Gadkari seeks advice from IITs for faster construction of highways

New Delhi, June 30: With the slower-than-expected pace of road construction being a cause of worry, road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari has sought advice from the country’s premier IITs on how technology can be used more effectively for faster construction of highways in a cost-effective manner and with lower carbon footprint.

Construction of a relatively shorter highway stretch of 100 km now takes nearly 2.5-3 years for completion. The minister believes that the time span should be brought down “drastically” if the country has to bridge its infrastructure deficit at a rapid pace, sources in the ministry of road transport and highways said.

Gadkari, in consultation with the HRD ministry, had recently called a meeting with directors of six IITs, including Chennai and Kharagpur, to apprise them of the future need and the current condition.

“During the course of the meeting, the minister asked them to advise the ministry as to how by using appropriate technology, we can ensure faster construction, cost efficiency and lower carbon footprint,” a source said.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), following enhanced allocation in the Budget, is pushing the road transport and highways ministry to accelerate the pace of development of national highways (NHs) continuously. Development of highways always helps the ruling government score brownie points.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley allocated ` 57,000 crore for road and highways for the current fiscal in the Budget, up from ` 47,000 crore in 2015-16. Separately, he also allocated ` 15,000 crore to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). Gadkari has repeatedly said the government faces no problem in mobilising funds for highway projects.

Road construction touched over 16 km/day last fiscal compared to around 12 km-a-day in 2013-14.

Under pressure to steer road construction into the fast lane and meet the much-touted 30 km-a-day target, Gadkari has set a goal of building 15,000 km of highways this fiscal, which is two-and-a-half times of what was achieved last year. To meet the challenging target, the rate of road construction should be a robust 41 km-a-day.

The Narendra Modi government has been trying to enhance the confidence of potential developers of highway projects and lenders. It fast-tracked project awards, made projects more feasible by cutting their sizes, eased the exit of equity investors from projects and introduced the hybrid annuity model that almost eliminated project risk for developers.

Road construction touched over 16 km/day last fiscal compared to around 12 km-a-day in 2013-14. The transport minister has set a goal of building 15,000 km of highways this fiscal