India Plans to Spend 3000 Cr. for Roadways

The Indian Ministry for Road Transport and Highways plans to spend Rs. 3000 crore to lengthen expressways, highways and over-bridges to ease traveling smoother. The plan is to construct 1600 kms roads of six lanes. According to the study conducted by Transport Corporation of India stated that there was a tally of 6 million trucks in India which moves at an average speed of 19.8 km/h through highways. Meanwhile in U.S.A. the lowest mean traffic speed is at Washington D.C. and that is at 74km/h.



Recognizing the fact that traffic jams are ridicule enough to jam country's growth rate by slowing down trade and burning fuel unnecessarily. And "this is the first step towards really improving traffic movement. India is way behind other countries in creating such infrastructure" said Vishwas Udgirkar, a Gurgaon based senior director for transport at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt.



When the World Economic Forum ranked India below for its poor roadways, in 2009, Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh addressed the concerned authorities to construct 20 km road per day. But in 2011, India could achieve only a speed rate of 4.5 km per day. It was the delay in acquiring lands that hurdled country's plan to become a wealthy nation fast.



However, the policies which are to be passed in the parliament are hopeful for a better tomorrow. "Among the new expressways will be three connecting New Delhi with the northern cities of Meerut, Jaipur and Chandigarh. Others will link Chennai and Bangalore in the south, Mumbai and Vadodara in the west, and Kolkata and Dhanbad in the east. The roads will be designed for speeds as fast as 120 kilometers an hour" commented J. N. Singh, finance director at road-building agency National Highways Authority of India.