VIPIN CHANDRAN

A stretch of the national highway in Kochi. An April 2008 picture.

THE Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Ministry headed by T.R. Baalu was recently given an ultimatum by the World Bank to get on with the building of highways and roads or risk a cutting off of aid for the building of roads in the country.

There is no doubt that the Minister, or his officers, can trot out seemingly impressive figures on the kilometres of roads built during his tenure, but the cracking of the whip by the World Bank gives one the real picture. According to media reports, it took a letter from Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram to get the World Bank to give Baalu a little time in which to expedite the work he and his Ministry ought to have completed long ago.

The tragedy is that in the last four years a dynamic Minister could have changed the face of the country in terms of road communication, much as E. Sreedharan has done to New Delhi with the metro rail system. However, the Ministry of Shipping and Road Transport and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) never tire of giving one the cliched slogans of roads being the economic lifeline of the nation.

It is common knowledge that after the Second World War the United States determined that economic recovery from the war and the depression would be possible if a network of roads was built across the country; these freeways, as they are called, were the drivers that enabled the country to move products to ports in large quantities and in a relatively short time, and contributed greatly to the resurgence of the U.S. economy.

But Baalu’s main concern seems to be to get the NHAI chairman of his choice, and he has run through at least four so far. Why he found them all unsatisfactory is a mystery. Meanwhile, the programme of constructing roads foundered. It is not only that roads are not being built according to schedule; all manner of strange goings on have been itemised in the World Bank’s report, again, going by the reports that have appeared in the media. They have apparently pointed out cases where contracts for roads were awarded even before the land needed for them had been acquired. This leads on to the other aspect of the construction of these highways: their quality.

Without going into the technical specifications of these highways, the fact is that in large areas the quality of work is appalling. The roads resemble the surface of the moon, with huge craters and stretches of stones and mud. Trucks and other vehicles capsize frequently on these stretches and block the entire width of the “highway”. If they do not capsize, their axles invariably break as they heave and plunge over the craters on the surface. This means an enormous addition to the cost of transportation, which, over time, would contribute significantly to an upward spiral of prices? It is not merely a matter of the costs of repairs and of replacement of vehicles, it is a matter of the delay and the uncertainty in the arrival of goods, leading to slippages in the production of various items. All of this contributes to a slowdown in the overall economic development of the country.

We have been building world-class buildings in this country for some time; we have built bridges that can be classed with the best in the world; we now have two airports that are as good as any on the planet; and yet we seem, strangely, to be unable to build highways that can withstand rain and bad weather.

Is the story any different in the cities of the country? Perhaps, it is even worse. The roads in every metro collapse as soon as the monsoon sets in; cars are barely able to negotiate some of the more horrifying sections of the roads in Gurgaon, touted as one of the fastest growing and modern urban regions of the country. In Kolkata, the stretch between Majerhat Bridge and Behala is a nightmare that destroys cars and buses alike.

Mumbai used to be known for its good roads; not any more. The new areas, which are the new focal points of commercial and industrial activity, such as the Andheri-Kurla Road, are among the worst in the country during the monsoons. Bangalore and Chennai are not far behind.

All these cities have roads that are reduced to rubble and swamps of mud with the first shower of rain. The universal reason given is the monsoon, and we are told that rain affects asphalt badly. As if it does not rain throughout the year in London or Paris or in Singapore, where the roads stay the way roads are supposed to stay – smooth and firm – even in the rain.

Do the technical specifications need changing? Or are the specifications of international standards, and is it more a question of the manner of execution?

Ironically, the International Roads Congress has an office in Delhi; that, of course, means nothing. It is no different from the World Health Organisation having its regional office in New Delhi, for all the difference it makes to our health care services. It does mean that our policymakers and engineers have a means of knowing just how to construct world-class roads, but it is more likely that they know it all and choose not to do anything about it for reasons best known to them. Either way, it is a matter that must be a great worry to our policymakers.

Recently, there was a glittering conclave of the great and the good in Delhi where all kinds of subjects were discussed gravely, sometimes with the gentle humour the great and the good indulge in. Never once were the roads in India mentioned.

The fact is that highways and roads matter a great deal in an India that is being called by some, and claimed by several in the country, to be an emerging superpower. The trouble is that fine buildings and giant factories notwithstanding, if the roads and highways continue to be in the condition they are in, then it is on them that all such claims will founder.