Drivers' facilities called highway villages may become mandatory in new highway contracts

NEW DELHI: India is proposing to introduce a new stiff clause in highway contracts that will make it mandatory for developers to provide for facilities for drivers, called highway villages, on the lines of international norms.

“The concept of highway villages is quite popular internationally.... The government is keen on developing quality infrastructure that is in tune with current times and will also create employment opportunities for local people,” a road transport ministry official told ET.

Detailed project reports (DPRs) for all upcoming highways and expressways will have a mandatory provision to include highway villages, the official said.

Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has given his go-ahead to the plan and a specialised wing would be set up at the National Highways Authority of India to spearhead their development. A presentation in this regard was made to the Prime Minister's Office recently, which has also backed the concept.

According to the concept developed by the ministry, highway villages would be set up on 75 to 100 hectares, for which land would be acquired through pooling and the land owners made partners in the project. These villages will provide amenities such as handicrafts showrooms, food courts, dispensaries, ATMs, child care areas, car washing and servicing units, internet facilities, coffee shops along with book stores and other tourist facilities. Private companies will also be invited to set up their stores.

The government is proposing to build over 50,000 km of new highways and more than 16,000 km of expressways in coming years. All these upcoming road networks would have such villages.

All express highways, as per the international standards, need to have such amenities as they are access controlled. But the government wants such facilities alongside national highways as well. Every 200 km on national highways would have a village run on solar energy, the official said.

“Internationally, there are all basic amenities along the highways where people can get their vehicles checked and get rest. In India, we have just focused on building highways not improving the quality of travel,” said Jaijit Bhattacharya, partner, infrastructure, at KPMG. “The design should be such that these villages shouldn’t hamper the traffic movement.

The project will significantly improve the travel quality on our highways alongside creating employment opportunities for the rural youth,” he added.

After the Narendra Modi government took over in May 2014, the prime minister asked the roads ministry to also focus on increasing the comfort of commuters.

The ministry was asked to improve the wayside amenities and bring it to the global standards.

The roads transport and highways ministry is planning to award road contract worth Rs 5 lakh crore in next four years. As per the government’s plan, the existing highway network has to be increased to 1.5 lakh km from the existing 96,000 km. In the current year, the target is to award contracts worth Rs 1 lakh crore to build around 10,000 km of roads.