like India, building infrastructure rapidly is necessary but roadways without traffic growth restraints will not address congestion nor pollution, in fact it will worsen it since cheap road transport invites even more vehicles. How will it “reduce & prevent pollution”? An article by a transport magazine once said “increasing road availability without restraining measures is like increasing the size of the fire place to tackle the fire”.

I also do not see the relevance of “creating jobs for the youth, replace slums with better housing, create accessible schools to educate the children, provide proper hospital care of the elderly, empower women, enable social mobility, raise household incomes above $2 per day, reduce crushing poverty for 100s of million human beings, etc”. How will building roads remove all these problems? By encouraging them all to become truck & car drivers?

[...]
I also do not see the relevance of “creating jobs for the youth, replace slums with better housing, create accessible schools to educate the children, provide proper hospital care of the elderly, empower women, enable social mobility, raise household incomes above $2 per day, reduce crushing poverty for 100s of million human beings, etc”. How will building roads remove all these problems? [...]

That is the major enabling feature of roads/highways/expressways. They are like blood vessels of a living and growing society; transfer the oxygen, building blocks, waste and by products. Roads help transfer essential resources from producers to consumers, move workers/managers/entrepreneurs between their homes and work places. Roads help children get to school, help bring bricks, cement, construction supplies and equipment to build schools and hospitals and houses and office buildings; roads help create jobs from construction to retail to teaching to nurses to factories to etc. Without a good network of roads and highways and expressways and metro, you can do none of that.

In late 1970s, China had more poverty and lower per capita GDP than India. Not any more. People in China are now more prosperous and their basic needs more fulfilled than that for people in India. The economic boom enabled by China's rapid expansion of roads and other infrastructure is a major reason for that success.

It is best to plan ahead and build more capacity than immediately needed. I admire that Hyderabad ORR did that by having more lanes than needed right now. Ring roads in Oslo, Paris, Munich, Brussels, Helsinki etc. were constructed with similar vision and for anticipated demand. Good roads and fast highways also help reduce pollution for every 100 miles travelled in a vehicle per 1000 people. Because, vehicles are more fuel efficient when moving steadily and smoothly at 60 km/hour, than when they are stuck in traffic or moving in a stop-and-go average speed of 5 to 10 km per hour.

Congestion is caused by a number of factors. In some parts of the world, it is shortage of roads and traffic lanes, in some parts it is poor layout of infrastructure, in some parts it is too many vehicles and no metro, in some parts it is lack of advance planning for traffic capacity given population growth. For India, the congestion is caused by reasons different from the reasons that cause congestion in London, for example. In India, it is the lack of advance planning and the lack of rapid increase in street roads, highways and expressways necessary to support the job creation, school and hospitals build out, continued economic growth, etc.

Sure, travel & transport needs for growth & mobility can be met even better with cheaper & cleaner mass modes than polluting individual modes. India's growth story need not be along the same lines as China's growth with heavy congestion & pollution & smog. It's better to plan & build more mass transport capacity like BRT than offer 8-laned urban expressways that attract more private vehicles.

No single vehicle can carry “1000 people for a 100 miles” & several dozen buses would be required, but the question is will people choose to travel on buses instead of their cars or two-wheelers when such inviting huge roads have been made available?

Congestion is caused when traffic is more than road capacity in all parts of the world. So, the only question is how much road traffic capacity is optimal & what would be the results of that volume of traffic on urban centers & highways. This is called Traffic Demand Management (TDM). If proper TDM was applied here, which is what is "advance planning for traffic capacity", such excessive road capacity would not have been built. Instead, capacity would have been evaluated & built to allow just enough with overflows planned with provision for BRT.

Indian cities were built hundreds of years ago with narrow streets, except New Delhi. City congestion is caused due to recent unforeseen boom in vehicle volumes with growth & not lack of advance planning. Same is the case with most old European cities. Buildings cannot be pulled down to widen roads & European cities have preserved them rather than pull down buildings – Amsterdam, Lisbon, Rome & Antwerp are examples that I have seen. If outer fringes of urban centers are provided with excessive capacities, vehicles will spill over to inner city areas & cause heavy congestion & pollution nightmares, much like China & even with rebuilding innards of their major cities.

So, there really is no justification for hugely excessive increase in road capacity to support so-called “job creation, school and hospitals build out, continued economic growth, etc”. The same can be done equally by minimizing congestion & pollution.

Amsterdam is a good example indeed. If Indian cities adopt Amsterdam's hub-and-spoke model with A10 and s100 like ring roads (see picture below) evolve to their particular needs, cultural and local landmarks, it will be empowering and a positive development. Amsterdam's road and expressway density per 1000 people are also good targets.

http://imageshack.us/a/img62/5932/ringroada101.png

m_1973: your distributed cities model, with smaller 1-4 million population is supported by several studies/scholars. One of many such reports was published by The World Bank few years ago (see here (http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/EXTSARREGTOPTRANSPORT/0,,contentMDK:20708887~pagePK:34004173~piPK:34003707~theSitePK:579598,00.html)). It provides a lot of data from India, discusses various urban planning models, the role of road densities, metro and other infrastructure on reducing poverty, creating jobs, enabling economic growth, etc.

@m_1973
The UP model of developing new cities along the new expressways in most of districts is one of best model I can think for sustainable and energy efficient cities.

@philebus

This is an important, difficult and open question, m_1973. In a free society, people and corporations must have the freedom to move, accept or create jobs, live where they want, and leave a place if they so want.

If I may add a point, it appears India is following a backward model of developing transport links, which is according to what m_1973 is describing

For example the toll from the YE does not make it profitable for JayPee group. Its a loss leader for them. What they are hoping to do is build new towns and industrial parks that instantly offer fast transport links.

Historically, roads were built between existing towns and cities and expanded as necessary. They were funded by tolls or out of taxation. Now with the real estate funded model of developing transport networks, the road or metro developer will shape the city.

What if your home is next to a metro station and your place of work is inside a metro station located 15 minutes away. And your daily shopping is inside the same complex. How energy and time efficient is that

It does not mean restrictions on people's movements. They are still a free society. But fact it people will move where there are jobs. And the jobs are where there is good infrastructure.

the down side of this is it invites political corruption

Yes. I recall reading the IPO and debt financing documents from ICICI for YE quite a while ago - it was expected to be quite reasonably profitable over its life, after real estate proceeds discounted out the cash flow. The delay in its launch last year will lower the ROI, worry future investors, the project should still be profitable for Jaypee. If Uttar Pradesh's economy picks up faster than expected, YE should be more profitable.

I will try to locate the file in public domain, and post the file in Yamuna Expressway thread.

I believe YE is a promising model - develop expressway, satellite cities and industrial parks along the way. YE is very small. India needs 100 to 500 YE quality ring roads, highways and expressways throughout the country, as soon as possible.

Two issues: First, the land acquisition costs in India are excessive and uncompetitive with other developing countries. Second, the highway and expressway approval process in the some Indian states/local courts and in Delhi is unbelievably slow, bureaucratic and uncertain. The state of Gujarat is perhaps the most notable streamlined exception.

Amsterdam & other European cities are good examples more importantly for excellent enforcement & putting up severe restrictions within old city areas with pedestrianization & heavy parking prices to discourage vehicle use within city, unlike India's all round pathetic enforcement (if any). So, the wish for Indian cities to develop such designs & hopes for similar vehicle volumes will come wrapped with dire consequences like Chinese cities or much worse, given our very high population density. Also, if one expects similar discipline & road manners from road users & citizens, it would be a pipe dream, far removed from reality.

Ahmedabad’s model that includes provision for BRT lanes is far better than Amsterdam & in tune with the reality of what India is. Yes, Gujarat is certainly streamlined but perhaps not AP or all other states.

Limits need to be established soon as to how wide ring roads can be since it will concentrate development only around such cities & neglect other smaller ones. Besides, allocation of space for BRT lanes for future expansion (rather than mixed-use lanes) must also be a condition for building such ring roads.

I had read the WB study on Bangalore & Chennai (the link provided) long ago soon after it had been released. This study is about urban transport & not about road developments. It recommends everywhere to place restraints on all new primary roads & make provisions for BRT lanes. The very first para states “The Urban transport problems in India are growing acute mainly because of rapid motorization”.
I think you haven't read the paper fully - recommend reading it entirely before claiming that it supports what you say wrt role of roads reducing poverty, creating jobs, enabling economic growth, blah-blah.

From Indian context we can look at how we are evolving in chaotic urban centers

KA: Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore
TN: Chennai, Coimbatore
AP: Hyd, Vizag
MH: Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nasik
MP: Bhopal, Indore
OR: Bhuvneswar
JH: Ranchi
BH: Patna
WB: Kolkata
RAJ: Jaipur

UP: Lucknow, Agra, Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Meerut, Noida,
GUJ: Ahd, Gandhinagar, Surat, Baroda, Rajkot
-----------------------

For 120crore population only few cities in each state is just not sufficient for sustainable energy efficient development. BRT, Metro,8-10lane Ring roads won’t be able to meet the requirements for future if city becomes mega in nature and focus must shift to develop new cities.

e.g. In Lucknow (3million population) the avg distance to office is not more than 5-6km and spending on fuel is between INR 200 to INR 1000 per month. Avg time a person spends on travel is not more than 30min. In such a situation developing a metro is just not viable and we do not need BRT also. Metro is good from social point of view in that all age people can use comfortable & safe mode of transport. Cost of living and per capita is low so pushing for metro is just unviable as of now. Teacher/Police personal with INR20,000 per month income can have decent quality of life.

Compare above to Delhi: Avg fuel consumption should be somewhere INR 5000-6000 per month. Avg time on road per day approx.. 1 to 1.5hrs. In such situation you need Metro & BRT or other public mode of transport
Bangalore: Avg time around 2hrs on roads

Bigger cities are always unfriendly to lower income group and poor people as such people just cannot afford the cost of living and are forced to live in fringes. Ask a Teachers and a police personal (2 most imp profession for any of us) on how they live and survive in Delhi & Mumbai.

For better governance & inclusive society we need to develop 50 to 100 new modern 2-4million cities across India connected by expressway and high speed train.

AP would not have seen Telangana movement if few growth center would have been developed in Telangana region. Few mega city model development has very high socio political & economic cost


Amsterdam & other European cities are good examples more importantly for excellent enforcement & putting up severe restrictions within old city areas with pedestrianization & heavy parking prices to discourage vehicle use within city, unlike India's all round pathetic enforcement (if any). So, the wish for Indian cities to develop such designs & hopes for similar vehicle volumes will come wrapped with dire consequences like Chinese cities or much worse, given our very high population density. Also, if one expects similar discipline & road manners from road users & citizens, it would be a pipe dream, far removed from reality.

Ahmedabad’s model that includes provision for BRT lanes is far better than Amsterdam & in tune with the reality of what India is. Yes, Gujarat is certainly streamlined but perhaps not AP or all other states.

Limits need to be established soon as to how wide ring roads can be since it will concentrate development only around such cities & neglect other smaller ones. Besides, allocation of space for BRT lanes for future expansion (rather than mixed-use lanes) must also be a condition for building such ring roads.

I had read the WB study on Bangalore & Chennai (the link provided) long ago soon after it had been released. This study is about urban transport & not about road developments. It recommends everywhere to place restraints on all new primary roads & make provisions for BRT lanes. The very first para states “The Urban transport problems in India are growing acute mainly because of rapid motorization”.
I think you haven't read the paper fully - recommend reading it entirely before claiming that it supports what you say wrt role of roads reducing poverty, creating jobs, enabling economic growth, blah-blah.

From Indian context we can look at how we are evolving in chaotic urban centers

KA: Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore
TN: Chennai, Coimbatore
AP: Hyd, Vizag
MH: Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nasik
MP: Bhopal, Indore
OR: Bhuvneswar
JH: Ranchi
BH: Patna
WB: Kolkata
RAJ: Jaipur

UP: Lucknow, Agra, Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Meerut, Noida,
GUJ: Ahd, Gandhinagar, Surat, Baroda, Rajkot
-----------------------

For 120crore population only few cities in each state is just not sufficient for sustainable energy efficient development. BRT, Metro,8-10lane Ring roads won’t be able to meet the requirements for future if city becomes mega in nature and focus must shift to develop new cities.

e.g. In Lucknow (3million population) the avg distance to office is not more than 5-6km and spending on fuel is between INR 200 to INR 1000 per month. Avg time a person spends on travel is not more than 30min. In such a situation developing a metro is just not viable and we do not need BRT also. Metro is good from social point of view in that all age people can use comfortable & safe mode of transport. Cost of living and per capita is low so pushing for metro is just unviable as of now. Teacher/Police personal with INR20,000 per month income can have decent quality of life.

Compare above to Delhi: Avg fuel consumption should be somewhere INR 5000-6000 per month. Avg time on road per day approx.. 1 to 1.5hrs. In such situation you need Metro & BRT or other public mode of transport
Bangalore: Avg time around 2hrs on roads

Bigger cities are always unfriendly to lower income group and poor people as such people just cannot afford the cost of living and are forced to live in fringes. Ask a Teachers and a police personal (2 most imp profession for any of us) on how they live and survive in Delhi & Mumbai.

For better governance & inclusive society we need to develop 50 to 100 new modern 2-4million cities across India connected by expressway and high speed train.

AP would not have seen Telangana movement if few growth center would have been developed in Telangana region. Few mega city model development has very high socio political & economic cost

+1000
Perfectly put. The socio-economic imbalances that arise & the widening rich-poor divide with such pro-growth nonsense ("expressway density per 1000 people are also good targets") about great infrastructure concentration in few centers whilst painting a picture of being scholarly doesn't fool anyone. Development must necessarily be based on local conditions & needs, not on what is prevalent or has suited others because the ground realities there are very different. The closest comparison we have is China, not European cities.

Gujarat & UP are following commendable non-metro city models & a better, all-inclusive form of development. Here, in Bangalore, after much deliberation, the peripheral ring road has been cut down to 6-lane with provisions for BRT or rail tracks after many study reports including the WB report, but strange that some choose to paint a picture that studies by professional institutions recommend only such lop-sided road development.

I believe YE is a promising model - develop expressway, satellite cities and industrial parks along the way. YE is very small. India needs 100 to 500 YE quality ring roads, highways and expressways throughout the country, as soon as possible.

Two issues: First, the land acquisition costs in India are excessive and uncompetitive with other developing countries. .

land acquisition costs will futhur increase becasue the market is already pricing this potential in. Have there not been demonstrations in UP where farmers have realised they have sold their land too cheaply. the naivete is gone

it might make this model unprofitable

Amsterdam & other European cities are good examples more importantly for excellent enforcement & putting up severe restrictions within old city areas with pedestrianization & heavy parking prices to discourage vehicle use within city, unlike India's all round pathetic enforcement (if any). .

I lived in Amsterdam for a while, and the truth is many workers commute in from the countryside. Better transport links simply encourage suburbia becasue people want to buy better quality homes and they don't mind paying the price in longer travel time. Thats the melancholy truth

[...]
I had read the WB study on Bangalore & Chennai (the link provided) long ago soon after it had been released. This study is about urban transport & not about road developments. It recommends everywhere to place restraints on all new primary roads & make provisions for BRT lanes. The very first para states “The Urban transport problems in India are growing acute mainly because of rapid motorization”.
I think you haven't read the paper fully - recommend reading it entirely before claiming that it supports what you say wrt role of roads reducing poverty, creating jobs, enabling economic growth, blah-blah.

I suggested that report, from numerous other reports, because it includes the point on congestion that you are making, from its 2002 report. Then the report goes on to discuss the need for balanced network of roads and rapid investment in such networks by Indian governments, the Bank, and private parties. Yes, it is about urban transport; but that includes "balanced" network of roads and metro - which is what we have discussing for a few days now. Perhaps you missed the following and discussion around these points:

Page 1: Efficient and reliable urban transport systems are crucial for India to sustain a high growth rate and alleviate poverty. Indeed, the significance of urban transport in India stems from the role that it plays in the reduction of poverty, both through its indirect effects as a stimulator of poverty reducing growth and through its direct effects on the quality of life of people.

Page 2: In parallel with the growth related impacts of urban transport on poverty are the direct impacts of urban transport on the life of the poor. [...] Secondary and tertiary road networks appear to have received little attention or funding, especially in low-income areas.

Page 12: Given the importance of urban transport activities in both growth and poverty dimensions, an expansion of the Bank’s ....

Page 34: The State of Tamil Nadu, with a population of 62 million, growing at 1.1% per annum, is among the leading Indian states in terms of human development and poverty reduction. It is also among the most urbanized (55%), educated, and industrialized states. [...] This has had a negative impact on the ability of the state to invest in infrastructure and basic services, and to improve the social safety net. Priority directions seen on the critical path to accelerating economic growth include [...] improving the overall investment climate, and attracting private capital into infrastructure and services.

Page 70: Urban transport can contribute to poverty reduction both indirectly, through its impact on the city economy and hence on economic growth, and directly, through its impact on the daily needs of poor people.

etc.

For convenience, the link to full report is here (http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSARREGTOPTRANSPORT/Resources/UrbanTransportSectorStrategyNote.pdf).

It recommends everywhere to place restraints on all new primary roads

Everywhere, or never?

Please cite a few page numbers from that (http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTSARREGTOPTRANSPORT/Resources/UrbanTransportSectorStrategyNote.pdf) report.

Here (http://irispublic.worldbank.org/85257559006C22E9/All+Documents/85257559006C22E985257185005F3874/$File/TRN0320India0China0Hwy0Rlwy0final.pdf) is another summary from WB discussing highways / poverty / etc in China and India.

land acquisition costs will futhur increase becasue the market is already pricing this potential in. Have there not been demonstrations in UP where farmers have realised they have sold their land too cheaply. the naivete is gone

it might make this model unprofitable

Or any model, for that matter.

We had some discussion, a while ago on land acquisition costs and the proposed A-L expressway. It extends to other projects. See here (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1514413&page=4).

[...]
Bigger cities are always unfriendly to lower income group and poor people as such people just cannot afford the cost of living and are forced to live in fringes.

For better governance & inclusive society we need to develop 50 to 100 new modern 2-4million cities across India connected by expressway and high speed train.
[...]

Bigger cities, I agree have their issues and challenges, m_1973. But I hesitate in any "always unfriendly" type labels. The issues seem more complex, particularly in politically free societies such as India. Additionally, many good sized large metropolises have very good quality of life for their large and dense population compared to Indian cities (Tokyo, Osaka, Paris, e.g.).

In a free society, the poor and the not so poor, can migrate. Cities create jobs, create schools and colleges, launch new hospitals, etc, all of which lift up incomes, improve service and create opportunities for the poor as well as the middle class. But cities also attract poor rural people, from distant regions, where they have no other option. Migration is the result. Delhi's population from such migration has increased from 9 million in 1991, to about 16 million in 2011 (see here (http://www.slideshare.net/varshajoshi95/provisional-population-totals-delhi))!!

In China, with its Hukou system (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hukou_system#Household_registration_in_China) and single party control and command politics, does not allow free movement and unrestricted internal migration to its own people. India allows free movement and unrestricted internal migration from rural to urban centers. India therefore has a different challenge.

One creative approach is to do both and encourage all ideas - enable growth of new cities of the type you are suggesting, as well as seek balanced infrastructure growth of major cities such as Delhi. By balanced, I mean one that includes metro, rapid transit lanes, buses, expressways, highways, boulevards, bridges, tunnels, one way traffic in some streets in older or more traffic density parts of the city, pedestrians only paths, etc.

Last month, WB published a study (see here (http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2013/01/17/000158349_20130117091655/Rendered/PDF/wps6320.pdf)) that in part supports your proposal: 'enable new modern cities and clusters along modern expressways and highways'. This study focuses on studying GQ highway, given this 5000+ kilometers, 4-lane fifth longest highway in the world has been in operation for a while now. The report summarizes its findings on economy and prosperity along the smaller cities and towns that are between 0 and 10 kilometers along the GQ highway, all across India. The report claims:

* Compared to towns and cities that are more than 10 kilometers away from GQ, the towns and cities near the GQ highway have consistently seen a large increase in prosperity and productivity.

* Manufacturing and jobs have increased, in some cases moved from bigger cities to smaller cities such as Surat in Gujarat or Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh, because of the highway. The highway, it seems, has helped reduce or reverse congestion.

If infrastructure, highway and economic development is widespread and rapid across India, not just concentrated in a few cities, there will be many competitive options for the 100s of millions, in rural areas, who live below poverty level. Expressways and highways can play a role in a more balanced, healthier growth in India. If only cities develop, migration of rural poor will continue to swell the ranks of urban poor living on the fringes. There is merit in your proposal.

National Highway Authority of India to convert quarries into water storage ponds (http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-16/mumbai/37132459_1_quarries-nhai-national-highway-authority)
MUMBAI: The National Highway Authority of India has proposed to use quarries after closure for storing water. It will provide a fencing or wall around the pits for safety purpose and allow the use of the water for agriculture and domestic use.

It has sought permission for quarrying in three districts of Vidarbha in Maharashtra - Wardha, Yavatmal and Gondia.

The State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) has said it will allow the captive quarries only after the highway project for which the quarries are to be used gets an environmental nod. It has also directed NHAI to ensure that overflowing water is channelled into natural streams.The SEIAA has directed that in case of all proposals, the details of mining blocks and conditions stipulated must be put in the public domain by district mining officer.

NHAI may hike toll by 100 pc (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/311572/nhai-may-hike-toll-100.html)
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has hinted at hiking the toll by 100 per cent for the elevated six-lane highway connecting the City to the airport, once the project is completed.

At present only 72 per cent of the work has been completed, with just 45 days to the “scheduled completion date.” As the work on the project is going on at a sluggish pace, people using the road, particularly those going to Bangalore International Airport, are facing problems due to frequent traffic snarls. Approved on April 30, 2010, the Navyuga Devanahalli Tollway Private Limited was awarded the tender to construct the 22.12-km-long expressway.

NHAI officials said the Navyuga consortium is riddled with “certain financial constraints,” which has led to the delay.

“There have been a series of communications between the NHAI and the concessionaire, asking them to speed up the project. The reasons provided by the concessionaire amounts to stating that there has been some financial problems to complete the project,” said a senior NHAI official.

Sources said the concession agreement already has provisions to hike toll rates in future.
“We calculate the rise in construction cost, along with duration of the construction, to arrive at the figure. Approximately, the toll rates are likely to be doubled by the time the project is completed and allowed for traffic,” the official said.

According to officials, the NHAI is already contemplating a penalty on Navyuga for the delay.

According to clause 4.3 of the concessionaire agreement between the NHAI and the Navyuga Devanahalli Tollway Private Limited, it has been agreed that “in the event that ...(ii) the delay has not occurred as a result of failure to fulfill the obligations under clause 4.1.2 or other breach of this Agreement by the Authority, or due to Force Majeure, the Concessionaire shall pay to the Authority damages in an amount calculated at the rate of 0.2 per cent of the Performance Security for each day’s delay until the fulfilment of such conditions precedent, subject to a maximum of 20 per cent the Performance Security.”

The NHAI officials further stated that besides financial problems, the consortium is in trouble over the land acquisition.

“It seems that there is some land acquisition problem as the defence ministry is not parting with its land,” the official said.

Clarification

The highway authority has, however, clarified that the land acquisition had nothing to do with the main carriage way, which needs to be completed by April 2013.

“We are sure that the concessionaire will lose money if they do not complete their project in the next 45 days. There has been a delay and the concessionaire will have to pay the penalty,” said the official.

Already the company is charging base rate from the people for using the road.
The expressway is being constructed under the PPP model for upgrading NH-7 at a cost of Rs 680 crore.

The agreement was inked for a period of 20 years under Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis and the project was scheduled to be completed within 730 days from the date of approval.

Awaiting final nod for MIAL monetisation: GVK Power (http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/awaiting-final-nod-for-mial-monetisation-gvk-power_825394.html)
Last month GVK Power terminated contract with the National Highways Authority (NHAI) for constructing Shivpuri-Dewas expressway. The company however did not divulge reasons of its exit from the project but media reports suggested that it was due to delay in environmental clearances.


After the company backed out of the project, NHAI moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of its guidelines mandating forest clearance prior to environmental clearance, saying the related procedures have delayed and stalled 22 important projects worth over Rs 20,000 crore.

In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Issac George, director - finance, GVK Power, said that the company is confident or getting clarity on the issue and since the matter is sub-judice, he cannot comment on it. He also said that GVK had a few rounds of discussion with NHAI and once the SC verdict is out, there will be lot more clarity.

PMO intervenes, ends NHAI, green ministry battle (http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/newdelhi/PMO-intervenes-ends-NHAI-green-ministry-battle/Article1-1013072.aspx)
A timely intervention by the Prime Minister’s Office has prevented two arms of the central government, the environment ministry and National Highway Authority of India, from fighting it out in the Supreme Court over the issue of environmental clearance for road projects. The NHAI had
filed a petition in the Supreme Court last month based on law ministry’s opinion advising the review of the Lafarge judgment, in which the top court had linked the environment clearance with the forest clearance.

The apex court’s decision was based on environment ministry’s guideline saying that environment clearance for a project cannot be granted till it gets approval for the diversion of forestland, a reason that left the NHAI annoyed.

Environment and forest clearances are two independent processes but the ministry linked them in 2011 on the ground that project proponents were claiming forest clearance as fait accompli (automatic approval) for starting work after getting environment approval.

When the environment ministry refused to delink the two clearances citing the Supreme Court judgment, the law ministry advised that a review petition be filed in the top court against its earlier verdict.

The PMO then stepped in to prevent the situation from getting out of control, since it wanted the issue to be settled within the government and not in the court. It asked the environment ministry to amend its guidelines and delink the two clearances, which responded by saying it was ready to do so provided the NHAI assures that would not seek fait accompli if the forest clearance is rejected.

NHAI proposals for delayed road projects get PMO nod (http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/cnbc-tv18-comments/nhai-proposals-for-delayed-road-projects-get-pmo-nod_827116.html)
It seems the stalled highway expansion programme of the country is about the get a much needed booster dose. A meeting convened by the prime minister's office today decided to take forward proposals of the NHAI on giving financial comfort to contractors of highway projects . However, the department of economic affairs could play spoilsport, report CNBC-TV18’s Rituparna Bhuyan and Elan Dutta.


This fiscal, the NHAI could award 1000 km of highway expansion projects against a target of 9,500 km as there were no takers. FY14 could see a revival of interest in highway projects with the PMO, planning commission, department of financial services and the roads ministry today agreeing on a set of proposals anchored by the highway regulator to revitalize roads development.

The key proposal that saw unanimous acceptance was on transfer of equity of highway projects. This will allow financially stressed contactors to hand over highway projects to neighboring contractors who are already mobilized. Moreover, banks would also be more comfortable in extending credit to highway developers.

NHAI also proposed that in case of delays due to government permissions, contractors should be compensated. The compensation amount will depend on the cost escalation of the projects due to delays resulting out of government permissions like environment clearance another major proposal that was discussed and found a positive response is on back loading premium to be paid to the NHAI.

This will give the contractors financial comfort in the initial years of project implementation. The premium will be back loaded in such a way that the NAV of highway projects remains the same.

The roads ministry will now work on the finer aspects of these proposals, which will be placed before the cabinet. In addition, the model concession agreement for highways will be modified by the planning commission.

But the only spanner in this process could be put by the department of economic affairs which feels that there should be an independent regulator for the highway sector. The final call on all these issues will be taken by the cabinet.

NHAI to pay up for delayed okays (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/NHAI-to-pay-up-for-delayed-okays/articleshow/18566208.cms?)
NEW DELHI: In a first-of-its-kind move, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is likely to pay per day penalty to private developers in build, operate and transfer (BOT) projects in case it fails to get statutory clearances and approvals in the scheduled time frame.

If it happens, the highways authority will have greater accountability in public-private partnership (PPP) road projects rather than passing all the responsibility to contractors. Sources in the highways ministry said the proposal was among those discussed at a high level meeting in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Monday, which was attended by highways secretary, NHAI chairman and officials from finance ministry and Planning Commission. Highway developers have for long blamed delay in getting environmental clearances and problems in land acquisition as the main reasons for projects getting delayed.

NHAI and highways ministry have a provision of paying penalty to contractors in case of government funded engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) projects, though there is an upper cap for this penalty. "This will ensure that NHAI or the ministry will award projects after getting clearances and land, something that has been envisaged in the EPC contract model. There will be less scope of delay. Moreover, government agencies cannot wash their hands off after moving files," a ministry official said. GMR had cited delay in getting statutory clearances while serving termination notice for the 555-km Kishangarh-Udaipur-Ahmedabad project which was bid out at highest-ever premium of Rs 636 crore every year.

In a move to make banks comfortable with lending to highway projects, NHAI reportedly raised the issue of recognizing the total project cost (TPC) estimated by private concessionaires. At present, projects are bid out at TPC fixed by NHAI while private developers' estimates are invariably 30-40% higher. Though banks lend based on the higher estimate, they run the risk of losing money in case the project is terminated. This is because NHAI guarantees 90% payment of debt to the lenders in case of termination but it recognizes only its own TPC. So, banks have greater risk in lending for a project where the TPC is higher than the NHAI estimate.

The highways authority also pushed for allowing concessionaires to exit from already constructed and tolled stretches. It has been claiming that such a move will infuse greater equity in the highway sector. Private developers' equity is caught up in at least 100 projects since the present norms stipulate that a developer has to keep at least 26% stake in a project for the entire contract period. Though the norms were relaxed in 2009, projects awarded before that are not allowed to avail early exit option.

Global biggies rush to invest in roads Several global funds and equity investors are making a beeline for investing in the highway sector,a move that will free up thousands of crores for Indian developers funds that were held up in the absence of a government decision to allow existing players to exit immediately after completing the project.
Sources said Uniquest Infra Ventures,the joint venture between Malaysian government sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad and IDFC,alone has expressed interest in buying stake in nearly a dozen road projects.
Similarly,SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund has discussed the possibility of investing up to Rs 20,000 crore in projects that are nearing completion.Tata Realty is eying four projects,while Morgan Stanley is entering the space too.Sources said Morgan Stanley is in talks for buying into KMC Constructions,which is getting all its road projects under one company.Morgan Stanley is also buying a 15% stake in the Surat Hazira project.
In addition,the Canadian Public Sector Pension Board is acquiring interest in the special purpose vehicle executing the Panipat-Jalandhar highway project,said a source familiar with the developments.
For projects awarded after 2009,there is no restriction on companies to buy into projects that have been in operation for over two years.The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is now pushing for allowing developers to offload equity as soon as the project is completed.The change is being pushed in a way that it will also impact projects awarded before 2009,when the rules were last changed to allow for stake sale immediately after completion.
Just when NHAI got all government agencies to agree to the move,the department of economic affairs put a spanner but sources said it has been over-ruled by finance minister P Chidamabaram.Now,the highway developers are awaiting the final guidelines before going ahead with the transactions.
It will not only free up capital for Indian developers but increase overseas participation.In addition,the Indian players will have resources to bid for new projects and help revive interest in the sector, said a top government official.
Several Indian companies that are linked to politicians from Andhra Pradesh,former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and ex-BJP president Nitin Gadkari would especially benefit from the move as banks have been reluctant to lend to them after allegations of their ties surfaced.
http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pageid=13&edlabel=TOIPU&mydateHid=11-03-2013&pubname=&edname=&articleid=Ar01302&format=&publabel=TOI

^^^ This is EXCELLENT news!

Environment clearance de-linked from forest clearance

NEW DELHI, MARCH 13:
Highway projects for 2,700 km and valued at about Rs 27,000 crore — which were stuck because of pending environment clearances — can now move forward.

The Supreme Court has permitted de-linking of environment clearance from forest clearance for highway projects. This was confirmed by officials from the Highways Ministry and the National Highways Authority of India.

These are highway projects, for which the Environment Ministry had given a go-ahead, but the Forest Ministry clearance was pending.

Since mid-2011, the Environment Ministry had started linking both the clearances, which basically prevented developers from starting work on projects till both the clearances were in place.

Due to these pending approvals, highway developers were unable to get any funding from banks, and were unable to start work.

Recently, the Environment Ministry moved the Supreme Court seeking de-linking of environment clearance from forest clearance for highway projects.

Initially, the NHAI had moved the Supreme Court on the issue. But, subsequently, it withdrew the case after Environment Ministry decided to move the Supreme Court itself.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/apex-court-clears-the-way-for-rs-27000cr-highway-projects/article4504512.ece?homepage=true

Hangout with the Minister of Road Transport & Highways.

qZ2gUgUGHic&feature=youtu.be&a

Just read about this Asian Highway network and we are major contributor to both the network and the funding. ( The Wikipedia page says that the "advanced countries of Asia India, Japan and China are funding majority of the network". That ADVANCED sounds so good for once :D )
Anyway I couldn't find many photos or information though there are articles on wikipedia related to the Indian part of the network. I had some questions

Is there any problem as we are left handed whereas the other Asian countries are right handed.
Are there any special signages also which were set up ?
Did we really construct anything or just linked the existing highways ?

Cashless treatment for road accident victims on Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with ICICI Lombard to launch a pilot project for cashless treatment of road accident victims on the Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch of National Highway (NH)-8.

Minister of Road Transport & Highways C P Joshi said that, while the MoU provided for executing the project on "zero administrative expenses" basis, ICICI Lombard would spend Rs 30 lakh as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

With signing of the MoU, ICICI will now start the process of signing MoUs with hospitals, and take other necessary steps, an official press release said.

About 1.4 lakh persons die in road accidents every year. The pilot project, which may probably be the first of its kind in the country, is an effort on the part of MoRTH to arrest and bring down the number of accidents as well as fatalities, it said.

The Ministry has created a corpus of Rs.20 crore for providing cashless treatment to road accident victims on the identified stretch at empanelled hospitals for the first 48 hours, subject to a ceiling of Rs.30,000.

"The idea is that no one may be deprived of immediate treatment for want of money for paying hospital bills. The panel of hospitals will include not only government hospitals, but also private hospitals having requisite facilities," it said.

The release said the pilot project was being launched to gain data and experience for rolling out a pan-India scheme aimed at providing immediate medical attention to accident victims during the "Golden Hour".

To make the project successful, the Ministry will enroll a large number of volunteers on the identified stretch of NH-8. These volunteers will be imparted training in first-aid and trauma care, for which the Ministry is in consultation with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.

These volunteers will act as “first responders”. They will immediately reach the accident site and report accidents to the Control Room to be established by the Ministry for this project, and also assist in first-aid and transportation of the accident victims to hospitals. This Control Room will be linked to a fleet of ambulances fitted with GPS devices, and deployed on the identified stretch exclusively for transporting road accident victims to the nearest hospitals.

The Ministry will provide five new Advanced Life Saving ambulances to supplement the existing fleet of ambulances provided by the concessionaires on the stretch.

The pilot project includes scientific investigation of crashes on the identified stretch through Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi under a project to be financed by NATRIP, Department of Heavy Industry, Government of India. The data from these investigations will be used to strengthen mechanical safety of vehicles, identify and treat deficiencies in road geometry, and decide various other measures to strengthen road safety .

The State Governments of Haryana and Rajasthan will be closely associated with the execution of the project. They are expected to deploy mobile posts on the identified stretch for immediate reporting and handling of accident victims; conduct intensive checking of wearing of seat belts and helmets, drunken driving, possession of third party insurance certificate, driving licence and over-speeding so as to simultaneously make a concerted effort to bring down the number of incidents of accidents.

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) will put up sign boards at every 500 meters for precise identification of the accident spots and also provide jackets with reflective tapes and signs to the road safety volunteers. Besides, NHAI will closely coordinate with IIT teams and executing agency for prompt treatment of black spots and rectification of deficiencies, if any, in the roads.

NNN

source (http://netindian.in/news/2013/03/26/00023638/cashless-treatment-road-accident-victims-gurgaon-jaipur-stretch)

I was just going thru random reports and news articles on the internet, when I came across this;
http://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/nhai-chief-officer-at-bbsr-stop-temple-demolition-and-harassment-of-devotees-in-iskcon-bhubaneswar

While I don't know how old the temple is, some of the comments and reasons posted here are ridiculous.

Stuff, such as:
Dear Sir/Madam, Please Before Widening Road First Widen your Views



Please do not destroy your ancient culture what makes your country what it really is. Build streets to temples, not over them. Thank you for your understanding.

This damage will remain a big stain on the reputation of the Indian government. Please help to stop further physical damage that will scar the hearts of millions of devotees worldwide. There has to be a way that the NHAI can implement their road widening while at the same time protecting this historical and sacred place. They must be saved from committing a grave offense that will be remembered in history by generations of devotees around the world.



This is just really frustrating. After reading an article that L&T HMR would be deviating to avoid demolishing a temple, and seeing L&T IDPL do the same near Vellore on the KWTollway, I think our country is headed nowhere.

I was just going thru random reports and news articles on the internet, when I came across this;
http://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/nhai-chief-officer-at-bbsr-stop-temple-demolition-and-harassment-of-devotees-in-iskcon-bhubaneswar

While I don't know how old the temple is, some of the comments and reasons posted here are ridiculous.

Stuff, such as:
Dear Sir/Madam, Please Before Widening Road First Widen your Views



Please do not destroy your ancient culture what makes your country what it really is. Build streets to temples, not over them. Thank you for your understanding.

This damage will remain a big stain on the reputation of the Indian government. Please help to stop further physical damage that will scar the hearts of millions of devotees worldwide. There has to be a way that the NHAI can implement their road widening while at the same time protecting this historical and sacred place. They must be saved from committing a grave offense that will be remembered in history by generations of devotees around the world.



This is just really frustrating. After reading an article that L&T HMR would be deviating to avoid demolishing a temple, and seeing L&T IDPL do the same near Vellore on the KWTollway, I think our country is headed nowhere.
First of all you don't know how old the temple is, so calling it ridiculous is stupid on your part. The comment is not threatening or not saying anything even remotely as "ridiculous" as you proclaim it to be.Some of it sounds true if the temple indeed is old and has a cultural value. It seems the site you found these comments from were discussing about an ancient temple being removed. I don't see how you can label someone's comment as "ridiculous" just because you don't agree with them. They have an opinion and they have rightly stated it. I don't see why an ancient temple should be destroyed just to build a highway. L&T did the right thing by respecting the rights of devotees. Probably you should just get over your paranoia. There are hundreds of other bigger reasons why things don't go according to plan.

^^According to that link, the temple was built by Prabhupad, so it isn't older than 1896. Don't get me wrong, I visit ISKCON every week, but this isn't a case of paranoia.

First of all you don't know how old the temple is, so calling it ridiculous is stupid on your part. The comment is not threatening or not saying anything even remotely as "ridiculous" as you proclaim it to be.Some of it sounds true if the temple indeed is old and has a cultural value. It seems the site you found these comments from were discussing about an ancient temple being removed. I don't see how you can label someone's comment as "ridiculous" just because you don't agree with them. They have an opinion and they have rightly stated it. I don't see why an ancient temple should be destroyed just to build a highway. L&T did the right thing by respecting the rights of devotees. Probably you should just get over your paranoia. There are hundreds of other bigger reasons why things don't go according to plan.

Yeah, a temple shouldn't be razed for a highway but a historic part of Pune should be bulldozed because they aren't inhabited by Hindus.

What a lame scumbag you are.

^^Which part of Pune got bulldozed and by whom?

Lamegame was suggesting bulldozing structures in old Poona in the Pune cityscapes thread.

^^I see.

http://imageshack.us/a/img694/9725/20130509181302.jpg

Effing delays!
Getting into Pune on the Bangalore-Pune Highway (towards Pune from the toll naka) is getting to be an absolute nightmare in the evenings. The stretch has jam packed traffic stretching for miles and worse than that in the city itself.
You are an absolute disgrace Reliance/NHAI, for putting commuters through this nightmare every evening!