Centre mulling separate authority for expressways

In what could be a major impetus to the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP), the Centre is mulling over a proposal of having a separate authority for governing the development of expressways in the country. To be set up on the lines of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the authority, according to highly placed sources in the road transport and highways ministry, is being planned with the aim of reducing the burden of the NHAI, which has its hands full with implementing four- and six-laning of highways under the NHDP.

Consultations are currently on between the ministry and the Planning Commission on whether the current National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) Act should be amended or a separate legislation should be set up in order to facilitate the authority for expressways.

Another reason behind this move is a proposal under the 11th Five Year Plan document for a masterplan facilitating the construction of 15,600 km of expressways. Sources say that though the actual construction of these expressways would only begin during the 12th Plan period, land acquisition process for construction of around 6,000 km of expressways would start by the next fiscal itself.

The Plan document, according to sources has already been approved by the Planning Commission, and would be presented for final clearance before the National Development Council (NDC) during its meeting on December 9 this year.

Considering Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's keenness on developing expressways in the country, and with the Plan document also proposing such huge stretches of expressways, the legislation could become a reality soon, sources say.

Ministry sources add that some state governments like that of Punjab and Haryana have already told the ministry that they would definitely want to have expressways. As expressways have completely different physical parameters from highways like fencing on both sides and different road levels and provision of underpasses, the possibility of having a separate legislation for them have arisen, sources say.

The Union Cabinet had in June this year, approved the development of 1,000 km of expressways under phase VI of National Highway Development Programme (NHDP). Now with the 11th Plan document suggesting development of another 14,000 km of expressways, a separate body for implementing this work would definitely help.

At present there are only two expressways in the country, one between Mumbai and Pune, and the other between Baroda and Ahmedabad.

Under the sixth phase of the NHDP, the 95-km long Baroda-Ahmedabad expressway would be stretched by 400 km up to Mumbai. The ministry is currently in the process of preparing a feasibility report for selecting stretches where expressways can be developed for the balance 600 km of length under the sixth phase.

Stretches between Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Meerut, Chennai-Bangalore and Kolkata-Dhanbad, are some of the prospective stretches which the NHAI is currently studying for developing expressways.

In fact apart from mulling over a possibility of having a separate legislation, sources say, the Plan document also suggests a proposal for having seamless traffic movement on expressways. It has suggested replacement of toll plazas with a single-point exit system to avoid delays caused by the toll plazas on expressways. In the proposed system a vehicle would have to pay toll only after reaching its final destination.