12 National Highways to double up as emergency landing airstrips
The Indian Air force (IAF) has cleared 12 National Highways (NHs) as emergency landing airstrips that will enable rescue operation teams to reach affected areas easily, an official responsible for executing the project said. Although there was initially a proposal to develop a total of 21 NHs into airstrips, for now 12 highways have been cleared, with three of those connecting Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh — all Maoist-affected areas, which also witness vagaries of nature like floods and cyclones almost every year. “The IAF has given clearance to 12 NHs to be developed into emergency landing airstrips out of the total 21. However, on the remaining NHs, discussions and testing are on and soon they too are likely to be cleared by the IAF,” a senior government official, requesting anonymity, told IANS. Despite repeated attempts, the IAF had no comment to offer on the project and on related issues like the facilities to be put in place if the highways are to be used in times of emergencies. To start with, the thickness of tar will be increased and highways will be made strong enough for aircraft to land. “The highways will be open for public during normal times, but in case there is an emergency, then normal traffic will be blocked and the stretch will be used for aircraft landing. Also, alternate ways will be created for the normal traffic flow during emergencies,” said the official. According to the Ministry of Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping (MoRTH), the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been chosen as the executing agency. “In all, 17 highways were assigned to the NHAI, but after a joint survey, we found that airstrips can be developed only on 12 of the NHs. The BoQ (bill of quantities) has been prepared and we are waiting for approval from the competent authority on when to start,” NHAI Chairman Deepak Kumar told IANS. Asked specifically how long it would take for the work to commence, Kumar, who was appointed recently to head the national road construction agency, said: “The work is expected to start in the next three-four months.” One major reason behind the initiative is to strategically operate in places prone to natural calamities and where relief work cannot be carried out without the help of choppers or aircraft. Among the 12 NHs cleared for being developed into airstrips are: Jamshedpur-Balasore highway and Chattarpur-Digha highway — both touching Odisha –, the Kishanganj-Islampur highway in Bihar, Delhi-Moradabad highway in Delhi-Uttar Pradesh, Bijbehara-Chinar Bagh highway in Jammu and Kashmir, Rampur-Kathgodam highway in Uttarakhand, Lucknow-Varanasi highway in Uttar Pradesh, Dwarka-Maliya highway in Gujarat, Kharagpur-Keonjhar highway in West Bengal and Mohanbari-Tinsukia highway in Assam. Others include Vijaywada-Rajahmundry highway in Andhra Pradesh, Chennai-Puducherry highway in Tamil Nadu and Phalodi-Jaisalmer highway in Rajasthan. Elaborating on the planning of the entire project, the official said that the selection of highways had been done in a way that the entire country could be covered during natural calamities. “The highways chosen in Odisha are connected to Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Planning is such that within short duration, aircraft will be ready to land and the soldiers can be deployed to help during a natural calamity,” said the official, adding that such initiatives were in existence and had been tried during World War II. In 2016, Minister of Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari had announced the project and the formation of a committee to come up with specifications for highway stretches that can double up as airstrips. The committee will look into details like feasibility of the stretches, their length and breadth, among other issues. Walter Payton Authentic Jersey
Traffic growth: Rs 50,000 crore a year required for extra laning
The present rate of vehicle growth will require construction of an additional lane on highways every year, which will cost government about Rs 50,000 crore, said road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari quoting a study done by his ministry. “While we are expanding the highway network and increasing the length by converting more state highways to national highways the moot question is whether it’s sustainable. We have to find solutions and graduate from building roads to improving mobility,” Gadkari said citing how roads won’t be enough unless the government finds ways to lessen use of private vehicles. At present, the annual increase in registration of vehicles is over 10%. For several years Indian policy-makers have been talking about the need to reduce the load of private vehicles on roads and to put in place mass rapid transit and robust public transport systems. “We have to bring attractive public transport and other modes of shared transport system even on highway stretches, particularly between cities,” Gadkari said adding that luxury double decker buses could be one such options. The study that Gadkari referred to has mentioned how a four-lane highway in Japan is adequate to manage 80,000 vehicles a day while in India a similar road stretch gets choked with only 20,000 vehicles. “This simply shows how we need to make our roads efficient. But we can’t achieve the performance at par with roads in Japan if all types of vehicles besides cycles and cycle-rickshaws use the same space,” said an official. Considering this, the future expansion of highways will be based on making stretches access controlled so that slow moving traffic is not allowed to enter such stretches. “There will be service roads for the slow moving traffic. That will reduce congestion and road crashes as well,” a ministry official said. The ministry has pushed the introduction of new technology driven transport systems, which are before the government think tank Niti Aayog. Marc Staal Authentic Jersey
Road ministry sanctions 115,435 kms of national highways
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways informed Lok Sabha that total 115,435 kilometres of National Highways have been sanctioned in all 35 states and Union Territories in the country. In a reply of unstarred question raised by Shimla Member Parliament Virender Kashyap in lok sabha, Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Pon Radhakrishnan informed Lok Sabha that out of total 115,435 kilometres, 10,668 kilometres national highways have been sanctioned in the states of Himachal, Punjab , Haryana, Chandigarh and Jammu Kashmir. He told that 2,642 kilometres national highways have been sanctioned in Himachal Pradesh while 2,641 kilometres in Haryana , 2,601 kilometres in Jammu & Kashmir, 2,769 kilometres in Punjab and 15 kilometres have been sanctioned for Union Territory Chandigarh . The minister told that highest 15,436 kilometres (kms) national highways have been sanctioned for Maharashtra while minimum 15 kilometres have been sanctioned for Chandigarh. The Minister further said that 6286 kms national highways in Andhra Pradesh, 2537 kms in Arunachal Pradesh, 3845 kms in Assam, 4,839 kms in Bihar, 15 kms in Chandigarh, 3232 kms in Chhattisgarh, 79 kms in Delhi, 262 kms in Goa, 5017 kms in Gujarat, 2641 kms in Haryana, 2642 kms in Himachal Pradesh, 2601 kms in Jammu & Kashmir, 2661 kms in Jharkhand, 6791 kms in Karnataka, 1782 kms in Kerala, 7854 kms in Madhya Pradesh, 15436 kms in Maharashtra, 1746 kms in Manipur, 1204 kms in Meghalaya, 1422 kms in Mizoram, 1547 kms in Nagaland, 4838 kms in Odisha, 64 kms in Puducherry, 2769 kms in Punjab, 7906 kms in Rajasthan, 463 kms in Sikkim, 5381 kms in Tamil Nadu, 3786 kms in Telangana, 854 kms in Tripura, 8711 kms in Uttar Pradesh, 2842 kms in Uttarakhand, 2998 kms in West Bengal, 331 kms in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, 31 kms in Dadra & Nagar Haveli, 22 kms in Daman & Diu have been sanctioned by ministry of Road Transport and Highways in these states . The Minister informed Lok Sabha that among Union Territories, Andaman & Nicobar Islands has been sanctioned highest 331 kms national highways while Chandigarh has been sanctioned minimum 15 kms national highways in the country. He said that about 20557 kms of National Highways are under Detailed Project Report preparation as on June 30, 2017. Mario Edwards Jr Womens Jersey
India will need $4.5 trillion by 2040 for infrastructure: Report
India will need investments to the tune of around USD 4.5 trillion till 2040 to develop infrastructure to improve economic growth and community wellbeing, said Global Infrastructure Hub today. According to its report `Global Infrastructure Outlook’, India has an infrastructure investment need of USD 4.5 trillion by 2040, making it the second largest infrastructure market in Asia after China. “Rising income levels and economic prosperity is likely to drive significant demand for infrastructure investment in India over the next 25 years,” the report said. Taking sustainable development goals (SDGs) into account, the country is predicted to need an additional USD 888 billion by 2030 to provide universal household access to electricity and water. “In absolute terms, the total investment needed to meet the SDGs is greatest in India – a total of USD 1.3 trillion of investment is needed by 2030, more than China, which is USD 257 billion,” the report said. The firm, which conducted an intensive study of 50 countries and seven industry sectors, found out that by 2040, the global population will grow by almost two billion people – a 25 pet cent increase. Rural to urban migration continues with the urban population growing by 46 per cent, triggering massive demand for infrastructure support, it said. The cost of providing infrastructure to support global economic growth and to start to close infrastructure gaps is forecast to reach US$94 trillion by 2040, with a further USD 3.5 trillion needed to meet the UN SDGs (sustainable development goals) for universal household, access to drinking water and electricity by 2030, bringing the total to USD 97 trillion, the report added. Jordan Howard Jersey
Goods And Services Tax Will Accelerate Growth, Says Union Minister Nitin Gadkari
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) will accelerate the growth and ease of doing business and help in nation building, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said today. “GST will remove the red-tapism and corruption and will bring in transparency in the system,” the Shipping minister said at the inaugural ‘Gopal Krishna Gokhale Memorial’ lecture organised by newspaper ‘The Hitvada’. “Till a few days ago 75 lakh (traders/businessmen) have registered for the GST and it is the biggest economic reform that the the country has witnessed wherein, 17 taxes and 22 cesses have been cancelled,” he said. “India has a logistic cost of 18 per cent, while China has a logistic cost of 8 to 10 per cent and that is a reason, why we are not that competitive in the export market,” he said. “Export and manufacturing will get a big boost by GST. Maharashtra’s revenue will increase by 25 per cent and illegal trading will come to a standstill,” he added. The nationwide GST was rolled out from July 1. Thomas Hickey Jersey
Infra material will flow via Krishna to build future city of Amaravati
Amaravati has been designed as a sustainable capital of Andhra Pradesh with 100% treatment and recycling of both solid and liquid waste and vacuum-cleaning of crowded areas. It is also set to become the first urban area which will get most of the construction material through waterway to build the 21.23sq km state capital. Many of the benchmarks set for the development for the future city are at par with Sweden, Japan, Taiwan and UAE. Moreover, the city will have infrastructure to floodproof it for 100 years. The capital being developed as a greenfield city will also be built using construction material that will be transported through a waterway .The state has estimated investment of about Rs 50,000 crore for developing infrast ructure and other facilities.The 70km of Krishna river is being dredged for movement of river ships in the next one year from the construction material hub. This will be first such waterway , which be used for development of a city . Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) has already started dredging on the 80-km stretch between Muktyala to Vijayawada of Krishna river. Muktyar has a major cement plant and it’s also known as the hub for construction material. “The waterway will be enough to transport cement and other construction material for the new capital city.The project includes construction of three permanent terminals and to facilitate movement of passengers and cargo, we will have four floating jetties,“ said an IWAI official. In order to implement the project the authority has moved the proposal for a special purpose vehicle (SPV) in which the Andhra Pradesh government will be a partner. Besides residential and government buildings, Amaravati will have 12 institutions spread over 995 acres and will see Rs 17,808 crore investment. There will be educational institutions, health centres and Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam besides other government establishments. By 2050, the city expects to get 3.5 million population. Some of the other features include 100% recycling of solid and liquid waste, vacuum system for high density areas and using technology to minimise need for land fill areas. IWAI officials said transport cost will depend on total quantity of cargo to be shipped through the waterway. Nick Kwiatkoski Womens Jersey
US firm admits to paying $1.1 milion bribe to NHAI
A Boston-based consultancy firm has admitted to the justice department of the United States that its officials paid bribe of $1.18 million (approximately Rs 6.7 crore) to NHAI officials between 2011 and 2015, prompting the highways authority to launch a probe into the payments. The company, CDM Smith, has agreed to pay $40,371,38 (approximately Rs 25 cr) to the US Treasury, which it earned as profit from “illegally obtained” works for highway construction supervision and design contracts and a water project contract in Goa. The company will pay the entire amount in four instalments by October 1, 2017, an official communication from the US justice department said. It mentioned that the company’s division for India operations and CDM India paid bribes to receive contracts from NHAI. “The bribes generally were 2-4% of the contract price and paid through fraudulent subcontractors, who provided no actual services and understood that payments were meant to solely benefit the officials,” the department said in its June 29 communication to the company. It added that CDM Smith’s division responsible for India and CDM, India, paid $25,000 to officials in Goa in relation to a water project contract. “All senior management at CDM India (who also acted as employees and agents of CDM Smith and signed contracts on behalf of CDM Smith, including CDM India’s country manager) were aware of the bribes for CDM Smith and CDM India contracts, and approved or participated in the misconduct,” the justice department said. The criminal division of the US justice department closed the investigation after the company paid the entire amount it made through “illegal conduct”. An NHAI official said the matter will be probed to identify who all took bribe money from the company. The self-disclosure by the US firm has once again pointed to usual perception of money changing hands in highway contracts and it will be another acid test for the authority to find out the officials who made money illegally. TOI has learnt that CDM Smith has replaced most of its executives at its India office after 2015. The company has also put a public notice on its website saying it has reached agreements with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and the World Bank Group (WBG) for “self-reported improper business activities conducted by a few individuals in the firm’s India and Vietnam operations. The employees associated with these improper business activities were separated from the company following the early findings of CDM Smith’s internal investigations”. It said the company self-discovered and self-reported potential infractions to DoJ and the World Bank. “CDM Smith has a clear Code of Ethics and core values that drive our behaviour every day,” said Stephen J Hickox, CDM Smith chairman and chief executive officer. “Any breach of these values or improper business activities is counter to our culture and will not be tolerated.” Josey Jewell Jersey
Government clears Rs 3,691 cr highway project in UP
The Centre today approved a Rs 3,691 crore highway project in Uttar Pradesh that is part of the Golden Quadrilateral between Delhi and Kolkata. “The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval for development of six laning of Chakeri-Allahabad section of National Highway (NH) – 2 in Uttar Pradesh,” Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement. The cost of the project is estimated to be at Rs 3,691.09 crore, including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road to be developed is approximately 145 kms. “This work will be done under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase V on Hybrid Annuity Mode,” the statement said. The project will help in expediting the improvement of infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh and in reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying between Chakeri and Allahabad. The development of this stretch will also help the socio-economic condition of this region in the state, the government said. This project on NH-2 is a part of Golden Quadrilateral between Delhi and Kolkata. The project will have direct influence on the South- Western part of Uttar Pradesh. Important towns and urban settlements enroute are Kanpur Nagar, Ruma, Chaudagra, Malwa, Fatehpur and Kaushambi. Kanpur is one of the oldest industrial townships of North India. It is also included in the ‘Counter-Magnets’ of National Capital Region. Allahabad is a famous pilgrimage centre, with ancient historical monuments and buildings as well as many educational institutions. The statement said, “In the project, there is a provision of 11 Truck Lay-bye where trucks stop mainly for loading and unloading. There is also provision of Bus lay-bye at 18 locations. Nine flyovers are also proposed in addition to 14 Vehicular Under Pass and 25 Pedestrian Under Pass.” It added the project would also increase employment potential for local labourers. “It has been estimated that a total number of 4,076 mandays are required for construction of one kilometre of highway. As such, employment potential of 5,91,000 (approx) mandays will be generated locally during the construction period of this stretch,” the statement said. Troy Hill Authentic Jersey
Highways ministry working on model pact to suit global investors
The highways ministry is formulating a model pact for its projects to suit the needs of private investors, especially from the US, the Middle-East and Singapore, who have shown keen interest in operating them. Several investors, including Canadian Pension Fund, Abu Dhabi Investment Fund and some from the US, Europe and Singapore, have shown interest in buying various projects. As many as 10 public-funded national highway projects, out of a basket of 75, have been identified by the government for monetisation. “We are in the process of formulating a model concession agreement (MCA) to suit the needs of international investments,” a ministry official told PTI. “A large number of global investors have evinced interests in our projects and some of these meetings have been facilitated by Morgan Stanley and Brookfield Asset Management,” he said. The official said investors have expressed interest in toll operate transfer (TOT) projects and a consortium of investors are keen to invest here. “This special MCA being drafted will be for a wide spectrum of projects including in the highways, railways, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and Waterways,” the official added. “In the first week of August, we could expect to see the first bundle of 10 out of 75 TOT projects out for bidding,” the official said. The government in August last year had authorised the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to monetise public-funded highway projects in the country. Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had earlier said that monetisation of public-funded highway projects could result in funds in the range of Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh crore initially. Ever since the government’s nod for monetisation, NHAI has been conducting traffic studies related to such projects, the revenue streams available and their overall viability. The corpus generated from proceeds of such project monetisation could be utilised by the government to meet its fund requirements regarding future development and operation and maintenance of highways in the country and could address development of highways in unviable geographies. Market feedback indicates that certain institutional investors from outside the country have long-term investment appetite and are keen to participate in operational highway projects with stable toll revenue outlook. These investors generally hesitate from taking construction risk but are willing to look at de-risked brownfield road assets, the government has earlier said. Roberto Luongo Womens Jersey
Rs 7 lakh crore to be spent on highways in 5 years
In the next five years, approximately Rs 7 lakh crore will be spent in building and expanding highways and constructing expressways across the country . While barely 15 per cent of this investment will come from the private sector, the remaining 85 per cent will come from fuel cess and toll, monetisation of completed highway stretches and NHAI raising funds from the market. Road construction is considered a major employment generator. Sources said around 40,000 km of highways will be expanded till 2022, which includes about 24,800 km covered under Bharatmala programme. According to government estimates, construction of 10,000 km of highways annually has the potential of generating four crore mandays and this can be a weapon to blunt the opposition’s allegation that the government has failed to create employment opportunities. TOI has learnt that the interministerial panel for approving government investment known as Public Investment Board (PIB) has approved the Bharatmala programme and the entire financing plan for highway development for five years is set to be cleared. It is also learnt that the NHAI Board, which will have representatives from ministries and Niti Aayog, will get the authority to appraise and approve projects up to Rs 2,000 crore. “This will ensure faster rolling out of projects. Works involving more than Rs 2,000 crore will be taken to the Cabinet for approval,” a government source said. Officials admitted that private investment was likely to be much less than the desired level of at least 30 per cent and hence government has to invest in a big way to push infrastructure growth.With the government making it clear that user charge or toll will be collected on viable stretches, NHAI will recover the investment. It can even auction completed highways projects to private players to get money upfront for fresh projects. For construction and widening of identified projects, the government aims to generate Rs 34,000 crore by monetising some of the completed stretches. The prime minister’s office has asked the highways ministry to accelerate monetisation of completed projects. Jason Verrett Womens Jersey