After years of crawling, transport sector is shifting to the fast lane

NEW DELHI, AUGust 16: At over 33 lakh km, it has the second largest road network in the world. Its 63,000 km long railway network is the most extensive in Asia, the second largest under a single management in the world. Aircraft manufacturers say it has a potential to add 1,100 more jets worth over $105 billion over the next 20 years.

That’s India now, 60 years after independence. A nation galvanised into motion with the emergence of a vibrant transport sector that is bridging distances and driving economic growth. A growth that will be powered by thousands of km of swift expressways and highways, high-speed rail networks and dedicated freight corridors, internationally comparable ports and an aviation business that is soaring to new highs.

A rosy future, but one that has for long had its wings clipped by the lethargies of public utilities and the hangover of a colonial past. India’s road sector is a case in point. When the British left the country in 1947, they left behind a mere 4 lakh km of roads that connected major industrial centres and metros, while ignoring rural areas. Hence, the strategy for road development adopted at that time was a two-pronged — improve connectivity and provide infrastructure that supported industrialisation.

However, resources were scant and the two goals became mutually conflicting. The solution was to provide both at the cost of starving both. The price was poor planning and poorer quality, with the result that roads were frequently ripped open to enable expansion. “The major change in road development came when the NHAI was constituted in1988,” says KL Thapar, director, Asian Institute of Transport Development and a former Planning Commission member. “With the emergence of a national road authority, the arbitrariness and lack of standardisation caused due to public work department (PWD) handling of road projects reduced a lot.”

The ushering in of the 8th Plan also boosted the sector, with the Government offering sweeteners like customs free import of capital goods for the infrastructure sector and sops like tax holidays. The road sector’s fate was sealed in gold, with the announcement of the Golden Quadrilateral, National Highways Development Program and North-South, East-West corridors that totalled 25,000 km in length, with funding from World Bank and Asian Development Bank and a specially formed kitty replenished with a cess on petrol and diesel.

The result: a 33 lakh km road network that connects almost 60 per cent of all villages in the country, up from 45 per cent just a decade ago. The frenetic pace in road development is mirrored by an equal enthusiasm in the Railways. From a shattered system that had borne the brunt of the depression of the 1930s and the onslaught of the Second World War, rendering a major part of its assets obsolete and overused at the time of independence, the Railways have made a sharp comeback and registered a stunning financial turnaround with Rs 20,000 crore surplus this year.

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