The Highways Bill could represent the first major step taken by the government towards the creation of an independent authority with the power to cut delays and streamline the project approvals processes, thereby addressing major problems faced by the Indian roads and highways industry today and potentially opening up huge private investment, writes Aakanksha Joshi.
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Tag: regulatory authority
Policy: A welcome move, but
We should guard against the risk of viewing the mere constitution of a regulator as a panacea for all the problems facing the sector, writes S Nandakumar.
Regulator in road sector to maintain quality
In its 12th Plan document, the Planning Commission has pitched for a regulator in the road sector in the country for determining tariff and service quality. There is no independent regulatory authority for country's roads and highways sector, the Commission said. The Commission said that there is a need for a regulator whose key functions should include tariff setting, regulation of service quality, assessment of concessionaire claims, collection and dissemination of sector information,
Logistics: The elusive industry status
There is an urgent need for measures to facilitate growth in ground logistics (warehousing, rail freight and cold chain logistics) and expects some solid reforms to be announced in this budget.

