Indian Roads Thread

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Vips
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Vips »

It is misleading headline by DDM (60,000 KMS road developed in 2019)

There are also plans to connect Tawang with all weather road and rail network.It involves building a 29 kms long tunnel (India's longest).
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Nikhil T »

Fund paucity halts repair of PM Gram Sadak Yojana

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... content=18

The situation is pressing as 70% PMGSY roads are now out of the defect liability period (DLP) that requires the contractor to maintain and repair roads for five years after construction. About 40% of the roads have also completed 10 years of their design life, requiring repair and renewal.

It is estimated that only 14% of the roads have been relaid so far.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Rishirishi »

Things can also move fast in India.
400 Km express way in 30 Months. That too in UP.


May 2015: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announces the Lucknow-Azamgarh-Ballia expressway. The proposed expressway was originally conceptualized by the Mayawati government in 2008 as the Ganga Expressway.
Oct 2015: UP Government has finalized the alignment out of three proposed alignment for expressway. Detailed Project Report (DPR) to be prepared in three months.[6]
Nov 2015: The Lucknow-Azamgarh-Ballia expressway is renamed as Purvanchal Expressway.[7]
Feb 2016: State Government allocated 1500 Crores Rupees for the expressway in the budget.[8]
Dec 2016: Akhilesh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh lays foundation stone for the project [9]
May 2017: About 40% of required land is already acquired during Akhilesh Yadav's Govt, claims Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary who is leader of opposition in UP Legislative Assembly.[10]
May 2017: Yogi Adityanath Government cancels tenders issues by previous government stating that currently only 40.17% of needed land is acquired and will issue fresh tender only when at least 80% of land will be acquired.[11]
May 2017: UP Government orders faster land acquisition.[12]
Jun 2017: The state government may take a loan of ₹3,500 crore for the construction of Purvanchal Expressway, the biggest in the country, from Lucknow to Ballia, which was recently approved by the UP cabinet with link roads to Ayodhya and Varanasi.[13]
Sep 2017: 60% land acquired at cost of 4,500 crore rupees. Total land acquisition may cost up to 6,500 crore Rupees. NITI Aayog says the Central Government may bear cost of road construction if state government bears the land acquisition cost.[14]
Nov 2017: 77% land acquisition done, work to start by March 2018 and will take 30 months to complete the project.[15][16]
Jan 2018: 85% land acquisition done, foundation stone to be laid in March 2018.[17]
Apr 2018: 91% land acquired. Request For Proposal (RFP) document floated.[18]
July 2018: Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the project on at Azamgarh.[19][20]
Jul 2018: Tender awarded for road construction to five firms for eight packages.[21]
Oct 2018: Construction Work started near Ghazipur. [22]
Dec 2018: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inspected the project progress in Amethi district, he says, expressway will be ready in 24 months.[23]
Feb 2019: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath allocated Rs 1194 crore in UP Budget 2019
June 2019: UP govt saves Rs 620 cr in bidding process for Purvanchal Expressway[24] and 10% of Civil work has been completed.
June 2019: "Purvanchal Expressway To Be Completed By August 2020, One year before the actual deadline of August 2021": UP Chief Secretary[25]
July 2019: The Purvanchal Expressway, the longest in the country, will be extended to Ballia.[3]
Aug 2019: Expressway to be opened by August 2020.[26]
Sep 2019: 97% earth work done.[27]
Oct 2019: 20% expressway completed. To be opened by end of year 2020.[28]
Dec 2019: 40% expressway completed.[29]
Feb 2020: Main carriageway of the expressway to be opened for public by end of 2020.[3
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by wig »

https://mumbaimirror.indiatimes.com/mum ... 200219.cms


Rs 260 cr loan to Anil Ambani firm. it is missing deadlines for widening Pune Bangalore road. the firm is accused of diverting toll money to buy mutual funds

extracts the article is lengthy
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has offered the Anil Ambani controlled P S Toll Road Private Limited a loan of Rs 260 crore despite
the company missing deadline after deadline to complete the widening of a crucial stretch of the Pune-Bangalore highway and being accused of diverting toll money to invest in mutual funds.
The decision was taken in February last year under NHAI’s One Time Fund Infusion Scheme (OTFIS) in the presence of Union Minister for Surface
Transport Nitin Gadkari and the Mumbai office of NHAI has now forwarded the proposal to the headquarters in Delhi.
P S Toll Road Private Limited, a subsidiary of R-Infra Ltd, which runs the Ghatkopar-Andheri Metro, has been given five extensions for the widening of
the 140 km stretch since 2010, when it bagged the project.
The original deadline to complete the project was 30 months with a provision to extend it by 12 months.
It secured the first extension in November 2014 with a new deadline for completion - December 2015. The last extension was given in March 2019. This
time, the new deadline was set for June 2019. But by company’s own admission, it had completed 93.6 % of the work by January 2019.
As per the contract conditions, in case of a concessionaire failing to achieve two project milestones, it would have to complete the third using its own
resources. He would be allowed to draw money from the escrow account only after he completes the third milestone within the deadline.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by yensoy »

Rishirishi wrote:Things can also move fast in India.
400 Km express way in 30 Months. That too in UP.
Actually UP is the easiest state to build a 400km expressway because of flat topography. There is no other state in India, not even Rajasthan, where the land is flat can support the carriageway and easy to build on. Regardless, full credit to UP.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by SBajwa »

yensoy wrote:
Rishirishi wrote:Things can also move fast in India.
400 Km express way in 30 Months. That too in UP.
Actually UP is the easiest state to build a 400km expressway because of flat topography. There is no other state in India, not even Rajasthan, where the land is flat can support the carriageway and easy to build on. Regardless, full credit to UP.
Yep the entire stretch from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP, Bihar only has rivers and land acquisition issues.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by A Nandy »

Improved connectivity in India’s rural heartland has resulted in at least 25% reduction in maternal and infant mortality rates due to enhanced access to hospitals
https://www.adb.org/results/roads-inclu ... ives-india
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by disha »

Looking forward to see

https://swarajyamag.com/infrastructure/ ... king-shape

Image

And an on the ground video



Couple the above with the HSR from Mumbai-Ahmedabad.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by disha »

Yep the entire stretch from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP, Bihar only has rivers and land acquisition issues.
Hold on to your (3rd party your) pants, it is going to be blown away. Dhotis will shiver so much that it will be shredded. Think GSLV MkIII type exhaust will blow it to smithereens.

India is going to construct tunnels, bridges, and aqueducts as needed to achieve the goal for connectivity.

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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by nash »

^^^^

unable to see the video.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by disha »

disha wrote:
Yep the entire stretch from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, UP, Bihar only has rivers and land acquisition issues.
Hold on to your (3rd party your) pants, it is going to be blown away. Dhotis will shiver so much that it will be shredded. Think GSLV MkIII type exhaust will blow it to smithereens.

India is going to construct tunnels, bridges, and aqueducts as needed to achieve the goal for connectivity.

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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by disha »

nash wrote:^^^^

unable to see the video.
Fixed the link. Apologies for the double post.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by VinodTK »

BRO opens bridge on Teesta river, will connect North Sikkim with rest of country
NEW DELHI: In a big relief to the residents of Lachen an important bridge connecting North Sikkim with the rest of the country was opened up on Saturday.

The bridge is equally important for the troops of the security forces.

Ministry of Defence in its release said, “The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) opened for traffic 360 feet long bailey suspension bridge over Teesta River in Munshithang near Chungthang town on Saturday.”

The 86 Road Construction Company (RCC) of 758 Border Roads Task Force (BRTF), under Project Swastik, commenced the construction of the bridge in October 2019 and completed it in January 2020.

The approach roads to the bridge have also been constructed. The bridge will give impetus to tourism and facilitate the movement of logistics for the Armed Forces deployed in forward areas.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Rohit_K »

India’s Largest TBM Arrives for Mumbai’s Coastal Road Project
India’s largest tunnel boring machine (TBM) with diameter of 12.19m arrived in Mumbai’s Priyadarshini Park neighborhood this Sunday morning after a 5000+ nautical mile journey from Shanghai Port to Mumbai’s Jawarhalal Nehru Port to build twin 1,920m road tunnels for Mumbai’s 29.2 km Coastal Road (Western Freeway) project.
Image
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by vsunder »

Amrutanjan bridge an iconic 190 year old structure and a major bottleneck on the Pune-Mumbai expressway was demolished during the lockdown. Here is a video with the charges going off and the old bridge collapsing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLVaNSxi4oE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCsCdX73mCA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1gEfBNvfsQ
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Suraj »

I remember that bridge while driving over MPE years ago. That was indeed a serious bottleneck.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by vsunder »

With the inauguration of a 80km road to the Nepal, India, China tri-junction, the Manasarovar yatra travel time has been cut to a week.

https://indianexpress.com/article/india ... d-6401090/

Road rises to almost 17,000 ft from 6000 ft.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by vsunder »

Some major projects where work had stopped have resumed operations and it seems deadlines will be met.

1. The important Rohtang tunnel under the Rohtang pass which promises to give all weather connectivity to Lahaul-Spiti and Manali and beyond to Leh and so is important for strategic reasons was scheduled to be complete in September after 10 years. Seems like it will be opened in September. Work is at last stages, electrical equipment, communication equipment, safety equipment installation etc.

2. Poorvanchal expressway, a 6 lane expressway connecting Ghazipur in eastern UP with Lucknow 340km scheduled to be complete in Dec 2020. Work stopped but re-started April 20th with 5000 as against 10,000 workers. 8 packages about 45% complete. Will connect with Agra-Lucknow expressway at Lucknow and provide movement from backward eastern UP to NCR region. Branches are Gorakhpur expressway which has been tendered. Manoj Sinha MoS Railways lost Ghazipur in last Lok Sabha election to a SP goonda and development around Ghazipur has faltered since. Sinha had delivered on the Tarighat road and rail bridge at Ghazipur which will be complete this year a promise several governments had made since Independence. Ghazipur will also host an inland water port on the Ganga. At Ghazipur is located the world's only Government opium and opiate factory(from where Opium was shipped down the Ganga to supply China in angrez times). It is also where the mausoleum of Lord Cornwallis is located who surrendered at Yorktown to George Washington and brought about the country called Yumrika in 1789.

3. Work has started on the Bundelkhand Expressway connecting one of the most backwatd and isolated parts of UP, Chitrakoot with Etawah on the Agra Lucknow expressway. This is also another of Yogi's flagship projects. Land acquisition of 95% was quickly done and packages tendered out. This will also be part of the Defence Corridor project, since it is within 250km of Kanpur which has an Ordinance factory, at Malwan 40 mins from Kanpur a company makes helmets which are supplied all over the world. Jhansi (will be on the expressway) and nearby Babina(30 km from Jhansi) and Talbehat are where the Armored strike corps have facilities and Bhopal with its major defence establishment (and Sudershan Strike Corps XXI corp) is nearby. If all these come through by 2022 in time for UP elections, migrant labor coming back to UP may not leave it and may give a positive vote for Yogi.

Progress on the Tarighat/Ghazipur road cum rail bridge on Ganga(1 month old)(comments allude to how stupid people are in Ghazipur to vote along religious lines and destroy progress. By not voting for Manoj Sinha progress has really slowed in this backward part of UP)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBGMNB8bTnU

What is the Purvanchal access controlled 6 lane expressway ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJEiPfOVg0I

^^ You can get an idea of the Bundelkhand expressway that will run from Chitrakoot, Jhansi and join the Lucknow Agra expressway in Etawah, and the Ganga Expressway and Gorakhpur expressway.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purvanchal_Expressway
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Post by vsunder »

Another strategic road project that has quietly made progress is the Amritsar-Jamnagar highway, a 6-lane expressway under the Bharatmala program. It connects the refineries at Bathinda, Barmer(to become operational in 2022) and Jamnagar where the Fatman has his operations and where there is a major Air Force Station that saw a lot of action in 1971. Bathinda has a Strike corps and Barmer a major Air Force station that was built around 1971 and saw action ---Uttarlai. This road is along the western border with Pakistan. I am told that construction has reached Balotra, 100 km from Jodhpur and 11 km from Barmer. So work is going on from Haryana to close to Gujarat--Rajasthan border.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amritsar% ... Expressway

Part of the expressway from Amritsar to Bathinda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVbm96yCPG4
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by VinodTK »

2 strategically vital bridges inaugurated in Arunachal
Itanagar, May 23 (IANS) To help faster movement of people and armed forces to the India-China border, two strategically important bridges were inaugurated on Saturday in Arunachal Pradesh.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu inaugurated the 50-metre and 45-metre long bridges constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in a record time despite COVID-19 related adversaries.

Dedicating the bridges to the nation, Khandu said Tawang Chhu river bridge (in Tawang district) and Sukha Nallah bridge (in West Kameng district) would allow faster movement of civilians and military towards the McMahon Line which demarcated Chinese territory from Indian.

He praised the BRO engineers and personnel for securing the borders of the country and also providing employment and trading opportunities for Indians living in border areas through their investment in roads and bridges.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Mollick.R »

Chardham project: Nitin Gadkari lauds BRO for Chamba tunnel construction
PTI|Last Updated: May 26, 2020, 12.27 PM IST

New Delhi: Union Minister on Tuesday lauded the (BRO) for constructing a 440-metre long tunnel below the busy Chamba town on Rishikesh-Dharasu road and termed it as an 'extraordinary feat' in nation-building during the . The successfully dug up the 440-metre long tunnel below the Chamba town on Rishikesh-Dharasu road, National Highway no 94, which will facilitate all-weather connectivity to Chardham -- Gangotri, Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Badrinath.

"I congratulate the entire BRO team for their extraordinary feat in nation-building amidst this global pandemic... Ever since the catastrophe that hit Kedarnath, we were committed for an all-weather connectivity to Chardham and this is an important milestone," Road Transport, Highways Minister Gadkari said.

He said the breakthrough of this tunnel will go a long way in facilitating speedy movement of traffic, reducing congestion and distance to Chamba town and easing the movement of yatris on Chardham Yatra and bring economic prosperity.

He said the latest Austrian technology has been used in construction of the . The tunnel will be through for traffic by October 2020 almost three months before its scheduled date of completion of January 2021, he said.

The 6-km road and 450-metre tunnel is being constructed at a cost of Rs 88 crore.

BRO started work on 'North Portal' of the tunnel in January 2019 but work on 'South Portal' could commence only after October 2019 when issues concerning land compensation and safety of houses above the tunnel were resolved
to the satisfaction of all stakeholders with active support from the state government.

The loss in time was compensated by day and night working shifts along with use of modern technology and machines provided by Bharat Construction, Dehradun.

Under the 900-km 'Char Dham' project costing about Rs 12,000 crore, BRO is constructing 250-km of National Highway leading to holy shrines of Gangotri and Badrinath, Gadkari said while congratulating Lt Gen Harpal Singh, DG Border Roads, and his team for completing crucial projects of national importance in two years.

Gadkari said BRO has been entrusted with 251 km and this consists of 17 packages out of which 10 projects of 151 km have been sanctioned..
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 995964.cms
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by SBajwa »

vsunder
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by vsunder »

All remaining tendering on Mumbai-Delhi expressway has been awarded in MP. L&T got most of it. Here is a section of the highway near Mandsaur MP:

https://twitter.com/sahil11p/status/127 ... 01/photo/1

4 lane highway Dimapur-Imphal in Nagaland. Rural areas are asphalt, in the city like here(Dimapur) RCC concrete. First concrete highways in Nagaland:

https://twitter.com/sahil11p/status/127 ... 69/photo/2
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Suraj »

Delhi-Mumbai Expressway under construction
Image
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by nachiket »

Another pic of the same
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by A Nandy »

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ne ... 717442.cms
NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday said it is ready with a blueprint to implement a cashless treatment scheme for road accident victims.

The scheme will have an insurance coverage cap of Rs 2.5 lakh per case, as per a communication to transport secretaries and commissioners of the states.

The scheme assumes significance as India accounts for about 5 lakh road accidents per annum, one of the highest globally, in which about 1.5 lakh people are killed and about 3 lakh are crippled
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Mollick.R »

No Chinese company to be allowed to bid for any highway project: Nitin Gadkari
TNN | Jul 2, 2020, 03.09 AM IST

NEW DELHI: No Chinese company will be allowed to participate in any future highway project and companies entering into joint venture (JV) with any firm from China will also be banned from bidding for projects, road transport and MSME minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday. Talking to TOI, the minister said he has approved the policy and also asked highway secretary Girdhar Aramane to revise the bidding norms for projects to enable more Indian companies to participate in the tender process.
“Our focus is to encourage Indian companies to take up more work. However, foreign companies can also participate for technology and consultancy-related works. But there also, we won’t entertain any Chinese player directly or indirectly,” Gadkari said.

The minister, who had first talked about growing discontent among global investors against China due to the coronavirus pandemic, said his ministry is not touching already awarded projects and other works to avoid “litigations”. “If we revisit old contracts, there will be litigation. So, the decision will be applicable for all future tenders. I have instructed officials to take necessary steps,” he said.

Sources said the tender norms have to be tweaked to bar any Chinese player or investment. It’s not yet clear whether any of the active tenders will also be scrapped where Chinese companies are bidding in any form.


Meanwhile, NHAI has put the bid of a Chinese firm on hold in one of the stretches of Delhi-Mumbai corridor. Sources said there is every probability of the bid by the Chinese company being nixed. “Since the work has not been awarded. It won’t be a problem,” said a source.
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Full Article Here// Time of India Link.....

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/bus ... 739635.cms
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by vsunder »

Picture of two landmark projects in India in one photo frame. Delhi-Mumbai expressway under construction a greenfield project jumping over an under construction Western Dedicated Freight corridor WDFC

https://twitter.com/sahil11p/status/127 ... 89/photo/3

https://twitter.com/sahil11p/status/127 ... 89/photo/4
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Post by vsunder »

The Se La tunnel bypassing Se La pass at 13,700 feet is an important strategic tunnel which will connect Tawang with the rest of India. The tunnel will allow all weather and all year access to Tawang, the scene of fierce battles in 1962. Currently Tawang remains cut-off during the winters. To bypass the Se La pass, involves constructing two tunnels 1790m and 475m respectively. There is also a greenfield road of 12.37km to facilitate the tunnels. The new road connects with the existing road at Nuarang. The current stand off seems to have Galwanized(sic) the project with significant progress in the month of June. Tunneling began in mid to late May after a period of constructing approach roads to the North and South portals of the tunnels. It is hoped that tunneling will continue at the north portal through the winter.

https://twitter.com/sahil11p/status/1282160740585992193
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Post by Suraj »

Economy picking up? Electronic toll collection on highways rebounds to March levels in June: Crisil
Electronic toll collection on highways rebounded to March levels in June, and touched 75 per cent of February levels as economic activities across the country have started to pick up since the implementation of ‘unlock’, Crisil Research said. According to the agency, construction across national highways is also picking up, however, it is likely to see a 10-13 per cent decline this fiscal year as compared to FY2020.

“Electronic toll collection in June has rebounded to March levels and touched 75 per cent of February levels. For an idea of how hard the pandemic had slammed the brakes, toll collection had dropped off the cliff from Rs 11 crore in February 2020 to just Rs 1 crore in April,” the agency said.

The COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns had virtually halted movement of people and goods in April and May, but curbs are being lifted slowly and the economy is beginning to crawl back.

The agency noted that national highway construction activities rebounded to 637 km in May from just 210 km in April. “But key construction months were lost in the lockdown and labour migration continues to pinch. Normalcy might return only after the monsoon. Overall, we are bracing for a 10-13 per cent decline in highway construction on-year this fiscal,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) spent Rs 18,700 crore in April-May, a 46x jump from Rs 400 crore in the same period last fiscal, it said.

“While this was mainly because milestone payments were made and to ease the cash flows of developers, it will have a trade-off constrained future spending by MoRTH,” Crisil said.

Project awarding also spurted three times in April-May on-year. But that was because of a backlog of already bid-out projects that were awaiting award following the lockdown.
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Post by Jarita »

I am deeply concerned about the relentless and short sighted infrastructure development in fragile areas of the country. It should not be that in the quest for tourism we destroy all our green legacy. There are ancient forests and paths that need not be touched. Below is an excerpt on Char Dham. Ugly, wide roads are being built at the expense of local pathways and shops all of which spoke to an "off beaten path" and ancient tradition. Similar such approach around the Jagannath temple has destroyed ancient Mathas. The question to ask is where does this end. India is a densely populated country and cannot accomocate vehicles the way the US or Europe can. The Indian so called development team is enamoured of the US approach while losing sight if the per capita resources in India. This is enormously destructive. When you talk to stakeholders, they make vacuuous and insane statements like "Trees can be grown elsehwere". Actually you cannot displace the wealth of ancient forests. By that logic the Amazon can be displaced elsewhere. I worry that our planners are very short sighted and destructive.

Char Dham Project - Development or Destruction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF52r4DfINE
The Char Dham All Weather Road Project has been approved by National Green Tribunal (NGT) on September 26, 2018. The controversial project has evoked several environmental concerns right from the inception stage.
Almost more than one and half year into the unmindful implementation of the project, the risks and fears associated with the project are clearly visible throughout the construction route. In last few months, several independent reports have also raised serious concerns over the haphazard manner in which the project is being executed through sensitive hilly terrain

https://sandrp.in/2018/10/06/char-dham- ... -overview/

Char Dham Pariyojana: HPC report says socio-cultural concern, innovative thought 'largely missing'
The report which was submitted to various union ministries and the apex court last week pointed out lack of efforts to minimize the loss of forests, trees and green cover.

https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation ... 72741.html

One more thing I have heard of is a plan to build casinos in Uttarkhand. I think it is very risky given that this is a border state and casinos in the past have been entry points for all sorts of corruption. Who is behind this - casinos bring with them money laundering, prostitution and corruption. Think Macau.
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Post by ManuJ »

What nonsense. Building decent motorable roads in the mountains is an urgent necessity for commerce, tourism and the military, not to mention for day-to-day activities of the citizens. Ask the people living in those areas what they would like.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Rishirishi »

ManuJ wrote:What nonsense. Building decent motorable roads in the mountains is an urgent necessity for commerce, tourism and the military, not to mention for day-to-day activities of the citizens. Ask the people living in those areas what they would like.
As of now it is hard to develop areas with taking care of the surroundings and beauty of the area. Look at whats has happened to places like Nainital, Masssorie, etc etc. So nice old hilstations has been converted into ugly concrete dumps. Trees will be cut down, orchards will be replaced with tacky resorts and what more. Why urbanise the last patches the best nature has to offer.

Perhaps this can wait to some time ahead in the future.
nachiket
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by nachiket »

Lakhs of pilgrims and tourists travel to the Char Dhams and nearby locations every year. The roads they use are in terrible shape and dangerous too with several road accidents happening due to the condition of the road. Travel time is also high because of a lack of bridges and tunnels. There is no option but to complete the full project as soon as possible. Kudos to the government for taking this up.

Professional "activists" are of course up to their usual mischief in trying to stop every infrastructural development in the country. This despite India still having some of the worst roads and other infrastructure in the world. We finally have a government working to fix that. I have seen the nonsense from these "activists" in Mumbai too when they protest against and delay every single road project with PIL's and even against the Metro. Thankfully in the Char Dham case the NGT has dismissed their case I believe.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Rishirishi »

nachiket wrote:Lakhs of pilgrims and tourists travel to the Char Dhams and nearby locations every year. The roads they use are in terrible shape and dangerous too with several road accidents happening due to the condition of the road. Travel time is also high because of a lack of bridges and tunnels. There is no option but to complete the full project as soon as possible. Kudos to the government for taking this up.

Professional "activists" are of course up to their usual mischief in trying to stop every infrastructural development in the country. This despite India still having some of the worst roads and other infrastructure in the world. We finally have a government working to fix that. I have seen the nonsense from these "activists" in Mumbai too when they protest against and delay every single road project with PIL's and even against the Metro. Thankfully in the Char Dham case the NGT has dismissed their case I believe.
My family comes from the area and yes, better road infrastructure will improve a lot of things. Like reaching hostpital on time. But at the same time, the area will be destroyed, with the influx of millions people. Hotels, restaurants, shops, resorts, traffic, parking lots garbadge and pollution. Peace and tranquility will be gone. Flat area is very scares in the hills, and it will be rapidly built up. If it was possible to plan and mach the number of tourists to the capacity, I would be all for it.

One way could be to limit the tourism to certified bus-tour operators who arrange organized tours. New structures should be build, but the new buildings should be of high standards. Shops and restaurants should follow planned development.

The worst would be uncontrolled number of private cars, autos, taxis competing to find parking lots, making stops at unplanned roadside shops.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Vips »

The protracted shenanigans by special interest fronts need to be ruthlessly overlooked for national interest projects.Support to these 'protsetors' is really by the opposition/congi cabal who have a heartburn against the the char-dham highway/railway project as this will benefit Hindu pilgrims and is a pet project of Modi/Gadkari.BJP stands to gain voters support once the project is completed.

Even otherwise these environ(mentalist) are out of control.Take the Sikkim Rangpyo railway connectivity project. Special interest groups have used 72 houses owners to hold back this project since 2009 and the project cost has since risen by 400% with each day of delay further adding to it. This for a project which has security importance and can aid in swift movement of soldiers/equipment to the Sikkim-Chinese border.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by Suraj »

Places like Char Dham need a holistic solution when development takes place. It goes without saying that wide and smooth roads are necessary. This is 2020, and we are a modernizing country. Everyone needs to enjoy creature comforts. On the other hand, to ensure that the local populace and the ecology are not impacted, access should be controlled through registered tour groups or passes that ensure that only a certain number of people can travel there at a time, commensurate with the availability of infrastructure to support the tourist load. This includes water, electricity, street cleaning, sweeping and garbage disposal - all basic bread and butter infrastructure concerns of a modern society.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by A Nandy »

Maybe it can be managed in the same way as national parks with access controlled at all entry/exit points. In the US, places like Yosemite have been preserved in this way.
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Re: Indian Roads Thread

Post by ManuJ »

Dealing with an ever increasing influx of tourists is becoming a world-wide problem and various solutions are being attempted.
It's perverse to suggest that keeping the infrastructure in a poor condition is an acceptable solution.
Different problems. Different solutions.
And yes, we do need to develop infrastructure in a way that's sensitive to the ecology, environment and culture of the place. But then that's an area where we need improvement all over India. It's bound to happen over time. One doesn't get from A to Z in one shot.
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