Road to the state's development is riddled with potholes

The cash-strapped Gujarat Government is spending crores of rupees for visits of state ministers and officials abroad to campaign for the Global Investors' Summit to be held during the last week of this month.

A few more crores are being spent for the campaign at home and publicise about "the best infrastructure in the country."

But the roads of the state which were once Gujarat's pride, are in a miserable condition now.

A drive to the industrial hub of Vapi via Surat from Ahmedabad, which is around 350 kilometres, is quite tiring.

A drive to Jamnagar from Rajkot, both industrial towns, takes much more time than needed due to the bad condition of roads.

The broken-down roads of Ahmedabad city after the monsoon make it hard to believe that this state once had the best roads in the country.

A road policy had been formulated during the mid-90s by the then government.

The policy that stressed on private participation in road development has more or less remained in the cold storage as private parties did not show much interest in investing in roads.

The recently opened Ahmedabad-Vadodara express highway has hardly any traffic as the road is found to be full of faults causing accidents.

Other deterrents are higher toll and the congestion at the exit and entry points. As a result, people are preferring the usual state highway to reach Vadodara which is faster.

The toll road to Mehsana from Ahmedabad is expensive for the users because of heavy toll.

To reach Surat from Ahmedabad, one has to stop at half-a-dozen points to pay toll, while the stretch between Bharuch and Surat will not allow speeds beyond 50 kilometres per hour.

Surat-Vapi road is a driver's nightmare as the road is full of potholes and traffic congestion.

Minister for roads and buildings Indravijaysinh K Jadeja said, "I understand that the condition of the road between Rajkot and Jamnagar is bad and it has turned worse because of heavy rains. We are trying to improve the condition and tenders have already been invited. The process is lengthy as the World Bank is monitoring the project. I have instructed my department officials to make the road at least motorable before the work commences."

About the Surat-Vapi stretch, Jadeja, said, "That comes under the National Highway Authority of India and they are working on improving that road."

The authority officials could not be contacted.

An industrialist narrates his experience: "I was rushing to Vapi from Ahmedabad on an official visit this Sunday. The journey took me over nine hours against the normal six. On return, I asked my driver to drive back to Ahmedabad and I took a train from Vapi and reached Ahmedabad in less than six hours, that too with much comfort."

The road length in the state has been showing a sharp increase, but the quality has declined.

In 1961, the total road length in Gujarat was 22,629 kms. It increased to 70,609 kms at the end of 1995 and in 2002, it has exceeded 85,000 kms.

"Among the new roads, except a few toll roads maintained by bodies such as the National Highway Authority or companies like L&T, the others are not maintained properly. It is a painful journey to the oil refinery at Vadinar on the outskirts of Jamnagar from Ahmedabad," said a supplier of the Reliance refinery.

"If the roads are not maintained properly, more foreign investments in Gujarat will remain a dream," said the supplier.