Punjab govt initiates Rs 13,000 crore road connectivity project

September 12, 2013

The Punjab government today launched a programme of Rs 13,000 crore to connect all major cities and towns in the state with 4/6 lane expressways.

The state has 1,739 km of National Highway of which 405 km have already been upgraded to 4 lane and the construction of 4/6 laning of more than 650 km of highways is on full swing.

 

The state government has chalked out an ambitious plan to construct quality roads along with the banks of major rivers and canals flowing through the state to provide shortest route.

 

These projects would have dual benefit as besides developing shortest routes, we would also be able to strengthen the embankments of these water channels thereby containing any flood like situation

 

Source-http://www.newsonprojects.com

India, China to sign cooperation pact in road sector

September 12, 2013

Dipak Kumar Dash, TNN |

 

NEW DELHI: India and China are set to sign an agreement for cooperation in the road and transport sector when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Beijing in October. One of the areas would be cooperation in sharing of information on transport infrastructure.Government sources said the transport ministries of both sides have approved the details of the proposed agreement.

Sources said the identified areas of cooperation include sharing best practices in road and bridge building technologies, policies, intelligent traffic system besides road-related issues. China has taken huge strides in building world class highways, and has built over 60,000 km of expressways. Plans are afoot to build around 18,000 km of expressways in India.

China has also made a mark in speedy implementation of infrastructure projects, particularly road and rail. “Once we have technology sharing, it will help us push the pace of construction. They have also improved their record in reducing road deaths in the past six-seven years. Cooperation will open a window of opportunity for both the countries,” an official said.

Around half-a-dozen road projects are being built with participation of Chinese companies. Sources said all these projects were bagged by private entities in which Chinese firms had a share.

Sources said no project has been identified that can be taken up under this cooperation. “This is just a beginning. As we progress, projects will be identified,” the official said.

The other major area of cooperation will in the electronic mode of collecting toll (ETC). China is way ahead of India in this sector. India also plans to bring all toll plazas on national highways under ETC so that people can pass through all plazas using a single smart card.

India and China will also cooperate in the field of intelligent traffic system, vehicle specifications and their certification. While India is likely to benefit from Chinese sharing of information and knowledge, China will learn from India’s success in implementing public-private-partnership projects.

Last year, former highways minister C P Joshi had reached out to Chinese infrastructure companies to invest in the road sector. He had said around 40 road construction projects were being undertaken by companies from China, Russia, the UK, Dubai, Singapore, Italy, South Korea, Malaysia, Spain and Thailand.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Fernandes lauds HT campaign, bats for toll-free model

September 9, 2013

 

Sanjeev K Ahuja and Anupam Thapa, Hindustan Times  New Delhi,

Lauding HT’s efforts to bring to light the issues plaguing commuters on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, Union minister for road transport and highways Oscar Fernandes has acknowledged the fact that the toll plazas have failed to deliver and hoped that the court delivers a favourable verdict in public interest.

The senior Congress leader on Tuesday congratulated the Hindustan Times team for carrying out relentless campaigns on the expressway and its toll plazas when the team met with him in New Delhi to hand over the petitions addressed to him by thousands of disgruntled commuters. He also went through a news report from HT’s ongoing “Taking a Toll” campaign which was started on July 29.

 “There are reports that commuters are harassed at various toll plazas on various roads, but the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway is a different case as we see traffic jams on a daily basis here. This issue is being discussed in the high court and we hope that the decision would come in favour of the commuters. In the case of the expressway, people do not mind paying toll of R21 but they fail to get the benefit of paying the same,” said Fernandes.

The Rajya Sabha MP from Karnataka said that his ministry planned to launch a pilot project to test electronic tolling system, which would allow commuters to cross toll plazas without halting, and it, he said, would be implemented across all the national highways if it was successful.

While endorsing his support for the proposed toll-free model in which the commuters are not charged toll and the operator instead earns revenue out of non-toll options such as rentals out of real estate rights and advertisements, Fernandes said that this proposal could be tried as it did not affect revenue inflow for the operator.

The ministry of road transport and highways has zeroed in on Hero Honda crossing on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway and Delhi-Dhasna Road for the project where the operator would be given out realty rights.

The commuters here would not have to pay toll for a trouble-free ride. “It is a good proposal as it does not affect the revenue intake and the commuter also does not need to pay toll,” said Fernandes.

 

Source-http://www.hindustantimes.com

Shortsighted plan caused eway’s doom?

September 9, 2013

Siddhartha Rai , Hindustan Times  Gurgaon,

 

A goal without a plan is just a wish: the saying fits well in the case of Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway. The ambitious project, which was supposed to breach the barrier between the rural and the urban in Gurgaon, was doomed even before it took off, thanks to lack of planning and farsightedness.

In 2009, a parliamentary committee reviewed the effectiveness of public-private partnership in the execution of the expressway after a performance audit of the project by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

The committee took a stern view of the planning “deficiencies” as “many critical items which should have been foreseen at the time of preparation of the detailed project report were omitted”.

  ”The expressway suffers from several macro-level planning flaws. The worst part is it was not foreseen that the road would be used by the Gurgaon traffic itself. Also, no thought was given about linking the two sides of the expressway in such a way that the main highway traffic was not disturbed. Congestions develop as local traffic gets mingled with highway traffic,” said Rohit Baluja, president of Institute of Road Traffic Education and director of College of Traffic Management.

These critical items of public interest were later covered under a changed scope of work order that amounted to nearly Rs. 150crore or 21% cost overruns. These neglected items included increasing the height of underpasses by two metres, construction of elevated stretches and additional underpasses, and pedestrian crossing facilities at appropriate places, among other things.

These items were the ones that became the kernel of a public movement in Gurgaon. Moreover, the parliamentary committee found the arguments extended by the ministry of road transport and highways as “nothing but lame excuses”.

“You cannot take any such report (CAG performance audit, 2008) as the final word. There is no inherent design or planning flaw with the expressway. Nobody could foresee the quantum of development in Gurgaon and thus could not anticipate this level of traffic. The main problem with the expressway is that of operation and efficiency. There can be many measures which can be taken by the concessionaire to correct things,” said RP Indoria, former director general (roads) and ex-special secretary, ministry of road transport and highways. Expressway concessionaire DGSCL, however, declined to comment on the issue.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) had tried to argue before the committee that these changes had to be made in the light of unanticipated exponential growth in the areas around the highway.

The parliamentary committee made short work of these “excuses”. It harked back to the original traffic survey conducted by engineering consultancy company RITES in 2000 and marked that the development in the area referred to by the NHAI was not an expectation-defying explosion — the actual traffic volume in 2009 had been less than that projected by RITES.

“This negates the claim of the government of sudden rapid development in the areas around the expressway,” the committee had observed, adding, “Lamentably, these deficiencies have cost the exchequer a whopping Rs. 146crore that had to be paid by the government.” The parliamentary committee finally observed that the NHAI had tried to “camouflage” the “serious deficiencies” in the project, its “lack of professional competence” and “defective system of assessment” in the name of changes at the insistence of the Delhi and Haryana governments.

Source-http://www.hindustantimes.com/

Traffic cops ask eway firm to fix cameras

September 9, 2013

Leena Dhankhar , Hindustan Times  Gurgaon,

The Gurgaon traffic police have asked the concessionaire of the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway to ensure all the cameras installed at Sirhaul and Kherki Daula toll plazas work properly.

Currently, the CCTV cameras installed at the two toll plazas are not in order and unable to capture clear footage. The crime branch of Gurgaon police recently reported the matter to the traffic police.

The crime branch teams were unable to identify the vehicles, their number plates and the drivers crossing the toll. “The footage had poor alignment and the picture quality was bad,” said a police officer.

Bharti Arora, joint commissioner (traffic), told HT, “The crime teams were facing difficulties in identifying the vehicles in the footage. The car numbers and faces of drivers were not being captured properly and the offenders were taking advantage of this.”

The traffic police asked the Delhi-Gurgaon Super Connectivity Ltd (DGSCL) to put in order all the CCTV cameras at the earliest so that the culprits could be caught with the help of the footage.

The traffic police asked the firm to intimate the reason for the bad footage quality and the action taken by them in this regard within three days.

“In case of any mishap at the toll plaza, it would be very difficult to apprehend offenders,” said Arora.

Source-http://www.hindustantimes.com

Delhi-Gurgaon e-way plight may lead to industry’s flight

September 9, 2013

Siddhartha Rai, Hindustan Times  Gurgaon,

Business may take flight from Gurgaon owing to the regular traffic muddle at the toll plazas on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, despite the fact that Gurgaon is home to nearly 250 Fortune500 companies.

The toll plazas — Sirhaul and Kherki Daula — have become impediments to the expansion of commercial and industrial activities in Gurgaon as inordinate congestion have bred a negative sentiment among the business community.

“Because of the toll plazas we decided to shift ten of our plants to Bahadurgarh. Three months ago we had chosen Gurgaon to set up our new corporate office, but the management refused citing the traffic jams at the toll plazas, especially Sirhaul. They did not want executives to get stuck in jams for hours at end. So we shifted the office to Rohini,” said BS Dagar, general manager (HR), Relaxo Footwears Ltd.

Dagar informed that discussions with corporate honchos in his capacity as the chairman of the National HRD Forum revealed that the corporate world was fast losing its fascination with Gurgaon as the favoured destination for setting up industrial units or office spaces.

“Business heads from several companies have told me that they are not going to set up their units in Gurgaon because no one has time to withstand the long queues and traffic snags at the Sirhaul or the Kherki Daula toll plazas,” said Dagar.

Pankaj Tyagi, deputy general manager (operations) at MM Auto and a resident of Gurgaon, said, “My company has units in Manesar and Udyog Vihar and it is a painstaking job for us as well as the workers to commute across the plazas. I hardly have any time left for my kids and family as traffic bottlenecks at the toll plazas take up all my time. It leads to domestic issues, too.”

Similarly, there are not many takers for office spaces in the towering buildings of Manesar IT Park. The developers say almost 90% office space at the park is unoccupied, thanks to the traffic bottlenecks at Kherki Daula toll and Hero Honda Chowk.

Launched in 2006 under the campus development scheme at Sector 8 of Industrial Model Township (IMT), the park was promoted by Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) which allotted big-size plots (10 acres each) to private developers based on the Chinese walk-to-work model.

Real estate development major Shapoorji Pallonji has raised an info-city at the IT Park.

The firm, however, believes that the commutation woes along the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway put the prospective clients off.

 

http://www.hindustantimes.com/

It’s free-for-all on Delhi- Gurgaon e-way lanes

September 9, 2013

Deevakar Anand and Leena Dhankhar, Hindustan Times  Gurgaon,

 

Confusion over the speed limit on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway has made it one of the most dangerous stretches in the National Capital Region (NCR). Surprisingly, the controlled-access expressway has two different speed limits for its Delhi and Gurgaon stretches. Nearly 430 commuters have lost their lives on the 18-kilometre portion of the expressway in Gurgaon since it inaugurated in January 2008, according to data available with the Gurgaon traffic police. Officials said the number of fatalities would be much higher if accidents that occurred on the remaining 10-km stretch of the expressway, that falls in Delhi, is included in the death toll.

Experts blame the lack of lane driving and minimal enforcement of speed limits by authorities as the main reason for the high number of casualties. The lack of clarity about speed limits on the highway is also another grey area.

While the Delhi stretch has the maximum speed limit of 70 kilometre per hour for light motor vehicles, it is 80 kilometre per hour in Gurgaon. “We had suggested authorities to have a uniform speed limit along the entire stretch of the expressway. However, these speed limits were finally decided by the traffic authorities of the respective states,” said a spokesperson of the toll operator Delhi-Gurgaon Super Connectivity Limited (DGSCL). Bharti Arora, deputy commissioner of police (traffic), Gurgaon, claimed her department did not have a role in deciding the speed limits on national highways. The risk of accidents goes up manifold as cars and buses run at an average speed of 100 kmph on the expressway, while there is no check on slow-moving vehicles such as two- wheelers and autos.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/Popup/2013/8/gurgaon_14_08.jpg

 

(The speed limit for light motor vehicles is 70kmph on the Delhi stretch of the e-way near Mahipalpur. HT photo)    

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/Popup/2013/8/14_08_13-gurgoan-1.jpg

 

On the issue of lax nforcement of speed limits and lane discipline, Arora said the traffic department has been prompt and regular in penalising offenders.

 

(On the Gurgaon stretch signages display a speed limit of 80 kmph near South City. HT photo)  

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/Popup/2013/8/gurgaon_14_08-13.jpg

Speed limit should not cross 60 kmph in city: Rohit Baluja

There is total confusion over speed limits on highways across the country and the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway, which is part of National Highway-8, is no exception.Under the Motor Vehicles Act, speed limits have to be notified by the government. In case of the Gurgaon expressway, I am curious how they derived the speed limit of 70 kilometres per hour and 80 kilometres per hour for the Delhi and Gurgaon stretches, respectively. The speed limits on highways and other roads ideally have to be decided on the basis of traffic engineering norms. According to this, the speed limit can be 15% less than the average speed of vehicles moving on that stretch.  I doubt if the factors of traffic engineering have been considered while deciding the speed limit on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway. Other factors that need to be taken into account for fixing a speed limit are the presence of junctions, petrol stations, pedestrian crossings, blind turns etc. Technically, there cannot be a fixed uniform speed on the entire stretch. Considering the facts that the Gurgaon expressway meanders through the heart of the city, has several exit points and slow moving two-wheelers and three-wheelers share the same space, the speed limit should not be more than 60 kilometre per hour instead of the present 80 kilometre per hour. Looking at the number of fatal accidents that have occurred on the stretch, the traffic police, toll operator or other agencies on behalf of the local authority should enforce speed limits strictly.

(Rohit Baluja, president, Institute of Road Traffic Education, Delhi)

 

Source-http://www.hindustantimes.com

 

Cos may shy away from Delhi-Jaipur Eway if land not acquired

August 7, 2013

Press Trust of India  |   

Unless a major portion of the land is handed over, financial institutions could shy away from funding the project

Unless a major portion of the land is handed over in the construction of the proposed Delhi- Jaipur expressway, financial institutions could shy away from funding the project, Road Minister Oscar Fernandes has said.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and NHAI (National Highways Authority of India) plan to build an expressway, at an estimated cost of Rs 14,000 crore, to the Pink City with the aim of decongesting the journey.

“Delhi-Jaipur Expressway — the work on this project is on, but unless 60% of the land is not handed over, the work cannot start because the financial institution will not lend money,” Fernandes told PTI.

However, the Minister did not elaborate on the matter any further.

He said, “The work is in progress on some stretches but at some places land acquisition is required and on those stretches it cannot be undertaken unless land is acquired.”

The starting point in Delhi for the expressway, in all probability, would be the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, in 2006-07, planned to construct 10 expressways but progress could be made only in two, namely Delhi-Jaipur and Delhi-Chandigarh.

However, the Delhi to Chandigarh expressway may now be re-aligned from Delhi to Ludhiana with a link to Chandigarh.

This has been proposed mainly to cater to the heavy traffic on the Delhi-Ludhiana National Highway.

The government had accorded approval for building 1,000 km of expressways in the country in October, 2011.

The government will build seven expressways under the flagship highways building programme NHDP (National Highway Development Programme) VI.

The remaining five projects are – 400 km Vadodara-Mumbai, 66 km Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Agra, 277 km Bangalore-Chennai and 334 km Kolkata-Dhanbad.

 

http://www.business-standard.com

Audit on to make e-way safe

August 2, 2013

Vandana Keelor, TNN |

NOIDA: Almost four months after Noida Authority assigned the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) the task of conducting a safety audit of the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway, the report is scheduled to be submitted by May 15. Officials said, taking into account the frequent accidents on the expressway many of which have been fatal, the survey has focused on several infrastructural and safety lapses.

The CRRI report would also help in identifying black spots on the expressway and suggest means to rectify the accident-prone areas to bring down the accident rate on the 24km stretch. The audit report will try to find the deficient safety measures in design implementation of the expressway. “The audit report is being prepared not only because of the accidents but to obtain an expert opinion on the safety design. No matter how good a design is, there will be deficiencies and we want to rectify these,” said Rajeev Yadav, chief project engineer, Noida Authority.

According to officials, besides giving a quality certification of the expressway, CRRI will also provide corrective measures for each of the detected flaws as well as additional suggestion wherever required. “Once we receive the report from CRRI, changes to make the expressway safe for commuters will be implemented,” Yadav said.

In the past four months, faults relating to the curvatures, shoulder width, crash barriers and signages have also been surveyed by CRRI. The agency also gathered data from secondary sources and an analysis is on. The existing design of the central verge, entry/exit points, safety and emergency measures, foot overbridges, etc have also been on the institute’s scanner.

“The number of vehicles using the expressway keeps increasing every year and there is a need to make changes accordingly and to identify and evaluate infrastructure-related problems. With CRRI’s assistance, we will inspect and upgrade the expressway as well as educate people on traffic discipline,” Yadav added.

Since its inception in 2002, the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway has been the site of hundreds of deaths. In the past six months alone, nearly 20 people have lost their lives while about 50 have been left injured. Authority officials have also proposed to implement an Intelligent Transport System which aims to control incidents of over-speeding, fatal accidents and traffic congestion.

Key features of the ITS would be a control room, emergency call box, message signboards, CCTV, speed cameras, VIDS camera and meteorological data system.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway likely to miss May 31 deadline

June 19, 2013

 

Aditya Dev, TNN | May 27, 2013, 02.18 AM IST

GURGAON: The Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway is likely to miss the deadline of May 31, 2013 set for completing the entire 135-km project. So far the overall physical progress for the project is about 70%, even as the priority stretch between Manesar and Palwal is 85% complete. While HSIIDC says there is no such legitimate impediments exists as on today, the concessionaire, DSC Ltd, claims unavailability of land as well as delay in approvals to implement change of scope for not completing the project on time.
Surprisingly, there has been no change in the stance of the concessionaire since last year as far as the physical progress of the project, whether it is the entire stretch or the priority stretch, is concerned. The concessionaire has been quoting the same figures of 70% and 85% for the entire project and the priority stretch respectively for the last one year.

The information received under an RTI application revealed that between January and March 2013, the project made a meager 0.17% progress. In fact, collating this information with another RTI reply reveals the apathy of the concessionaire in completing the project. The KMP project has made a dismal 1.2% physical progress between June, 2012 and March 2013. Likewise, it had made just 4.46% during the year between July 2011 and July 2012.

This information has been revealed in the RTI replies to a Gurgaon resident, Aseem Takyar, an RTI activist. Takyar has asked HSIIDC to provide monthly completion report of the project.

Another important query was the estimated time for the completion of the entire project. HSIIDC replied that as per the assurance given by the concessionaire, the project will be completed by May 31 2013.

However, when contacted, a spokesperson for KMP Expressways Ltd, gave various reasons for the slow progress of the project. The KMP expressway Ltd is the concessionaire of which DSC Ltd is the main partner.

The concessionaire had made the commitment at a meeting in Delhi on June 8, 2012 between chief ministers of Haryana and Delhi, to open the Manesar-Palwal section for tolling within the next 90 to 120 days and complete the expressway by May 31, 2013.

The overall physical progress for the entire project is about 70%. The approvals for the change of scope claims are still awaited and funds are yet to be released to the concessionaire which is causing some delay in the project. Regarding this issue, the arbitration clause has been invoked so that there can be a speedy agreement on the amount of funds payable to the concessionaire due to the change of scope of the project. A fast track Arbitration Settlement could actually help in the progress of the project, informed the spokesperson.

There have been a lot of design changes in major and minor structures directed by the client which has led to the change of scope of work. We have provided the full detailed break-up of the change of scope work along with the costs to the client for approval, added the spokesperson.

For the delay in completion of the Manesar-Palwal stretch, the spokesperson said the work had been held up because there is a section of around a km in the Nuh area where the road is still to be built as the land around that area has not yet been handed over to us free of encumbrances. Once this land is made available to us, we would need about three months to build the road on this section and lay the top layer for the entire priority stretch and complete it.

The HSIIDC has been made executing agency for developing the Kundli-Manesar Palwal Expressway (Western Peripheral Expressway around Delhi) by the Haryana government. The expressway is being developed on build-operate-transfer (BOT) and zero-grant basis, with a concession period of 23 years and nine months, including three years of construction period. The date of start of the project was July 31, 2006. The scheduled date of completion of construction was July 29, 2009.

The project involves construction of 47 underpasses, 31 cattle crossings, 61 pedestrian crossings, 33 agriculture vehicles overpasses, 26 bridges, 4 railway overbridges and 3 grade separators at NH 1, NH 10 and NH 8. The project would allow heavy and commercial vehicles to completely bypass the Delhi NCR region thereby decongesting traffic within the capital.

Source-http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

 

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