Trimble is helping create a new and evolved generation of roads and highways.

Roshan Purohit
Regional Sales Manager, India & SAARC Region

Trimble Civil Infrastructure Solution

How do you assess the year 2022-23 for the roads and highways sector? How was the performance?

The Indian government has taken significant steps over the last nine years to bolster the country's national road and highway infrastructure. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's focus on infrastructure upgrades to enhance the economy has yielded remarkable results, with official data indicating that India has added an unprecedented 50,000 km of national highways in the last nine years. The approach has been strategic with a corridor-based development push leading to a consistent increase in roads and highways construction from 2014-15 to 2021-22. Moreover, the country is on track to build more national highways by 2025 than it did cumulatively between 1950 and 2015, a staggering feat indeed.

Starting with 97,830 km of National Highways in 2014-15, India's network has grown to 145,155 km by March 2023, a remarkable expansion in a relatively short time. This success is partly due to the Bharatmala project, a flagship initiative of the central government that is aimed at vigorously constructing a robust network of roads, highways, and expressways. India also has plans to build 26 green expressways by 2025, further emphasizing its commitment to sustainable infrastructure development.

However, according to the Economic Survey for 2022-23, the pace of highway construction in India in 2022-23 has fallen compared to 2021-22. During April-October of 2022-23, the construction of national highways totalled 9% lower than the highways constructed in 2021-22.

In short, we believe that the Indian government's highways development approach has yielded rich rewards for our country's infrastructure and economic growth. Simultaneously, the recent dip in the pace of highway construction highlights the need for renewed efforts to maintain the momentum.

The Budget 2023-24 has allocated Rs 2.7 lakh crore for the roads & highways sector. How do you look at the opportunities for your solutions in the sector going forward?

This allocation underscores the government's commitment to expand India's road infrastructure and make it truly world-class. It also presents an opportunity for the government to push forward with its ambitious target of constructing 25,000 km of highways by the end of FY 2023-2024.

However, meeting this target also means that the pace of new road construction has to increase by 30%, which in turn necessitates embracing advanced construction technologies, techniques and processes.

We believe that the adoption of modern tech solutions can solve persistent challenges in road construction such as delays, cost overruns, and quality and safety issues. Latest technologies like computer vision, LIDAR, Automation and AI/ML can help India's construction companies transform the way they build roads and highways by significantly enhancing the speed, safety, and quality of finished roads.

Overall, this budgetary allocation for the roads and highways sector offers immense opportunities for leading technology providers like Trimble. It opens up the window for construction companies to adopt cutting-edge technologies like autonomous construction equipment, digital twins, and smart traffic management systems.

Our goal at Trimble is to help the industry perform this nation building work to their best potential by taking advantage of cutting-edge, world-class technologies and innovations, which have already proven widely successful in similar projects around the world. At the same time, we are also committed to continuing investing in the development of even more advanced technologies and innovations, so that Trimble's technologies can play a pivotal role in shaping the future of India's road infrastructure. In doing so, we believe that India's infrastructure construction sector can create world-class, more resilient, and sustainable road infrastructure for the country faster and at a lower cost than ever.  

How do you contribute to the road infrastructure development of the country?

The impact of technology on road-building is truly revolutionary and Trimble is leading the way in this endeavor. By harnessing state-of-the-art technologies, Trimble is helping create a new and evolved generation of roads and highways that are designed for the future, and can tackle the wide ranging challenges facing the global transportation infrastructure.

By improving the flow of goods and people, our solutions not only help drive economic growth but also enhance quality of life for millions of people worldwide.

What are the latest solutions from the company to meet the future demand?  

At Trimble, we firmly believe that the future of our transportation infrastructure relies on technology. Trimble provides a range of advanced solutions to municipalities, departments and other authorities for building, maintaining or upgrading roads. These solutions can create new or modernize existing and critical highways, roads and bridges infrastructure, while simultaneously improving safety for all and reaching sustainability targets.

For example, for the Mumbai Coastal Road Project, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) is using Trimble's solutions to maximize precision and accuracy. Trimble's state-of-the-art S7 Total Station equipment has been used to measure the topography of the land where the road will be built, including the contours of the coast and the surrounding terrain. This data is then being used to create detailed 3D models of the proposed road layout, which can help engineers and planners make informed decisions about the road's design and alignment.

Meanwhile, the TCU data collector with Trimble Access™ field software is being used to streamline data collection and processing during the construction phase of the project. By providing real-time access to survey data, the TCU enables engineers and workers to quickly and efficiently make adjustments to the road's design and alignment as construction progresses.

Together, these technologies are helping to ensure that the Mumbai Coastal Road Project is completed on time and within budget, while also delivering a high-quality road that is built to the highest standards of safety and reliability.

Our advanced surveying and data collection tools are just one example of the many ways in which Trimble's technology is transforming the road-building industry around the world.  Broadly, our portfolio for roads and highways construction connects and modernizes all aspects of design, build, operate and maintain phases of a road's lifecycle, covering everything from digitalised planning to project management, pavement management and operations management.

How do you visualize the future of the Indian roads & highways sector?

Roads and highways are the most heavily used mode of transport in India and a crucial part of the transport network. India boasts the world's second-largest road network, spanning an impressive 6.37 million kilometers. The ongoing and truly massive transformation of our roads and highways will not only contribute immensely to India's economic growth and development but also improve connectivity and make transportation far more efficient and accessible.

Already, despite national highways making up just 2% of India's transportation network, they play an essential role in facilitating transportation across the country, carrying over 40% of the total traffic. Our factories depend on raw materials brought by road and our shops are filled by a fleet of trucks that is never still.

Looking to the future, the highway construction industry in India is projected to grow by a staggering 133% by 2025. India aims to construct 60 kilometers of highways per day, which is a remarkable feat considering that it is already building 30 kilometers of roads per day. Such rapid construction is expected to bring about an expansion of the web of highways and expressways, providing improved mobility across the country and making it easier for people to access healthcare, education, and other essential services. This is especially important in rural areas where transportation infrastructure is often inadequate.

The expansion of highways and expressways is also expected to help lower logistics costs, currently accounting for approximately 16-18% of India's GDP. The improved mobility is expected to reduce travel time and enhance connectivity, leading to a reduction in transportation costs, which in turn is expected to help reduce logistics costs to 10% of GDP.

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