Gujarat's Road to Prosperity
Gujarat Series -6
GUJARAT’S ‘ROAD’ TO PROSPERITY
Hearing a PIL regarding a road-maintenance contract, the Bombay High Court recently observed that roads in neighbouring Gujarat are in better condition than Maharashtra.
"People say that Gujarat has got best of the roads...as long as you have not crossed the border (into Maharashtra). It's a shame for our government that we cannot build good roads," said Justice J N Patel.
As anyway I was to travel to Ahmedabad as part of my ‘discovery’ of Gujarat, we decided to take the Road route to check out the much tommtommed Roads.
MY first problem was the first 75 kms stretch from my house in Thane to Manor on NH8, which has been witnessing horrific traffic jams at 2-3 points’ thanks due to the delayed work of building 3 flyovers on the Ghodbunder Road to the Vasai-Virar toll gate.
Therefore, I decided to skip the first section of NH8 by going on a parallel road direct from Thane to Manor via Bhiwandi & Wada. Leaving my home at 4 am into what is peak hour traffic on NH8 milling with trucks, I had a peaceful drive through Bhiwandi town (totally avoidable after the sun rises, thanks to the huge traffic choke-ups inside the town), but found that the road to Manor via Wada was very bad in some places. Nonetheless, it is far better to go this way compared to NH8 till Manor which would have taken more time. The bad roads meant that I was able to cover the 88 kms to Manor in 2 hrs, compared with the normal speed of 1.30 hour, delaying me by 30 minutes!
From Manor onwards, traffic was surprisingly light and most of the 6-lane work was complete, except at the flyover junctions, which were happily clean thanks to the early hour eliminating all but truckers from the highway. I stopped at McDonalds at Vapi for a toilet break (although I am no fan of either breaks or burgers!).
Excellent Roads, free from pot holes and craters – what we have become accustomed in Mumbai, except for some flyover junctions which saw detours and slowed down the traffic. I picked up speed and maintained crusiing speeds of 110-120 kmph steadily and reached Surat at 8.20 am (285 kms in 4.20 hrs).
Light vehicle traffic started picking up thereafter but being Sunday, I think the tarffic was nowhere near its normal intensity and from Surat onwards, the 6-lane road to Baroda was a fast drive, and I did the next 148 kms to Baroda in 120 minutes (2 hrs). The toll gates in this stretch are well-regulated and efficient, not taking more than 2-3 minutes per vehicle regardless of the Q of vehicles. There was a huge jam on the old River Narmada Bridge due to maintainance or because it is too weak - and all trucks were being diverted through the ne NH Bridge, but happily the traffic flow was smooth and the major headache on NH8 was no more a worry. As is my practice over past 40 years, I threw my offering coin into the holy waters of Narmada.
I noticed one thing - very funnily, all petrol pumps on the Baroda bypass are on the south-bound lane! Truck traffic was very high, and there is absolutely no lane discipline on the Surat-Baroda sector, which means you have to weave in and out of the 3 lanes on your side of the road to proceed at good speed. Once you enter Gujarat, there are very few restaurants with good washroom facilities. I am told that the Hotel Plazio in the Baroda bypass has good facilities, but we did not stop by to check.
From Baroda bypass, you have 2 options to go to Ahmedabad. Continue on NH8, or take the NE1 expressway. No guesses which one I took.
The Baroda-Ahmedabad expressway is a delight to drive on as usual, although traffic keeps increasing day by day and the 4-laned expressway is no more adequate, and needs to be widened fast before traffic spills all over the place. I had to stop over in the a petrol pump midway to refuel so that lost me some time, but the speeds on the expressway were as follows:
- first toll gate to Reliance petrol pump, 67 kms, 34 minutes
- Reliance petrol pump to exit toll gate, 21 kms, 11 minutes
That means in 45 minutes I had covered the toll gate-to-toll gate distance of 88 kms. Sebastian Vettel – I am coming..
What I noticed on this stretch of Road was that the Road conditions were very good with lush green trees on both sides at many places, making driving a pleasure.
We were told by all coming from Gujarat that roads there are the best in the country. And so we saw. It is not just the National Highways, State Highways and Expressways that connect big cities with districts, the rural roads are very good too.
All of Gujarat’s 18,000 villages are connected via pucca roads. The state’s geographical expanse includes hilly areas, flat areas, regions near the sea and big desert zones like Kachchh. Whatever the type of geographical area, the Gujarat government has connected all with roads.
Excellent Roads everywhere..
A top Planning Commission study, supported by World Bank, has said that Gujarat offers an example of international best practice in roads management. Authored by Clell Harral, Graham Smith and William DO Paterson, the study 'Lessons from International Experience: Road Asset Management' provides guidelines to the National Transport Development Policy Committee of Planning Commission on how reforms in Gujarat in the roads sector come closer to international standards for other states and developing countries to follow.
Presenting a comparison of roads sector management in South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Argentina, Indonesia and India, with reference to Gujarat and Karnataka, the study has found four major reforms undertaken in Gujarat that make the state exemplary.
These include
• reduced share of administrative cost in the capital and maintenance budget from 30% to 16% during 2000-2007;
• reduced maintenance backlog by half from 10,000 km to 5,000 km;
• increased annual plan budget for roads from $26 million in 1995-96 (4.9% of the annual plan) to $550 million (9.3%) in 2010-11.
• The study also hails initiatives like doubling of funds for routine and periodic maintenance by 2008-09 compared to 1998-99 and reducing of labour force by 40% and operational force by 15% as labour productivity grew with the improved tools, organisation, and management.
Gujarat has also excelled in bringing about a very close collaboration between government and private sector, having a sustainable planning based on holistic cost analysis, outsourcing and engineering functions as well as execution of main roads, monitoring quantitative performance by posting main performance indicators on internet, and plans to implement a new monitoring system, according to the study.
The study is based on an analysis of about 40,000 kmlong state roads, including 16,000 km of state highways and 20,000 km of district main roads.
The follow up and review system, all over the state, is very good. Chief Minister Narendra Modi reviews all the big projects of any city or department personally. He views their presentations and even guides them. And if the need be, he himself visits the site and offers them advice.
As one Senior Engineer from PWD told us:
“Our work is better than the others, our maintenance is better than the others. We take care that the design being made is strong. While it is being implemented, we ensure that the material being used is good. And we keep a condition before the contractors in two categories – one for three years and the other for five years. The condition is that if the road gets damaged in the time frame of a contractor’s contract (according to the category he falls in), he himself will have to maintain it.
We ask for accountability. We don’t leave them free once the construction is done. Also, we ministers move in the entire state, so do our MLAs, IAS officers and the entire department. We all take the responsibility for the project. If we find even slight weakness somewhere, we take immediate steps to rectify that anamoly.”
Sure.. these good roads measure up to Gujarat’s progress to prosperity..
- Dayanand Nene
GUJARAT’S ‘ROAD’ TO PROSPERITY
Hearing a PIL regarding a road-maintenance contract, the Bombay High Court recently observed that roads in neighbouring Gujarat are in better condition than Maharashtra.
"People say that Gujarat has got best of the roads...as long as you have not crossed the border (into Maharashtra). It's a shame for our government that we cannot build good roads," said Justice J N Patel.
As anyway I was to travel to Ahmedabad as part of my ‘discovery’ of Gujarat, we decided to take the Road route to check out the much tommtommed Roads.
MY first problem was the first 75 kms stretch from my house in Thane to Manor on NH8, which has been witnessing horrific traffic jams at 2-3 points’ thanks due to the delayed work of building 3 flyovers on the Ghodbunder Road to the Vasai-Virar toll gate.
Therefore, I decided to skip the first section of NH8 by going on a parallel road direct from Thane to Manor via Bhiwandi & Wada. Leaving my home at 4 am into what is peak hour traffic on NH8 milling with trucks, I had a peaceful drive through Bhiwandi town (totally avoidable after the sun rises, thanks to the huge traffic choke-ups inside the town), but found that the road to Manor via Wada was very bad in some places. Nonetheless, it is far better to go this way compared to NH8 till Manor which would have taken more time. The bad roads meant that I was able to cover the 88 kms to Manor in 2 hrs, compared with the normal speed of 1.30 hour, delaying me by 30 minutes!
From Manor onwards, traffic was surprisingly light and most of the 6-lane work was complete, except at the flyover junctions, which were happily clean thanks to the early hour eliminating all but truckers from the highway. I stopped at McDonalds at Vapi for a toilet break (although I am no fan of either breaks or burgers!).
Excellent Roads, free from pot holes and craters – what we have become accustomed in Mumbai, except for some flyover junctions which saw detours and slowed down the traffic. I picked up speed and maintained crusiing speeds of 110-120 kmph steadily and reached Surat at 8.20 am (285 kms in 4.20 hrs).
Light vehicle traffic started picking up thereafter but being Sunday, I think the tarffic was nowhere near its normal intensity and from Surat onwards, the 6-lane road to Baroda was a fast drive, and I did the next 148 kms to Baroda in 120 minutes (2 hrs). The toll gates in this stretch are well-regulated and efficient, not taking more than 2-3 minutes per vehicle regardless of the Q of vehicles. There was a huge jam on the old River Narmada Bridge due to maintainance or because it is too weak - and all trucks were being diverted through the ne NH Bridge, but happily the traffic flow was smooth and the major headache on NH8 was no more a worry. As is my practice over past 40 years, I threw my offering coin into the holy waters of Narmada.
I noticed one thing - very funnily, all petrol pumps on the Baroda bypass are on the south-bound lane! Truck traffic was very high, and there is absolutely no lane discipline on the Surat-Baroda sector, which means you have to weave in and out of the 3 lanes on your side of the road to proceed at good speed. Once you enter Gujarat, there are very few restaurants with good washroom facilities. I am told that the Hotel Plazio in the Baroda bypass has good facilities, but we did not stop by to check.
From Baroda bypass, you have 2 options to go to Ahmedabad. Continue on NH8, or take the NE1 expressway. No guesses which one I took.
The Baroda-Ahmedabad expressway is a delight to drive on as usual, although traffic keeps increasing day by day and the 4-laned expressway is no more adequate, and needs to be widened fast before traffic spills all over the place. I had to stop over in the a petrol pump midway to refuel so that lost me some time, but the speeds on the expressway were as follows:
- first toll gate to Reliance petrol pump, 67 kms, 34 minutes
- Reliance petrol pump to exit toll gate, 21 kms, 11 minutes
That means in 45 minutes I had covered the toll gate-to-toll gate distance of 88 kms. Sebastian Vettel – I am coming..
What I noticed on this stretch of Road was that the Road conditions were very good with lush green trees on both sides at many places, making driving a pleasure.
We were told by all coming from Gujarat that roads there are the best in the country. And so we saw. It is not just the National Highways, State Highways and Expressways that connect big cities with districts, the rural roads are very good too.
All of Gujarat’s 18,000 villages are connected via pucca roads. The state’s geographical expanse includes hilly areas, flat areas, regions near the sea and big desert zones like Kachchh. Whatever the type of geographical area, the Gujarat government has connected all with roads.
Excellent Roads everywhere..
A top Planning Commission study, supported by World Bank, has said that Gujarat offers an example of international best practice in roads management. Authored by Clell Harral, Graham Smith and William DO Paterson, the study 'Lessons from International Experience: Road Asset Management' provides guidelines to the National Transport Development Policy Committee of Planning Commission on how reforms in Gujarat in the roads sector come closer to international standards for other states and developing countries to follow.
Presenting a comparison of roads sector management in South Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Argentina, Indonesia and India, with reference to Gujarat and Karnataka, the study has found four major reforms undertaken in Gujarat that make the state exemplary.
These include
• reduced share of administrative cost in the capital and maintenance budget from 30% to 16% during 2000-2007;
• reduced maintenance backlog by half from 10,000 km to 5,000 km;
• increased annual plan budget for roads from $26 million in 1995-96 (4.9% of the annual plan) to $550 million (9.3%) in 2010-11.
• The study also hails initiatives like doubling of funds for routine and periodic maintenance by 2008-09 compared to 1998-99 and reducing of labour force by 40% and operational force by 15% as labour productivity grew with the improved tools, organisation, and management.
Gujarat has also excelled in bringing about a very close collaboration between government and private sector, having a sustainable planning based on holistic cost analysis, outsourcing and engineering functions as well as execution of main roads, monitoring quantitative performance by posting main performance indicators on internet, and plans to implement a new monitoring system, according to the study.
The study is based on an analysis of about 40,000 kmlong state roads, including 16,000 km of state highways and 20,000 km of district main roads.
The follow up and review system, all over the state, is very good. Chief Minister Narendra Modi reviews all the big projects of any city or department personally. He views their presentations and even guides them. And if the need be, he himself visits the site and offers them advice.
As one Senior Engineer from PWD told us:
“Our work is better than the others, our maintenance is better than the others. We take care that the design being made is strong. While it is being implemented, we ensure that the material being used is good. And we keep a condition before the contractors in two categories – one for three years and the other for five years. The condition is that if the road gets damaged in the time frame of a contractor’s contract (according to the category he falls in), he himself will have to maintain it.
We ask for accountability. We don’t leave them free once the construction is done. Also, we ministers move in the entire state, so do our MLAs, IAS officers and the entire department. We all take the responsibility for the project. If we find even slight weakness somewhere, we take immediate steps to rectify that anamoly.”
Sure.. these good roads measure up to Gujarat’s progress to prosperity..
- Dayanand Nene
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