The biggest issue for the sector was to attract investors
India’s effort to build roads and highways has not been very commendable in last several decades. And that has resulted in creating huge backlog of road building work. Now, the country is trying to catch up with the past by accelerating the road building activities. Kamal Nath had once commented: “We are not building roads for tomorrow; we are catching up with the past.” Thankfully, the sector has started to receive good attention but it’s still a long way to go before the government can achieve the target of building 20 km highways a day.
The biggest issue for the sector was to attract investors which, many analysts say, has started to improve but it will still need massive investment. The government has taken up the task of construction and improvement of about 54,000 kms of national highways under the NHDP (National Highways Development Project), spending about US$80 billion in the next four years.
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With the growing GDP of India, the standard of living of individuals and/or persons is also improving steadily. This has 2 Comments
It is expecting huge investment to come from private sector. With the entry of PE, debt and equity funds, the sector would see more inflow of investment in the future.
Good thing to happen to the industry is the participation of private players through BOT projects. This ensures two things— timely completion of projects; and proper maintenance of roads. Since the onus lies with the developers to maintain good conditions of the roads, they would be more committed to build good quality roads. The government is trying to expedite its project-awarding exercise. It has awarded 6,500 km during last one year since end-FY2009 in comparison to just 850 km during FY2009.
Road building equipment manufacturers are responding quite positively to industry’s need by availing all the latest technologies. The sector is now going through a transformational phase where contractors are looking to adopt cost-effective technology. With the entry of bigger players in the BOT projects, the sector looks to see good reform in terms of transparency, use of latest technology and delivering better quality roads.
India needs to keep that momentum going and ensures that it completes all the ambitious projects on time.
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Readers' Comments
himanshu bharat gandhi (Feb 24, 2011) PUNE, India
Better roads for a developing India
With the growing GDP of India, the standard of living of individuals and/or persons is also improving steadily. This has necessitated higher emphasis on our infrastructural activities, more in particular in relation to roads which are a daily means of transport for the maximum population.
As the purchasing power in the hands of people is high we see everyday more and more new high-tech technology on the roads nowadays. This has only led to heavy congestion on roads. Hence there is need to improve the condition and quality of roads so as to accommodate the growing needs and demands of people.
The initiatives undertaken by the government to invite private participation and players into this sector of road development is commendable but now the expectations are much higher than before to deliver results.
I hereby congratulate the writer of the article "Building roads for the future" for his excellent article.
Prof Uttam B Kalwane (Sep 23, 2010) Aurangabad, India
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With the growing GDP of India, the standard of living of individuals and/or persons is also improving steadily. This has