The Market-Accessors

If rural roads act as connectors between highways and tolled for heavy vehicles, they can be made more viable.

In several states, rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and the NABARD-financed schemes are new and inviting. There is no toll imposed for use, and have relatively light traffic. Many rural roads offer a smoother ride than highways. As a result, many trucks have started using rural roads as an alternative to highways.

There are two parallel views on rural roads' use by heavy vehicles that can eventually find convergence. One, the central government's view, is more of a concern: That rural roads do not have the capacity to take heavier vehicles (read: overloaded trucks) and must therefore be deterred. The other, from a state, is that rural roads can be more viable if they can act as “connectors” between highways and bigger roads in general. Whether we adopt the “farm-to-market” or the “highway-to-market” strategy, the viewpoints are valid. Farm-to-market roads typically have low daily traffic, and include non-motorist transport. Highway-to-market roads have higher traffic; they originate mainly at the nearest town and/or at the national highway network. Our rural roads are a bit of both, depending on the size of a village. (The village population is the basis for determining the strength of a rural road.)

The Ministry of Rural Development's concern stems from the technical specifications used while contracting out to build and augment rural roads under the PMGSY and the NABARD scheme. Under these specs, the surface is weaker by half or more that of highways. With the use of concrete under PMGSY, the rural roads have been strengthened to a certain extent. However, the basic concern is that no laws at present prevent trucks from using smaller roads.

A highway-to-highway rural road connectivity, on the other hand, can have the immediate benefits of direct access and indirect factor in rural development. Such connectivity will also relieve the traffic pressure on highways. On the flip side, private developers of the new highways, where tolls are collected, will jump up to raise strident objections.

The Union Ministry's solution to this emerging problem is to impose toll on heavy vehicles' use of rural roads. This makes sense, but states are yet to decide on this advice. If Karnataka state's suggestion is to be taken up, it would mean rural roads may need to undergo further strengthening and viability needs to be established.

However, a new scheme can be considered. Under this plan, perhaps a second phase or corollary to PMGSY, rural roads can be built and connected so as to eventually be linkages between villages, markets and highways. By bundling roads and other rural infrastructure-something already under consideration, rural roads can become viable if tolled for heavy vehicles alone.

All-weather rural roads themselves are a novel concept in India, so states will need to determine quickly how a good idea and a largely well-implemented scheme can now be taken advantage of in a larger context and especially in attracting private partnership.

This issue focuses on a fresh and emerging PPP domain in this brand new year, which, because of food deflation and a let-up in the Anna Hazare movement that beleaguered government decision-making, has started off well.