Focus to shift from road construction to corridor mgmt: Survey

NEW DELHI: Calling for building expressways in high-density stretches, the Economic Survey on Friday asked the Government to shift focus from road construction to corridor management while lauding the fuel cess and toll-based revenue models for financing such mega projects. An estimated Rs 65,000 crore at current prices was required for the National Highway Development Project (NHDP) entailing 4/6 laning of 14,279-km of National Highways. Of the Rs 5,604 crore expenditure on the project in April-January this fiscal, Rs 1,848 crore came from cess on petrol and diesel and Rs 360 crore from tolls. Substantial portions of the Phase-I of NHDP, Golden Quadrilateral, connecting the four major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata with four/six lane highways, have been completed, and are already fueling the growth of productivity in the country, the pre-budget report card of economy said. For completed stretches, the focus needs to shift from construction to corridor management, i.e. from optimally utilising the capital assets to derive the maximum throughput and world class levels of road safety, the Survey said. At the same time, a continuous, competition driven process needs to be in place for upgradation from four-lane highways to expressways in high-density stretches, and for construction of new links, such as a highway from Mumbai to Kolkata, it said. For many years, India lagged behind many countries in building expressways capable of sustained speeds of over 100 km per hour. Concerted efforts are now undertaken, through new institutional arrangements and improved highway engineering, founded on a revenue model comprising tools and a cess on fuel, to build roads which deliver 80 kph sustained performance, the survey said. Under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) - the largest highway project ever undertaken by the country and with the shortest timespan for compleion - 14,279 kms of National Highways are to be converted to 4/6 lanes at a total estimated cost of Rs 65,000 crore. The capital expenditure undertaken through National Highway Authority of India rose sharply, from Rs 746 crore in 1999-2000 (0.04 percent of GDP) to Rs 9,525 crore in 2003-04 (0.33 percent of GDP), the Survey said. NHAI's main source of finance is the fuel cess which is being leveraged for borrowings in the domestic market. There has been a rapid growth in tolls, from Rs 85 crore in 1999-2000 to Rs 371 crore in 2003-04, which is likely to rise to Rs 434 crore in 2004-05. Under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, project proposals amounting to Rs 14,789 crore have been cleared upto November, 2004 for road works covering 103,010 km. Further, under NHDP Phase-III, it is proposed to take up rehabilitation and upgradation of about 10,000 km of existing national highways to 4-lane while in the Phase-IV 21,000 km of single lane roads would be upgraded to 2-lane roads and 17,000-km of existing 2-lane would be strengthened, the survey added.

Focus to shift from road construction to corridor mgmt: Survey

The Economic Survey on Friday asked the Government to shift focus from road construction to corridor management.

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