Govt to encourage use of latest tech in road construction

Aiming to adopt global best practices in road building, the government will encourage use of modern technology as it plans to improve road designing and bring down construction cost, Road Secretary Vijay Chibber said today.
"We want to encourage use of modern technology for road construction. There is a technology lag between us and other geographies. We are looking at encouraging new technology," Chibber told reporters here.
He said that the idea behind bringing in modern technology for road construction is mainly to decrease cost of construction.
"We are (also) looking at bringing the maintenance cost down," he added.
Citing the example of private companies which build road projects in India and other countries, Chibber said, "The same companies which build roads in other countries do better job because they have the freedom to design and build those highways as per latest technologies."

He said that the companies here have to follow a defined pattern set by the government which is many years old.

"(Road) designing is a crucial issue. Private companies want to go ahead (with the use of latest technologies) but our systems have held them back. We want to unshackle them," he added.
The secretary said that the Indian Academy of Highway Engineers (IAHE), the apex organization in the country for the training of highway professionals, on behalf of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways will organize a workshop cum exhibition on "Adoption of Innovative technologies and materials for Road Construction in India" on February 20-21.

The aim of the workshop is also to provide a platform to developers and promoters to showcase innovative materials and technologies with a view to encourage their adoption in use of design, construction, maintenance, operation and management of road.