20,000-km highways on PPP project underway; state roads to get facelift from October

September 27, 2014

JAIPUR: The Public Works Department (PWD) has identified 8,910-km state highways (SHs) and major district roads (MDRs) to be built under the state government’s ambitious 20,000-km road construction project. The entire project is to be completed over the next five years, involving an investment of Rs 70,000 crore on PPP mode.

Proposals for development of the SHs and MDRs to be built in phase-I with 29 packages (investors) have been finalised in consultation with the Planning Commission. In addition, the PWD would undertake construction of 3000-km roads in nearly 3,000 villages under the “Gramin Gaurav Path” Yojana under PPP mode.

“Work for building the roads would begin by November,” PWD minister Yunus Khan told reporters on Friday. “From October 1, we will also begin patchwork of roads damaged in the monsoon. Around 48,000-km broken roads would be repaired, which would cost between Rs 600 crore to Rs 1,000 crore by early next year. We have already got Rs 400 crore for it,” Khan said. Besides, the department was working on repair of 163-km stretch of the Jaipur-Delhi National Highway. “Our part of the NH repair would be completed by March 2015,” the PWD minister said.

For proper planning, monitoring and execution of the ambitious infrastructure project for the next five years, a dedicated PPP division has been set up with 34 senior engineers and officers, headed by additional chief engineer Shiv Lahari Sharma. The division, which was inaugurated by the minister on Friday, would be merged with the Rajasthan State Highway Authority created under the Rajasthan State Highway Bill, 2014, recently passed by the state assembly.

The minister attempted to dispel public apprehension about the state roads becoming a ‘web of toll taxes’ under the PPP mode. “There are 1.10 crore registered vehicles in the state, and of these, just 8 lakh (or 9%) vehicles are levied; but that too only when they move on the toll roads, which happens once or twice a month. What is the harm in paying a small amount as toll when we are getting smooth roads that reduce the travel time considerably?” Khan reasoned. The minister said the state had 1.95-lakh-km-long roads. “For maintaining them, we have two options – either tax everyone (for government funding) or tax just the commuters on particular roads (PPP mode),” Khan said.

“We want Rajasthan to emerge as a model state in road infrastructure. The way to achieve it is through PPP; there will be no looking back on the path we have taken,” the minister emphasized. He added that the state would soon come up a toll policy.

PWD principal secretary D B Gupta said of the 1.95 lakh km state roads, the department was earlier maintaining about 1.25 lakh km in cities and on the highways. “About 70 private investors have now approached the department to work on PPP mode for road construction so far,” Gupta said.

Source:Times of India

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Government (Govt), Highway

‘Smart cities’ to be identified before Budget: Venkaiah Naidu

September 27, 2014

Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu addressing the National Conclave of States/UTs on Smart Cities in New Delhi on Friday.

The Centre will start identifying urban areas which can be transformed into “smart cities”, before the Budget, Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said here on Monday.

The government is currently holding consultations with all stakeholders including state governments, local bodies and those keen on developing smart cities.

“I have held consultation with my state counterparts and taken them into confidence. Now we are at the advance stage of finalising the contours of the smart cities and by November we expect the process to be completed…and expect to identify the cities before the Budget,” Naidu, who was in town today for the Ieema annual convention, told reporters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has envisaged developing 100 smart cities by 2022. The Finance Ministry has allocated Rs 7,060 crore for developing these cities as well, which will replace the present flagship urban renewal scheme JNNURM.

“I am planning to complete the process of consultation and finalisation of the contours by end of November and take them to the Expenditure Finance Committee and then to Cabinet. Then from the beginning of the year, roll out will begin,” he said.

“We plan to have at least 2-3 smart cities in each state,” he said.

Emphasising the need for taking all the stakeholders on board, he said, “You have to take the states and urban local bodies into confidence. Then you need support from different sectors and you need finances, which need a lot of consultations. We have finalised PPP model for developing smart cities.”

Naidu further said there is an increased interest from other countries to participate in this project. “I have held consultations with a lot of foreign delegations who are interested in participating in this project. Japan is keen to cooperate to transform Varanasi into a smart city. Similarly, a former Singaporean Prime Minister has also met me and expressed interest in constructing a new capital for Andhra, which I want to make into a smart city,” he said.

He said he will visit cities like Oklahoma and Seoul to understand their models.

However, he noted that creating a smart city is not an easy task. “It is not easy to construct a smart city overnight without light and basic amenities. We need to prepare habitat with a smart leadership. Further, there is a need to provide facilities for transport, water, disposal of waste, traffic security management, education, entertainment and employment opportunities, among others. All these things will take time,” he said.

“In this entire process, having 24×7 power supply will be critical. A city cannot be smart if there is no power. Therefore, there is a need to create proper transmission and distribution system to ensure uninterrupted supply of electricity,” Naidu added.

Source:Indian Express

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Indian Govt, Smart City

Infrastructure investment needs to pickup: Official

September 26, 2014

Investment in infrastructure development needs to pickup for better asset creation and delivery of projects, a senior government official said Tuesday.

According to R.P. Singh, chairman, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI): “The infrastructure situation in the country is dismal; the pace of investment is sub-optimal and unless we come out of the subsidy regime and inject substantially more funds into capital expenditure for asset creation, the situation will not look up.”

Singh who was speaking at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FICCI) India Infrastructure Summit 2014, attributed the perceived failure of public private partnership (PPP) projects for developing infrastructure projects to the failure of the people who handle such projects rather than the concept.

Singh underlined the need for a rational tolling policy so that the user is not charged arbitrarily, especially where the charge is disproportionately higher in relation to the distance actually travelled.

“Much of the problem on PPP projects is caused by aggressive bidding for projects, and tendency to pass on the risk to the government when the project becomes unviable,” said Singh.

Singh’s views were corroborated by Shipping Secretary Vishwapti Trivedi who said that PPP by itself was not a bad concept.

“If you have the money go for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contracts or else build roads through the PPP mode”,” he said.

Recently, the government said that it will develop highways under the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) rather than PPP mode.

The shift in policy is significant given the new government’s focus on developing infrastructure.

The EPC entails that the contractor build the project by designing, installing and procuring the necessary labour and land to construct the infrastructure, either directly or by subcontracting.

However unlike PPP, the financing is done by the government and not by banks or private equity funds through issuing of sovereign bonds or taking financial guarantees for the project.

The highway sector currently contributes around 4.5 percent to the GDP and is responsible for job creation and has a multiplier effect on the economy. However, delays due to land acquisition, forest clearances, defence land handovers have stalled progress in the sector.

This has caused build up of project non-performing assets (NPAs) worth crores of rupees where banks have participated or helped in financial closure.

Industry estimates the cost of these projects which are worth Rs.60,000 crore to have escalated further.

Source:big news network

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Highway

We want both highways and i-ways: Narendra Modi

September 26, 2014

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the government wants both highways as well as information ways (i-ways) for a Digital India.

“We want highways. We also want i-ways for a Digital India,” Modi said during his address at the launch of his pet “Make in India” campaign.

The campaign aims to put India prominently on the global manufacturing map and, in turn, facilitate the inflow of new technology and capital, while creating millions of jobs.

Source:Economic Times

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Government (Govt)

Centre, states to track project progress via joint mechanism

September 26, 2014

In a novel exercise, the Centre and states have decided to join force to set up a mechanism to fast-track stalled infrastructure projects. The proposed ‘joint mechanism’, to be headed by Cabinet secretary Ajit Seth and comprising chief secretaries of concerned states, aims at expediting the implementation of projects that have a cumulative investment potential of nearly Rs 10 lakh crore.

To fix the responsibility for delays in various projects, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed the formulation of a database on major contracting firms entrusted to supply equipment and raw materials for different projects and upload their details in the procurement portals of concerned Union ministries and state-run companies.

While electronic procurement is gradually becoming the norm in most government procurement, the concerned Union ministries should focus on making the suppliers accountable for untimely delivery, the Prime Minister has said.

The government has decided that the mechanism would also be web-based for online resolution of issues. Currently no known mechanism exists to coordinate execution of projects between the Centre and the states.

On fast tracking the ongoing projects, the government has intensified the monitoring of progress, as key projects such as roads, airports and electricity generation are way behind their annual targets.

The Planning Commission, which the Prime Minister wants to be dismantled, has cautioned that while much less money is being spent for giving facelift to infrastructure development, even the pace of execution of various projects is also tardy.

Seth had already told an industry delegation in December last year that about 255 projects are stalled entailing an investment of nearly Rs 10 lakh crore, but considering that the previous UPA government was on its last leg, not much headway could be made.

The bad loans of public sector banks led to their gross non performing assets increase by nearly four times from March 2010 (Rs 59,972 crore) to March 2014 (Rs 2,04,249 crore), according to the Economic Survey of the finance ministry.

In a presentation to Modi on September 10, the Plan panel cited that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has invested only Rs 162 crore during the April-August period against a targeted expenditure of Rs 934 crore for 2014-15.

While the AAI is yet to declare airports in Bhopal, Indore and Raipur as international airports, it has still not identified four airports to be developed along with private partnership in the first five months of 2014-15. Portraying a dismal picture for the railways, the presentation said it only 450 km of new lines were constructed in 2013-14, but has managed to construct only 39 km out of a targeted 300 km during the first five months of 2014-15. It achieved only 36 km of gauge conversion and electrified only 97 kms.

In the roads sector, construction of 1,860 kms of roads awarded against targeted 8,500 kms and 178 km of highways tolled against targeted 3,730 km. In the electricity sector, the country added capacity of 8,318.47 MW during these months as against the targeted 17,830.30 MW. Coal output was 220.52 million tonne during the period against targeted 630.25 MT.

Source:The Indian Express

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Government (Govt), Road Transport and Highways (Ministry), Tolling

Govt’s plan of limiting toll collection faces resistance

September 26, 2014

Currently, the toll rates are typically brought down to 40% of the ongoing toll rate after the end of a concession period. Photo: Mint New Delhi: Roads minister Nitin Gadkari’s promise of limiting toll collection to recover project cost is facing resistance on grounds that it will add to the fiscal burden of the government. Officials in the road ministry and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have pitched to make a presentation to the minister to explain why the proposal is not feasible. “We have asked the minister to let us explain why stopping toll collection after recovering the project cost may not be desirable,” said an official who did not want to be identified. “Money collected through toll after the end of the concession period is used to maintain national highway projects.

Usually these are good stretches and cost of maintenance is high and there aren’t enough funds with the government to ensure maintenance of these stretches without the toll money,” he added. Currently, the toll rates are typically brought down to 40% of the ongoing toll rate after the end of a concession period. Concession period is the duration for which a developer is given the contract for tolling a road project for recovering the cost of construction and maintaining it, and typically ranges between 20 and 30 years. “The tolling policy is very vague. It needs to be revisited for many reasons like defining what constitutes the cost of construction and why some stretches are tolled and some not,” said a second official, who too requested anonymity.

“However, the toll that is collected after the concession period is used for maintaining and cross-subsiding other national highway stretches that cannot be tolled. If this is removed where will the money for maintaining the national highway network come from?” Gadkari first spoke of stopping the collection of toll once the cost of a project is recovered in the Lok Sabha on 14 August. Addressing a conference on 100 days of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on 15 September, Gadkari reiterated his keenness to go ahead with the proposal. The remarks come in the backdrop of several instances of protests against toll collection.

Road ministry officials are exploring alternative, acceptable solutions for resource mobilization that could at least address the resentment of the local residents. “One of the suggestions is to toll only the commercial traffic after the cost of the project is recovered as anyway 80% of the toll collection comes from the commercial traffic. However, all this is at an initial stage,” the first official said. The National Highways Fee (Determination of Rates and Collection) Rules formulated in 2008 are in force currently.

“The tolling strategy needs to be relooked at, keeping in mind the issue of the local users. More importantly the issue of collecting toll until perpetuity for stretches without providing an alternative free route to users who may not wish to pay also needs to be addressed,” said Pranavant, senior director at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd, an audit and consulting firm. He uses a single name. The move, when first suggested, had been criticized by the industry too on grounds that it could make it difficult for the developers to access bank finance.

Source:live mint

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Toll Management System, Tolling

Vinayak Chatterjee: Can toll roads be made user-friendly?

September 26, 2014

Vinayak Chatterjee

The Rajasthan High Court, last Monday (September 1), stayed the hike in toll on the Jaipur-Delhi national highway till such time as the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the operator file an affidavit confirming that the road is in good condition and that a proper and maintained highway exists that justifies the toll charged.

India has been obsessed historically with asset creation, not effective asset utilisation. Highway build-operate-transfer projects were largely seen as yet another construction project with immediate order-book gains for construction companies. Though the concession agreement specified operations, maintenance and tolling service delivery standards across the life of the project, no one paid much attention to them. Many concessionaires did not have the mindset or the experience to manage long-term assets of this kind, and the attitude was to generally get by NHAI inspections.

The ministry of road transport and highways is now keen to revive road construction activity with a slew of engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) contracts – totalling to almost 10,000 km in the here and now. Interestingly, it is understood that these EPC packages are getting bundled with five to 10 years of operation & maintenance (O&M) obligations too. This is an eminently sensible decision. With all this, thankfully, “asset management” is getting the required attention. Increasing road-asset acquisitions by long-term financial investors, pressure for maximising toll revenue, greater oversight from the judiciary, higher focus by NHAI and the ministry, and greater media and activist attention are also adding up. Many myths, hitherto used to justify poor O&M, seem to be getting exposed.

My friend and colleague Vivek Rastogi, who is a well-recognised expert in road operations and maintenance, has over the past few years been dissecting a few myths about highway operations and maintenance.

Myth one: Toll revenue is under pressure, so funds are short for operations and maintenance

Developers have been complaining about lower-than-anticipated traffic on their highways. This is indeed true in some specific cases where local and surrounding issues have lead to reduced movements. However, empirical data from different parts of the country reveal that the actual traffic over the last year, measured as passenger car units has increased by 2 to 12 per cent. This is also borne out by NHAI data. In addition, inflation-indexed toll rates have increased. Better tolling processes, wherever implemented, have boosted revenue, resulting in an overall 12 to 30 per cent increase in toll revenue in rupee terms. Therefore, toll revenue pressure is clearly not the overriding constraint particularly when one factors in that O&M expenses hardly ever exceed 3 to 5 per cent of toll collections. It is often a convenient excuse for complacency and lethargy among highway site-operations teams. Financially, the culprit is over-aggressive bids based on over-optimistic toll projections and under-estimated O&M costs that have not matched real life, thus leading to a “virtual” funds crunch.

Myth two: Lack of support from local administration

The experience on the ground is different, particularly in the bulk of the states where NHAI has the state support agreement in place. Barring sporadic incidents of politically-inspired attacks for media attention, most developers have received reasonable support from the police and district administration. The same holds for media, which has largely been publishing all sides of an “incident” story pretty fairly. This has helped get miscreants arrested at toll plazas. Traffic diversions for escaping tolls have been blocked by the district administration, and elected representatives in most cases, have been supportive of operations according to the concession agreement. Local problems will continue but it has now been seen that solutions can be found with regular and correct liaison with the district authorities.

Myth three: Route operations and route patrolling is an unnecessary spend

The purpose of route operations is to ensure that incidents and accidents on the highway get quick support and attention, and the traffic flows smoothly. Unfortunately, route operations and patrolling are often the first areas where operators try to cut costs with hugely deleterious effects on user satisfaction. It is a rare sight to see regular patrol cars, helpful signage and roadside amenities on Indian highways. Good route operation practices can save precious lives in highway accidents – an area of notoriety for India. This uncaring attitude is primarily based on the fact that road concessionaires still do not see themselves as “service deliverers”, where customer satisfaction and loyalty are necessary for survival as in the case of other businesses where customers have a choice. NHAI clearly needs far higher enforcement of standards in this area.

Myth four: Asset maintenance can be delayed

Roads typically have the following types of maintenance patterns: routine (preventive and reactive) and episodic (say, overlays in five years). In both the categories, the usual business practice is to delay matters till the road surface is either in a shambles or the spectre of penalties looms large. Sadly also, there is minimum use of technical advancements. The net result is a severe deterioration of the life-cycle quality of the asset as well as user-satisfaction. But the concessionaire believes he has “smartly” saved costs.

Myth five: Traffic tail-ending at toll plazas is inevitable

This need not be so. The ease with which cars zip through electronic toll barriers abroad clearly demonstrates the art of the possible. It is surprising that in India, we are not sufficiently agitated with the minutes we are required to wait before passing through a toll barrier. The slow pace of implementing cost-effective electronic tolling and dedicated electronic lanes is a testimony to our collective national lethargy on this aspect. Even without this, hand-held devices with roaming toll-collectors, aggressive marketing of on-board prepaid devices and systematic lane-management, could, if there is a will, actually seek to eliminate tail-ending at toll plazas.

Myth six: Continuing toll-collection during carriageway widening is appropriate

This is clearly addressed to NHAI and the ministry of road transport and highways. The existing model concession agreements, from their lofty perch, clearly did not see the practical problems of allowing toll-collection to continue when carriageway are being widened. It is clearly messy and has a high irritability quotient for all users. Further, it takes away from the spirit of a hassle-free drive questioning the rationale of the toll, and creates a strong negative perception which, as in the case of the Delhi-Jaipur highway, invites the wrath of the judiciary. This should be discontinued in future contracts.

There is clearly a growing need for a new generation of specialised outsourced “asset management partnerships” to manage the operative life-cycle of an asset properly and most importantly, deliver value to the customer. Myths will not do.

Source:Business Standard

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Articles, Tolling

Toll plaza vandalised after youth dies in hit-and-run

September 26, 2014

The damaged toll plaza on National Highway 50 in Koppal taluk after the violence on Thursday.

A toll plaza being operated by the GMR Group was vandalised and its staff beaten up by an irate mob on National Highway 50 four-lane road near Hitnal in Koppal taluk on Thursday after a youth was killed in a hit-and-run accident.

According to information reaching here, the youth, Suresh, who was heading towards Koppal on his bicycle, was run over by a heavy vehicle. He died on the spot.

As the news spread, people from Hosahalli and Hitnal started gathering near the accident spot. They started blaming the GMR company, which had taken up the road construction work, for not providing service road and also not laying humps, resulting in the death of the youth. They blocked the highway and burnt tyre to register their protest.

There was a heated argument between the people and the staff of the toll plaza over sharing of the CCTV footage and the mob damaged the windowpanes and also assaulted the staff. A vehicle belonging to National Highways Authority of India was also damaged in the incident.

According to sources, people are agitated over the location of the toll plaza as they have to cough up the fee every time they use the road. They also urged the authorities to shift the toll plaza, but the response was lukewarm. This was another reason for the attack on the toll plaza, according to sources.

The police, on learning about the incident, rushed to the spot and prevented the situation from going out of control. Superintendent of Police T.D. Pawar also visited the spot.

Source:The Hindu

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Articles, Toll Plaza, Tolling

Google to roll out initiatives to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Digital India

September 26, 2014

Google will run a number of campaigns as part of the Government of India’s Digital India program
In support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision towards a Digital India, Google India, is delighted to announce some key initiatives that will help realize this dream of the Prime Minister. Time and again, including his recent speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, the Prime Minister has called for moving towards a Digital India, where technology becomes the foundation of good governance and India moves towards a knowledge economy based on the Mantra of ‘IT (Information Technology) + IT (Indian Talent) = IT (India’s Tomorrow). As part of supporting the Prime Minister’s vision, Google will run a number of campaigns as part of the Government of India’s Digital India program.

The highlights are: ● MyGov, the citizen engagement platform of the Government and Google are collaborating to launch a nationwide contest to develop a mobile app for the PM’s Office. The mobile app will bring the PMO to every citizen and the contest will showcase how Indians can build a world class app ● Google India will continue to build a vibrant language ecosystem online and help the Government transition into the increasingly ‘mobile’ India. ● Programs such as Helping Women get Online, getting Indian SMEs Online and showcasing India’s rich heritage and culture online will further promote the digital empowerment of citizens. ● Additionally, to encourage digital literacy and Internet safety, Google is also introducing curriculums for schools, officials and elected representatives. RS Sharma, Secretary of the Department of Information Technology said “The Digital India Program has been launched with the vision of transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. It can truly transform India and bring it on par with other developed countries. I’m happy Google is coming forward to roll out initiatives that will contribute to the Digital India vision. I’m sure others will come forward and join this moment.”

Rajan Anandan, Vice President and Managing Director, Google India said “India is already home to the 3rd largest number of internet users globally with 245 million users as of June 2014. We are on track to become the 2nd largest user market by 2015 and a 500 million-user market by 2016. Yet, there are more than a billion people who will need to be brought online for India to realize the vision of a digitally connected, knowledge economy. Prime Minister Modi’s Digital India program will play a transformational role in achieving this, and we are excited to be making a meaningful contribution by rolling out several initiatives in collaboration with the Government of India.”

Google is working with the Department of Information Technology and other State Governments to develop these initiatives. The company also welcomes the Prime Minister’s vision of enhancing information highways, as part of the Digital India program. The Prime Minister’s idea of M-Governance for mobile governance has the potential to revolutionize service delivery and provide good governance to people across the length and breadth of India.

Source: Information week

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Government (Govt), Smart City

Cisco unveils smart city model for Digital India

September 26, 2014

IOT powered Globalisation East campus shows how citizens can live, work, play and learn in a Digital India

Cisco demonstrated how a future smart city would look like in its campus in Bangalore on Tuesday. Spread over 2.6 million square feet, and designed as a campus-as-a-city for thousands of Cisco employees to work, play and learn, the model city showcased all the possible city utilities which can be availed in a smart city powered by IOT.

As part of the inauguration, Cisco demonstrated the possibilities of the government’s Digital India program where infrastructure would be offered as a utility to every citizen, governance and services would be on demand and citizens would be digitally empowered. Incorporating real time, online and mobile platforms the model illustrated how intelligent networks could digitally enable Indian citizens.

Cisco in association with ELCIA (Electronics City Industry Association) is building the smart city in Bangalore’s Electronic City. The collaboration has already identified 5-km stretch where street lighting, parking, traffic and water management will be controlled centrally through intelligent sensors, information systems and the Internet to improve the quality and efficiency of civic amenities in the area. This project will form the proof-of-concept for a smart city early next year.

Cisco has already built smart cities in Barcelona, Spain and Canberra, Australia. The program highlighted how Cisco and Barcelona council have helped transform the city into a blueprint for sustainable urban development. Canberra, the capital of Australia described the role of Cisco’s technologies in achieving the city’s digital strategy.

Speaking about the hurdles and challenges of building a smart city in India, Srivatsa Krishna, IAS & Secretary to the Government Dept. Of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, said, “Building a smart city in Bangalore is not about selling more routers and switches. Cisco has to come up with economical, cost-effective and affordable smart city concept which can be availed by every Indian.” Cisco initially thought of making the parking lots in Bangalore smart, however the concept did not work out due to several reasons.

Anil Menon, President, Deputy Chief Globalization Officer, Cisco said, “When we build a smart concept for any city we look at five parameters which includes government regulations, cost-effectiveness, scalability, profitability and sustainability.” According to Menon, the absence of these parameters made Cisco not to build the smart parking space in Bangalore. However, with changing times Cisco hopes to be able to build smart city in Bangalore in the coming days

Source:Information week

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Articles, Smart City

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