MP to identify roads which can be turned into national
To reduce financial burden on road maintenance, the Madhya Pradesh government is going to start the process of identifying roads which can be converted into national highways. The officials of public works department (PWD) and MP Road Development Corporation (MPRDC) were directed to identify the roads having the potential of being turned into national highways. “(MP) Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told the officials yesterday during a review meeting to list the roads which can be proposed as national highways,” a public relation department official said today. The official informed that in addition to existing 4,771 kms long national highways of the state, another 3,035 kms long state roads have been declared as national highways. “Now state has a total of 7,806 kms long national highways. Also approval in principle has been given by the Centre to declare other 2,383 kms long roads of the state as national highways,” he added. Chouhan told the meeting that the financial burden on maintenance by the state government will be lessened by handing over the roads to the Union government. “Chief Minister said that the funds saved from such roads can further be utilised for construction of rural roads,” the official added. Willie Snead IV Jersey
MP Kateel takes NHAI to task for tardy four-laning work on NH 66
Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha member Nalin Kumar Kateel on Wednesday took the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials to task for the tardy work while four-laning the Talapady-Kundapura section of National Highway 66. Presiding over a review meeting here, Mr. Kateel said, “I cannot tolerate this tardy work progress which is going on for over seven years. I would immediately intimate the matter to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.” He was particularly unhappy with NHAI’s failure to demolish buildings that have already been acquired by paying compensation for widening NH 66 as well as NH 75 (Mangaluru-Bengaluru Road). Mr. Kateel also took NHAI to task for its failure to provide service roads wherever required. An NHAI official present told the MP that acquired buildings off NH 75 near B.C. Road would be razed within a week. He also said that the entire work on four-laning NH 66 would be completed by June next. The issue of construction of a flyover at Pumpwell (Bhagavan Mahaveer) Circle at the junction of NH 66 and NH 75 in the city appears to be facing yet another hurdle. A technical advisor to Mangaluru City Corporation has said that the design would obstruct free flow of traffic. To this, Mr. Kateel asked NHAI and the corporation to hold a joint inspection and sort out the issue at the earliest for the speedy completion of the flyover. He warned the authority not to resort to toll collection till it completed all work related to four-laning of the road. Lawrence Guy Authentic Jersey
Demonetisation pushes electronic toll collection by 540 times
Demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes has pushed toll payment through electronic mode rather than in cash, something the highways ministry failed to do in the past two years. In the past 20 days, toll collection through electronic mode increased by at least 540 times, according to NHAI data. Even the sale of FASTags, a common tag that can be used across all toll plazas on NHs, has increased from only 1,462 on December 1 to 5,635 on December 20. The average daily sale of these tags is around 3,223. Since its launch two years back, the banks responsible for popularising the use of these tags had sold only 1.08 lakh tags till November 30. The toll collection through electronic mode went up from Rs 65,897 on December 3 to nearly Rs 3.58 crore on December 21, NHAI said. “The numbers will increase significantly next month. Now four banks – ICICI, Axis, IDFC and SBI – are selling tags. They will reach out to bulk buyers such as truck fleet owners and cab operators in a big way. What we need to do is increase the number of lanes that can process the tags to deduct toll,” said an NHAI official. Though at present, highway operators are also collecting user charges using point of sale machines, the aim is to convert more people to use FASTags, which enable vehicles to pass through toll lanes without stopping. According to estimates, toll plazas in India will be congestion-free when 60-70% users pay toll through electronic mode. The proposal of large scale use of smart tags was first mooted in June 2010 and a pilot run was conducted in August 2012. But it did not get enough attention until recently. Besides reducing the processing time at toll plazas, use of smart tags ensures no leakage in toll collection as all records are captured electronically. These can also be used for tracking movement of stolen vehicles or in case of any emergency. Aleksander Barkov Jersey
AAP govt proposes road-design cell to counter traffic woes; plan awaits L-G nod
To overcome the menace of traffic snarls and ensure optimum use of road space in the capital, the Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government has proposed for formation of a separate body which will work to redesign the city road system. The road design cell, will aim to revamp the congested roads and make them friendly towards pedestrians and cyclists. The makeover goal also includes plan to demarcate dedicated zones for street vendors, provisions for foot over bridges with glass lifts and staircases among other elaborate features. The cell which will have road safety expert, architects and PWD officials as members, will study the traffic pattern of all the major roads and finalise the design of roads in the city. Sources said Delhi PWD minister, Satyendar Jain, has proposed more space for pedestrians and cyclists on the city roads and they will be redesigned keeping that in mind. Last year, the government had proposed to revamp the design of ten roads in Delhi while giving preference to bicycle riders and roadside walkers but the project could not take off. “The proposal is pending with the L-G and we hope to get approval from him for a new body so that we can restart the project. The road-design cell will be formed for two years for the makeover of the city,” said a PWD official. Sources said that the department is persuading L-G to approve the proposal. Several flyovers have come up in the city over the past decade, but the problem of congestion continues to plague Delhi roads partly because the existing network of 33,260 km of roads is not being used properly. According to the transport department officials, despite enormous growth in vehicular population, Delhi has the capacity to handle traffic if lane driving is implemented properly. Read| Capital chaos: Delhi’s traffic has slowed down and doubled time spent on roads “An ideal road is where everyone has the designated space, from pedestrian to cars, public transport and cyclists. In future, movement for pedestrians will be made smooth by removing all obstacles and there will be provision of foot over bridges with glass lifts and staircases, keeping in mind the comfort of pedestrians,” the official added. In Delhi, about 35% of the commuters ‘walk only’ as means of transport. These commuters are different from the ones who walk to catch the public transport. “Inspite of the enormous motorization, the highest share of people still ‘walk’. Naturally, we need to improve the facility for pedestrians. Then to decongest roads, we need to give more importance to public transport so there is going to be dedicated lane for buses at majority of roads,” the official further said. In congested areas, Delhi government plans to have dedicated lanes for cycles and non-motorised vehicles and in market areas, there will be dedicated zones for street vendors. Experts claim that roads in Delhi have been primarily designed to increase the speed and ease of movement of car users. “Car-oriented design priority and discouragement of walking through inadequate design – has discouraged people from walking and in turn encouraged car-dependency. In ideal condition, preference should be given to non-motorized vehicles. In coming days, pedestrians will have space in every road but space for cars and bikes will be reduced. We will create dedicated cycle lanes too,” the official further said. Through redesigning, government is also planning to provide space for feeder vehicle for comfortable last mile connectivity from metro stations. Since only 1,200km of roads come under PWD, the Delhi government is planning to spend around Rs 5,000 crore to redesign wide roads of the city. Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had said that Delhi’s traffic problem is linked to flaws in road designs rather than space problem and his government was trying to rectify them. Government feels majority of road space have been occupied by cars across the city and that motorists constitute around 1.5% of the total road users. To improve public transport, government would ensure buses at an interval of 1-2 minutes at specific localities initially. Government may keep certain roads only for public transport as is done in many European cities and build cycle track along with metro stations. Key features of the road redesigning plan • Roads to be redesigned with focus on giving more space to pedestrians by widening the footpaths • Pedestrians Movement to be made smooth by removing all obstacles • Provision for foot over bridges with glass lifts and staircases, half-subways, at-grade zebra crossings • Footpaths with street furniture • Footpaths to be made friendly for differently-abled people • Dedicated lanes for cycles and non-motorised vehicles • Dedicated bus lanes wherever possible • Estimated cost: Rs. 1.25 crore per lane per km • Total length of lanes on selected roads: 200 km • Dedicated zones for street vendors • CCTV cameras for monitoring • Rain water harvesting units under the green area and the central median Marcel Dionne Jersey
Agra-Lucknow Expressway to open for commuters on Dec 23
The new Agra-Lucknow Expressway is all set to open for commuters on December 23. The country’s longest expressway will offer a smooth ride to Agra and bring down travel time from 7 hours to 3.5 hours for commuters, an official said. Chief secretary Rahul Bhatnagar held a preparatory meeting with UP Expressways Industrial Development (UPEIDA) and police officials here on Monday to ensure that the necessary traffic management system, road safety and emergency services are in place along the 302-kilometre expressway for road users before the D-Day. The highway police have been asked to maintain a vigil and restrict road-users to a speed limit of 100 kilometres per hour. The six-lane expressway, which can be expanded up to eight-lanes, was inaugurated by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on November 21. “Police officers have been told to provide one police van (Dial 100) and one ambulance (108 service) on every 30 kilometre stretch of the expressway and also set up requisite check posts,” said Bhatnagar. The expressway passes through four national highways and spans 10 districts connecting Agra-Lucknow via Shikohabad, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auraiya, Kannauj, Kanpur, Unnao and Hardoi. The UPEIDA has been asked to set up base stations in each district and also set up an integrated automatic highway traffic management system to coordinate with emergency services, patrol cars and police check posts to keep a watch on road users. The traffic system will reduce accidents and help commuters during fog when visibility is very low, according to officials. “They (UPEIDA and police) have also been asked to put up proper road signs, milestones and other road-safety precautions along the route,” said the chief secretary. Patrol cars will be equipped with speed radars and breath analysers. Mitch Morse Jersey
Despite Gadkari’s Tall Claims, Road Construction Is Way Behind Target
Union Road and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has lowered his target of building new roads in the country. Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Gadkari conceded that his ministry will fall short of building 40 kilometres of new roads each day. A Long Way To Go But Gadkari maintained the National Highways Authority of India’s FY17 target of awarding new road projects to build 15,000 kilometres even though the road authority’s own data draws a very different picture. The NHAI has awarded contracts to build only 2,360 kilometres in the first seven months of this financial year, that’s 16 percent of the target. According to a senior official in NHAI’s planning and statistics department, a total of 2,597 kilometres have been awarded between April and November this year, indicating that another 237 kilometres were added in November, . The total cost of these projects stands at Rs 31,265 crore. The projects have been awarded under three categories- engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC); build, operate, and transfer (BOT); and hybrid annuity model (HAM). Nearly two thirds of the projects have been awarded in the HAM category, the data reveals. Road construction has also fallen short of the target by a very long stretch. The data sourced by BloombergQuint from the NHAI website shows that a mere 1,417 kilometres have been built so far this year, translating to an average of 6 kilometres per day versus the targeted 40 kilometres. That’s just 15 percent. Gadkari claimed it will go up substantially by the end of this year, though it’s not clear how such a big shortfall can be covered in just four months. The minister acknowledged the backlog by trimming the target a wee bit. Will definitely be able to build 30-35 kilometres of roads every day, if not more. Nitin Gadkari, Road and Highways Minister Challenges Analysts say land acquisition continues to be one of the biggest hurdles for new road projects. “NHAI’s performance is slower than expectation and its own target itself due to regulatory hurdles and delays in land acquisition,” said Teena Virmani, vice president of research at Kotak Securities. “It has to acquire 80 percent of the land before awarding the project. Due to delays in acquiring this much land, awarding activity is slower than NHAI’s own target,” she added. Ashish Agarwal, director at Equirus Capital Pvt. Ltd. concurred. “That is (land acquisition) one of the reasons why project awards that he (Nitin Gadkari) has targeted have not taken place,” said Agarwal. He believes that part of the problem lies in awarding the projects under the hybrid annuity model. “They have gone a little slow on HAM. Given that the financial closures at HAM have not yet happened at a rapid pace,” Agarwal said. With just four months till the financial year end analysts are not hopeful that the targets will be achieved. Agarwal said it would be challenging for the authority to even complete half of the target. “They are definitely not going to (meet the target). I mean it will be challenging for them to even achieve 6,000-7,000 kilometres (this fiscal),” he said. “There is a strong bid pipeline for next quarter but we still believe that achieving the target of 15,000 kilometres is difficult,” said Virmani. Alex Okafor Jersey
We will spend Rs 10,000 crore to decongest Gurgaon: Nitin Gadkari
India’s road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has a grand plan to decongest Gurgaon with a series of projects worth close to Rs 10,000 crore, among them building bypasses and introducing an ambitious pod taxi plan, which would be the country’s first. To ensure there’s no repeat of the massive traffic jam and waterlogging that plagued Gurgaon in the last week of July, Gadkari says the National Highways Authority of India will work on a comprehensive drainage system. What’s your plan to decongest the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway and make travel between Delhi and Gurgaon easy? We have prepared a massive plan to decongest Gurgaon. If we put together all our projects in Gurgaon, we would be spending close to Rs 10,000 crore to decongest the Millennium City. We have an all-new national highway called Dwarka Expressway that is an alternative to the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway. The highways authority has started acquiring land in Delhi from private owners for the same. Land for the Gurgaon side of the expressway has already been acquired. Apart from the road, the NHAI will also build roadside amenities and border posts for which, too, the land is needed. There’s also a plan to build India’s first pod taxi system… It’s one of our most ambitious and innovative plans. It would completely transform the way we see urban transportation. Gurgaon will be the first city to have it and I think the city needs it the most. If the pilot run is successful, we’ll take permission from the Haryana government and would extend it within Gurgaon, connecting it with points like Cyber City. It would solve the lastmile connectivity problem. I’ll lay the foundation stone for the project soon. We have already invited bids for setting up the pod taxi project on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis. The metrino, as it’s called, would be small, battery-operated, driverless vehicles running on elevated tracks. It would have a passenger-carrying capacity of 4-6 persons with a maximum speed of 40 km per hour. The construction cost for it would be Rs 50 crore per km as compared to Rs 200 crore per km of metro. It will start from the Delhi-Gurgaon border on the expressway and extend till Badshahpur on Sohna Road via Rajiv Chowk. The construction cost of the project is Rs 835 crore in phase one. In phase two, it will go till Manesar and the total project cost would be Rs 4,000 crore. The monsoon rains caused heavy traffic jams on National Highway 8 and waterlogging in Gurgaon, which was no less than a flood situation. How would you ensure that there’s no repeat of such a situation, at least on the national highway? Gurgaon is one of the most prestigious cities of the country with so many companies having their base in the city and such vibrant population from across the country and world. It’s an expat city as well, with so many heads of Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies living there. In such a town, we cannot afford to have traffic jams and waterlogging as we have seen in recent past. It could dent our international image… To make permanent arrangements to prevent the repeat of such a situation, the NHAI along with the Haryana government will construct the Badshahpur drain along with several outfall drains. Once these outfall drains are constructed, the issue of waterlogging would never recur. I have already asked NHAI to make necessary arrangements so that there’s no work left on our part. What are the other innovative ways you’re looking at to improve the commuters’ experience between Delhi-Gurgaon? We are working with the state govt to live up to the expectations that investors would have in terms of infrastructure in the city. Loui Eriksson Womens Jersey
CONSTRUCT THE BEST QUALITY ROADS TO SAVE LIVES: NITIN GADKARI
Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways And Shipping, Nitin Gadkari, on Saturday called upon the stakeholders in road construction to accord top priority to saving lives by taking measures to prevent road accidents. The minister asked engineers, construction firms and other stakeholders to play their respective roles in ensuring best quality roads adhering to all safety norms. Addressing the 77th Annual Session of the Indian Road Congress (IRC) here, he voiced concern over the loss of 1.5 lakh lives in 5 lakh road accidents every year in India. Gadkari said that out of the 52 lakh kilometers of road length in the country, the national highways are just 96,000 kilometers. While being just 2 per cent of the total roads, national highways 40 per cent of the total traffic. The minister said that the first decision which was taken by his ministry was to increase the length of national highways to 2 lakh kilometers. “We have already declared 1,65,000 km as national highway and we will be adding another 35,000 km in the coming days,” he said. Gadkari claimed that when he took over as the minister, 403 projects worth Rs 3.75 lakh crore were stalled due to delays in land acquisition and environmental and forest clearances. He said the work on 95 per cent of the projects was resumed with new Detailed Project Reports (DPRs). The DPRs, he said, had to be perfect and prepared with a vision and in tune with the 21st century requirements. In the past, bridges and underpasses were cancelled to save money, which led to accidents. The minister stressed the need for innovation and research to bring down the cost of construction and improve the quality of roads. Jason Spezza Authentic Jersey
Activists ask Govt to accept Truckers’ offer to pay entire toll collection in advance, remove toll plazas
A group of activists and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Mumbai and Pune have come together to support the demand from All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) to change the mode of toll collection and provide them with Annual Toll Permit (ATP) with upfront payment. The AIMTC, whose representatives met the activists Monday morning, said, they had met several senior ministers, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and expressed their willingness to compensate the government for the entire toll collection at toll plazas of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) across the country on upfront basis. They had made this offer in order to reduce the huge losses suffered by transporters because of delays at each toll collection centre. The AIMTC is on record to say that this will allow the government not to collect toll from private cars and other vehicles. This proposal fully supports the drive towards a digital and cashless economy initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It gives the government time to put in place effective Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) facilities, as per the report of the apex committee on ETC, 2008. The present process of collecting toll is not transparent and prone to corruption and malpractices by toll collectors and concessionaires. Based on a study done by the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata in 2016, frequent stoppages at toll barriers result in a loss of man-hours and fuel worth a whopping Rs1.45 lakh crore per year. As against this, the toll revenue collected by the government in 2014-15 was a mere Rs14,717 crore (this information has been obtained under the Right to Information act and from the NHAI/Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) website). Reports by the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) and the Principal Accountant General have repeatedly pointed to the mismanagement of crores of rupees in administration and collection of tolls. The activists were disturbed to learn from Raman Khosla of the Maharashtra Rajya Truck Tempo Tanker Bus Vahatuk Mahasangh about a new report from Mumbai quoting experts, who studied vehicle movement on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link and Mumbai–Pune Expressway, which states that there was a saving of Rs3 crore worth of fuel in the 10 day toll waiver from 9th November to 18 November 2016. The group of activists include Sanjay Shirodkar, Vivek Velankar, Shriniwas Ghanekar, Anil Galgali, Pravin Wategaonkar, Sucheta Dalal, Mahesh Jadhav, Ashok Datar, Ashok Ravat, AV Shenoy, and Jagdeep Desai among others. “Considering all the above mentioned points, we strongly demand that the Prime Minister, Finance Minister and Minister of Road Transport and NITI Aayog should accept the AIMTC’s offer. It will help mitigate the hardship caused to people and businesses after demonetisation and reduce the loss to the economy in terms of manpower and fuel,” the activists said. Ryan Allen Jersey
NICE gets stay on govt notice over toll collection
The Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprise (NICE) has been successful in getting a stay from a court on the notice served by the state government on it, seeking why toll collection on the Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor should not be stopped. According to official sources, the government had served a notice to NICE, after the Legislature committee report on the reported violation of the framework agreement by the company, was tabled in the Assembly during the recently concluded winter session of the legislature in Belagavi. However, NICE has been quick to outsmart the government, the sources added. The government is now working towards getting the stay vacated. The committee had noted that NICE had violated the framework agreement between itself and the Public Works Department (PWD) by collecting toll, without even providing cemented roads or facilities such as drinking water and toilets for road users. Despite this, NICE has been collecting higher toll than its competitors, the report added. The report said that NICE has collected Rs 1,375 crore through toll, from 2008 onwards. The committee had recommended that the amount collected should be recovered by the government, and that toll collection stopped immediately. The committee has also recommended the government to order a CBI probe into the matter. The report is now before the high power committee headed by the chief secretary, which is required to recommend action to be initiated by the state Cabinet. The chief secretary has sougth opinion from the PWD. The sources, however, said that the committee report might not see light of the day, owing to the pressure from an influential minister in the Siddaramaiah Cabinet. Leon Hall Authentic Jersey