The `RURAL ROAD DEVELOPMENT PLAN : VISION 2025’ was released here today by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh during the inaugural session of the two-day National Conference on Rural Roads organized by the organized by the National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA), an autonomous agency under the Ministry of Rural Development and the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC).  Some of the salient features of the Plan are given below:

In order to give a boost to rural connectivity, a Rural Roads Programme known as the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) was launched in December 2000 as a 100 percent centrally funded scheme.  It is estimated that about 1.79 lakh unconnected habitations need to be taken up under the PMGSY programme.  This would involve new construction in a length of about 375,000 km at an estimated cost of Rs. 78,000 crore and improvements of 372,000 km at an estimated cost of Rs. 59,000 crore. Upto the end of December, 2006, a total of about 83,000 habitations have been covered and rural road works for an amount of Rs.38,387 crore have been sanctioned.

Besides the balance work of PMGSY which in itself is an ambitions task, there is need to tackle the requirement of connectivity to habitations with lower population in the interest of social justice and removing sense of isolation of remote villages and bring them into main stream of national life. The objective has to be to provide full connectivity to all habitations including provision of bridges and culverts. Accordingly, the following vision for new connectivity has been recommended.

Habitations with population above 1000                 Year 2009-10*

(500 in case of hill, NE states, deserts

and tribal areas)

Habitations with population above 500                   Year 2014-15

(250 in case of hill, NE states, deserts

and tribal areas)

Habitations with population above 250                   Year 2021-22            

* These are the targets as per the Bharat Nirman Programme

The Central Government has also introduced the concept of a Core Network, which is defined as the network that is essential to provide one basic access to each habitation.  The Core Network comprises of routes and link routes. Through routes are those, which collect traffic from several link roads or a long chain of habitations and lead it to a market centre or a higher category road. Link routes connect single habitation or a group of habitations to through routes or district roads leading to market centres. Through routes have the potential of getting upgraded as Major District Roads in future. As such, the route alignment, design and construction standards for such roads be decided accordingly.

The state governments may use the District Rural Roads Plan and the Core Network developed as part of the PMGSY programme for a holistic planning and implementation of their state level programmes as well.

Rural roads do require proper engineering and design with special attention on drainage and protection works. The design standards, however, should be in harmony with the requirement of rural roads serving the access function. It is preferable to optimize costs by stage construction in tune with traffic growth.

In order to manage the land availability process equitably and in a manner that reflects local concerns, the local community including the Panchayati Raj Institutions need to be fully involved in making land available for the road. Effort should be to encourage local community participation in voluntary land donation efforts. In occasional cases, land acquisition by payment of compensation may have to be considered. However, there is need to avoid excessive reliance on compensation based acquisition. The states need also to record the possession and ownership of all roads after following the due process. There is also need for integration of road network with GIS based land use data.

The formulation of specifications for rural roads and Standard Data Book by the NRRDA will facilitate adoption of uniform construction practices throughout the country. These documents should be periodically reviewed and updated based on implementation feedback from the ground.

Since large investments are being made in the rural roads now, it is desirable that good quality roads are constructed and durable assets are created. Quality assurance safeguards should be in-built at every stage of the project cycle viz surveys, investigations, design, bidding documents, construction and subsequent maintenance. A comprehensive total quality management system should be evolved and implemented. The three-tier system of quality management established for the PMGSY programme has been well received and the States will do well by adopting such features universally for all rural road programmes irrespective of the source of funding and the agency responsible for construction.

The States may also consider to institute a system of technical audit with a view to proposing corrective measures for future projects. The NRRDA may lay down the audit procedures (including outsourcing procedures) and develop the necessary guidelines for the technical audit.

Road safety should receive increasing attention in planning, design and implementation of engineering measures on rural roads. The engineering measures should preferably be identified with the help of traffic and safety specialist.

A broad assessment of the physical and financial requirements for rural roads has been carried out. It shows that investments in construction, upgrading and maintenance would need to increase from a level of Rs. 11,000 crore per year currently to Rs. 29,000 crore per year in the 14th Five Year Plan (2022-27). It may be noted that the proposed current investment is a mere 0.3 percent of the GDP and should, therefore, be considered modest and realistic.

Each State may work out its own district-wise requirements keeping in view the accessibility levels achieved in each district and the targets laid down for the PMGSY including Bharat Nirman and the need for connecting the low size habitations not covered under the PMGSY.

In view of the huge size of programme and constraints on mobilisation of resources, stress needs to be laid on cost cutting strategies.

The major source of fund for development of rural roads is now the Central Road Fund. As per the CRF Act, 2000, half of the cess on diesel is earmarked for rural roads.

Considering huge requirements for development and maintenance, all possible sources of financing would need to be tapped. There is need to augment the current CRF.  Also, states should create state level funds specially to take care of maintenance and rehabilitation needs.

Timely and regular maintenance of existing rural roads is absolutely essential and does not admit of any laxity. The 12th Finance Commission has recommended additional grants for maintenance of roads and bridges. An amount of Rs. 15000 crore has been provided over the period 2006-10. This amount is in addition to the normal expenditure which the states would be incurring on maintenance and is meant for non-salary components of maintenance.

The NRRDA may take the lead in introducing a Rural Road Management Act which, inter alia, clearly:

defines the powers, functions and obligations of the road authority

requires a register of all public roads in each block being kept with the Zilla Panchayat

governs regulations of rural roads and requires instituting an asset management system.

The NRRDA also needs to bring out a detailed Maintenance Manual prescribing technical, management and accounting standards, and evolve efficient maintenance service procurement procedures.

The PMGSY programme seeks to integrate development objective with employment objective as it not only creates gainful employment opportunities to local people but also contributes to the creation of durable infrastructure. The current employment potential is estimated to be around 460 million man-days per year and would rise to over 950 million man-days by the 13th Five Year Plan (2017-22). Majority of the jobs would be in the informal sector. This would call for attention to aspects like occupational health, safety of workers, social protection and security and timely payment of wages, promotion of rights at work, employment, social protection and social dialogue. The Standard Bidding Document on PMGSY works stipulate strict adherence to such requirements by the contractors. There is need to sensitize them and increase awareness for proper implementation. The Industrial Training Centres, Construction Industry Development Council and the National Academy of Construction could also help in this process.

The Panchayati Raj Institutions have to evolve themselves in a healthy manner over the coming years and emerge as the pivotal organisations at the district level in planning, construction and maintenance of rural roads besides their other functional responsibilities listed in the Eleventh Schedule. They should seek support and assistance from the PWD and other technical departments in the delivery

of infrastructure development and provision of basic services. They need to work in close association with the voluntary agencies comprising of individual experts, NGOs, CBOs and SHGs.

The Government should fund capacity building of District Panchayats to enable them to take over functions like construction management, maintenance management and road safety.

Since rural roads have been recognised as a major thrust area, the need for concerted Research and Development efforts aimed at evolving the most suitable and economical designs and developing appropriate technologies for construction and maintenance of low volume rural roads cannot be over emphasized.

Funds should not be allowed to be a constraint in pursuing the R&D work. An appropriate percentage of the amount of investment in rural roads may be set apart for this purpose. The states should also utilize the results of R&D efforts to achieve economies in construction and maintenance of rural roads.

The implementation of PMGSY has helped in building up good absorption capacity of the States in terms of management structures and implementation procedures. It is clear, however, that further increase in absorption capacity will only come through institutional enhancements. There is need for a single specialized nodal agency in each state which should be responsible for overall policy, planning and management of all rural roads in the state.

The Public Works Departments (PWDs) in the States are very old institutions and have evolved management and accounting procedures over time, which now need to be adapted to the modern day requirements. Further, substantial engineering works including rural roads would be required in the next twenty years requiring Rural Engineering Organisations.

For sustained improvement in implementation of projects, development of contractors particularly small size in local areas is imperative. The adoption of intermediate technology would be of help in this direction.

The role of consultants is also acquiring an important dimension in all stages of project cycle in the road sector and rural roads cannot be an exception to this. However, the works being small, scattered and spread over remote areas, there is need for district level consultants growth in addition to state and national level consultancy firms already available.

Training policy for the rural roads sector is another issue requiring the serious attention of the government. The requirements are so huge that every state should set up a training centre for roads including rural roads.

The Government also needs to develop independent think-tanks and academicians on various aspects of rural roads like engineering, safety, environmental issues, socio-economic impact, etc. They may fund positions in institutions like NCAER, IIPA, IIMs, IITs and NITs.

Action should be taken by each state to formulate a 5-year Action Plan in the light of recommendations of the Vision document.

AD/ST/JA/ls