ROADS & HIGHWAYS: The Road Ahead

The Indian roads and highways sector is gaining momentum after a lull in the past couple of years. However, in order to achieve the ambitious target set by the government in roads and highway projects, there is a holistic approach needed from all the stakeholders. Construction Times explores the way forward.

There is always room to do more as India has set a target to add 25,000 km more of national highways during the year 2022-23 as per the Union Budget proposal and a total of 2 lakh km of national highway network by 2025. The speed of construction needs to be scaled up considerably to meet the execution target.  

Current scenario

During the last five years there has been a significant growth in the road transportation network. Various government-sponsored schemes such as the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP), Bharatmala and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana introduced in the past have pushed the development of road development in the country.

In highways segment, total 22 Greenfield highways (5 Expressways comprising length of 2,485 km with cost of Rs. 1,63,350 crore and 17 Access Controlled Highways comprising length of 5,816 km with cost of Rs. 1,92,876 crore) have been envisaged for development. Three sections of the Delhi Mumbai Expressway i.e., Delhi-Dausa-Lalsot (Jaipur) (214 km), Vadodara-Ankleshwar (100 km) and Kota-Ratlam-Jhabua (245 km) are planned for completion by March 2023, according to MoRTH.

Opportunities galore!

Government's mega plans of roads and highways development have open up huge opportunities for contractors and technology providers in the country to create advanced highway infrastructure to cater to the growing transportation needs.  

Speaking on the government's highway development plans, Harendra Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, H.G. Infra Engineering, says, “There are tremendous opportunities, given the government's ambition to augment national connectivity, functionality, and sustainability. Its initiative to build 25,000 km national highway in FY23 provides companies like HG Infra visibility into future bidding activities. Furthermore, the Indian Government's master plan to build a highway network of approximately 200,000 km over the coming three years will add to the construction opportunities.”

Recently, the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said the government is committed to expanding the national highways (NHs) network across the country with the aim of constructing 18,000 km of NHs in 2022-23 at a record speed of 50 km per day. According to him, the overall target is to develop 2 lakh km of national highway network by 2025. This is challenging not only for the contractors but also the entire highway construction value chain.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget 2022 has proposed to expand the national highway network by 25,000 km in 2022-23. According to Santosh Rai, Operations Director & Chief Business Officer, HCC, this seems to be an optimistic target because adding 25,000 km means the MoRTH has to build ~70 km of roads per day, which is significantly higher than the anticipated 40 km per day set for 2021-22. “As per MoRTH data, 1,307 km of roads had been constructed till May 2022, compared to 1,407 km in the same period last fiscal. Awards till May 2022 are also down with 697 km compared to 974 km in the same period last fiscal year. This puts further pressure on the remaining months to achieve the ambitious target of 25,000 km. At the same time, it would mean plenty of opportunities for the companies engaged in the sector,” he adds.

On June 7, 2022, the Pune-based construction company Rajpath Infracon entered the Guinness Book of World Records by paving the longest stretch of bituminous concrete road on NH6 between Amravati and Akola. Responding to this rare achievement, Jagdish Kadam, Managing Director, Rajpath Infracon, says, “Yes, the challenge was intimidating, but our spirits were dauntless, and our resolve unyielding too. We knew what we had set to achieve, and had the will too, so the way opened itself for us to reach the 75+ km mark in 105 hours, as planned.  Earlier, our PM had called upon the citizens of India to dedicate 75 hours to the progress of the nation on the occasion of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. We decided to give our work a dash of the extraordinary by paving 75 km of bituminous concrete continuously, making a new Guinness World Record, and offering this to our nation in response to our PM's clarion call, to commemorate the 75 grand years of Indian independence.”

Rural roads scenario

The rural roads sector has evolved over the years with implementation of various projects under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). More than 7 lakh km road length and more than 6,000 bridges completed under PMGSY. Under PMGSY-I, more than 6 lakh km road length have been completed, while under PMGSY-II it is more than 46,000 km and under PMGSY-III, 33,965 km, apart from 5,608 km under Road Connectivity Project of Left Wing Extremism affected Areas (RCPLWEA). Three-tiered quality control mechanism is being followed for ensuring construction of quality road works and durability of road assets under PMGSY.

Construction equipment and technology

Roads and highways has been one of the most vibrant markets in Indian infrastructure sector. The recent mega development plans announced by the government has created a huge demand for road construction equipment.

“Roads and highway projects continue to be India's most significant growth drivers. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) aims to develop two lakh kilometres of the National Highway Network by 2025. The objective is to create world-class road infrastructure in a time-bound and target-oriented manner. This year MoRTH aims to construct a record 13,000 km of highways and is also targeting to increase the pace of highway construction considerably. Accordingly, we expect demand for road equipment to be robust, even though the sale of compactors slowed down in the first quarter of FY23,” says Vivek Hajela, Vice President and Head, Construction Equipment Business, L&T.

Many construction equipment players see India as a prospective market for their equipment and solutions and accordingly introduced latest solutions for roads and highways construction. For e.g., L&T has indigenously designed and manufactured a whole range of equipment, including Soil Compactors, Tandem Compactors, Mini Compactors and Pneumatic Tyred Rollers. Over 3,000 of these machines have already been supplied, according to Hajela.

The Soil Compactor L&T 1190, an 11 Tonne machine, the Tandem Compactor L&T 990 HFi, a 10 Tonne Machine, the L&T 491, a 4 Tonne Machine and the L&T 2490, a 24 Tonne Machine, are all general-purpose equipment that finds application for building roads, expressways, national highways, state highways, district roads and even rural roads.

“We have locally designed and developed a Wheel Loader, L&T 9020 and a Skid Steer Loader, SR 315. The Skid Steer loader is a utility machine widely used across various applications during road construction.  The opportunities for these standard machines would increase as the pace of execution of road jobs accelerate. In addition, L&T has introduced attachments like Crusher Buckets, Slope Compactors and Rock Splitters, which will help faster execution of road projects,” adds Hajela.

CASE Construction Equipment is also ready to cater to the industry needs with their smart range of machines. At the recently concluded EXCON 2021, CASE introduced multiple products with new and enhanced features that can help in the faster execution of roads, highways and expressways. This includes soil compactors, backhoe loaders, crawler excavators and motor graders along with variants.

According to Alok Jha, Director, Sales & Marketing, India & SAARC, CASE Construction Equipment, the equipment demand is sustained due to the various projects and government's other infrastructure development initiatives. He adds, “We anticipate surge in the current demand for equipment as more and more roads and highways projects are announced. With the announcement to expand National Highways, the Gati Shakti Master plan to accelerate road and highway projects as well as rural development projects such as PMGSY for road construction, there will be a boost in demand of construction and earthmoving equipment. Also, associated projects such as Sagarmala will further the need of such equipment as they are versatile and can be used for multiple applications.”

Speaking about the opportunities for digital solution providers, Vijay Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, SoftTech Engineers, elaborates, “This is a brilliant opportunity for construction technology & solution providers to sustain, grow and make an impact by helping digitally transform the public works functions. Leveraging AI & ML, the technology providers can help public work organizations gain deep insights into every aspect of infrastructure projects. They can enable public works organizations to achieve greater accuracy in creating and allocating budgets, using technology-driven finance & account management. The hi-tech providers can use the power of AI for intelligent road material planning, helping public works organizations attain optimum resource utilization and sustainability.”

Looking ahead

According to Hajela, the roads and highways sector is a key growth driver as India aims to become a US$ 5 trillion economy in a few years. A well-connected road network improves the competitive edge of an economy and accelerates growth. “The government has recently commissioned projects that would connect airports, ports, railway yards, industrial hubs and tourist hubs. With large road projects in the pipeline, road developers would look for machines with lower operating costs as controlling expenses would be an important factor in project execution. Accordingly, remote monitoring systems and telematics will be the key to improving operational efficiency at worksites. Similarly, with a high focus on reducing carbon footprint, electric machines and the ones compatible with alternate fuels like biodiesel will see traction in the coming years,” Hajela observes.

From an operation and maintenance perspective, Vikramjiet Roy, Managing Director, Maccaferri India, adds, “India has immense progress in the expansion of its infrastructure in general, but to emphasize on the growth on the roads and highway sector, it is really important to appreciate how far we have come on that front. What we see today is a prime example of good execution considering the maintenance managed on the roads is impeccable. Although, I do agree there is always room for us to do more and it is vital that we rally our forces to focus on the regions more prone to landslides, rockfalls and floods, keeping in mind the havoc it has already wrecked in various areas.”

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari while speaking at an event recently, has emphasized that proven technology, economic viability, availability of raw material and effective marketing all of these are necessary for successful completion of projects. True, we have a daunting task ahead as far as achieving the set target as per the set timeline. A holistic approach from all the stakeholders can definitely achieve the goal.

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