IRB urges India to offer up new highways for bidding

December 3, 2013

BY MATTHIAS WILLIAMS

NEW DELHI

(The helper of a driver rests on top of his parked truck along a busy highway on the outskirts of New Delhi June 15, 2012.)

(Reuters) – The chairman of India’s largest road construction firm IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd (IRBI.NS) urged the government to invite companies to bid to build and operate dozens of new highways, a step regarded as crucial to economic growth.

India sees ramping up the construction of new roads, power plants and ports as crucial to making its businesses more internationally competitive and lifting economic growth out of its worst slowdown in a decade.

But the private sector’s efforts to build new projects have been derailed by problems ranging from coal and gas supply shortages in the power sector to a throttling bureaucracy and a lack of bank funding in the roads sector.

IRB needs to win new government contracts in order to reverse two consecutive falls in quarterly net profit, Chairman Virendra Mhaiskar told Reuters.

Mhaiskar, who until this year was in the Forbes India list of the country’s 100 richest people, said the state-run National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) should offer up for bidding 20-30 highways previously awarded to companies but which failed to take off.

He said in a phone interview he would like to make bids for new projects worth up to 40 billion rupees in the next 3-6 months to prop up an order book that has shrunk to 70 billion rupees from about 84 billion in May.

“Profit growth will entirely depend on new orders,” Mhaiskar said. “Because if they’re going to exhaust our order book pipeline, then the challenge on the profit remains.”

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch and Angel Broking say IRB is in a strong position to pick up new orders and both have a “buy” rating on IRB’s stock. However, BoA-ML in November cited a slowdown in new project orders as a concern.

IRB, India’s largest road construction firm by market value, posted a 12 per cent drop in net profit to 1.1 billion rupees in the July-Sept quarter, compared with the same period last year. Its net debt to equity ratio is 2.55:1.

“PRIME CONCERN”

India awarded under 2,000 km (1,240 miles) worth of new road construction contracts in the last fiscal year, which ended in March, against a target of 9,500 km (5,900 miles).

“We have seen very little orders getting announced by the NHAI in the last whole of the year. So that remains a prime concern,” Mhaiskar said.

“We understand their views as well, that they feel that there is sluggishness and they may not get a good response. But the point is: one needs to keep the good work going,” he said.

The NHAI chairman did not respond to a request for comment.

The government has pushed a public-private-partnership (PPP) construction model in which developers bid for projects in exchange for sharing some of the revenue with the state – a way of getting investment without emptying the public purse.

Besides delay in awarding government projects, an economic slowdown and various mining bans in India mean there are fewer cars and trucks than there might have been on the roads to pay tolls – eating into companies’ revenues.

Two of India’s best known infrastructure companies, GMR (GMRI.NS) and GVK (GVKP.NS), have moved to exit high-profile road projects. In response, the government is working on a formula to ease the payments that companies have to pay to the state in exchange for operating highways.

Recent projects have been designed mainly on a model known as “build-operate-transfer” (BOT), where companies build and own highways for a fixed period before handing them over to the government.

“These days bankers have become more cautious in lending to road BOT projects. They want 80 percent of the land in possession before the financial closure of the project could be achieved,” said Viral Shah, an analyst at Angel Broking. (Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Pravin Char)

Source-http://in.reuters.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under GVK

New Leadership True Democracy in Action.

December 2, 2013

JOGISHWAR SINGH

As a Swiss citizen born in India, I am many times brought to think about my experiences of the democratic systems prevalent in the two countries.

Before Indian ‘patriots’ start screaming murder at what I am going to say, I should point out that I am fully aware that I am talking about two different historical realities.

Switzerland has been independent for over 800 years while India is a newly created entity, now a mere 66 years old.

Switzerland has a population of only 8 million while India has the second highest population of any country in the world at over 1.2 billion (give or take a few million). And expected, in the near future, to even outstrip China, and become the world’s most populous.

The trigger for this set of reflections was what I saw on the 7.30 pm evening news on Swiss TV a couple of weeks ago.

The Swiss President, Mr Ueli Maurer, was leaving on a five day state visit to China. The news showed him arriving at Zürich airport in an ordinary private vehicle. The President got out of the car by opening the car door himself. He walked to the nearby baggage trolley stand outside the airport entrance. He took a baggage trolley out, rolled it towards the car, lifted his suitcase and travel bag himself, put these on the trolley which he then rolled towards the entrance like any passenger lambda like you or me. He walked up to the check in counter with just two other persons walking behind him. He checked his luggage in for a commercial flight without any special treatment being meted out to him.

For any Indians (or others) who might find it difficult to believe what I have described above, you can CLICK on the link provided hereunder, at the end of this article, to view a TV news clip from the evening prime time news for July 16, 2013..

You’ll get visual proof of the Swiss President’s arrival at the airport, his check in for his state visit to China and a short interview with a TV journalist. This clip is really worth watching.

Conditioned by my personal experiences of dealing with politicians and government ministers in India while serving as an IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer, I was so struck by the contrast between what I had experienced in India and what I was seeing on the TV screen that I told my wife that this represented one of the finest examples of democracy for me, certainly of the Swiss variety. It made me proud to be the citizen of a country where the serving President behaves like an ordinary citizen and does not feel the need to consider special privileged treatment as his divine birthright.

I remembered the countless times when I had seen the fury of Indian politicians, much below the level of the President of a country, at what they considered as a slight because they had not been treated as demi-gods.

I am not a psychologist. I do not know whether centuries of slavery have generated this distorted VIP culture in India but I remember that we all did curse the politicians there for causing so much inconvenience to the general public by expecting, demanding and getting privileged treatment.

Who in India, except maybe some politicians or bureaucrats, has not been inconvenienced by VIP visits for which miles of roads and highways, even entire neighbourhoods, are blocked off to traffic, and flights are delayed, awaiting the arrival of some VIP or even his/her flunkies/family members?

Any such inconvenience would cause an uproar in Switzerland.

In India, it does not generate even a whimper.

In this context, an incident from the not very distant past strongly lingers in my memory. A few years ago, a former IAS batch-mate of mine (1976 batch) had visited Switzerland.

I have noticed that Switzerland becomes a prize destination of choice for a lot of Indian ministers and bureaucrats during their hot summer for attending all kinds of useless conferences which are essentially talking shops organised by the United Nations, an organisation which is a hotbed of nepotism and inefficiency.

This IAS officer wanted to see Switzerland, so I acted as his local tourist guide.

While we were going around the Swiss federal capital, Bern, it was lunch time so we decided to have lunch at a restaurant very close to the Swiss parliament building.

As we took our seats at a table, a Swiss gentleman sitting at the next table, reading his newspaper while sipping his coffee, greeted us in English. While we ordered our meal and waited, he finished reading his newspaper, drank his coffee and called for his bill which he paid before leaving. While going out, he again politely wished us goodbye, even saying, “I hope you enjoy your stay in Switzerland” in English.

After he had left, I asked my visitor if he knew who the man had been. Obviously, my visitor did not know the answer. I informed him that we had just been greeted by the then serving Swiss President, Mr René Felber.

My guest thought I was making fun of him. He would not believe me so I called the restaurant manager to confirm the veracity of what I had told him. The manager duly confirmed what I had said.

My Indian visitor was flabbergasted. He said, “How can this be possible? He actually paid his bill before leaving”.

So, what struck my visitor the most had been the fact that a VIP had actually paid his bill! I wonder what he would say if he saw our current President, Mr Ueli Maurer, personally loading his bags on to a baggage trolley and wheeling it to a check-in counter just like any ordinary citizen. His disbelief could only be countered by visual evidence on the TV!

My visitor’s reaction brought back memories of when, as a serving sub-divisional or district level official, I had been called upon to organise lunches and dinners for numerous collections of freeloaders travelling with ministers or bureaucrats in India.

I seldom remember any politician or bureaucrat actually paying or even offering to pay for the bonanza laid out for them. Those who did offer to pay, did so at the ridiculously low official daily fare of eleven rupees (today, a mere 20 cents US) per person or something like that.

Nobody ever asked how it had been possible to lay out a lavish meal comprising several dishes, accompanied by expensive alcoholic beverages, for such a petty sum. I never found out myself who used to pay for all this extravaganza at the end of the line.

Like a good Indian bureaucrat, I just used to pass the buck down the line to my junior magistrates and revenue officials. To this day, I am unable to clarify which poor victim — read, citizen! — who got stuck with paying for all the freebies on offer.

While working as chief of staff to the President of the Swiss Commission for the Presence of Switzerland in Foreign Countries many years ago, I had the chance of accompanying him to Strasbourg for meetings of the Council of Europe. I also had the privilege of close interaction with several Swiss members of parliament over an extended period of 12 to 14 months.

The contrast to the behavioural pattern of what I had experienced in India with politicians was so stark that it has stayed seared in my mind even till today.

I am by no means suggesting that Swiss politicians are angels but the kind of behaviour that Indian politicians or bureaucrats get away with as a matter of routine in India would torpedo their careers in Switzerland in a jiffy.

Each such incident deepens my gratitude to Waheguru Almighty for having made me settle down in a country like Switzerland where the President carries his own bags to the check-in counter.

Where no roads are blocked for hours so that some VIP can, in the name of security, be whisked around in convoys of official vehicles.

Where politicians and bureaucrats pay their bills in restaurants.

Where grossly sycophantic behaviour is not the general and accepted norm.

Where no red-light beacons or screaming sirens signal the passage of VIP vehicles. Indeed, the red-light-beacon culture of officialdom in India merits a full story in itself.

I might accept India as a true democracy the day I see its President or Prime Minister behaving like the Swiss President before his departure on an official visit abroad.

I don’t think I will ever see such a sight in India during my lifetime.

You think, maybe, my grandchildren will?

Contributed by Mr. Aditya Khanna

_____________________________________________________________________

India should learn from the career of its most powerful businessman

IT IS easy to understand why Ratan Tata, who retires as chairman of Tata Sons on December 28th, is important. The conglomerate he runs is India’s largest private-sector concern, accounting for 7% of the stockmarket. It pays 3% of all India’s corporate tax and 5% of all its excise duty. You can live in a house, drive a car, make a phone call, season your food, insure yourself, wear a watch, walk in shoes, cool yourself with air-conditioning and stay in a hotel, all courtesy of Tata firms. Polite, elegant and reserved, Mr Tata has been the king of India’s corporate scene for the past two decades. Indians look up to him in much the same way that Italians once looked up to Gianni Agnelli at Fiat or Americans did to J.P. Morgan.

In some ways, though, the reverence for Mr Tata is odd. He is not a geekish entrepreneur, like the high-tech wizards in Bangalore. He is an old-style dynast—the fifth generation to run his 144-year-old firm. He took time to grow into the job: when he took the reins in 1991 he struggled to assert himself. Even today, critics accuse him of being regal and secretive—and snipe that the group’s most successful business, TCS, its technology arm, is the one he left most alone.

Nor can Tata be hailed as a financial paragon. After a wave of takeovers during the past decade, its return on capital is mediocre. The new boss, Cyrus Mistry, who comes from outside the family (Mr Tata has no children), may have to reorganise something of a ragbag conglomerate: alongside the stars like TCS or Jaguar Land Rover, a luxury carmaker, there is also a long trail of flabby and indebted businesses (see article).

And yet, for all that, Mr Tata’s career carries two powerful lessons for an introverted and corruption-obsessed India. First, that India has far more to gain than lose from the outside world. And second, that a company can be a force for progress.

The hereditary ruler as hero

Globalisation came easily to Mr Tata, who trained as an architect in America. Even today he would rather discuss car designs with young engineers than read management reviews. That education, and a streak of perfectionism, have served him well. He realised early on that as India’s economy opened in the 1990s its firms would have to raise their standards, benchmark themselves against the very best, and if necessary buy competitors. His foreign takeovers included Corus, a giant British steel firm, and Jaguar Land Rover. The first has been a financial disaster, the second a triumph. But both showed that Indian firms—and those from other emerging economies—deserve their place at the top table of global business.

Indians would love to claim that this lesson has been thoroughly learnt. Names like Mittal and Infosys are known all round the world. But India remains a country with too many protected industries, from shopping to coal mining and newspapers. Mr Tata himself was not always as keen to open up at home as he was to venture abroad. But for the most part he was a firm advocate of globalisation.

The other lesson from Mr Tata has to do with integrity. His group has not entirely avoided scandals. It faced a rogue trader in the early 2000s, and did not completely escape the furore over the bent award of telecoms licences in 2008. No doubt somewhere today, in this firm with $100 billion of sales, funny business is taking place. Rivals grumble that Tata’s current respectability masks a past spent toadying up to politicians in the years before and after India’s independence in 1947. But the fact is that Mr Tata, in public, and by widespread repute in private too, has stood against corruption. His attitude towards India’s political class has been one of polite distance. He has long attacked what he calls “vested interests”—code for crony capitalism, in which firms make profits by buying favours from officials and politicians.

Looking in the mirror

Crony capitalism has seldom seemed more of a threat to India. Back in the 1990s, the country’s leading firms—technology companies as well as Tata Sons—went to extraordinary lengths to be squeaky-clean. Family firms, which still control about 40% of India’s stockmarket profits, professionalised their management and listed their shares. But over the past decade things have gone backwards. The new money has been made in “rent-seeking” sectors, such as mining and infrastructure, with a lot of government involvement and little foreign competition; some mouth-wateringly large corruption scandals have occurred there. Too many family firms have lost interest in improving governance. Some, unwilling to relinquish control by issuing shares, have piled on debt, and now that they are in trouble, are bullying state-run banks to “extend and pretend”—roll over their loans rather than write them down. Such firms thus become state-supported zombies.

The Indian public is fed up. Anti-corruption agencies are newly vigilant. Business has become a hall of mirrors in which fingers point everywhere. Suspicion is so pervasive that even clean officials are terrified to prod along vital projects by clean companies for fear of being accused of favouritism.

The problems in parts of the private sector have thus become a macroeconomic issue. Investment by private companies has slumped—the main reason why economic growth has slowed from 10% to about 5.5%.

It is easy to blame all this on corrupt politicians. But somebody is paying the bribes. By standing out against graft so publicly and consistently, Mr Tata was ahead of his time. The irony is that by doing so he was preparing the way for the end of businesses such as his own. As India’s economy modernises and becomes more open and transparent, the rationale may disappear for sprawling, hereditary conglomerates, which use the bonds of kin to deal with a shortage of trust, and pool their managers and capital because the outside markets for these resources do not work well.

To that extent, Mr Tata may come to be seen as both the last of one breed of feudal corporate leaders—and the first of another more open bunch. Anybody who cares about India’s future, especially its billion consumers, should hope that the transition picks up speed again.

source: The Economist

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Leadership

You can zip through NICE corridor in a year

December 2, 2013

Rohith B R,TNN |

BANGALORE: Thousands of motorists and bikers using the Peripheral Ring Road (PRR) owned by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) have a reason to cheer . The 41-km stretch of the expressway connecting Hosur Road , Bannerghatta Road , Kanakapura Road , Mysore Road , Magadi Road and Tumkur Road will be concretized in a year . About 70,000 passenger carrying units (PCUs) ply on the expressway daily .

NICE spokesperson Manjunath Nayaker said the idea is to provide commuters with a better riding experience and ensure the road lasts for long .

“We are using the Concrete Rigid Pavement method where the concrete pavement is laid in bonding with the existing asphalted pavement . It is done by milling (removing ) the top surfaceof the asphalted pavement . These roads are beneficial to users as they reduce operational costs and fuel consumption ,” he explained .

Manjunath said as part of a pilot project , select stretches , including a 4-km stretch of PRR between the clover-leaf interchange at Sompura towards MysoreRoad ,have already been concretized . The same method has been employed to concretize the 9.1-km Link Road connecting Outer Ring Road near PES College with the NICE Corridor at Sompura ,” he added .

Engineers with LR Kadiyali and Associates , in-charge of the concretization , said the method promises a durable road that lasts up to 60 years .

The advantages

Concrete surface will improve users’ safety since there won’t be potholes Will improve visibility To cut down operational expenditure, including cost of vehicle maintenance Cooler concrete surface will reduce heat-island effect in urban areas Using existing asphalted road as the base leads to less generation of debris that would have ended up in landfills.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Uncategorized

Traffic signals in Delhi to have unique number; hourly updates of its status to be made available

December 2, 2013

Somreet Bhattacharya, TNN

(Hourly updates of traffic…)

NEW DELHI: The next time you are stuck at a traffic intersection where the signal takes a long time to turn green, you can call the traffic police and register a complaint. The force is in the process of marking each signal with a unique number which a Delhiite can quote while making a complaint on the traffic helpline or the police control room.

Officials said the system will be rolled out in stages over the next few months. Signals at major intersections in Delhi are manned by personnel who control the lights depending on the pressure of traffic in the area.

Hourly updates of traffic lights to be made available. The system often creates snarls as officials controlling it have to coordinate with their colleagues at neighbouring signals to synchronize the lights for smooth flow of traffic, particularly during peak hours.

To begin with, crossings at Maurice Nagar in DU’s North Campus and Mayapuri (west Delhi) have been numbered. These identification numbers will help traffic control rooms monitor the change in signaling, whether done manually or automatically.

“We will fine tune it further to pinpoint any fault with the signaling systems so that a traffic snarl that might be caused due to a rapidly changing signal can be rectified ,” said Anil Shukla, additional CP (traffic). Traffic officials added that hourly updates of the traffic lights will be available with control rooms at any point of time.

“Even commuters who are stuck in a snarl at a signal and notice that a traffic light is creating a snarl, can inform our control room using the helpline number or the PCR number mentioning the traffic light calibration digits, and we can take appropriate action to rectify it,” said a senior traffic official.

Traffic authorities said, for the time being, a chart will be maintained at control rooms showing the positions and calibration numbers of the signal poles.

When such complaints are registered with the authorities, they will be able to pinpoint the signal using the chart and inform the local traffic official to rectify it.

“We are trying to document each signal with its timing data base and functionality and there will be no arbitrariness in the controlling . This will help us in monitoring and accountability of our boys on the field also,” said Shukla.

Source-http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Traffic Management, Traffic Signals

Unclaimed cars occupy Asaf Ali Road parking

December 2, 2013

Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Ritam Halder

Vehicle owners were sent notices after HT highlighted the number of cars lying abandoned at the underground parking lot.

NEW DELHI: No revamp is in sight for the Asaf Ali Road underground parking lot near Delite Cinema, which has emerged as a den for vehicles parked for ages.

HT PHOTOAbandoned cars at the Asaf Ali Road parking lot.In August, after Hindustan Times had pointed out the woes of this lot where cars remain parked for months, if not years, the officials of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation had sent notices to the respective vehicle owners.

ADC (RP Cell) Ravideep Singh Chahar had written to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) to find out whether any of these “abandoned” vehicles were involved in criminal cases or have been reported stolen. Respective vehicle owners were also notified.

“The transport department was given a list of 264 abandoned vehicles to ascertain their owners. It responded with a list of 193 vehicles along with the names of their owners. We had sent notices to the respective owners with a 15-day deadline to respond. None of them have responded,” a senior North body official told Hindustan Times, adding that the NCRB, too, is yet to reply and inform if any of these vehicles were stolen.

“The NCRB has been sent a reminder, too, but there is no response,” he said. These unclaimed vehicles take up almost 25% of the three levels of this underground parking lot, which can accommodate 1,400 vehicles.

The letter written to the NCRB states: “As per information given by the parking contractor and other concerned authority, a list of vehicles lying unclaimed in the parking site for so many years was sent to the Commissioner Transport Department of Delhi for giving details of registration of such vehicles…. The North Delhi Municipal Corporation wants to dispose of these unclaimed vehicles after issuance of notice to owners of these vehicles and with the consent of the Police.”

Source-http://paper.hindustantimes.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Parking

Traffic cops to manually tune signal management system

December 2, 2013

Hindustan Times (Delhi)

Subhendu Ray

NEW DELHI: Failing to put an automated intelligent traffic system (ITS) in place in the national Capital despite several attempts, the Delhi traffic police are now working to make them smart manually.

With the help of Google Maps they are conducting an in depth study on traffic patterns, road conditions, average vehicular speed, volume of traffic and discharge capacity of intersection arms at tarffic intersections. Accordingly, they will pre-fix the signal cycle timings to five to eight different time brackets of the day. “We have started the process about four months ago and have already re-tuned about 500 signals in east and west Delhi of 1200 total signals and blinkers in the city. This has significantly improved the traffic situation in these areas by reducing waiting time and improving the process of vehicle discharge,” said Anil Shukla, additional commissioner of police (traffic).

Some of the major intersections where the system is already in place include Kirti Nagar, Punjabi Bag, Mayapuri on Ring Road, Ramesh Nagar, East Patel Nagar and Rajouri Garden circle.

The ongoing process of tuning all 1200 signals and blinkers will be completed within a couple of months, he said

Source-http://paper.hindustantimes.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Traffic Management, Traffic Signals

Tunnel road project has gained momentum: Oscar

December 2, 2013

TNN |

MANGALORE: The much vaunted tunnel roadway through Shirady Ghat connecting the coastal city with Bangalore has gained momentum, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highway Oscar Fernandes said on Saturday.The six-day visit of Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko to India that got under way on November 30 and the scheduled state visit of Prime Minister of Japan in January for the Republic Day celebrations will further boost this project, Oscar said.In an informal chat with reporters on the sidelines of the inaugural of the 27th statutory conference of All India Federation of University and College Teachers’ Organization on Saturday, Oscar said the Indo-Japanese summit coinciding with the Japanese Emperor’s visit will give fillip to this project.

Indicating that the tunnel project through Shirady Ghat will be executed with assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency, Oscar said the state chief secretary and the PWD minister called on him in New Delhi recently and held extensive discussions in this regard. “We, at the ministry, have mooted the idea that a separate corporation be set up to execute the project,” Oscar said, adding that a final shape to it could be expected soon.

The idea of road tunnel through Shirady Ghat straddling the ecologically sensitive Western Ghat was first mooted at Global Investors Meet held under the stewardship of then CM D V Sadananda Gowda. The project was mooted as the current state of the National Highway through Shirady Ghat measuring nearly 40-km is in an unmotorable situation and breakdown on heavy vehicles on the treacherous hairpin curves lead to traffic jams.

More funds for state

With regard to unanimous demand made in the ongoing session of the state assembly in Belgaum that Karnataka needs to cash in on his presence in the ministry and obtain maximum funds for road development for the state, Oscar said, “I have placed myself at the disposal of the CM.”

“I am doing for Karnataka more than already mentioned. But this does not mean I will do something less for the other states,” he said.

Admitting that he has special feelings for the state as he hails from Karnataka, Oscar said, “We have allocated Rs 1,000 crore to Karnataka under Central Road Fund and the same will be reimbursed based on its utilization.”

He said various road schemes under CRF in Karnataka are in different stages of completion. These include Tumkur road that will be inaugurated by end of December, Hassan-Bangalore road shortly, and Kolar road in a week’s time.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Uncategorized

Centre to approve more rural roads by FY15

December 2, 2013

Jaideep Deogharia, TNN

RANCHI: The central team of rural development department expressed satisfaction with Jharkhand over the performance of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) during the regional review meeting of east zone that started here on Friday. The team has agreed to sanction another 3000 km rural roads under the central scheme in the next financial year.

Officials from the rural development and rural works department of Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha were here to give a presentation about the status of implementation of the scheme in their respective states. The meeting was chaired by secretary, Union rural development department, L C Goyal, who is also the vice president of National Rural Road Development Agency (NRRDA).

S K Sathpathy, principal secretary, state rural works department, gave a detailed account of the achievements of Jharkhand in the current financial year. He said that a target of 2000 km rural road at an estimated cost of Rs 850 crores was fixed for the state. “We have spent around Rs 800 crore and are about to complete the target of connecting 1000 inhabitations under the scheme,” he said, expressing happiness that in the next financial year the state would be benefited by receiving the sanction t build yet another 1000 km rural roads.

Members in the team who went on a field visit to Saranda in West Singhbhum and remote villages of Ranchi, expressed satisfaction over the quality of roads being built under the scheme. Issues like preferring local contractors for execution of construction work in remote villages where the rebel groups are active were also taken up.

Sources-http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Uncategorized

Ex-NHAI official to be booked for shifting of toll plazas

December 2, 2013

Dipak Kumar Dash,TNN |

NEW DELHI: A former NHAI official is set to be booked for “misguiding” the authority’s ex-chairman to allow shifting of two toll plazas on Panipat-Jalandhar stretch of NH-1. After an inquiry committee of NHAI recommended action against the official last month, highways minister Oscar Fernandes okayed filing of an FIR against him.
The NHAI inquiry found that “then member (projects) S I Patel had misguided” then chairman by suggesting in the file that the shifting of two toll plazas was as per contract conditions. It said the decision was against “public interest” and would have allowed the private developer to maximize toll collection.

In fact, the decision to allow shifting of toll plazas was a glaring one as both NHAI and its independent consultant had rejected the proposal thrice in March, April and May 2010. But only a month later, the consultant recommended the shifting of toll plazas “subject to approval of competent authority”. Two months later, then NHAI chief Birjeswar Singh gave in-principle approval.

This inconsistency in NHAI decisions also came under criticism from the Supreme Court where the case of shifting of toll plazas is being heard.

NHAI sources said the role of five more officials and the independent consultant is being investigated and appropriate action would be taken after the court proceedings.

Patel, a retired engineer from Gujarat, was earlier named by CBI for allegedly favouring a private company in tender allotment for widening of Nagpur-Betul highway. But the highway ministry never cleared CBI’s requests to prosecute him.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Legal

Govt to set up national body to oversee road safety issues

December 2, 2013

Dipak Kumar Dash,TNN |

NEW DELHI: After facing criticism for doing little on road safety despite 1.4 lakh deaths every year in crashes, the transport ministry has decided to set up an apex body to address all road safety-related issues. The ministry plans to establish the body through an executive order rather than following a lengthy legislative procedure.

The Road Safety and Traffic Management Board will have overarching powers to seek explanation and issue directions to both government and private agencies on all issues relating to road safety, said a senior government official. He added that the board will have powers to summon vehicle manufacturers, if it finds any fault in vehicles involved in accidents.

Sources said the board will have powers to recommend minimum design, construction, operation and maintenance standards for national highways besides conducting safety audits to monitor compliance. It can also conduct research in different spheres of road safety and traffic management besides recommending mechanism for data collection.

Different agencies including World Health Organization (WHO) have pushed the need for a central body that can coordinate and oversee road safety-related issues in India. At present, there is little coordination among different wings of governments at the Centre and states working on road safety.

The transport ministry has decided to take the executive order route to create the board as the amendment in Motor Vehicles Act to increase penalty for traffic violations is pending before the Lok Sabha for 18 months after it was passed by the Rajya Sabha. Sources said the ministry and WHO are roping in some Lok Sabha MPs across parties to hold a dialogue during the next Parliament session. The plan is to push passage of the bill since road safety experts feel increasing penalty for violation of traffic rules would prove a deterrent to vehicle users.

Source- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Indian Govt

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