On the road to excellence

RAMESH SHARMA

Interview with L.K. Joshi, Secretary, Department of Road Transport and Highways.

India has a 33,13,769-kilometre-long road network. It consists of 200 km of expressways; 65,569 km of National Highways; 1,28,000 km of State Highways; 4,70,000 km of major district roads and 26,50,000 km of rural roads.

The National Highways constitute less than 2 per cent of the total road network but carry a whopping 40 per cent of the total road traffic. It is in this backdrop that the government has embarked on a programme to widen and strengthen them at a cost of over Rs.1,85,873 crores.

As the ambitious infrastructure development project gets executed, L.K. Joshi, Secretary, Department of Road Transport and Highways, spoke to Mamuni Das on several issues in the sector. Excerpts from the interview:

The government has been working on a new toll policy to be adopted across all highways. What is the status of the policy and what are the issues involved?

The Committee of Secretaries set up to work out the policy, headed by the Secretary (Expenditure), Ministry of Finance, has formed a sub-committee to decide on certain issues. The toll policy will decide on issues such as whether the toll charges should be the same for all roads or if they should be based on the cost of road stretches in build, operate and transfer (BOT) projects of National Highways.

For example, if a certain road has several high cost structures like bridges, we have to decide whether the toll should be higher to ensure project viability for the concessionaire or whether it should be given from the government's kitty as viability gap funding. Currently, toll is increased every year by indexing it 100 per cent to the WPI [Wholesale Price Index]. The new model concession agreement suggests a 40 per cent indexing. Forty per cent rate could render several projects unviable for the concessionaire. The issue is that at what rate should the indexation be done.

Moreover, there is a recent decision to build 20,000-km two-lane highways with paved shoulders. Should they be tolled? Another issue is whether three-wheelers should be tolled as usually three-wheelers do not ply as much as other vehicles on the highways. The committee also needs to decide whether tractors plying for commercial purposes should be tolled. Tractors could be used for agricultural as well as other commercial purposes. Should tractors be tolled based on the nature and end-use of goods being carried or should tractors be exempted?

What is being done to address safety aspect of the highways?

Given the fact that 85,000 people die annually in road accidents - a loss of almost 3 per cent of our GDP [Gross Domestic Product], safety is a crucial aspect and we do not really have a comprehensive policy or an integrated body to take care of this aspect. The government has formed a committee with experts from various disciplines, including TERI [The Energy and Resources Institute], IIT [Indian Institute of Technology] Delhi, the Health Ministry, experts on trauma, and NGOs [non-governmental organisations], to propose whether there should be a separate Commissionerate of Safety.

It would also recommend the role and function of this body. Moreover, it would recommend whether there is the need to have an autonomous, regulatory body within the ambit of the Ministry or outside the Ministry. It would also place its recommendations on certain technical issues, including signages. We already have some inputs from a World Bank-sponsored study done by Span Consultants and Danish Directorate of Roads. The Committee is using inputs from those bodies as well as inputs on vehicle norms from the industry as well as the Central Institute of Road Transport and Automotive Research Association of India.

The Committee will also look at the international best practices. The Committee of Infrastructure, chaired by the Prime Minister, has decided that 1 per cent of cess coming to the National Highways would be used as a dedicated safety fund. The National Highways Authority of India has been asked to prepare a paper to work out the modalities of this fund.

What is being done to adopt the best of international experience in the road sector?

We have recently become a member of the United Nations body, WP-29, to ensure harmonisation of international standards in our country. WP-29 evolves international norms for motor vehicles. By becoming a member of this body, we would have an opportunity to learn and adopt the same standards as other countries in the world and we shall be able to put forward our point of view in the technical committees dealing with these norms.

We could benefit by this since at present our vehicles are not accepted in other countries as those countries do not accept our testing standards, nor do they accept reports regarding pollution and other safety norms. If we could harmonise our standards with several other international bodies, then our practices would be accepted internationally.

At a time when highways construction in India appears to be in full swing, what needs to be done on a priority basis?

People need to be educated on highway discipline and made aware of issues that relate to the concept of highways. For example, they are not used to crossing and driving in four-lane highways. You could see people with bullock carts, bicycles crossing the highway right across the fast lanes instead of using the specified routes for them just because these routes would mean covering more distance.

Similarly, we put the best of signages and they are promptly stolen on several stretches of highways. Signages are defaced by sticking posters on them. The point is, there is a strong need to instil a basic sense of discipline and pride vis-a-vis the highways so that people respect the infrastructure that is being built with their own hard-earned money.

Similarly, people living in nearby areas need to be trained in trauma care. The idea is to ensure that people get basic treatment within one hour of the accidents. The first hour is called the golden hour and the majority of victims can be treated more effectively if they are attended to immediately in the right manner. To deal with these issues, the government would need the help of good NGOs.

There is some lag between the time National Highway Development Projects (NHDP) are announced and their actual takeoff. How do you take care of the escalations?

Overall, we have been able to keep costs in control even though cost escalations are permitted as part of contracts across the world and they are linked to inflation. Even then, we feel that the costs would not exceed the initial estimates as owing to competitive bidding, bids are turning out to be lower than the cost estimated in the detailed project report. NHDP Phase I was sanctioned at a cost of Rs.30,333 crores at 1999 prices, Phase II was sanctioned at Rs.34,000 crores at 2002 prices and Phase III A was sanctioned at Rs.22,000 crores. These are in control and there have been no cost overruns.