India has the second largest roads and highways system in the world totaling 3.2 million miles. More than 90% of traffic and 60% of goods move along India’s roads. India’s 12th Five-Year Plan allocated $200 billion for building roads and highways, to be funded by foreign investments and domestic loans.
Highways account for 2% of the country’s roads but carry 40% of overall traffic. Pon Radhakrishnan, the Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, stated that the Indian government is planning to upgrade about 34,000 miles of national highways through the National Highway Development Project (NHDP), Special Accelerated Road Development Program for the North Eastern Region, and National Highways Interconnectivity Improvement Project in 2015.
Overseen by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the NHDP is a $60-billion seven-phase program to upgrade and widen almost 30,000 miles of national highways. For the first phase NHAI completed the Golden Quadrilateral, a 3,633-mile highway network connecting Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Delhi. Additionally, NHAI has almost completed the North-South and East-West diagonals that bisect India with city of Jhansi as the junction point, a $12.3-billion project.
Today, the majority of NHDP projects are completed through the Public Private Partnerships, which are joint ventures between the government and private companies. Owned by India’s second richest man Anil Ambani, Mumbai-based Reliance Infrastructure Inc. completed eleven projects to design, build, and operate 600 miles of toll roads totaling $1.8 billion. Based in Hyderabad, KNR Constructions Ltd. is working on the four-laning of National Highway (NH) 47 in southwestern state of Kerala, a $123.7-million project. It is also managing the $32.7-million rehabilitation of NH-565 in southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh and the $52.1-million project for four-laning NH-69 in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.
India vigorously encourages foreign investment by hiring private build-operate-transfer contractors and consultants. India works with 85 international contractors and consultants based in Malaysia, South Korea, the U.K., and the U.S. For example, Wisconsin-based Zignego Company Inc. created a five-year joint venture with Mumbai-based GHV Pvt. Ltd. They are currently working on a $37.4-million project for the two-laning of 471 miles on NH-758, to be completed in March 2016. In August 2013, PLUS Expressways of Malaysia received a $129-million project from the NHAI to build an 80-mile segment of NH- 8 connecting New Delhi and Mumbai by 2018.
India’s rural roads stretch for two million miles. Due to poor infrastructure, about a third of harvests spoil before reaching the market. The country is investing $8 billion annually to improve such rural road systems. In addition, the Bharat Nirman (Build India) program privatizes rural road projects through funds from the International Development Association, a part of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
