Why BHEL is now also in the road-building business

In April, when it received a shipment of a 450-tonne stator from technology partner Siemens at Mumbai port, the Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) decided against unloading it there due to logistical constraints. Instead, it chose to transport the consignment by barge to Karwar. From there to Raichur, the final destination in Karnataka, BHEL's logistics contractor is building 15 bypasses en route to ensure that the cargo, still in transit, reaches Raichur safe and sound.

Constructing bypasses to move large-sized cargo has become a routine affair for engineering firms such as BHEL, mainly because there are no reliable estimates on the adequacy of most road bridges, specifically on their weight-bearing capacity. "It's not our job (to construct bypasses), but there is absolutely no way out," a senior BHEL executive said.

Earlier, when the turbines for ONGC's 726 MW gas-based power project at Palatana in Tripura were to be transported, special permission was sought from Bangladesh to transport the consignment to Chittagong port and then overland — roads connecting Tripura were not up to the mark.

"For a country aspiring to achieve double-digit growth, delivery mechanisms are completely out of sync. With faster growth comes bigger scale in everything — power projects, steel and cement plants, and metro rail systems. All these need smooth movement of heavy, or over-dimensional (OD) cargo. In India, the supporting infrastructure and administrative requirements have simply failed to keep pace," said an executive with a mid-sized cargo movement firm that has handled OD cargo consignments for firms such as NTPC and BHEL.

Across the world, hydraulic trailers have nearly replaced mechanical trailers as carriers of bulk, OD cargo but India is still stuck in the past. It takes upward of six months for completing registration formalities for hydraulic trailers. This is because for each new trailer, the process is cumbersome. A special gazette notification by the Department of Road Transport and Highways is required for each hydraulic trailer (axle line) to come on to the road, simply because the Motor Vehicles Act does not recognise hydraulic trailers.

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