Indian capital city Delhi's almost all major roads will soon have a dedicated emergency lane and driving on them during the time of any disaster will be a punishable offence. The Delhi Government has identified 162 roads in which emergency lanes will be reserved on the extreme right for plying of ambulance, fire-tenders and other emergency services vehicles.
Category: Roads & Highways
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NIB must distinguish infra projects
Political expediency has gained such a powerful grip on cabinet decisions that even valuable ones often tend to be victims of political spin in our mainstream media: News channels and newspapers excitedly report “differences” within the government based on constructively critical notes exchanged between ministries. In the case of the one on the recently proposed National Investment Board (NIB), however, the diffÂerences between the Minister for Environment and Forests, the Finance Minister and t
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Road projects in limbo
Slow progress in project execution coupled with subdued interest in bidding for new projects under current policy frame may give alternative option to call for revaluation or fresh bids for already allocated road projects. In order to avert this situation, a Performance Review Unit (PRU) proposed by the Planning Commission needs to be endowed with power to gather information from nodal agencies on clearances and incentivise or to regulate, writes Sumantra Das.
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Reinventing IndiaÂ’s road infrastructure
Highway award and implementation has faced a major slowdown this fiscal, but most of the factors are the usual suspects. Then why is this year different? Rohit Chaturvedi and Tejaswi Subramanian explain the potential pitfalls and silver lining in the sluggishness. After a year of aggressive bidding and flourishing business, the road sector has seen a marked slowdown this year in the number of allotments made or expected to be made by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).
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Phase it: The fourth is a challenge
Highways will continue to be sluggish until the unattractive Phase IV projects are completed. With the road sector is poised to undergo a further change in the coming years, the industry as a whole, needs to continue tapping the advantages of road transportation more efficiently and optimally than ever before, writes Bhavik Damodar. The road transportation sector continues to struggle to cater to the countryÂ’s size and widely spread consumption hubs.
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Prudency has returned as aggression has cooled down
Large players will continue to opt for BOT model as it provides reasonable return over long gestation period, says Sudhir R Hoshing, CEO (Roads), Reliance Infrastructure, in an interview with Sumantra Das. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has come a long way in the manner in which its roads are managed. From bringing transparency in bidding process through on-line bidding to taking steps to expedite approval and clearance process,
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The bidding process is good for small, medium and large players
Banks’ new stipulation of 100 per cent land availability for highway projects, along with poor response from bidders and financial closure difficulties among concessionaires, have hampered the awards and implementation, says JN Singh, Member—Finance, NHAI, in an interview with Sumantra Das. Major reason behind this is the poor responses from the concessionaires and in some of our bids (about 7-8) we haven’t even find any bidder. Secondly, banks also are asking our 100 per cent land availability
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Govt should review taxtion issues for better road infra
Sustaining interest of private players in India’s road sector is of paramount importance. For doing so if the government needs to make some small sacrifices in the immediate future, it is indeed worth as this will reap rich dividends in the future through overall development of the economy—and tax reforms will go a long way in this direction, proposes Hemant Kanoria.
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Electronic toll collection will reduce commute time
ETC at toll plazas with interoperability can help reduce peak-hour congestion on urban highways with faster automated toll collection, writes Girish Shirodkar. The Punjab & Haryana High Court opened a new chapter in the Indian infrastructure story, when on September 4, 2012 it forbade toll collection on the busy Delhi-Gurgaon expressway for a period of 15 days, later extended till September 30. Toll collection was restored on October 1 in non-peak hours and on October 8 in peak hours. This is th
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Coordinated efforts among government, developers needed
Lack of coordination between the various government agencies that are involved in the road/highway construction business and improper policy initiatives hamper the prospects of roads sector, experts feel. Private funding of infrastructure has become a mainstay of the Government of IndiaÂ’s policy towards infrastructure deveÂlopment.