|
COVER STORY: GOVERNMENT
|
Maj-Gen
B.C. Khanduri
Road Transport and Highways
|
| Paving
The Way |
Ministers:
|
1
|
|
Joint secretaries and above:
|
3
|
|
No. of PSUs referred:
|
1
|
|
Budget in Rs cr (2001-2):
|
6808.9
|
First
time minister and one time aspirant for the post of Uttaranchal chief
minister, Major-General B.C. Khanduri has his most important task cut
out for him: the implementation of Prime Minister Vajpayee's Rs 58,000
crore grand scheme for connecting the country's four corners and four
metros with four-lane highways. Called the National Highway Development
Programme (NHDP), it's the biggest project since Sher Shah Suri built
the Grand Trunk Road in the 14th century.
In a country where just 25 per cent of roads
are motorable, the benefits of such a project are incalculable. Estimates
show that every 1 km of road construction creates jobs for 100 and generates
demand for an estimated 8,000 tonnes of cement and 700 tonnes of steel.
|
|
|
| Promptness of response |
5.0
|
| Understanding of issues |
7.0
|
| Commitment to reforms |
6.0
|
| Openness to ideas |
5.0
|
| Achievements |
2.0
|
| Average score |
5.0
|
| OVERALL RANK |
6
|
| All ratings are on a scale
of 10 |
|
|
|
COST
OF NON-PERFORMANCE
|
|
|
Loss of Rs 30,000 cr annually caused by slow movement of commercial
vehicles
Only half of the total 2.03 million km of road length is surfaced,
of which only half of is motorable commitments
COMMITMENTS
To complete the Golden Triangle (5,834 km) project by 2003.
To complete North South East West (7,300 km) project by 2007.
|
|
But is Khanduri cut out for such a task? "I'm
more than convinced that I will meet the target," he says.
He has advanced the deadline for the first phase
of the programme to 2003 from 2004. By then he should have the 5,834-km
Golden Quadilateral connecting the metros ready.
Much of the ground work for the project is done.
Funding will be partly taken care of by the Re 1 cess on petrol and diesel
and Rs 5,800 crore has already come to the fund in 2000-1. The Cabinet
has also approved tolling of all national highways and legal wrangles
in land acquisition have been sorted by amending relevant laws.
But national highways account for just 2 per
cent of total roads in India. And it is in improving the state highways
and smaller roads that Khanduri's skills will be put to the test. Having
inherited the vision and the means, Khanduri has to bulldoze when his
way to implementation.
|
METRO TODAY
Web
Exclusives
