Road construction has undergone a sea change in the past few years. New technologies are being adopted at the planning stage itself for faster implementation. However, the sector continues to be marred with challenges such as land acquisition, utility shifting, aggressive bidding and shortage of skilled labour. At the recent Infrabuild event, industry experts shared their views on the future of the road sector, the challenges and the importance of technology…
R.K. Pandey, Member (Projects), NHAI
The past three decades have seen a sea change in how construction is done in India. There has also been massive improvement in the way planning of projects is carried out within NHAI. Due to the extensive availability of data and the capacity to properly analyse it, planners are now able to execute more optimal greenfield projects that can successfully meet future demands. Some other remarkable improvements are the use of new and innovative tolling strategies, better availability of emergency services, and improvement in road design for road safety.
At present, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is constructing approximately 30 km of roads per day. In order to maintain the pace of construction, the NHAI has taken many cognizant steps. It has made mandatory to use LIDAR survey for the preparation of detailed project reports (DPRs) and equipment- based testing as an acceptance. It has also made progress on norms relating to the completion of pre-construction activities and has set up conciliation committees as well.
For the way forward, the organization needs to implement several steps that will further accelerate the construction process. Firstly, there should be effort towards minimising human intervention to achieve greater productivity. Secondly, there should be emphasis on collecting project data through automatic equipment to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Thirdly, to accelerate the shift towards digital construction, adequate amount of time needs to be given to other stakeholders in the industry for them to adopt digitalisation. Lastly, there needs to be a concerted effort to improve dispute resolutions with different stakeholders.
Rohin Kumar Gupta, General Manager (T) BM, National Highways Authority of India
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been vested with the development, maintenance and management of over 60,000 km of roads. It had constructed around 38,903 km of roads till March 2020 and awarded a total of 51,617 km in the same period. The organisation has set an ambitious target of awarding 6,000 km of roads per year and constructing 4,500 km of roads per year for the next five years. The most ambitious programme being implemented by the organisation is the Bharatmala Pariyojana. NHAI expects to finish awarding Phase I of the project by 2022-23 and complete construction by 2024-25. The authority plans on investing and promoting the adoption of new technologies, designs and materials in highway construction, through collaborations, partnerships and flexible contract terms.
NHAI is now banking on a corridor-based approach for highway development as it has lower investment requirements and quality ride experiences. The authority is planning large-scale development of greenfield access-controlled corridors in order to unlock new areas for economic development. This will decongest existing highways by providing alternative routes, improve alignment and ensure better connectivity for major towns, and enable faster execution of projects. Further, shifting from the existing alignment to greenfield alignment will lead to significant cost savings for developers as well.
R.K. Bansal, Head, Roads and Runways Business, L&T Construction
There are a number of challenges being faced by the road construction industry in India. Apart from the Herculean challenges of land acquisition and utility shifting, there is a problem in adequately securing natural resources such as earth and boulders for the construction of road projects. The non-availability of skilled labour has also emerged as an impediment to the timely execution of projects. A suitable way to solve the problem of skilled labour is to train and impart skills to the local population of the project area and use them as productive assets. A major point of contention for contractors has been the frequent change in policy regarding pavement construction. Initially, India had a flexible pavement system, which was changed to a rigid pavement system. It has now moved back substantially to a flexible pavement system. This change in policy has led to resource utilisation issue for contractors as paving equipment is quite costly to acquire. India has achieved parity globally in terms of equipment technology and is also improving its project preparation mechanism by increasingly using drones and LiDAR surveys. Additionally, the use of 3D sensors on plant equipment and the increasingly simple ways of monitoring equipment through digital platforms have streamlined the construction process and helped contractors in achieving efficient outcomes.
Sudhir Hoshing, Joint Managing Director, IRB Infrastructure
There are a few areas that need a proper relook so that the sector can reach its full potential. First, land acquisition is still a major impediment in the timely execution of road projects. Second, the 18-month deadline given by NHAI for projects is difficult to meet unless 100 per cent of the land is handed over to the developer/contractor. Third, utility shifting is one of the main reasons behind cost escalation and execution delays in a project. Essentially, utility shifting is a third-party problem, thus it consumes a lot of time to resolve and reach a mutual agreement. There are also delays in getting approval for the new land that is needed to shift the existing utility.
Another problem is the lack of checks on the ability of various bidders to execute a particular project. Since NHAI has reduced the qualification norms for bidders, many bidders have quoted exceedingly low prices to win projects. However, as these prices aren’t rational, the bidder gets stuck and this leads to further cost escalation and delays. In some cases, the bidder stretches its own balance sheet to win more projects than its capacity to handle, leading to further delay. Thus, NHAI needs certain reforms in its bidding process so that only able bidders bid for projects.
Sangram Mohanty, Managing Director, Advanced Educare Training Private Limited
The pace of road construction in India has doubled over the past five years. This remarkable achievement has been achieved with the adoption of new technologies by operators in the sector. The government has made aggressive projections regarding the growth of infrastructure. These targets can only be met through rapid adoption and implementation of new technology. A prerequisite to embracing new technology is to have an aptly skilled labour force that knows how to use it. Thus, skill development is the single most important factor required for the success of infrastructure development in India.
T.R. Rao, Director (Infra) & Board Member, PNC Infratech
The use of technology has remarkably improved the construction process. The use of Lidar and drones for survey has optimised the planning process and enhanced the monitoring ability of contractors. The adoption of BIM has streamlined the construction process and encouraged greater collaboration among all stakeholders. Thus, there is an increasing need to adopt technology at the design, implementation and maintenance level in order to enable the sector to fully achieve its long-term potential.