Trucks yet to get full mileage from upgraded highways

The upgrade of around 7,000 km national highways under the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) has not resulted in an all-round reduction in travel time of commercial vehicles.

Transport analysts say trucks and other commercial vehicles have been saving 7-8 hours only on certain routes like Delhi-Guwahati, Kolkata-Chennai and Delhi-Mumbai. On the Delhi-Kolkata route, for example, trucks that used to make three trips a month are now travelling 500 km extra.

However, experts say that with the NHDP scheduled to last till 2012 and around 7,200 km of national highways yet to be upgraded, it is too early to gauge the overall impact of improved highways on the turnaround time of commercial vehicles.

Says Vishwas Udgirkar, executive director, PricewaterhouseCoopers: "Most upgraded national highway stretches fall under the first phase of the NHDP, under which most work was awarded as cash contracts (the NHAI gave contracts on a short-term basis). Here, the toll work is done manually, which slows the travel time of trucks."

Also, paying toll fee at a number of points negates the gains of lower maintenance costs. A telling example is the relatively shorter Delhi-Ludhiana road, where truckers pay Rs 800 to Rs 900 as toll fee (both ways).

Experts also cite lack of roads bypassing crowded cities on the way as a major reason.