Quality roads are need of the hour

The total road density is 3.3 million km length across the country today. By 2001, it was supposed to complete 3.16 million km of roads comprising of the national and state highways. However, the shortfall was 66,000 km and 1.45 lakh km in national and state highways respectively. The country was lagging behind the target in construction of other types of roads too.

While the vision document for 2021 foresees no increase in the density of road network, it has drawn up plans to increase road capacity to meet the increasing traffic pressure. Plans are to widen the existing road systems to take the traffic load.

Until 1982, a maximum number of national and state highways were of single lane. Due to the poor surface of these roads, the country lost between Rs 40,000 crore and Rs 60,000 crore a year.

Realising the state of the roads, the Centre took up a massive programme to upgrade roads into four lanes. It took up the Golden Triangle and though this was supposed to be completed by 2003, it is still on because of litigations.

Since 1947, no government had given such a major thrust to improving road infrastructure and a bold decision to invest as much as Rs 3 lakh crore was taken by the A B Vajpayee government. By 2010, the proposal is to spend Rs 7 lakh crore, including Rs 3 lakh crore on rural road infrastructure development.

Presenting this scenario of the Indian roads, Krishnamurthy of the road machinery division of Volvo wondered here today if the country is equipped to spend such huge amounts on those ambitious projects, ignoring certain fundamental issues.

Inaugurating a workshop on 'Road Construction' at the Institution of Engineers, Mysore local centre, he said the massive road plans were welcome. However, deficiencies like scientific laying of roads and supervision, resulting in newly-built roads wearing out within six months or a year. Politics and corruption contributed their share too and these issues need to be tackled.

Though there was no deficiency regarding the availability of material, equipment, design and modern technology, what was lacking was adequate supervision over contractors who lacked scientific road-building knowledge.

"As a result, sub-standard materials are used and unscientific laying of roads is being done without sub-gradations and drainage systems for water to drain. This is resulting in undulations and water logging damaged the newly-constructed roads reducing their lasting time. This is increasing the tax and loss burden on the common man," Krishnamurthy lamented.

"In fact, one of the main culprits is the lack of good road drainages. This caused the water to percolate down and form undulations. Water logging led to deteriorated of the roads," he said.

He called for a three-tier checking of road construction to ensure quality and make roads durable and contractual obligations on road builders. He cited the example of the Airport Road, which has stood even after some six years, and NH-4 and NH-7 in Bangalore, despite the traffic pressure.