TNN
KOCHI: Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) has blamed Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) for the delay in widening the road connecting CP Ummer Road to the bus depot and A L Jacob railway overbridge (ROB). Three months ago, the development authority had approached the transport corporation and then submitted a request to take up road widening works.
“To begin work, GCDA requires a written request from the managing director of KSRTC or its senior engineer. Despite repeated requests, the transport corporation has ignored our request,” said GCDA chairman N Venugopal. Though Kochi corporation opened the newly-constructed A L Jacob ROB to reduce traffic congestion, the narrow approach road at the entry point of the bus depot has worsened the situation.
For a smooth traffic through the overbridge, GCDA wanted to widen the existing road linking bus depot and C P Ummer Road to 20 metre. “It means the width will be increased by 8 metre and there would be four lanes to route vehicles,” he said.
On completing a seven-metre wide two-lane road envisaged around the Ambedkar stadium, a new link can be provided to CP Ummer Road and the KSRTC bus depot. This will facilitate the introduction of a one-way system and state transport buses state coming from Rajaji Road can go around the stadium and enter the depot. And buses leaving the depot can use the other road near the approach road of the ROB.
Agency may revoke contract
In another development, GCDA said that the contractor, entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining the old stretch of Marine Drive walkway, has failed to execute his duties.
The authority had signed a five-year contract with the private contractor.
“It has been brought to the authority’s attention that the benches remain broken and lights are not functioning properly. Such activities mount to the violation of contract and GCDA is keen on terminating it,” said the chairman. He added that the income from advertisements placed at the walkway went to the contractor.
The authority will hold further discussions with the officials and the contractor and announce a final decision .
Source-http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
TNN |
BANGALORE: The upgradation of selected roads under Tender SURE ( Specification for Urban Road Execution) is a welcome move for citizens fed up with potholed stretches. However, they may have to wait till December 2014 for some activity on the ground.
BBMP commissioner M Lakshminarayana on Saturday said under the first phase of Tender SURE, Chennai-based NAPC Ltd has got the contract to take up seven roads. “It’s expected to complete them by December-end 2014. These are Museum Road, Cunningham Road, Commissariat Road, St Mark’s Road, Mallya Hospital Road, Residency Road and Richmond Road,” he added.
On the sidelines of an interaction on ‘Transforming Bangalore with Tender SURE’ organised by Jana Urban Space Foundation, the BBMP chief said they need at least Rs 600 crore to develop all 45 roads selected under the project. These roads promise long durability compared to existing asphalted roads. Also, these roads will have uniform footpaths, utility ducts, cycle tracks, bus bays, parking space and dedicated hawkers’ zone, he added.
Roads for better life
Swati Ramanathan, chairperson, Jana Urban Space Foundation said that getting road rights was the starting point of addressing the quality of life. “Tender SURE takes a holistic approach to road design and it’s all about getting the urban road right,” she added.
Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, also president B.PAC, said Tender SURE roads will lead to better inter-agency coordination and avoiding constant rework as service providers are enrolled as stakeholders to achieve a consensus on the final design.
Roads and money
BBMP chief M Lakshminarayana said the state government has granted Rs 200 crore, of which Rs 100 crore has been released for road development. “But it costs much more. It’s expected to be more than Rs 600 crore for 45 roads. It’ll take another three years to complete all these 45 roads. BBMP has to bear the rest of the expenses. For this reason, we’re taking these roads in a phased manner,” he added.
Lakshminarayana said in the second phase, 11 roads have been identified and tenders for them have been floated. These include JC Road, KH Road, Nrupatunga Road, KG Road, Church Street, Commercial Street, Jayanagar 11{+t}{+h} Main, Basaveshwaranagar Main Road, Raja Ram Mohan Roy Road etc, he said.
Source-http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
By PTI |
(The Gujarat-headquartered organisation has patented its nanotechnology which reduces water percolation into roads )
NEW DELHI: Zydex Technologies today said it is eyeing building up to 20,000 km of moisture-resistant green roads in India by 2016 using its nanotechnology, after building such highways in US, Europe and Africa.
“We are looking at building 10-20,000 km of roads using our innovative technique in India in the next three years to provide moisture-resistant and pothole-free roads, which need no maintenance for about 15 years. We have already completed about 500 km of roads here with Border Roads Organisation and other agencies,” Zydex Industries CEO Ajay Ranka told PTI.
The Gujarat-headquartered organisation has patented its nanotechnology which reduces water percolation into roads.
Use of this technology can help the government save Rs 7,200 crore per annum on bitumen only, Ranka earlier told reporters.
“Bitumen consumption in India is about 4.5 million tonnes per annum, which costs Rs 18,000 crore, of which 80 per cent is used to resurface roads. Use of Zydex’s technology will not only double the life of roads but cut the cost by Rs 7,200 per year,” Ranka said.
Also, he claimed that using this technology the government can save over Rs 21,000 annually in maintenance of rural roads.
“The annual cost to the country for maintaining rural road assets is Rs 21,700 crore, which could be saved. In view of the cost of water proofing of about Rs 12,000 per lane km for the top layer and side slopes, the rain inflicted damages can be brought down very economically,” he said.
The CEO of the firm said it also plans to increase capacity four-fold to 6,000 tonnes a year at Vadodara plant with an expenditure of Rs 30 crore.
Ranka said the technology is getting wider recognition globally, including in Texas, where he claimed 40 per cent of roads were built using it, but rued that in India procedural delays prevent the country from getting the benefits of this advanced technology.
“We have orders from Canada, US, Germany, Sweden, Nigeria, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, Indonesia, Japan and many other countries which are rapidly using the technology but on home turf we are faced with roadblocks. Set protocols are there in other countries, which we lack here,” he said.
However, the company has built roads using the technology in Leh Laddakh region in collaboration with Border Roads Organisation.
Vijay Pinjarkar, TNN |
NAGPUR: The latest recommendations by a subcommittee of ministry of environment and forests ( MoEF) on roads in protected areas (PAs) may spark more trouble for road widening by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on NH-6 near Navegaon National Park and Mansinghdeo Wildlife Sanctuary on NH-7.
A six-member subcommittee headed by M K Ranjitsinh, member, NBWL, on September 28, has recommended to the MoEF that the status quo of the roads passing through national parks and tiger reserves shall remain the same.
The roads could be maintained and repaired in the best manner possible in their current form and present width. No widening or upgradation is to be allowed. If it is an existing tarred road, it shall be maintained as such and no widening of the tarred surface or the widening of the road itself, may be done.
More importantly, the guidelines will also be applicable for roads approaching or passing by national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and tiger reserves that are within a radius of 1km thereof, or within the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ), whichever of the two is lesser.
Wildlife experts say the recommendation will make matters worse for NHAI but will benefit wildlife, especially on NH7 and NH6, where four-laning cuts tiger corridor between Pench, Kanha, Nagzira, Navegaon and Tadoba and vice versa. On NH6, Navegaon National Park and New Navegaon Sanctuary are within 1km in certain patches. Similar is the case with Mansinghdeo on NH7.
The NHAI has submitted a formal proposal to Pench Tiger Reserve to seek wildlife clearance for road widening in patches which passes by Mansinghdeo, which is contiguous to Pench. This is after Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) clearance, which has asked NHAI to seek final clearance from NBWL. However, the latest recommendations will make it tough to get wildlife clearance as road widening in some patches virtually touches the sanctuary boundary.
Talking to TOI, Ranjitsinh said, “When you widen roads around a PA, construction activity not only disturbs the movement of wild animals but destroys its corridors. There are Supreme Court orders on restriction to radius roads passing PAs.”
On the impact of new guidelines, Ranjitsinh said, “I don’t know to what extent the guidelines will affect NH7 and NH6. We don’t say don’t develop the roads but the damage should be evaluated.”
Another member on the MoEF subcommittee said, “The new guidelines will affect four-laning on NH7 and NH6. The recommendations have come from NBWL subcommittee, and when the NHAI proposal comes before it, how will it be able to defy its own guidelines. The Pench corridor is already fragmented. Four-laning will further damage it and break forest contiguity.”
The committee was constituted by the MoEF on June 26 to frame comprehensive guidelines for construction and repair roads passing through PAs in the country.
Fundamental principles
* Principle of avoidance: The foremost option would be to altogether avoid areas that are within or in the vicinity of any PA and to find alternatives that are socially & ecologically more appropriate,
* Principle of realignment: Road projects must investigate and demonstrate that they have considered other alternative routes that avoid natural areas of high ecological value. This must be an integral feature of a project proposal and implementation documents. Realignments must also be developed in a transparent manner through consultation with local communities and wildlife considerations,
* Principle of restoration: In natural areas, existing roads that are in disuse, or evaluated to be inefficient or detrimental to their objects, shall be targeted for decommissioning and subsequent ecological restoration, as the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed.
NEW DELHI: The Rangarajan panel on premium rescheduling of road projects will only formulate guidelines and the task of implementation will rest with the NHAI .
Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Chairman C Rangarajan headed panel, by this month end, will submit its report on restructuring the premium paid by the highway developers. “We are not looking at individual projects, we will prepare a framework, regulations, etc and lay down the parameters which NHAI Board will take up,” Road Secretary Vijay Chhibber, who is also one of the members of the committee comprising representatives from Ministry of Finance and Planning Commission, told report here.
When asked about the issues the panel is deliberating upon, he said all issues requiring restructuring, rate of interest for premium payment, identifying stressed projects which will be allowed to delay payments.
“Rescheduling of premium will be different for pre- construction and post construction projects,” he added. The report will be submitted to the Finance Ministry by the end of this month. The proposal for restructuring the premium for highway projects was aimed at providing relief to players such as GMR and GVK. Their projects have been facing delays on account of high premium — the payment made by the developer to National Highways Authority of India under the build, operate and transfer(BOT) mode.
The premium, which is offered by companies during the bidding stage, is based on projected returns from tolls.
Source-http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
Delhi-based corporation keen on setting it up along the lines of the Mumbai-Delhi model.
The Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Corporation (DMICC), which is helming one of the country’s most ambitious mass industrialisation projects, has now set its eyes on replicating the effort on the Mumbai-Bangalore route.
The DMICC, headquartered in Delhi, has called in both request for qualification and request for proposals (RFQ and RFP) — the technical procedures to select firms in a big-ticket project — from consulting firms that could draw up a feasibility plan for the Mumbai-Bangalore industrial corridor. The firms will be shortlisted by December-end.
The plan, like the Mumbai-Delhi one, is to create several smart cities along a designated route in order to bring about a massive transformation in the manufacturing and services sector by way of designated industrial areas and investment regions. A total of 24 such regions will be created along the Delhi-Mumbai route as per the DMICC plan.
“We are looking at this possibility for a Mumbai-Bangalore corridor and have asked for a feasibility report. The government of the United Kingdom would be a participant in the process,” said a senior DMICC official. DMICC chief executive officer Amitabh Kant was unavailable despite repeated attempts to contact him.
The DMICC is a venture administered by the department of industrial policy and promotion under the Union ministry of commerce and industry. It has the Japan Bank for Industrial Cooperation and the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) as its partners.
Delhi-Mumbai industrial road route
The concept of the Delhi-Mumbai corridor is a band of 150km to 200km on both sides of the Dedicated Freight Corridor running from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port to Dadari near Noida. The mandate includes building up feeder roads and rail connectivity from these hubs to hinterland markets and ports along the western coast. Accordingly, the project-influence region of DMIC includes parts of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.
In addition to the influence region, DMIC would also include development of requisite feeder rail/road connectivity to hinterland/markets and select ports along the western coast.
Source-http://www.dnaindia.com
Ajith Athrady, New Delhi,
Concerned over the poor response from domestic developers in bidding for road projects, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is planning to conduct road shows abroad to attract foreign investors to take up projects here.
“Road shows are expected to be held in China, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and other countries over the next few months,” a senior official in the ministry told Deccan Herald.
The ministry will apprise Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is directly monitoring the progress in infrastructure development, including roads, of its intention to go overseas to hunt for investors, said officials.
Recently, Road Secretary Vijay Chhibber had also written to National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Chairman R P Singh to explore the option of conducting road shows abroad for major expressway projects, such as the Delhi-Meerut Expressway.
As the ministry’s ambitious plan of constructing roads under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is faltering due to lack of interest from domestic investors, the government is now pinning its hopes on foreign investors to keep its PPP plans alive.
PPP-mode projects have suffered setbacks for the past two years after several major private road developers walked out of such projects due to funding concerns.
The United Progressive Alliance government, which is facing a lot of criticism for failure to build highways, is under pressure to show some visible work in road construction as the 2014 general election is approaching fast. The NHAI was able to award only 1,116 km of highway projects, against the target of 9,500 km in the previous fiscal. In current fiscal, too, the NHAI has so far managed to award only 123 km this year, out of its 2,500-km PPP target.
Domestic road developers have also been plagued by premiums that they have to pay the NHAI.
Private developers owe nearly Rs 1.51 lakh crore to the NHAI in premiums over the next 20 years, and companies have been urging the government to reschedule their dues.
Source-http://www.deccanherald.com
Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Road
Interview with Union Minister for Road, Transport & Highways
The road ministry is on target to set up a road regulator before the next Parliament session is over. In an interview with Manu Balachandran, Oscar Fernandes, Union minister for road, transport and highways, talks about funding and other issues affecting the sector and the means to tackle them. Edited excerpts:
The prime minister on Monday reviewed the progress in the sector. Are all the projects on track?
We have reviewed the progress of projects and are on track as far as the number of projects are concerned. We are adding 17 km a day and that was the original target set by the ministry. The main concern is we are not finding bidders for new projects. Recently, when we invited bids for a number of projects, we were disappointed to find (that there were) no takers.
Private players have raised concerns about their participation in the road sector. How are you looking to address them?
First, there were some concerns about premium rescheduling. The finance ministry has set up a committee under C Rangarajan to decide on the premium to be paid and the terms and conditions for rescheduling. We will wait for its recommendation and then take a final decision. The government has also relaxed the exit norms for developers in road projects. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has also been very actively acquiring land, since banks do not fund projects to private sector if 90 per cent of the land is not acquired. We have speeded up acquisition and this year we have achieved double of what we had acquired last year.
The Northeast is strategically important to the country. But, developers and officials say projects there do not take off due to lack of security.
That isn’t true. We have an accelerated programme and I have been personally visiting the states to assess the pace of projects. On Sunday, I was in Tripura to evaluate a project. But the main problem is funding.
Banks are not willing to lend to projects, but the roads ministry and NHAI have been doing whatever we could to provide that. There is a plan to go abroad and showcase development prospects in India’s road sector. But, even if overseas companies are willing to invest, we have to ensure that land is acquired and various clearances are received. So, at this point, we are trying to ensure that the ingredients are in place. We will ensure that land acquisition and environmental clearance for projects are on track to make the sector lucrative.
Are we likely to see a road regulator in place this year? There are also talks about a proposed policy on auto recall after the General Motors incident?
With regard to the road regulator, we have a draft bill ready and are keen on passing it during the coming Parliament session itself. Road projects are often spread over a 20-25-year period and there might be various concerns that might be raised during the period. The regulator will essentially look at pre- and post-construction work and will look into areas such as contract dispute resolution. As far as vehicle recall is concerned, I do not think there is a need for any policy. Vehicle companies should take the effort to inspect the product and ensure quality before marketing the product. But that is the responsibility of the company and the government should not be party to that.
When can we expect a decision on Quadricycles?
A technical committee is currently studying all the concerns that were raised from various quarters. We can take a decision only after they come out with a report.
Source-http://www.business-standard.com
B B Nayak, TNN |
THANE: Residents of the city are a harried lot with the Maharashtra State Road DevelopmentCorporation (MSRDC) repeatedly missing deadlines for opening the Kapurbavdi flyover.
On November 15, the agency added to its long list of missed deadlines. It had promised to throw open the Mumbai-Ghodbunder arm of the flyover on Friday, but decided against it at the last moment due to a lot of unfinished work.
As a result, Shiv Sena leaders have threatened to open the flyover forcibly for motorists on December 1 in case the agency failed to do so.
Looking at the situation, the agency has played safe and said that it will open the flyover by next week.
Kishore Mali, project in-charge from MSRDC, said, “We have almost completed the work on the Mumbai-Ghodbunder wing spanning 1.1km. We need just two more days for some work on the approach road at Ghodbunder end. By Sunday, we’ll be ready. In case we fail to get any minister for the official inauguration, we will throw open the flyover for users next week.”
Naveen Singh, an angry resident who has to use this stretch often, said, “Motorists are suffering due to the severe traffic jams during peak hours. How long will we have to wait to use the facility being built with taxpayers’ money?”
Shrikant Kadu, a motorist, lambasted officials for their lax attitude in delaying this project. “Delay in most infrastructure projects is because of corruption. MSRDC is least bothered about public money being wasted like this.”
Mali added, “As the project has been lingering on for a long time, motorists are bearing the brunt. We will clear all technical hurdles by Sunday and, as I said, by next week the flyover will be opened.”
Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Road
DC | G. Jagannath |
Chennai: Faced with hurdles, Rs 600 crore Ennore Manali Road Improvement Project (EMRIP) would miss the December deadline for work’s completion.
EMRIP, which was conceptualised in 1998, envisages improvement of about 30 km road network in North Chennai to ease flow of truck traffic from Chennai and Ennore ports and improve road connectivity between ports to national highway network.
“We have so far completed 75 per cent of the road project. Most of the widening and improvement works on Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panchetti Road (9 km), northern segment of Inner Ring Road (8.1 km), Ennore Expressay (6 km) and Manali Oil Refinery Road (MORR) (5.4 km) were completed except for few stretches where the land was not handed over,” a senior NHAI official said.
Delay in shifting of the drinking water pipeline running beneath the MORR has affected road widening works.
“The metro water is expected to complete the shifting works only by December. Only after that we will be able to complete road widening works,” the official said. As far as construction of the bridge across Kosathalaiyar at Napalayam on TPP road, the official said the works would be completed only by February next year.
NHAI official said that no headway was made in shifting tenements in Cherian Nagar and Nalla Thanneer Odai (NTO) Kuppam along Ennore Expressway and handing over the 1.6 km stretch from Zero gate to S.N. Chetty Street in the port trust.
“If the tenements were not shifted, we will be forced to handover those stretches to the state government for widening,” the official said.
The Chennai port trust officials were not able to begin reclamation of land on seafront as demanded by fishermen for parting their land in lieu of construction of carriageway from Zero Gate to S.N. Chetty Road. Only after getting the coastal regulatory zone clearance, the reclamation would be started.
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