Final Report

WORKING GROUP ON

RURAL ROADS
IN THE 11TH FIVE YEAR PLAN

Government of India
Planning Commission

Ministry of Rural Development

November 2006
 Executive Summary

Rural roads are the tertiary road system in total road network which provides
accessibility for the rural habitations to market and other facility centres. In
India, during the last five decades, rural roads are being planned and
programmed in the context of overall rural development, and tried to provide all-
weather connectivity with some level of achievement. The long term road
development plans for the country provided policy guidelines and priorities for
rural roads, while the funds for rural roads were allocated in the Five Year Plans.

Recently, during the last five years Government of India has undertaken a
dedicated programme known as ‘Pradhan Mantra Gram Sadak Yojana
(PMGSY)’ to provide rural connectivity to all habitations under the Ministry of
Rural Development. More recently, Bharat Nirman, a time bound business plan
adopted to provided rural infrastructure during 2005-09, rural roads have been
taken as one of the components and blended with PMGSY programme. It
targeted to provide connectivity to all habitations having population of 1000 and
above (500 and above in hilly, desert and tribal areas) by 2009 and also aimed
to upgrade the existing rural roads for overall network development, which is a
more objective approach.

To achieve the targets of Bharat Nirman, 1,46,185 km length of rural roads is

proposed to be constructed to benefit 66,802 unconnected eligible habitations in
the country. It is also proposed to upgrade nearly 1.94 lakh km length of the
existing rural roads which are identified as the through routes of the core
network. The total investment on rural connectivity under Bharat Nirman has
been estimated at Rs. 48,000 crore during 2005-2009. Since 11th Five Year Plan
(2007-2011) goes beyond the targeted period of Bharat Nirman, assessment of
physical targets and upgradation requirements, have been estimated based on
the experiences of PMGSY.

The financial requirement during the 11th Five Year Plan is estimated based on
the physical targets proposed and an amount of Rs. 79,000 crore is required to
fulfill the targets estimated for new connectivity and upgradation. For new
connectivity alone, total amount required is estimated as Rs. 50,000 crore for
construction of 1.65 lakh km length benefiting approximately 78000 habitations.
The total estimated amount required for the upgradation of the existing rural
roads of about 1.16 lakh km requires about Rs.29,000 crore during the 11th Five
Year Plan period as per PMGSY norms. In addition, State Governments have to
borne for the additional requirement of upgradation and as well as periodic
renewal of about 1.2 lakh km length of core network, which may be in the order
of Rs.25,000 crore. For routine maintenance and periodical renewal of the core
network, an estimated length of 1.4 million km identified from the district rural
road plans (DRRP) needs Rs.1,40,000 million every year during the plan period.

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In addition, the report analyses the various initiatives and development under
taken for development of rural roads under PMGSY/Bharat Nirman programmes
of Government of India. It focused on future planning and engineering issues for
providing, multiple connectivity, intra village road development, performance
based design, utilisation of locally available and waste materials in rural road
works, maintenance management aspects, institutional and capacity building
issues, research and development needs and resources mobilization. In each of
these areas, a set of recommendations is provided in the following section.

Recommendations:

Rural Roads and Socio-economic Development

¾ Rural roads have been proved to be catalytic for economic development

and poverty alleviation in rural areas; this objective should be pursued
further with more vigor.
¾ In future, the target should be to connect all habitations with all-weather
rural roads instead of fair weather roads which was done earlier.

PMGSY/Bharat Nirman

¾ For integrated development of rural connectivity, upgradation is required to

be included in addition to new connectivity links, as envisaged in Bharat
Nirman.
¾ Rural roads development targets (based on 2001 population census and to
be modified after next census) will require continuance of the programme
even beyond 11th Plan period.
¾ The structure and systems of delivery developed so far should be
strengthened and continued. The performance of achievements under the
programme shows that there is need to fasten the implementation process
to achieve the targets.

Physical Targets

¾ 11th Five Year Plan should continue to support the rural connectivity and
upgradation targets as a major policy in view of huge untapped potential in
rural India.
¾ Special provisions for funding through budgetary and other sources shall
be required to continue with the objective of road connectivity for
habitations.
¾ Maintenance may be taken to the top of the priority list to sustain the assets
created and to reap the benefits perennially.

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Planning and Design

¾ The DRRP and Core Network preparation in a master plan framework to be

continued in the 11th Plan and
¾ The network planning may be revisited and optimal network may be
attempted in 11th Plan, including multiple connectivity, to avail circuitry of
the network and integrated development objectives.
¾ Pilot projects should be initiated to study and incorporate the functional
accessibility based planning approach in special regions like Arunachal
Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, etc, to select optimal routes for the
settlements spread over a vast geographical area.
¾ Intra-village/habitation roads also should be considered with higher priority
in 11th Five Year Plan, starting with villages having more than 1000
population.
¾ GIS based database management should be created for all the States in a
phased manner based on the feedback from the Pilot Project in Rajasthan
and Himachal Pradesh.
¾ The planning data at the block/district level should be updated every 3-5
years and maintained as geo-referenced data.
¾ Engineering design and Detailed Project Report (DPR) must be the basis
for implementation of rural roads in 11th Plan.
¾ Economy in design and specification to be pursued through performance
based designs and use of locally available and marginal materials.

Material and construction

¾ Low cost marginal and industrial waste materials may be promoted for rural
road construction; necessary design and specifications be developed.
¾ The standard construction technology should be used for ensuring quality
of construction; however, wherever possible labour based construction
methods also may be adopted to create employment to the local people.
But, it must be emphasized that employment generation is not the focus of
rural road programmes.
¾ Many lower cost technologies like soil stabilization is not used often due to
lack of appropriate mechanical devices; such shortcomings must be
removed by appropriate developments for machineries.

Maintenance Management

¾ No asset lasts long without due maintenance and rural roads are no
exemption. Routine and periodic maintenance should be planned and
executed with due budgeting for the funds during 11th Plan.

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¾ Projectisation of maintenance option can be examined with appropriate
cost sharing basis by the State and Central Governments for
PMGSY/Bharat Nirman roads.
¾ Uniform level of service criteria for maintenance of rural roads be
developed and adopted across the country (in all States). Suitable
computerized maintenance management system (MMS) utilizing simple
measurements (inventory and PCI data) be developed and adopted for
rural roads based on the principles of asset management.
¾ Since the roads are to be owned by the Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs),
a community based maintenance programme may be adopted with
hierarchical arrangement with District Programme Implementation Units
(PIUs) for higher level maintenance while routine maintenance being the
responsibility of PRIs.

Looking Beyond PMGSY

¾ All programmes supporting construction of rural roads for all-weather

connectivity must fall under one umbrella organization like State Rural
Road Development Agency (SRRDA) in the State, irrespective of funding
source including the external source or borrowing or even Public Private
Partnership. This will ensure uniform standard and quality.
¾ The existing cluster approach, should be reviewed on the basis of ground
level survey of the settlement patterns in States like Arunachal Pradesh
and consequential amendments should be made in the programme
guidelines, so that larger number of habitations become eligible for
coverage in hill States.
¾ The States may use the resources from Wage Employment Programme
and other available sources from the State for providing connectivity to the
lower order settlements.
¾ The planning and design standards shall remain uniform across the board
(in all States) with an overriding objective of developing only sustainable
assets subject to variations in terrain, soil, traffic and environmental
conditions.
¾ While PMGSY contemplates connectivity to habitations with 500 and above
normally and 250 and above in special areas, in future (11th Five Year Plan
and beyond), connectivity should be aimed at all habitations irrespective of
population sizes (including lower order settlements).
¾ PMGSY has been able to change the scenario of the country in terms of
capacity of the contracting industry, trained manpower and also the
availability of modern equipments. The 11th Plan must utilize this capacity
and enhance it for fulfilling the higher targets set for the 11th and
subsequent Plans.

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Quality Assurance

¾ Durable assets can be created by ensuring the quality; this has been the
prime objective of PMGSY. Very high standard of quality has been set up
for rural roads by this programme, which must be maintained.
¾ The three-tier quality control system adopted by PMGSY needs further
strengthening for enhancing the capacity to meet the higher targets in the
11th Plan.
¾ Both in construction and quality control, modern technology should be
introduced for better results.

Environmental and Social Issues

¾ In all developments of rural roads the environmental issues must be

safeguarded. Further, speedy construction to be ensured by direct
participation of authority responsible for environmental clearances.
¾ Afforestation along the rural roads by plantations of fruit trees etc be
systematically adopted as part of the design (i.e. DPR) itself.
¾ Impact of land acquisition, especially for the marginal farmers of specific
states, be duly considered at the time of project development. The State
Government may be required to compensate the affected person/family
for the same in lieu of community objectives of the road.
¾ Social impacts – both positive and negative be duly accounted in project
preparation. Thus, like EMP, a SMP also be prepared with due
compensation.

Institutional Development and Capacity Building

¾ PMGSY has achieved a laudable level of institutional developments during

the last six years. State and district level institutions developed are to be
made more professional by way of qualified manpower and training. This is
a primary requirement for higher targets in 11th Plan.
¾ The ownership of the rural roads will rest with the PRIs eventually, and
therefore, capacity is to be built at the grass root level by qualified
manpower and appropriate training.
¾ Construction industry is still having only a limited capacity at this time, and
the PMGSY targets are finding difficult to be achieved. The 11th Plan
targets will require a significant boost to the capacity of road construction
industry.
¾ The duly exemptions on the purchase of machinery that is now available for
the projects funded by World Bank and ADB may be extended across the
board for PMGSY Projects in all States, in order to facilitate capacity
building of contractors.

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 ¾ The sustainability of the huge asset being built under rural connectivity
programmes will be dependent on the capacity of the PRIs to look after
these assets which they will own. With ownership, the responsibility of their
maintenance also can be given to PRI. For this, of course, a systematic
training will have to be organized for the teams to be entrusted with this
responsibility.

Road Safety Issues

¾ All safety engineering measures be built into the design (i.e. DPR) of the
project roads. All designs must be safety audited.
¾ A PRI level Safety Committee/Council be established for collecting the
accident data in a standard format and reporting to the District Police. The
District level committee will have input from all such PRI committees.
¾ A team of Road Safety Awareness Raisers (RSAR), constituted by
members of village only, should be created by training so as to change the
present situation to a culture of safe use of the roads in rural areas.

Research and Development

¾ R&D is an integral part of any development. Although rural roads were built
for last 70-80 years in this country, its construction as engineering structure
has just began. Therefore, huge amount of research is required for these
low volume roads, which must attempt for low cost construction while
ensuring quality.
¾ Generally R&D is starved of funds in most cases; and it will be disastrous if
R&D is not given prominence in the context of rural roads, as we have just
began to accept rural roads construction as a scientific work.
¾ Most significant areas to be researched are the means of cost cutting by
choice of materials and design, and also evolving the innovative financing
mechanisms for such roads.
¾ It is proposed that the State Executing Agencies of rural roads shall make it
possible to take atleast 5% of the road works under R&D using cost-
effective new materials, adoption of new technology and/ or new process
which are likely to ensure R&D culture to the field engineers.

Mobilisation of Resources

¾ Dedicated fund for rural roads, as was in 10th Plan, should continue in 11th
Five Year Plan.
¾ Innovative funding options other than borrowing – by charging the
beneficiaries, may have to be adopted.

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¾ Deferred payment schemes to be adopted for PPP model to fulfill the
targets, so as to make the benefits to flow early. Starting with about 5000
to 10,000 km of rural roads may be experimented during the 11th plan
period.

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 Contents
Chapter 1 Working Group on Rural Roads in the 11th Five Plan (2007-12)
1.1 Constitution of Working Group
1.2 Meeting of Working Group
1.3 Structure of the Report
Chapter 2 Overview of Development of Rural Roads
2.1 Historical Development
2.1.1 Long Term Policy Issues
2.1.2 Rural Roads in Five Year Plans
2.2 Socio-Economic Development by Rural Roads
2.2.1 Impact on Rural Economy
2.2.2 Poverty Alleviation
2.3 Recommendations of National Rural Road Development Committee
2.4 Recommendations
Chapter 3 Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and Bharat Nirman
3.1 Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)
3.1.1 Strategy and Objectives
3.1.2 Initiatives for Structured Development
3.1.3 Assessment of Connectivity Requirements
3.1.4 Achievement Till 10th Plan
3.1.5 Analysis of Performance of States
3.2 Bharat Nirman
3.2.1 Objectives
3.2.2 Target and Achievement till 10th Five Year Plan
3.3 Recommendations

Chapter 4 Physical Targets – 10th FYP, 11th FYP and Spillover 12th FYP
4.1 Physical Targets of 10th Five Year Plan
4.2 Physical Targets for 11th Five Year Plan
4.2.1 Targets of 11th Fear Year Plan
4.2.2 Physical Targets - Spillover to 12th Five Year Plan
4.3 Financial Requirements during 11th Five Year Plan
4.3.1 New Connectivity
4.3.2 Upgradation
4.3.3 Cost Trends
4.3.4 Maintenance
4.3.5 Maintenance Strategies in State Government Programmes
4.4 Recommendations
Chapter 5 Planning and Design of Rural Roads
5.1 Network Planning for Rural Roads
5.1.1 District Rural Road Plan (DRRP) and Core Network (CN) In PMGSY
5.1.2 Optimal Network Planning including Multiple Connectivity
5.2 Intra-village Roads
5.3 Integrated Development of Road Network

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 5.4 Geo-Information Technology for Database
5.5 Design of Rural Roads
5.5.1 Feasibility and Detailed Project Reports
5.5.2 Pavement Design
5.5.3 Options for Paved and Unpaved All-weather Roads
5.5.4 Cross Drainage Structures
5.6 Recommendations
Chapter 6 Materials and Construction Technology
6.1 Pavement Materials
6.1.1 Conventional Materials
6.1.2 Locally Available Low Grade/Marginal Materials
6.1.3 Non-Conventional Materials
6.2 Construction Methods and Technology
6.2.1 Traditional Methods and Technology
6.2.2 Labour-based Technology
6.2.3 Intermediate Construction Technology and Equipment
6.3 Design Modifications
6.4 Cost Comparison
6.5 Employment Potentials in Rural Road Sector
6.6 Recommendations
Chapter 7 Maintenance Management of Rural Roads
7.1 Maintenance Needs and Criteria
7.2 Asset Management Strategy
7.3 Maintenance Interventions and Technology
7.4 Maintenance Management System
7.5 Privatized Contract Management
7.6 Community Participation in Maintenance
7.7 Recommendations
Chapter 8 Looking Beyond PMGSY
8.1 New Initiatives in PMGSY
8.2 Uniform Standards and Specifications
8.3 Utilisation of Capacity Built under PMGSY
8.4 Accessibility to Lower Order Settlements
8.5 Recommendations
Chapter 9 Quality Assurance
9.1 Need of Quality Control in Rural Roads
9.2 Quality in Planning, Design and Construction
9.3 Quality Control System
9.4 Modern Techniques for Quality Assurance
9.5 Recommendations
Chapter 10 Environmental and Social Safeguard Issues
10.1 Environmental Issues
10.2 Social Impacts
10.3 Afforestation

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 10.3.1 Plantation Strategy
10.3.2 Tree Plantation and Mechanism for Sustainability
10.4 Impact of Land Acquisition
10.5 Environmental Code of Practice
10.6 Recommendations
Chapter 11 Issues Related to Capacity Development
11.1 Institutional Development
11.2. Panchayati Raj Institutions
11.3 Construction Industry
11.4 Training and Development
11.4.1 Training of Skilled and Semi-skilled Workers
11.4.2 Training of Ground Level Workers
11.4.3 Training Modules
11.5 Decentralized Maintenance
11.6 Sustainability of Rural Roads
11.7 Recommendations
Chapter 12 Road Safety Issues in Relation to Rural Roads
12.1 Road Safety Issues – Introduction
12.2 Engineering Measures
12.3 Safety Councils, Committees
12.4 Safety Audit and Accident Reporting System.
12.5 Policing and Enforcement
12.6 Campaigns for Public Awareness
12.7 Recommendations
Chapter 13 Research and Development on Rural Roads
13.1 Issues in Research and Development (R&D)
13.2 Emerging R&D Areas
13.3 Budgetary Allocations
13.4 Special Budget for R&D on Field Applications
13.5 Recommendations
Chapter 14 Mobilisation of Resources
14.1 Overall Fund Requirements in 11th Five Year Plan
14.2 Existing Resources of Funding
14.3 New Options for Resources Mobilisation
14.4 Maintenance Funding Strategy
14.5 Financing Skill Development
14.6 Recommendations
References
Annexure 1 Members of the Working Group
Annexure 2 Terms of Reference
Annexure 3 Members of Sub-Groups
Annexure 4 Impact Assessment of PMGSY on Rural Economy
Appendix I Discussion Paper for the Working Group on Rural Road
Appendix II PPP - Concept Note

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 Chapter 1

Working Group on Rural Roads in the 11th Five Plan (2007-12).

1.1 Constitution of Working Group

In the context of formulation of the 11th Five Year Plan, it was decided by the
Planning Commission to set up a working group on Rural Roads. Planning
Commission (Transportation Division), Government of India vide memo No.
18/3/2006 –TPT, dated 24th April, 2006 constituted the committee with
Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development as Chairman and Joint Secretary,
Ministry of Rural Development as Convener. The other committee members are
given in Annexure 1.

Along with the constitution of the Working Group the Planning Commission has
indicated the terms of reference whose details are given in Annexure 2.

1.2 Meeting of Working Group

The first meeting of the working group was held on the 9th August, 2006 at 2:30
pm in UNNATI, Krishi Bhawan under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of
Rural Development. In order to facilitate structured deliberations, a discussion
paper was prepared based on the terms of reference, highlighting issues on the
development of Rural Roads in the 11th Five Year Plan which is placed as
Appendix 1.

The working group, after deliberating the issues suggested to have more focus
on the three areas (i) Planning and Design; (ii) Material, Construction and
Maintenance (iii) Financial Aspects and recommended for the formation of two
sub-groups one on ‘Planning and Design of Rural Roads’ and on ‘Material,
Construction and Maintenance of Rural Roads’. The members of the two sub-
groups are given in Annexure 3.

The meeting of the first sub-committee on Planning and Design of Rural Roads
was held on 28thAugust 2006 and the second sub-group on Material,
Construction and Maintenance of Rural Roads met twice on 28th September
2006 & 11th October 2006.

The second meeting of the Working Group was held on 13th November 2006
and the issues were discussed. The working group recommended the
preparation of draft final report with the issues and incorporating the
recommendations of the sub-groups. Accordingly, the Working Groups report on
Rural Roads in 11th Five Year Plan is structured as detailed in the following
section.

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1.3 Structure of the Report

It is proposed to present the report in 14 chapters including this introductory

chapter. The gist of each chapter is presented below:
Chapters
2. Overview of developments of Rural Roads up to the Tenth FYP –
achievements in different Plans; Accessibility criteria by Planning
Commission for different facilities in villages

3. PMGSY and Bharat Nirman for Rural Accessibility Provision; Strategy

and objective; Connectivity status; Achievements (documentation,
OMMS, etc); Institutional framework, etc.

4. Physical targets – 10th FYP, 11th FYP and spillover to 12th FYP;
Financial requirements; for new connectivity and upgradation
Dedicated road fund – pool of funds from other programmes, etc. and
maintenance strategies.

5. Planning and design of rural roads in 11th FYP – Network planning

(including prioritisation of villages, accessibility criteria), Intra-village
road development, multiple connectivity, Geo-information technology for
database, etc; Design of rural road – complete with all features of road
(including all stage of engineering and design), pavement design with all
options available; Common standard and specifications for rural roads
constructed under all programmes and funding sources – paved and
unpaved criteria

6. Materials and construction technology for rural roads in 11th Plan;

Intermediate technologies for construction; Alternate (non-conventional)
materials for rural road construction – resource mapping; Labour based
vs. mechanised construction

7. Maintenance management for rural roads – technical criteria for

interventions; privatized contract management – performance based;
hierarchical responsibility of management; community participation in
maintenance

8. Looking beyond PMGSY – existing other programmes, issues;

utilization of capacity built under PMGSY and Bharat Nirman

9. Quality assurance – Quality control in planning, design, construction

and in sustaining the asset (rural roads); Quality control system
(including institutional set up, field laboratory, and trained man-power)

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 10. Environment and social safeguard issues – plantation of trees, land
acquisition impacts (marginal farmers), etc.

11. Issues relating to capacity development – Institutional (PRI, PIU,

SRRDA, etc), contracting industry, planning and design, construction
man-power (skilled, unskilled and semi-skilled), maintenance

12. Road safety issues in relation to rural roads – Monitoring of road safety
for rural roads, RSA for the rural road design and RSAR, campaign for
public awareness

13. Research and Development on Rural Roads – Use of low quality

materials, high performance materials, cost-effective life-cycle cost
based designs, performance based design and specifications; Efficient
cost-effective drainage systems, use of cold-mix technologies for
construction and maintenance

14. Mobilization of Resources – Assessment of overall fund requirement for

11th Five Year Plan, existing sources of funding, new options for
resource mobilization

At the end of each chapter, summary of the recommendations are presented.

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 Chapter – 2

Overview of Development of Rural Roads

2.1 Historical Development

Since 1940’s the Government of India and the State Government had drawn
several policies, programmes and conceived various schemes for the
development of rural roads in India. The policies framed and targets were set
under the long-term road development plans and accordingly funds were
allocated in various rural development programmes/schemes under the Five
Year Plans.

2.1.1 Long Term Policy Issues

During the early part of the century, it was realized that in order to achieve
sustainable growth in agriculture and industrial sectors in India, the then
Government of India appointed Jaykar Committee to advise suitable road policy
for India. It was in the year 1943, a group of Engineers formulated the First
Twenty Year Road Development Plan popularly known as Nagpur Plan (1943-
1961) towards planning of the road system in India. Subsequently Bombay Plan,
the Second Twenty Year Road Development Plan (1961-81) was formulated and
recommended for implementation. In continuation, third Twenty Year Road
Development Plan, known as Lucknow Plan (1981-2001) was conceived and
implemented. The criteria, targets and achievement for road development laid
down during these plans are presented in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1: Criteria, Targets and Achievements in the Road Development Plans
Name of the Basis of fixation of Targets Achievement Target
Plan targets km Km density
(All roads)
Nagpur Plan Length of ODRs + VRs 332,335 500,802 0.32 km per
(1943–61) assessed on the basis of sq. km
number of villages with
population 500 and less,
501-1000, 1001-2000 and
2001-5000.
Bombay Plan Length based on the 651,780 912,684 0.46 km per
(1961-81) number of villages with sq. km
population less than 500,
500-1000, 1000-2000 and
2000-5000
Lucknow Plan Length assessed on the 2,189,000 2,994,000 0.82 km per
(1981-01) basis of number of villages sq km
and towns.
Source: Rural Road Development Vision 2025 (Draft)

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Currently, the Road Development Plan Vision-2021 has been brought out to
guide the Central and State Governments in developing the road infrastructure
of adequate standards in the country. The strategy proposed in the vision
document for planning rural roads emphasized the need for preparation of
master plans for rural road network in each district. The planning of network for
the district may cover all habitations with minimum population of 100 and above
to be served by all-weather roads. Table 2.2 presents the prioritized targets for
the provision of all-weather roads. It also suggested for providing connectivity to
all the habitations by the end of this decade (2010).

Table 2.2: Vision 2021- Target for Connectivity of Villages

Villages (population category) to be Target
connected by all-weather roads Year
Villages with population above 1000 2003
Villages with population 500-1000 2007
Villages with population below 500 2010
Source: IRC (2001): Road Development Plan-Vision 2021

The Vision also gives priority by way of special attention to the coastal regions,
tribal areas, deserts and hill areas for road development in general. It has also
recommended for consideration to improve the existing fair-weather roads to all-
weather standards, by providing adequate cross drainage structures wherever
they are missing and also for completion of works in progress.

2.1.2 Rural Roads in Five Year Plans

Constitutionally, the development of rural roads is the responsibility of the State

Government in India. Because of this, the rural roads received very little
attention from the Central Government until 1967, when a special committee,
under the chairmanship of Shri H.P. Sinha was appointed. The committee
studied the rural roads and the connectivity pattern and recommended certain
criteria for developing and for allocation of budget for rural roads. Since Fifth
Five Year Plan, funds are allocated under various rural development programme
such as Minimum Needs Programme (MNP), National Rural Employment
Programme (NREP), Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme
(RLEGP), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY), etc for the development of rural roads.

During the Fifth Five Year Plan period (1974-1979) rural roads were included as
a part of Minimum Needs Programme (MNP) of the Central Government and
received importance for development. The programme envisaged connectivity of
all villages with population of 1500 and above, as per 1971 census, with an all-
weather road by the end of the Fifth Five Year Plan. It also proposed a cluster
approach for connectivity in respect of hilly, coastal, tribal and desert areas,
where the villages are smaller in population size.

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In the year 1978 a Working Group on Rural Roads was set up by the Planning
Commission of India to formulate connectivity criteria and make projections of
road length and estimate requirement of funds for development of rural roads.
The Committee made an assessment of existing rural road connectivity and
estimated that an amount around Rs.11,000 crores (at 1978 prices) would be
required to connect all villages with all-weather road. Some of the
recommendations of the Working Group were taken into consideration while
formulating budget for road development in the Sixth Five Year Plan (1980-85)
and about 30% of the total road outlay was allocated for rural road sector.
Similarly, the plan outlay under the Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-90) was
Rs.1729.40 crore for providing rural connectivity.

The criteria for connectivity under MNP were periodically revised. During the
Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-1997) the criteria for linkage of villages to a road
were modified. Priorities were accorded to link all villages with a population of
1000 and above on the basis of 1981 census and special efforts to accelerate
village connectivity in respect of backward regions and tribal areas.

The connectivity criteria under MNP were once again revised for the Ninth Five
Year Plan (1997-2002). The revised norms for connectivity of villages adopted
the 1991 population census as the base and the criteria were as follows:

• Plain areas: (i) 100 % of all villages with population above 1000 and (ii) 75
% of all villages with population between 500-1000
• Hilly areas: (i) 100 % of all villages with population above 500 and (ii) 75 %
of villages with population between 200-500
• Tribal, coastal, riverine and desert areas: (i) 100 % of villages with
population above 500 and (ii) 75 % of villages with population between
200-500.

It is further stipulated that in case the above criteria does not ensure connectivity
to 85 % of the village population in a district, then villages with lesser population
than mentioned above should also be considered for connectivity. Population
category wise connectivity of the villages from 1980 to 2000 is presented in
Figure 2.1.

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 Number of villages connected (%)
120

100

80

60

40

20

0
By 1980 By 1985 By 1990 By 1995 By 2000
Village
Population >1500 1000-1500 <1000 Total

Source : Planning Commission & MoRTH

Figure 2.1: Population Category wise Connectivity Status

According to the above statistics, by 2000 almost all villages with population
over 1500, about 86 % with 1000 to 1500 villages, and 43 % of villages with less
than 1000 population were connected with all-weather road facility.

2.2 Socio-Economic Development by Rural Roads

Rural roads are the basic infrastructure requirement and play a vital role in
socio-economic upliftment of rural community. They contribute significantly in
rural development by creating opportunities to access goods and services
located in nearby villages or major town/market centres. Provision of rural roads
increases mobility of men and materials thus facilitating economic growth.
These, in turn, assist in reducing poverty and leads over all social development.

Several studies have already established that there exist a strong relationship
between rural roads and socio-economic development. Hine (1982) reviewed
several impact studies conduced in about 16 countries. Most of these case
studies considered are optimistic about the relationship between road
investment and agricultural development.

In India, even during the ’80s, studies on socio-economic aspects of rural roads
were conducted in selected nine districts under the aegis of Indian Roads
Congress. The objective of these studies was to find out and quantify the
possible impact of roads on socio-economic development in rural areas. CRRI
(1987) carried out the compilation and analysis of the data for the nine districts,
to quantify the aggregate impacts. Some of the findings are: (a) increase in
agricultural production due to road facility, (b) increase in fertiliser consumption,
(c) increase in non-agricultural activities, and (d) better utilisation of existing
facilities like, school, health, banks and post offices. Similarly, a socio-economic

18
survey conducted in a remote area in India by CRRI in 1989, showed that the
villages located on the main road are comparatively well developed than those
away from the road. The rural transport study carried out (NCAER and IIMB,
1989) for two different periods in 1979 and 1989 revealed that after the
development of rural roads, there was a change in transport modes in rural
areas and also an increase in economic activities.

The economic analysis of rural roads carried out for selected rural road projects
financed by World Bank in Morocco (World Bank, 1996) is one of the major
studies which attempted to find out the rate of return on the investment made.
The study quantified the benefits based on savings in vehicle operating cost
(VOC) compared to the original i.e. unpaved roads. The economic analysis
carried out for rural access project (World Bank, 1999) in Bhutan has shown
significant transport cost saving. The mule transport costs are as high as 6
times of truck transport cost. The net agricultural benefits, educational benefits
and health benefits were calculated and added in the benefit stream. Recently, a
similar study by CRRI (2001) has been carried out to conduct the comparative
evaluation of rural roads. The major aim of the study was to compute the Internal
Rate of Return (IRR) for the investment made on project roads constructed
under the Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) in Rajasthan. The
benefits are estimated by taking net incremental agricultural production value,
net agricultural transport cost savings and non-agricultural vehicle operating cost
savings. The overall average IRR for the selected 21 road projects was found to
be 15.64 per cent. In addition, this study results also showed positive
relationship between the road improvement interventions with socio-economic
parameters.

2.2.1 Impact on Rural Economy

Ministry of Rural Development had commissioned a series of quick assessments

of socio-economic impact of PMGSY in Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Mizoram, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal. These studies were conducted by independent agencies during January
to February, 2004. Important finding are given in Annexure-4.

The impacts of rural roads are summarized as given below:

• Improvement in transportation services:- which leads to improved

access to market centres for the rural producers, better availability of form
inputs at reduced prices;

• Diversification of agricultural:– improved market access promotes shift in

favour of cash crops and commercialization of agricultural activities.

19
 • Diversification of livelihood opportunities:– better connectivity
enhances employment opportunities in the non-agricultural sectors.

• Improved services:– improved road connectivity, interalia, enhances

access to education, health and financial services.

• Increase in the outreach of the State:– Improved rural roads facilitates

better availability of public services and functionaries in rural areas.

2.2.2 Poverty Alleviation

Asian Development Bank (2002) also conducted a study on ‘Impact of Rural

Roads on Poverty Reduction – A Case Study’. T study concluded hat rural roads
are the important enabling conditions for livelihood development for people in
rural areas. The poor and very poor primarily benefit through the indirect impact
of road improvements, of better access to state services and improved provision
of services to the villages, and opportunities in alternative livelihood income
stream.

Better rural infrastructure has primarily two effects – promotion of economic

growth and decline in the incidence of poverty. Jocelyn A Songco (Columbia
University and the World Bank, 2002) in a study pointed out that rural
infrastructure investments benefit the rural poor through increased incomes and
improved consumption patterns. Some empirical studies illustrate a strong
relationship between infrastructure and economic growth. According to World
Bank sources, 1% increase in infrastructure stock is associated with a
proportionate increase in GDP across all countries. A specific sectoral study by
Deichman et al for Mexico shows that a 10% increase in market access leads to
increase in labour productivity by 6%.

Linkages between public investment on rural connectivity, agricultural growth

and poverty alleviation in the Indian context were investigated in a research
report authored by Shengenn Fan, Peter Hazell and Sukhadeo Thorat
(Research Paper No.110, IFPRI, 1999). Using State-level data on Government
spending from 1970 to 1993, this study attempted to quantitatively measure how
different types public investment affect agricultural growth and rural poverty.
The model estimated the number of poor people who would be raised above the
poverty line for each Rs.1 million (1993 constant prices) of additional investment
in eight different components of public spending — roads, research and
extension, education, rural development, health, irrigation, soil and water
conservation and power. Accordingly, Government expenditures were ranked in
terms of their effectiveness in poverty alleviation. The findings of this study are
striking. Government spending on roads was found to have the largest impact
on rural poverty. For each Rs.1 million increase in investment in roads, 165
poor people would be enabled to cross the poverty line. Its impact on poverty
was nearly twice as large as that the next best poverty reducer - Government

20
investment in agricultural R&D. Investment in roads was also found to be
contributing significantly to productivity growth. An additional Rs.100 billion (in
1993 prices) invested in roads would increase productivity growth by more than
3 percent.

2.3 Recommendations of National Rural Road Development Committee

(NRRDC)

Government of India constituted a National Rural Road Development Committee

(NRRDC) during the year 2000 with an aim to provide connectivity to all
unconnected villages. The Committee has also been assigned to identify the
road length required for total connectivity, the detailed specifications for
construction of all-weather rural road, fund requirement and suggestions for
implementation mechanism.

The committee has estimated that there are 2,90,480 unconnected villages as
on 31-3-2000 and assuming a required length of 4.0 km per village, calculated
the total road length required would be around 11,62,000 km to provide at least
one connectivity to each of these villages. The estimated cost of connecting only
the unconnected villages with black topped roads is about Rs.1,11,000 crore. A
sum of Rs.1,79,200 crore was estimated for providing black topped road to the
existing unconnected villages, black topping of present metalled all-weather road
and for provision of major and minor bridges. Since a huge amount of fund is
required, the Committee suggested phasing out the works.

The Committee has also suggested constituting a centralised agency at national

level for raising and allocating of funds and a separate cell for managing the
actual construction of rural roads in each district. The funds to be raised for the
programme are based on diesel cess, from development activities, issuing of
tax-free bonds, and loans from domestic and external sources. It also suggested
launching an Online Management and Monitoring System (OMMS) for effective
implementation and monitoring of the programme. In order to ensure speedy
and systematic execution of the programme, the Committee has suggested to
the Union Government to set up ‘National Rural Road Development Agency’
(NRRDA).

The government accepted most of the recommendations and constituted a body

empowered to chalk out the detailed programme for development of rural roads.
A special rural road development programme known as ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram
Sadak Yojana’ was launched in December 2000 with an objective of connecting
the unconnected habitations in a phased manner. The unit for connectivity has
been shifted from village to habitation to cover more people with accessibility.

21
2.4 Recommendations

¾ Rural roads have been proved to be catalytic for economic development

and poverty alleviation in rural areas this objective should be pursued
further with more vigor. They are also essential for providing basic access
to the services like health, education, administration, etc.

¾ In future, the target should be to connect all habitations with all-weather

rural roads instead of fair weather roads as was done earlier.

22
 Chapter 3

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana and Bharat Nirman

3.1 Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)

On the recommendations of the National Rural Road Development Committee,

Government of India has launched a nation wide programme called ‘Pradhan
Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’ (PMGSY) on the 25th December 2000. For the first
time the focus is directly on the rural connectivity under dedicated road fund.
The objective of the program is to provide road connectivity, through good all-
weather roads to all rural habitations of targeted population.

3.1.1 Strategy and Objectives

The focus of the programme is to construct good quality all-weather roads for
new connectivity and upgradation of existing roads. For the first time the focus is
directly on the rural connectivity under dedicated road fund, and the 50% of the
cess amount collected on high speed diesel has been allocated for this
programme. In earlier programmes, the village with a defined population was the
target for providing connectivity, while the PMGSY envisage ‘habitation’ as the
unit, to reach out to more settlements and more people with accessibility.

The programme aimed to provide connectivity to all habitations up to 500 and

above population in plain and in respect of hilly, desert and tribal areas the
habitations with 250 and above population is targeted. It was planned to provide
connectivity in a phased manner. In the general order of priority for connectivity,
first priority is accorded for new connectivity. The order of priority for new
connectivity and upgradation is given in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1: Priority for new connectivity and upgradation

Priority Population size of Habitations being connected

I 1000 and above
II 500 – 999
III 250 – 499 * (hilly, backward and special areas)
IV Upgradation of through routes
V Upgradation of selected link roads

3.1.2 Initiatives for Structured Development

The programme is being coordinated at Central level by the National Rural
Development Agency (NRRDA) through Ministry of Rural Development,
Government of India. At State level the programme is executed through agency
known as State Rural Road Development Agency (SRRDA). At the District level,

23
the programme is planned, co-ordinated, and implemented through the
executing agencies known as Programme Implementation Unit (PIU).

The programme is being implemented by preparing the detailed district level

rural road plan and the core network by the PIUs, which provide prioritized links
for connectivity of rural habitations satisfying the qualifying population criteria.
These plans are approved at various level d Panchayat Raj System and at state
level and national level organization. Detailed project reports (DPR) are
prepared for the prioritized links by the PIUs for execution. The DPRs are
scrutinized by the selected State Level Technical Agencies before their approval
by the State and Central level agencies. The projects are implemented by the
PIUs and are monitored by a three tier quality control system.

3.1.3 Assessment of Connectivity Requirements

When the PMGSY was launched in 2000, it was estimated that about 3,30,000
habitations out of a total of 8,25,000 habitations were without any all-weather
access. As per the initial estimates at the time of launching PMGSY, about
1,60,000 habitations were expected to be covered under the programme with an
anticipated investment of Rs.60,000 crore.

New Connectivity: According to latest figures made available by the State

Governments, after a detailed survey undertaken to identify core networks
(based on DRRP) there are about 1.73 lakh unconnected habitations and about
3.65 lakh km new road connectivity are required to be taken up under the
PMGSY programme as per the norms. The total estimated habitations according
to population size, and the road length and cost of construction are given in
Table 3.2. The state wise estimated road length and cost required for new
connectivity is given in the Discussion Paper (Appendix 1 - Table 3).
Table 3.2: Estimated Road Length and Fund Required for New
Connectivity as Per PMGSY Norms
Habitation Number of Rural
Length Required Estimated cost
Population Unconnected
(km) (Rs billion)
Group Habitations
1000+ 59,855 133,949
500-999 81,466 161,955 784.18
250-499 * 31,451* 69,901*
Total 172,772 365,805 784.18
* Only in hill states, desert and tribal areas as per PMGSY eligibility criteria.
Upgradation: The requirement of fund and length in km were estimated for the
upgradation of the existing roads as per the guidelines. The total upgradation
requirement is about 3.73 lakh km of rural roads with an estimated cost about
Rs.590330 million as per PMGSY norms. The state level estimates of the length

24
for upgradation and the estimated cost is given in the Discussion Paper
(Appendix 1 - Table 4).

3.1.4 Achievement Till 10th Plan

The proposals prepared by states based on inputs provided by PRIs were

submitted to NRRDA for year-wise implementing of the programme. NRRDA
approved the proposals under PMGSY prepared by States after scrutiny of
NRRDA and cleared in different phases since 2001. The total road length
constructed up to end of phase IV is about 93,000 km. Against the target
originally set for the new connectivity, the proposals cleared so far (May 2006)
are expected to provide connectivity to only 56638 habitations. The works
completed so far have provided connectivity to only 27,303 habitations. The
status of habitations coverage achieved so far under this scheme has been
indicated in Table 3.3. The state-wise statement showing physical and financial
progress and achievement so far under this programme is summarized and
given in the Discussion Paper (Appendix 1- Table 5).

Table 3.3: Connectivity Status under PMGSY (as October 2006)

Population No. of eligible No. of habitations No. of habitations

category habitations covered by projects connected
approved
1000 and above 59855 28361 16081
500 and above 81466 21942 8602
250 and above 31451 6335 2620
Total 172772 56638 27303

The figures show that only 15.80 % of habitations have been actually connected
so far, it is envisaged that the scheme would miss the 10th Plan target (original
target of PMGSY) by a huge margin. Recognizing this slippage the time frame
for providing full connectivity to habitations with population above 1000 (above
500 in hill, desert, and tribal areas) has been reset under Bharat Nirman.

3.1.5 Analysis of Performance of states

A glance at the Physical and Financial performance of the States under PMGSY/
Bharat Nirman clearly brings out the fact that those States who took initiatives in
streamlining the institutional arrangements have performed well compared to the
others.

The state-wise statement showing physical and financial progress under

PMGSY (Phases I-IV and ADB/WB) is presented in Table 8 of Discussion Paper
provided in Appendix - I. The physical target represents the length of road
works and number of road works sanctioned and completed. The financial
targets are represented by the total amount released and expenditure made.

25
The total value of the proposals cleared so far is Rs.31750 crores out of which
Rs.17483 crores has been released. More than 80 % of amount released has
been spend by constructing total road length of 94,000 km comprising of 32,000
road works. The target upto Phase-IV under PMGSY revealed that on an
average, about 60% of total sanctioned road works and 52.6 % of sanctioned
road length are completed in time. Nearly 83 % of total amount released has
been spent by the States agencies to complete the physical targets. Out of all,
15 States have achieved the physical targets of number of road works and
construction of road length more than the national level average. Remaining
states are still lagging behind. The data shows that some states have steadily
increased their absorbing capacity, but still they have to enhance their capacity
to absorb the yearly allocation in coming years, and to achieve the proposed
targets of 11th FYP in time.

While comparing the financial performance the states viz., Andhra Pradesh,
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan have spend more than 90 % of
the amount released and could achieve well above the national average figure of
the road works and length of roads. In the states like Jammu and Kashmir,
Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Uttranchal and West
Bengal performance is less than the national average of the sanctioned road
works, length and amount released.

While some of the above States may have adverse climatic conditions that
cannot be the sole reason for poor performance. Some of the constraints could
be: limited working season, delay in statutory clearance from forest department,
non-availability of required land, limitations of qualified manpower and
contractors, over and above non-availability of dedicated personnel for the
programme with streamlined institutional arrangements. States may have to look
into the issues, examine critically and come out with mitigation measures to
achieve the targets, as planned.

3.2 Bharat Nirman

3.2.1 Objectives

It is a flagship programme of the Government of India conceived as time bound

business plan to provide rural infrastructure during 2005-06 to 2008-09. Six
major rural infrastructure namely, rural roads, telephone connection, irrigation,
water supply, housing and electrification are identified and over Rs.1,74,000
crore has year marked for development. The programme was initiated during the
year 2005-06, under rural road component, it targeted to provide all weather
connectivity to all habitations having population of 1000 or more (500 or more in
hill, tribal and desert areas) by 2009. While the primary objective of PMGSY has
been to provide ‘last mile connectivity’ to all eligible unconnected habitations, it

26
also includes an upgradation component in order to ensure farm to market
connectivity.

It is pertinent to mention that the rural road component of the Bharat Nirman
programme is actually embedded in the PMGSY with the target for the
connectivity to habitations with 1000 or more population. Thus, the rural road
component is concomitant to PMGSY with wider funding base and extended
scope. Bharat Nirman envisages a massive scaling up of the programme in
terms of habitation connectivity coverage, construction targets and financial
investment.

3.2.2 Target and Achievement till 10th Five Year Plan

To achieve the targets of Bharat Nirman, 1,46,185 km of rural road is proposed

to be constructed to benefit 66,802 unconnected eligible habitations in the
country. It is also proposed to upgrade nearly 1.94 lakh km of the existing rural
roads which are identified through routes of the core network. The total
investment on rural connectivity under Bharat Nirman has been estimated at Rs.
48,000 crore during 2005-2009. Table 3.4 provides the national level habitation
connectivity targets set and achievements under PMGSY/Bharat Niman, and
Table 3.5 provides the national level road length in km for connecting the above-
targeted habitations under PMGSY/Bharat Niman. The year wise targets for new
connectivity (Appendix 1 – Table 7) and upgradation (Appendix 1 – Table 8)
have been given in the Discussion Paper

Table 3.4: Connectivity of habitations - Target and Achievements under

PMGSY/Bharat Nirman Programme (habitations in numbers)

Total Target Expected Expected Overall

Balance Core
completion completion completion Targets
Habitation work for Network
upto 10th during during for 11th
12th FYP Estimate
FYP 07-09 10-12 FYP
1000+ 25371 34484 34484 0 59855

500+ 14854 9154 19778 28932 37680 81466

250+ 2511 14888 14888 14052 31451

Total 42736 43638 34666 78304 51732 172772

27
Table 3.5: Length of Rural Roads- Target and Achievements under PMGSY/Bharat
Nirman Programme (lenght in km)

Total Target Expected Overall

Expected Balance Core
completion completion Targets
Length completion work for Network
upto 10th during for 11th
during 10-12 12th FYP Estimate
FYP 07-09 FYP
New
95960 95510 69734 165244 104601 365805
Connectivity
Upgradation 83757 128067 64397 192464 96595 372816

Total 179717 223577 134131 357708 201196 738621

3.3 Recommendations
¾ For integrated development of rural connectivity, upgradation is required
to be included in addition to new connectivity links, as envisaged in
Bharat Nirman.
¾ Rural roads development targets (based on 2001 census and to modify
after next census) will require continuance of the programme even
beyond 11th Plan period.
¾ The structure and systems of delivery developed so far should be
strengthened and continued.

28
 Chapter 4

Physical Targets – 10th FYP, 11th FYP and Spillover 12th FYP

4.1 Physical Targets of 10th Five Year Plan

The PMGSY envisages providing connectivity to all habitation of 500 and above
in all States and 250 and above in hill states, tribal and desert areas. Based on
the projects already approved under PMGSY, a further 2,39,000 km of new
roads will have to be built to provide connectivity to the remaining eligible
habitations under PMGSY. It is expected that 56,600 habitations will get
connected, with new link roads of 1,26,670 km by end of 10th Five Year Plan.

The data available from the National Rural Roads Development Agency
(NRRDA), value of works sanctioned is Rs. 154,550 million covering both new
construction and upgrading upto the end of year 2004-05. A total of 38,129
habitations have been covered already.

4.2 Physical Targets for 11th Five Year Plan

4.2.1 Targets of 11th Fear Year Plan

The physical target set under the Bharat Nirman till end of 2008-09 is found to
be beyond the capacity of the States, due to unpreparedness from the beginning
of the Bharat Nirman programme. Therefore, it is assumed the left over targets
of Bharat Nirman for 2007-09 will be completed only by the end of financial year
2009-10. For the remaining period of 2 years in the 11th Five Year Plan i.e.
2010-12 the targets are set in such a way that 40 % of the balance left over in
the PMGSY programme, both the new connectivity and upgradation will be
completed during this period leaving 60 % of the balance PMGSY targets to be
completed in the 12th Five Year Plan. Accordingly the targets for the 11th Five
Year Plan are finalized and presented In Table 4.1.
Table 4.1: Estimated Targets for 11th Five Year Plan
Period No. of Length for Length for upgradation Length (km)
Habitations new for renewal
to be connectivity (to be borne
covered by the State
Governments)
Target up to the
year 2009 as per 43,638 95,510 km 1,28,067 km
Bharat Nirman
64,397 km 76, 986 km
Target for (38,638 upgradation +
34,666 69,734 km
2010-12 25,759 km of renewal to
be borne by the States)
1, 92,464 km
Overall for the
78,304 1,65,244 km (1,15,478 km funded 76,986 km
11th F Y Plan
under PMGSY)

29
It is proposed to connect about qualifying 78,000 habitations with 1.65 lakh km
of new roads. Nearly, 1.15-lakh km length of rural roads needs upgradation
during the 11th Plan under PMGSY. It is also expected that the a portion of
upgradation in terms of periodical renewal works as estimated will be borne by
the State Governments in order to provide better rural roads network. The
estimated portion of the funds for upgradation/renewal activities is expected to
come from the state resources. According to PMGSY guidelines, the
construction contractors are obligated to provide routine maintenance for five
year. After completion of 5 years the State Government will carry out
maintenance/renewal works through Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI) by
providing necessary funds and capacity building.

4.2.2 Physical Targets - Spillover to 12th Five Year Plan

The balance work, which will not be possible to be completed during the 11th
Plan, may be carried during the 12th Five Year Plan in order to achieve the
PMGSY targets of providing 100 percent connectivity to all eligible habitations. It
is estimated that the habitations to be covered would be around 60,000 requiring
about 1.05 lakh km road length. In addition, about 58,000 km of the existing rural
roads would need upgradation and about 40,000 km requires periodical renewal
so as to keep the entire network at a desirable level of service (LOS).

4.3 Financial Requirements during 11th Five Year Plan

Estimation has been made based on the current average cost of construction in
the country as seen in case of PMGSY. The financial requirement during the 11th
Five Year Plan is estimated based on the physical targets proposed and an
amount of Rs. 79,000 crore is required to fulfill the targets estimated for new
connectivity and upgradation.
4.3.1 New Connectivity
The average cost per km for provision of new connectivity is estimated as
Rs.30.00 lakh/km for rural roads. The total amount required for construction of
1.65 lakh km length of new connectivity is estimated as about Rs. 50,000 crore.

4.3.2 Upgradation
The average cost per km for upgradation of the existing rural roads under core
network is about Rs.25.00 lakh/km. The total estimated amount required for the
upgradation of the existing rural roads of about 1.16 lakh km requires about
Rs.29,000 crore during the 11th Five Year Plan period.

4.3.3 Cost Trends

The cost of construction of rural road is found to be more compared to pre-
PMGSY scheme. However this cost increase is due to the need based provision
based on actual site condition. It is in deviation with the regular system of

30
making line estimates which proved to be inadequate many times. Cost trends in
targets may vary depending up on the site conditions and requirements. The
State-wise average per km cost of construction for the new connectivity as well
as upgradation under PMGSY is annexed in the Discussion Paper.

4.3.4 Maintenance

Fund requirement for maintenance of rural roads of the core network identified
from the district rural road plan is estimated as Rs.140,000 million per year. It is
estimated that about 1.4 million km length under core network would require
routine and periodical maintenance during the 11th Five Year Plan. The average
maintenance cost/km/year is Rs.1,00,000/km which consist of routine
maintenance about Rs.20,000/km and the periodic maintenance with 6 year
renewal cycle is about Rs. 80,000/km. A total Rs.1,40,000 million is required
every year for maintaining the estimated length of 1.4 million km during the
period.

4.3.5 Maintenance Strategies in State Government Programmes

Recently, the NRRDA has conducted a feed back study on regarding the norms for
maintenance of rural roads in various states. The data shows that annual
maintenance norms per km followed by Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu and Uttar Pradesh range from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 23,000 per km. In respect of
Orissa, the norm is Rs. 25,000 to Rs. 30,000 per km for unpaved roads and
Rs. 120,000 per km for black topped roads. Corresponding figures for Rajasthan
are Rs. 23,400 and Rs. 47,120 respectively. The States of Arunachal Pradesh,
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Meghalaya do not have norms of their own but they
follow those which are laid down by the Indian Roads Congress (IRC) or Ministry of
Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). Maharashtra Government reviews the
norms periodically by setting up a special committee for this purpose. In
Maharashtra, a norm of Rs. 54,000 to Rs. 59,200 per km is adopted. The states of
Assam, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are firming up their
policy on maintenance.

4.4 Recommendations
¾ 11th Five Year Plan should continue to support the rural connectivity and
upgradation targets as a major policy in view of huge untapped potential in
rural India.
¾ Special provisions for funding shall be required to continue with the policy
of opening up rural India.
¾ Maintenance may be taken to the top of the priority list to sustain the assets
created and reap the benefits.

31
 Chapter 5

Planning and Design of Rural Roads

5.1 Network Planning for Rural Roads

Rural roads are part of total road network system and basically consist of
various categories such as National Highways, State Highways, Major District
Roads, Other District Roads and Village Roads. As per the definition of Indian
Rods Congress (IRC:SP:20:2002) rural roads includes Other District Roads
(ODR) and Village Roads as tertiary system for providing accessibility in rural
areas. Rural roads, therefore, become links of a network, which facilitate the
movements of persons and goods in an area. There are several other
interconnecting routes also exists in rural areas. A road network, therefore,
needs to be developed in such a way that the travel needs of the people in an
area are met to the maximum extent in a collective way at the lowest cost of
development. In rural areas major part of travel needs comprises of travel to
market place, education and health centres. Planning of road system should
always focus on spatial aspect of planning and should be integrated with other
non-spatial socio-economic activities. Roads have to be planned and
programmed in such away that all villages/habitations are connected in an
optimal way to achieve efficient flow of traffic and accessibility. The National
Transport Policy Committee (NTPC, 1978) also proposed a network approach
for planning and development of rural roads.

5.1.1 District Rural Road Plan (DRRP) and Core Network (CN) in PMGSY

Under PMGSY programme, the investment for new construction and

upgradation are being assessed by preparing a district level rural road plan and
core network of rural roads. The District Rural Road Plan (DRRP) is a
compendium of the existing and proposed road network system in the district
which clearly identifies the proposed roads for connecting the yet unconnected
habitations to already connected habitations/all-weather roads in an economic
and efficient way interms of cost and utility. It is also known as Master Plan for
Rural Roads for the district. Preparing maps and database on habitations and
road details for each Block, such maps are integrated at District level to form the
District Rural Road Plan. Detailed guidelines were prepared by the Ministry of
Rural Development and circulated to the State agencies.

The Core Network (CN) is a subset of DRRP which provides the ‘basic access’
to all villages/habitations with one all-weather road to the near by market centre
or rural business hub and essential social and economic services. It comprises
of Through Routes and Link Routes. Through routes are the ones which collect
traffic from several link roads or a long chain of habitations and lead it to a
market centre or a higher category of roads. Link routes are the roads
connecting a single habitation or a group of habitations to Through Roads or

32
Major Road leading to market centre. Links routes generally will have dead ends
terminating on habitations, while through routes arise from the confluence of two
or more link routes and emerge on to a major road or to a market centre. All
State agencies have already prepared the DRRP and Core Network and
currently, funds are being allocated based on these plans.

After the Block-wise Master Plan has been approved by the Block level
Panchayat, it would be forwarded to the District Planning Committee, where the
Block Plan would be integrated into the District Master Plan, called District Rural
Roads Plan. This would be placed before the District Panchayat for
consideration and approval. After approval this would become the final District
Rural Roads Plan, and would form the basis for selection of road works under
PMGSY, through core network work. This plan may be considered for all rural
road development programmes.

The DRRP and Core Networks serve as master plans and provide basic
information on connectivity to the habitations up to 100 person. It may expect to
serve the rural road development beyond PMGSY/Bharat Nirman targets. How
ever this needs periodic updation every 3 to 5 years based on the nature and
extent of development taken place.

5.1.2 Optimal Network Planning with Multiple Connectivity

The Core Network based on the DRRP database prepared at the beginning of
the PMGSY programme to provide single connectivity to the habitations needs
to be reviewed. Core Network maps basically result in spanning tree structure
for the network, particularly when basic access is the target. This type of
network, though provides connectivity, may result in constrained access which
leads to detouring and making circuitous travel. There for the procedure for
preparing the core network requires a review, particularly in those districts which
have achieved the basic connectivity. It is a case for providing multi-connectivity
for selected habitations having higher levels of economic activity that may
require access from more than one direction, in order to cut down the total
transportation cost. Though providing basic access is a social obligation, the
multiple accesses are to be fully justified and substantiated by suitable economic
appraisal and should be taken only when proved to be beneficial. In this
connection, the decision criteria can be based on economic analysis and tools
like Road Economic decision (RED) model and Highway Development and
Management (HDM) model can be effectively used. Care should be taken for
non-quantifiable social impacts while taking final decisions based on economic
analysis.

Core network provides basic access to all habitations, however, the multiple
links proposed may serve additional facilities or service centres. Integrated
functional accessibility criteria may be used to select the best link options for
provision of multiple connectivity strictly based on social and economic criteria.

33
The accessibility may be classified as (i) access to fulfill social needs and (ii) to
provide access to market centres to increase economic activities of the area.
Appropriate method of estimating accessibility indicator may serve this purpose.
If the proposed links generates economic activities then it can be justified and
prioritised using the economic criteria such as cost benefit analysis and/or cost-
effectiveness approach.

Accessibility based network planning shall be required to address the sparsely

populated areas (like hill, desert and coastal areas) with dispersed settlements.
The criteria may be selected appropriately for such areas to meet the
accessibility to lower order population levels (habitations with population 250 or
less). The states like Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashimir and other hill
states were the settlements are dispersed in a wider area needs a special
accessibility approach to find out optimal network to provide connectivity to
these settlements. Therefore, it is necessary to take appropriate steps through
pilot projects on development of optimal rural road network in such regions to
select appropriate links which provides maximum benefit in terms of access to
various socio-economic functions.

It is also proposed to review the current core network and strategic development
of optimal functional accessibility based network in selected districts, and
thereby incorporating basic access to lower order settlements also, not limiting
to the targeted eligible habitations under PMGSY, which will ultimately provide
guidelines for multiple connectivity.

5.2 Intra-village Roads

Generally, it is known that travel needs of the different segment of rural

population are different, and for poor and women the travel needs are mostly
concentrated with the village/habitations to fulfill their basic requirements. These
movements can be classified as intra-habitation and intra-village movements.
The intra village/habitation road serves these purposes. Intra village road include
the roads/tracks connecting different habitations within a revenue/census village,
roads in the built up areas of a habitation and road leading to a facility location
such as school, dispensary, drinking water, community centre, etc located in the
village. Therefore, the rural roads network development should also consider
this component. Appropriate techniques and standardization for network
planning, design, standards, specifications and quality assurance system should
be separately identified since these roads are expected to carry very low traffic.
In some of the States, the Panchayat institutions are developing these roads
under various wage employment/rural development programme with out
adopting proper standards and design procedures. It is necessary to develop
appropriate standards and specifications by keeping in mind that the roads
constructed are amenable for stage constructing facilitating upgrading them at a
future date.

34
It is suggested that the intra-village/habitation roads should be given priority in
11th Five Year Plan, starting the villages having more than 1000 population. The
carriage way could be limited to 3 m with preferably cement concrete/brick
pavement/block pavement depending upon the local conditions. Drainage
should be give primary importance while constructing of these roads. On an
average 3 km length may be taken per village with a cost of Rs.10-15 lakh per
km for macro level estimation of resources.

5.3 Integrated Development of Road Network

The total road network of an area needs proper integration with necessary
interfacing befitting the functionality assigned to a type of road other wise the
continuity of transport flows may get affected. Currently lot of emphasis is given
for the roads providing mobility through programmes like NHDP for selected
national highways, some state road programme and rural access through
PMGSY/Bharat Nirman. However, the intermediate category of roads belongs to
State Highways (SH) and Major District Roads (MDR) are not receiving the
emphasis they deserve. There should a balanced development approach for all
type of road in order to achieve continuity in movement from rural habitations to
market centres at local, regional and national level. The state agencies
responsible for development of these roads should identify the gaps in the
existing systems of roads and generally adopt the master plan (DRRP and Core
Network), in order to achieve the integration. There is need for network structural
analysis with assigned traffic flows for the development of regional level roads
comprising of Highways, MDRs and rural roads.

5.4 Geo-Information Technology for Database

Currently, the PMGSY is being implemented and monitored through a web

based On-line Management, Monitoring and Accounting System (OMMAS),
which provide the basic master data and the detailed projects wise information
along with the accounting system. To bring more transparency and management
of the rural road programme implementation in totality, would be to develop
these databases using Geo-Information Technology during the 1tth Five Year
Plan. At present, the databases of the DRRP and core network are already
available as geo-referred attribute data along with maps prepared in the scale
1:50,000 for each Block. A little more effort of creating digital spatial data is
needed to complete the database on Geographic Information System (GIS)
platform. The National Map Policy (2005) with availability of satellite imageries
can facilitate the development of spatial data at different levels. By integrating
the spatial data and the attribute data on roads as well as the habitations, a GIS
database can be generated for better planning and management of rural road
programme at district/block level. In addition, special plans can be prepared by
adopting contours in GIS maps for hilly regions to identify optimal route locations
to provide connectivity to the targeted habitations without affecting the

35
environment. The network planning tools available in various GIS software will
be useful for finding out optimal road network based on accessibility criterion
and socio-economic benefit criteria.

Ministry of Rural Development (MORD)/National Rural Road Development

Agency (NRRDA) had taken up a pilot project of ‘Web based GIS Application for
Rural Roads’ in the states of Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, in collaboration
with C-DAC, Pune under PMGSY/Bharat Nirman programme. This effort should
be expanded to all States for creation of spatial data on GIS platform (especially
the DRRP, core network, and work programme, etc.) and upload the same at the
national database. This may be taken as a primary objective under rural road
network planning and evaluation within the plan period of 11th Plan.

5.5 Design of Rural Roads

In the past, rural roads have been constructed under various rural road
development programmes, which are mainly conceived for employment
generation and poverty alleviation. In such programmes serious efforts were not
made to build sustainable all-weather roads. Roads were never considered to be
engineering structures and these not designed to the required specifications.
The roads built under these programmes, without back-up system or facility to
sustain them with engineering inputs for repair and maintenance, have
disappeared in no time. Many of the technical aspects of road making (for
example, adequate compaction of subgrade, roadside drainage, required cross
drainage etc.) were seldom given due importance in rural road construction.

In order to fulfil the objectives of PMGSY for provision of all-weather rural roads,
the Indian Road Congress brought out the ‘Rural Roads Manual’ IRC:SP-
20:2002. The manual covers all aspects related to rural roads including planning
and alignment; geometric design standards; climate and environment; road
materials and pavement design; road drainage, culverts and small bridges on
rural roads; construction specifications and quality control aspects; guidelines for
using waste materials such as fly ash, etc., maintenance of rural roads and
sources of finance for rural road development.

Currently the manual is being followed for design of rural roads under
PMGSY/Bharat Niman projects. To achieve more economy in designing the rural
roads the Indian Roads congress is revising the manual based on the following
criteria;
• Rural Roads are low volume facilities basically serving the access needs.
The design speed and level of service expected are low. The design
standards should be in harmony with such expectations.
• Geometric standards, particularly gradients, are difficult to change later,
and hence should be selected carefully with the future requirements in
view.

36
 • The initial cost is an important consideration. Many roads particularly
through routes will, in due course, carry fairly substantial traffic but it is
preferable to optimize costs by stage construction in tune with traffic
growth.
• A design period of 10 years is considered adequate, with rehabilitation
being planned based on road condition.
• Durable and permanent assets need to be aimed at through adequate
provision for drainage and protection works.
• The maintenance of assets must receive careful attention as a policy and
should not be capitalized into richer than required standards at the design
stage. .

5.5.1 Feasibility and Detailed Project Report

Each rural road project, whether new construction or upgradation of an existing

road should have a separate feasibility and Detailed Project Report (DPR). The
DPR should be based on the detailed survey and investigations and designed
with choice of technology. The guidance for preparation of the DPR may be
taken from IRC:SP:19, and other relevant IRC Codes of Practices along with all
data supported by necessary investigations and the maps/drawings. The cost
and quantity estimates should be based on the Schedule of Rates, which will be
prepared using the MORD specifications and Standard Data Book (SDB) for
Analysis of Rates for Rural Roads.

Under PMGSY, the DPR prepared by the executing agencies are being
scrutinized by the State technical agencies before it is being approved. The
system should also continue during the 11th Five year Plan Period not only for
proposals under PMGSY but also for other major programmes and schemes
under taken by the States.

5.5.2 Pavement Design

The IRC Rural Roads Manual gives pavement thickness based on, (i) 4-day
soaked CBR value of soil and (ii) traffic in terms of commercial vehicles per day
(CVPD). As regards the type of surfacing, all rural roads except those (i) in an
arid region with annual rainfall less than 500 mm and traffic upto 150 motorised
vehicles per day and (ii) in a region with an annual rainfall less than 1000 mm
and traffic upto 50 motorised vehicles per day (except two-wheelers) were
required to be provided with a bituminous treatment. Unsealed gravel roads did
not receive adequate treatment, and thus, practically all rural roads being
constructed in the country now are black-topped.
The definition of commercial vehicles is not given, and practicing engineers often
include agricultural tractors in this category. Though the curves are the standard
UK Road Research Laboratory curves, these curves are applicable for
commercial vehicles of laden weight more than 3 tonnes.

37
Considerable amount of work has been done on pavement design of low volume
roads internationally. Of these, the following may be mentioned:
(i) AASHTO design curves for low volume roads
(ii) Australian pavement design curves for low volume roads
(iii) Chinese pavement design curves for unsurfaced low volume roads.

AASHTO design curves have been evolved after extensive observation of

performance of roads under various climatic conditions and traffic load
repetitions.
Since rural road cater for low volume of traffic, and serving in various climatic
regions in India (spread out to every district of the country), it is felt that such
performance based design method will prove to be more economical rather than
the conventional method of designing rural roads. Therefore, NRRDA has
initiated a research and development programme on ‘Rural Roads Pavement
Performance Study (RRPPS)’ in selected States with an aim to develop
performance data and to develop performance based design and specifications
of rural roads for Indian condition. The results of such studies (which are in
progress) will provide ways and means to devise design methods based on the
performance observation during the last few years by researchers. The 11th Plan
should aim to develop design methods based on these results, which may
economise in design of rural roads, thereby saving in construction cost.
Indian Roads Congress has already revised the manual and is being published
as special publication. It recommends the design of flexible pavements for rural
roads using the concept of performance based designs (AASHTO) with
Equivalent standard Axle Loads (ESAL) which will optimise the pavement
structure and the cost of construction. The design of rigid pavement of rural
roads including that of block pavements and roller compacted cement concrete
have been brought by the Indian Roads Congress is being recommended for
implementation of rural road programme.
The roads constructed under PMGSY/Bharat Nirman follows the set standards
for designing of rural roads; it is also recommended that adoption of uniform
design standards for all rural roads irrespective of the source of funding.

5.5.3 Options for Paved and Unpaved All-weather Roads

Bituminous surfacing is currently being provided on almost all rural roads,

without any consideration of traffic and rainfall. This is a costly item, its cost
being in the range of Rs 4-6 lakh per km at current prices. Blacktopping,
therefore, has a bearing on investments needed for rural roads. Availability of
bitumen at reasonable cost and in desired quantities may also pose a problem in
foreseeable future. Moreover, this surfacing will involve extra cost in periodic
maintenance subsequently. Subject to consideration of rainfall and traffic,
blacktopping may be restricted to Through Routes and Major Rural Links (MRL).
The Major Rural Links function is similar to through routes but designated as link

38
route For roads connecting villages with population less than 1000, gravel roads
can adequately serve as all-weather roads unless heavy rainfall conditions
justify blacktopping.
Several countries in the world, including USA, have a large percentage of
unpaved roads. The USA experience shows that upto 100,000 repetitions of
standard axles, gravel roads can be considered, and for traffic less than 10,000
repetitions earth roads are suitable. Roughly, under present loading conditions
observed in India, this implies that many of the link roads in low rainfall areas
can be constructed as gravel or thin surfaced roads. It is thus apparent that un-
paved gravel roads have an important role to play in India’s future road
programme. The unpaved roads can be sealed with appropriate dust palliatives
in order to reduce the dust pollution in rural areas.
Furthermore, several low cost bituminous sealing techniques are available.
These include surface dressing, which can be practiced with low cost equipment
and labour-intensive techniques. Gravel roads and soil-cement roads can also
be sealed by a thin bituminous treatment.

5.5.4 Cross Drainage Structures

Cross-drainage (CD) structure which are intended for crossing of water barriers
along the road alignment constitute the most important component affecting the
all-weather character of the road. These cross-drainage structures are one of
the costly items (forming roughly 25-30 percent of the total construction cost) in
road projects. On rural roads these structures should be as economical as
possible to be consonance with the low-cost concept of the road and at the
same time consistent with the technical and functional requirements. Currently
cross-drainage structure up to a span of 25 meter is being permitted under the
PMGSY/Bharat Nirman programme. For CD structure beyond 25 m the cost of
bridge beyond 25 m is to be borne by the concerned states. IRC is revising the
recommendations for small and medium size CD structures for rural roads and it
is expected to be released soon. The construction of CD works and control of
quality are most difficult task in remote places where most rural roads are
located. Therefore, it may be necessary to adopt steel construction for small and
medium size bridges if technically suitable. Further, most of the culverts can be
systematically provided with uniform standard and quality by adopting a
appropriate pre-casts modular designs.
5.6 Recommendations

¾ The DRRP and Core Network preparation in a master plan framework to be

continued in the 11th Plan.
¾ Based on the

¾ The network planning may be revisited and optimal network may be

attempted in 11th Plan including multiple connectivity to avail circuitry of the
network.

39
¾ Pilot projects may be taken up in special regions like Arunachal Pradesh,
Jammu and Kashmir, etc. where the settlement are located in
geographically wide spread area using the functional accessibility based
on network planning for selection of optimal links during the 11th Plan
period.

¾ Intra-village/habitation roads should be given priority in 11th Five Year Plan,

starting with the priority to the villages having more than 1000 population.

¾ The planning data should be updated every 3-5 years and maintained as
geo-referenced data.

¾ During 11th Plan period, GIS Application for Rural Roads database
management for planning and maintenance may be undertaken in a
phased manner in all States based on the experience of the pilot projects.

¾ Engineering design and DPR must be the basis for implementation of rural
roads in 11th Plan.

¾ Economy in design and specification to be pursued through performance

based designs and use of locally available and marginal materials.

40
 Chapter 6

Materials and Construction Technology

6.1 Pavement Materials

Recognizing that the rural roads are essentially low cost roads, the
specifications for pavement materials in various layers should be as economical
as possible, consistent with the traffic expected to use the road and the climatic
condition. In this angle, the local materials which are cheaper and involve
minimum haulage should be used to maximum extent feasible. A detailed
mapping of these local materials has to be carried out using the satellite image
processing and remote sensing technologies. The soil and materials maps
further can be updated based on the data obtained from the DPRs prepared for
the implementation of PMGSY projects since 2001.

6.1.1 Conventional Materials

For road construction, the conventional materials required are soil, stone
aggregates, bitumen, cement and steel. Considering the targets of new
construction and upgradation of about 4 lakh km of rural roads during the 11th
FYP period and periodic maintenance of about 2 lakh km per year, broadly the
materials required would be: aggregate about 24.3 million cum, bitumen 0.9
million tonne per year and cement 0.5 - .035 million tonne per year. The
requirement of these materials on other construction sectors would be far grater.
Nevertheless requirement for rural roads is also considerable. Accordingly,
there is a need to reduce the consumption of construction materials of high
quality and initiative be taken to use of locally available materials which can
satisfy the design requirement of rural roads.

6.1.2 Locally Available Low Grade/Marginal Materials

Surveys carried out in the country for different types of low grade materials
revealed that there is a wide variety of these local materials that can be used in
rural road construction. These materials are broadly categoried as (i)
Moorum/Gravel, (ii) Kankar, (iii) Dhanla (iv) Laterite and (v) Soft stone/sand
stones. Usually these materials can be adopted for construction of sub-
base/base courses, and shoulders. However, these materials may need suitable
treatment for using in different layers of road works.

A major constraint in the use of local material lies in the procedures adopted by
the field agencies and lack of awareness and exposure. It is possible to
popularize the use of stabilization techniques thorough appropriate training and
capacity building of the field engineers. The reluctance of the field agencies to

41
deviate from the conventional methods in design as well as use of local
materials and to try out innovative technologies also call for attitudinal changes
through HRD interventions.

6.1.3 Non-Conventional Materials

The non-conventional road construction materials are the industrial waste and
by-products such as fly ash from thermal power plants, iron and steel slag,
marble dust from quarry, Phosphogypsum – a by-product of phosphoric acid
based fertilizer plants, processed municipal wastes, jute and plastic wastes.
Many organisations carried out research work to develop specification for these
materials. These materials can be used as replacement for the conventional
materials wherever they are available in abundance, this will not only reduce the
cost but also preserve the precious environment around the industries.

The detailed notes on various non-conventional materials are as follows:

Fly ash: It is produced as waste by-product of coal combustion in thermal power
stations. The present annual generation of fly ash is estimated to be about 140
million tonnes. Fly ash can be used as filler material in embankment, base/sub-
base courses. Sub-base course can be constructed using pond ash or bottom
ash replacing conventionally used moorum. The pozzolanic property of fly ash
enables it to be used as an alternate binder in place of cement. While coarser fly
ash can be used as fill material, the finer ash can be used for replacement of
sand and cement in road construction works. Use of fly ash for rural road work
has been covered in IRC:SP:20 2002 and Rural Road Manual. Several
demonstrated rural road project are implemented around major thermal power
plants in India.
Steel Slag: It is a waste product of steel industries and it can be used as
pavement material in a variety of forms. Normally production of one tonne of
steel results in generation of one tonne of solid waste. The big steel plants in
India generate about 29 million tonnes of waste material annually. In addition,
there are several medium and small plants all over the country also produces
steel slags. It can be used as a base or sub-base material either in bound or
unbound condition. It meets all the requirements set forth by the MORTH. As per
IRC:37-2001, Rs 5 lakh per km can be saved by using slag as road material.
Marble dust: It is a waste material of marble industry and widely found in
Rajasthan,. It has been shown that the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) of the
sub-soil may be increased by upto 40% to 50% by mixing 15% to 25% of marble
dust depending upon the nature of soil. Thus the cost of construction may be
reduced considerably.

Processed Municipal Wastes: Inorganic materials in the processed municipal

wastes such as pebbles, glass pieces and other non-degradable materials can
be used along with the local soils in construction of low volume and rural roads.
Under the aegis of Ministry of Environment and Forest, the CRRI has conducted

42
laboratory and field studies. Based on laboratory studies pavement design
thickness was arrived and constructed a test track using the tractor bound
technology for various operations while construction. The performance of this
road has been studied for about three years and found that it has performed
well. Depending upon the local conditions and the nature of the material, it is
proposed to make detailed study and develop specifications for its use in road
works.

Phosphogypsum - It is a by-product of phosphoric acid based fertilizer plants. It

can be used to stabilise black cotton soils as it reduces the shrinkage and
swelling of black cotton soil. The fertilizer plant located at Dalhej, Gujarat has
demonstrated usage of this technology. The cost of road after phosphogypsum
stabilisation is about 25% less than the normal construction cost.
Jute Geo-Textile (JGT) is a natural technical textile laid in or on soil to improve
its engineering properties in road construction. The NRRDA has taken up a pilot
project in collaboration with the Jute Manufacturers Development Council
(JMDC) to demonstrate the potential benefits of use of JGT in construction of
rural roads. This pilot project aims at standardization of different types of Jutes.
Under the pilot project 10 roads have been selected in Assam, Chattisgarh,
Madhya Pradesh and Orissa covering a length of 47.84 km. Central Road
Research Institute has been engaged as a technical consultant for this project
for project preparation, quality control, and monitoring and performance
evaluation.
Waste Plastics: Polymer modified bitumen is emerging as one of the important
construction materials for flexible pavement. The choice of the polymers varies
from virgin polymer to waster polymers and latex to waster rubber. The plastic
wastes are polymers, they are either blended or dispersed with bitumen and the
mix is used as modified binder. Use of plastic waste in the construction of
flexible pavement is gaining importance due to better properties and reduction of
plastic waste pollution. Several researches are carried out and specifications
are developed and tested by construction of test tracks and the results are
encouraging. Codes and procedures are being prepared for use of plastic
wastes in rural roads. NRRDA has initiated the process of getting design
specifications and also getting the approval of Indian Roads Congress to
promote this type of specifications in rural roads.
6.2 Construction Methods and Technology
Road construction techniques have been constantly upgraded and use of new
and alternative materials as well as modern equipments is advocated for all
types of roads. It is logical to see that the purpose of road construction is to
provide a firm, durable and even surface of pavement, which could stand the
stresses imparted due to traffic and climatic conditions. The construction
techniques for rural roads could be broadly classified as: (i) conventional, (ii)
mechanized and (iii) intermediate.

43
Since rural roads are to be considered as engineering assets, they are required
to be properly designed and constructed with high quality. This can be achieved
only if proper use of high end equipment for bulk construction of road works.

6.2.1 Traditional Methods and Technology

The current practice of construction and maintenance of rural roads continue to

be traditional. Though there is an increasing awareness regarding the need of
maximising use of locally available materials, adoption of soil stabilisation
techniques and relevance of sealed gravel roads for low volume traffic
conditions, cost effectiveness practices have not yet found favour in most of the
rural road construction. Deployment of equipment/plant by and enlarge is the
same as is being used for higher category of roads. State may have a
mechanism of interacting with financial institutions, contractors and equipment
manufacturers to facilitate the availability of required machinery for construction
and maintenance of rural roads.

Even though intermediate technology is advocated for rural roads for speedy
construction, achieving the required quality of construction, use of machineries
will become necessary in selected operations. The present assessment is that
available machinery for rural road sector is nearly 1/3 of what it should be. It has
been estimated for PMGSY works that for Rs.5 crore package, initial cost of
machine is Rs.1 to 1,5 crore. Though, the cost to the work is much less as the
same machine is used in other works as well. In order to increase the use of
machines, awareness among the Contractors is to be created sensitizing them
on quality assurance system.

6.2.2 Labour-based Technology

As the rural population grows in the coming years, off-farm employment

opportunities need to be created to contain migration of rural population to towns
and cities. Road construction and maintenance using labour-based technology
promises to be a good avenue for creating employment potential while building
productive assets. Many of the operations involved in rural road construction on
such as excavation, embankment construction, soil-stabilisation, surface
dressing, maintenance operations like trimming of berms and cutting grass and
weeds, are easily amenable to be undertaken by manual means with support of
light equipment. Provision of better tools to enhance the productivity of labour
and training of the work-force will help in the process. International experience
from China and several African countries suggests that most of the operations
involved in the construction and maintenance of Rural Roads can be efficiently
performed by labour, aided by simple implements to increase their productivity.

44
6.2.3 Intermediate Construction Technology and Equipment
The construction of rural roads in our country is largely with conventional
techniques and is labour intensive. However, these techniques are slow and
often result in sub-standard quality of finished product. On the other hand,
machine based technologies are capital intensive and hence cannot be pressed
for low volume rural road construction. Keeping in view the importance of
employment opportunities and at the same time ensuring a minimum standard
quality necessitates adoption of intermediate technology. A study on use of
tractor-powered technology using locally available agricultural machinery,
tractors-tiller was developed. The important operations such as loosening the
soil for excavation, site clearance, loading and unloading, pulverization, mixing
of additives, watering, spreading of soil, additives, leveling of soil at desired
camber and compaction can be done with such a machinery. Normally, these
equipments remain idle in the agricultural fields for a considerable time in rural
areas during sowing-harvesting cycles and therefore facilitate their use with no
further investment and simultaneously getting better productivity of existing
machinery.

The equipment manufacturing industries needs to focus on intermediate and

low-end technology machines which can be used cost effectively by the local
contractors in construction and maintenance of rural roads. Simple equipments
such as Pedestrian road rollers, chip sealing machines, simple equipment for
spraying emulsion, cold mix plants of small capacity, pot hole kit are some of the
promising items of the equipment. There is a scope for developing a healthy
equipment leasing industry in the private sector to reduce financial burden on
contractors in the use of machinery.

6.3 Design Modifications

Indian Roads Congress has revised its design guidelines of flexible and rigid
pavements for rural roads. However, performance based design to be developed
during 11th Plan, is likely to further modify the design to provide improved
performance. Such design shall be suiting to the need of terrain, climate,
material availability, drainage condition, etc. and even at lower cost. This is to be
an important target in 11th Plan, and also to use the non-conventional materials
as primary material for rural roads with modified design.

6.4 Effect of Cost due to material haulage.

In any road construction, substantial portion of the cost of construction is the

materials cost. In many places in the country (like parts of UP and north Bihar,
Mizoram, Tripura, etc) the materials like hard stone has to be hauled from a lead
distance more than 100 to 200 km and sometimes upto 500 km. Use of locally
available materials (with design modifications) and adopting appropriate
construction technology may reduce the cost of construction drastically bringing

45
down the cost of haulage from far away distances. However, this requires
considerable efforts right at the development of specifications for the marginal
materials in the road construction, inclusion of the same in the standard
specifications and insist that these be followed meticulously while preparing the
project proposals. Appropriate R&D initiatives at the State will facilitate and
accelerate the use of marginal materials for cutting down the cost of construction
due to longer haulage of standard materials.

6.5 Employment Potentials in Rural Road Sector

Road construction activities generate direct employment opportunities for the

skilled, unskilled labourers and also provide an opportunity for local
entrepreneurship to supply the procurement of rural road project activities. The
labour employment opportunity is mainly depends upon the construction
technology. The technology is also decides proportion of labour, material and
equipment usage in road works. Depending upon the sites and availability of
labourers the labour-based methods are well suited for site clearance,
earthwork, short hauling, and aggregate preparation. Even bituminous work also
generates labour employment. Table 6.1 provides an estimation of portion of
labour, material and equipment which gives an idea of direct employment
generation in road construction.
Table 6.1 Proportions of Labour, Materials and Equipment in Rural Road
Construction
Sl Proportion of
No. Technology chosen
Materials Labour Equipment Total
1 Purely labour-oriented* 60 40 -- 100
2 Labour oriented, but with 60 25 15 100
selective use of light
equipment (Intermediate
technology)
3 Highly equipment oriented 60 5 35 100
*Applicable to tracks and uncompacted roads

(Source: Rural Road development Vision t – 2025 Draft)

Rural roads should be constructed by adopting the Intermediate Technology. An

expenditure of Rs. 1 crore in rural roads is likely to create 40,000 man-days of
employment (taking an average wage rate of Rs. 75 per day). Taking into
account the assessment of investments required in construction and
maintenance of rural roads during the plan periods, the employment in terms of
man-days likely to be generated is in tune of 440 million mandays.
There are many spin-offs that can be expected from the rural road programmes
that can lead to the creation of additional jobs. These will be:
• creation of better avenues for self-employment;

46
 • on-farm employment opportunities due to shift in cropping pattern
• non-farm opportunities like grocery shops, tea stalls, small businesses
and cottage industries;
• expansion of health, education and agro-based industries.

There is a need for undertaking studies to quantify such spin off employment
potential by construction of rural roads. The general impression is that it is
several times that of direct employment and is of continuing nature.

6.6 Recommendations

¾ Low cost marginal and industrial waste may be promoted for rural road
construction; necessary design and specifications be developed.
¾ The standard construction technology should be used for ensuring quality
of construction; however, wherever possible labour based construction
methods also may be adopted. But, it must be emphasized that
employment generation is not the focus of rural roads programmes.
¾ Many lower cost technologies like soil stabilization is not used often due to
lack of appropriate mechanical devices; such shortcomings must be
removed by appropriate developments for machineries.

47
 Chapter 7

Maintenance Management for Rural Roads

7.1 Maintenance Needs and Criteria

Road maintenance is a routine work performed for upkeep of pavement, shoulder

and other facilities provided for road users. The maintenance is essential to get
optimum service from the pavement structure during its designed life. Time to time
rational maintenance norms are evolved for rural roads these norms should be
followed by the rural road executing agencies for better management of rural roads.

The current replacement cost of existing rural roads network according to the Rural
Road development Plan Vision 2025 (draft), is estimated to be Rs.2,00,000 crore.
Resulting loss in value of road assets due to non maintenance would be as high as
Rs.10,000 crore per year equivalent to 50,000 km of road being eroded each year.
Therefore the assets created have to be maintain still its design life. Routine
Maintenance Priority will be based on the following criteria.

(i) The roads in each District will be ranked according to the Pavement Condition
Index (PCI). Subject to the overall availability of funds, roads of progressively
lower PCI will be uniformly taken up in all Districts for inclusion in the list.
(ii) In case it is necessary, a further sub-prioritisation will be done on the basis of
Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT), which will need to be applied only in
case of all roads of a particular class, cannot be taken up for maintenance due
to scarcity of resources.
(iii) Subject to earmarking of maintenance funds on project basis e.g., World Bank
aided projects, PMGSY maintenance contracts; etc., the divisible pool of
maintenance fund will be distributed among the Districts in ratio of the total
length of roads of the priority classes being taken up for maintenance.

Priority should be given to preventive maintenance techniques, such as crack

sealing, surface dressing, dressing and maintenance of shoulders, drainage
works to extend the life of the pavement significantly.

As per PMGSY Guidelines, the State Government is required to undertake the

maintenance of the entire Core Network in addition to the road works
constructed / upgraded under the Programme. The State Governments will need
to develop sustainable sources of funding for undertaking the maintenance
functions.

Providing dedicated fund is pre-requisite for sustainable maintenance. Normal

sources of funding for maintenance is comes from regular budgetary sources
and creation of fund with special purpose levy such as mandi cess, fuel etc. and

48
maintenance awards by finance commission. The other option is projectisation
of maintenance option can be examined with appropriate cost sharing basis by
the State and Central Governments for PMGSY/Bharat Nirman roads. The
same can also be practiced for other rural road programme by the state
governments.

7.2 Asset Management Strategy

The components of road asset include pavement, bridges and other cross
drainage structures, tress and other amenities within road land. The
management of road asset comprises of maintenance of all these components
to the required level of serviceability, and traffic management. Thus, road asset
management is systematic process for maintaining, upgrading and operating
physical assets cost effectively. In other words, it is combination of engineering
principles with sound business practices and economic theory. It should provide
short term and long range planning for the asset. In the 11th Plan the asset
management principles may be adopted by creating asset information system,
and a pilot scale development should be attempted for selected districts through
the rural roads programme under PMGSY/Bharat Nirman.

7.3 Maintenance Interventions and Technology

The core problem in maintenance is in attitudes which need a change. There is

no clear ownership of rural roads for almost all the rural roads, as they have
been constructed on and off under different schemes.

As per PMGSY guidelines, the rural roads construction under the programme
will be maintained by the same contractor of a period of five years. Clear
guidelines are developed and presented in the rural road manual
(IRC:SP:20:2002). The specifications of items of routine maintenance shall be
as per the Specification of Rural Roads and the analysis of rates shall be based
on the Standard data book.

7.4 Maintenance Management System

The existing database for roads is generally weak. For rural roads, the position is
worse. There is an urgent need to establish a Road Management Unit at the Head
Quarters of the State PWD / Rural Engineering Organisations (in fact preferably the
SRRDA). This unit should have the responsibility of a creation of a Maintenance
Management System. The output expected from the MMS would be:
ƒ Network condition
ƒ Road Inventory
ƒ Need based priorities based on deterioration prediction models
ƒ Annual Maintenance Plan for a given budget

49
7.5 Privatized Contract Management

With the expansion of the road network to provide connectivity to habitations

associated with increasing traffic due to economic growth that leads to fasten
detoriation and frequent interventions, the States face difficulty in undertaking
routine maintenance. A few States have already started performance based system
of contract maintenance in respect of rural roads. The Standard Bidding Document
(SBD) developed for PMGSY and prescribed to all the States clearly brings out one
aspect of the policy on Contract Maintenance. In the World Bank funded Andhra
Pradesh Economic Restructuring project, maintenance works are also being
executed, on pilot basis, through annual maintenance contracts in geographically
compact packages. The experiences thus far are encouraging and need to be
standardized for wider application.

7.6 Community Participation in Maintenance

The basic objective of the community participation in maintenance of rural road

is to improve the quality and serviceability of the road. In this process it is
expected that community may voluntarily participate by way of donating labour,
informing the damages, or repairing of small pot holes, cracks etc. However, not
much headway is made in this direction in India. Therefore, it calls for a
dialogue with various stake holders such as NGOs operating in rural areas,
cooperative societies, Panchayat Institutions, etc. Since the PRIs provide the
organised form of community participation their involvement and details are
discussed Chapter 11 and in Section 11.5. A few international experiences are
discussed in the subsequent paragraphs to through light on these types of
systems.

The Government of Finland has promoted rural road maintenance using road
cooperatives. A road cooperative is a rural road maintenance organisation
whereby the people living along it maintain the road. The Finnish Government
has provided a legal framework which stipulates the right-of-way, cooperative
ownership, and the formula for distribution of maintenance costs amongst the
road users and property holders along the road. Participation in the road
cooperative is compulsory for property owners who use the road. The cost of
road maintenance is shared amongst the members of the cooperative
depending on the benefits to each member in the form of the size of the holding
and the created traffic.
In Peru, the Rural Roads Project (RRP) has set up a cost-effective routine
maintenance system based on contracting out labour-intensive maintenance
works to micro-enterprises, local cooperatives and other community based
organisations. The composition of the micro-enterprises varies according to the
length of the road. Their average size is about 13 people and the average length
of the roads covered under a contract is about 34.6 km. Typically, micro-
enterprises are made up of 11 to 20 people living close to the road. Priority is

50
given to unemployed people who have previous experience in construction
works.
Simple routine maintenance can be assigned to various community groups such
as NGO, cooperatives, etc. on cost sharing basis with necessary orientation,
training and motivation.

7.7 Recommendations
¾ No asset lasts long without due maintenance and rural roads are no
exemption. Routine and periodic maintenance should be planned and
executed with due budgeting for the funds during 11th Plan.
¾ Projectisation of maintenance option can be examined with appropriate
cost sharing basis by the State and Central Governments for
PMGSY/Bharat Nirman roads.
¾ Uniform level of service criteria for maintenance be developed and adopted
across the country. Suitable computerized maintenance management
system (MMS) utilizing simple measurements (inventory and PCI data) be
adopted for rural roads.
¾ Since the roads are to be owned by the PRIs, a community based
maintenance programme may be adopted with hierarchical arrangement
with District PIUs for higher level maintenance while routine maintenance
being the responsibility of PRIs.
¾ Scientifically based ‘PMMS’ (pavement maintenance management system)
suitable for sustainability of rural roads should be evolved based on the
principles of road asset management.

51
 Chapter 8

Looking Beyond PMGSY

8.1 New Initiatives in PMGSY

Under PMGSY several guidelines, manuals and documents on planning, project

preparation, design, construction and maintenance of rural roads, culverts and
small bridges; operational manual for execution; quality control handbooks and
registers; standard bid documents (SBD); etc were prepared for assisting the
executive agencies. Apart from these developments, the PMGSY programme
also initiated several associated project implementation aspects. It has
prescribed a separate institutional pattern for planning and implementation of the
programme. At District level the programme is executed by Programme
Implementing Unit (PIU), and they are coordinated at State level by the State
Rural Road Development Agency (SRRDA) and at national level the NRRDA
provides operational and management support to the programme.

To ensure streamlined functioning and adequate coordination (especially where

there is more than one executing agency), officers of the PIU are made fully
accountable to the SRRDA and be brought under its administrative control. The
SRRDA would function as dedicated agency of the state nodal department for
rural roads, to ensure integrated development of rural roads through the various
schemes including PMGSY. In order to facilitate speedy implementation and
provide better roads by attracting good contractors, the project proposals are
packaged between Rs.1 to 5 crore. This attracted big contractors in this sector
and also enabled and strengthens the capacity of the local contractors.

Various research and academic institutions are networked as State Technical

Agencies (STA) for assisting in the preparation and scrutiny of the project
proposals prepared by the executing agency (PIU). In addition, the programme
also assisted in developing the capacity of these network institutions by
organizing several workshops and trainer training programmes. As a part of the
programme, several conferences, seminars and workshops are being organized
to disseminate the knowledge and the implementing system. It sponsored
several training programme to the field engineers and technicians.

Taking advantage of the information and communication technology, the

programme is being monitored and managed through a web enabled ‘On-line
Management & Monitoring and Accounting System (OMMAS)’. The executing
agencies will have to input all the data pertaining to the programme. It is not only
speeding up the execution, but also provides transparency in implementation of
the programme.

52
The efforts made under this programme should be perused with further
refinements for achieving the targets proposed in the 11th Five Year Plan.

8.2 Uniform Standards and Specifications

Rural roads are being constructed by several agencies under State

Governments in different programmes. They adopt their own standards,
specifications and design procedures, which are often lower than what the IRC
manual advocates. Over a period of time, when the traffic increases, it is difficult
to widen or strengthen these roads. It may become more cost than constructing
a new road. Therefore, it is suggested that all rural road constructed by different
agencies or funded by different institutions such as NABARD should follow the
same standards prescribed for the rural road projects under taken in the
PMSGY/Bharat Niman as per IRC/MORD book of specifications.

8.3 Utilisation of Capacity Built under PMGSY

As mentioned earlier, the existing institutional setup for implementation of

PMGSY/Bharat Nirman can be utilized for development of intra-village/habitation
roads, state rural road programme and multilateral funded projects. Application
of uniform standard and specifications developed by Indian Roads Congress for
Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India should be made
compulsory for all roads irrespective of the source of funding.

8.4 Accessibility to Lower Order Settlements

8.4.1 Magnitude of the Problem.

PMGSY envisages providing New Connectivity to all the habitations with 500
and above population in Plains and to the habitations of 250 and above in Hill
States, Tribal and Desert Areas.

Table 8.1 gives the category wise eligibility of Unconnected Habitations to be

covered under PMGSY for all the States. With this eligibility criteria, out of
3,46,607 unconnected habitations only 1,78,768 habitations become eligible for
new connectivity under PMGSY, covering only 51.58% of the unconnected
habitations. The eligibility varies from 17% to almost 100% in different States.
Even with the assumption that some of the unconnected habitations of lower
order population may get connected incidentally, the percentage connectivity of
the habitation may touch about 60% leaving 40% of the habitations with lower
order population unconnected.

As per the programme guidelines currently applicable in the plain areas, the
eligibility of the habitations getting connected varies from 19% to almost 100% in
different States. However, in maximum number of States, the eligibility levels are
at the higher end. In the States of Karnataka and Maharashtra, the eligibility

53
stands at 19% and 22% respectively and Uttar Pradesh has only 32% eligible
habitations covering under PMGSY.

Similarly, in the hill states the prospects are more discouraging. For example in
the State of Arunachal Pradesh only 17% of the habitations (466 out of 2741)
are becoming eligible for new connectivity under PMGSY. These figures are
27.5% for Meghalaya, 29.4% for Uttranchal, 30.81% for Himachal Pradesh and
43% for Tripura. Only for States like Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim the eligibility
has crossed 70%.

The reason for low eligibility in the States like Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya,
Uttranchal etc. is the wide spread of smaller habitations and even with the
existing Guidelines on the Cluster Approach, many settlements are not getting
the eligibility for new roads.

As indicated in Table 3.5, the task of providing new connectivity, even to those
habitations eligible under PMGSY according to the existing norms, is expected
to spill over to the 12th Five year Plan. However, it would not be desirable to
postpone the provision of connectivity to the lower order settlements till that
time, since even these habitations need to have primary access to health,
education and market facilities. The issue of connecting habitations which are
not eligible according to the current norms of PMGSY, therefore, needs to be
tackled during the 11th Five year Plan itself.

54
 Table 8.1: Eligibility of Habitations to be connected under PMGSY

Eligible Unconnected
Habitations Total to be
No. of % eligible
Name the Total No of covered
# Unconnected Unconnected
State Habitations under
Habitations 500- 250- habitations
1000+ PMGSY
999 499

Andhra
1 67401 2679 167 417 396 980 36.58
Pradesh
Arunachal
2 3880 2741 49 127 290 466 17.00
Pradesh
3 Assam 23152 17975 7323 4862 3161 15346 85.37
4 Bihar 39824 11497 8187 1847 0 10034 87.27
5 Chattisgarh 29544 24202 2604 6313 3644 12561 51.90
6 Goa 369 55 0 20 35 55 100.00
7 Gujarat 35282 8127 472 2288 1493 4253 52.33
8 Haryana 6745 23 0 2 0 2 8.70
Himachal
9 16997 11340 262 853 2379 3494 30.81
Pradesh
Jammu &
10 9270 3946 785 942 1065 2792 70.76
Kashmir
11 Jarkhand 35769 21036 2622 4178 3896 10696 50.85
12 Karnataka 56682 4608 156 118 602 876 19.01
13 Kerala 14899 475 121 333 19 473 99.58
Madhya
14 55719 34771 5804 10645 2043 18492 53.18
Pradesh
15 Maharashtra 56663 6892 187 810 516 1513 21.95
16 Manipur 2905 1142 71 187 340 598 52.36
17 Meghalaya 5362 2752 9 150 597 756 27.47
18 Mizoram 790 392 47 114 124 285 72.70
19 Nagaland 1049 127 21 32 41 94 74.02
20 Orissa 50101 29023 3703 6715 7921 18339 63.19
21 Punjab 13579 920 103 433 0 536 58.26
22 Rajasthan 39954 19945 2725 6428 1842 10995 55.13
23 Sikkim 901 410 16 138 164 318 77.56
24 Tamil Nadu 62919 5318 577 1825 238 2640 49.64
25 Tripura 8132 4448 179 655 1083 1917 43.10
26 Uttar Pradesh 170004 89246 10898 17944 0 28842 32.32
27 Uttaranchal 16800 8613 152 690 1689 2531 29.39
28 West Bengal 58263 33904 12790 10142 5952 28884 85.19
Total 882955 346607 60030 79208 39530 178768 51.58

55
8.4.2 The Way Out

In order to overcome the deprivation of the people living in lower order

settlements from basic access to socio-economic needs, there are two possible
approaches that can be pursued.

I. The cluster approach, currently envisaged in the guidelines of PMGSY do

not seem to be adequate for the hill states, where smaller habitations with
population less than 250 are dispersed over a wide geographical area.
The existing cluster approach, should be reviewed on the basis of ground
level survey of the settlement patterns in States like Arunachal Pradesh
and consequential amendments should be made in the programme
guidelines, so that larger number of habitations become eligible for
coverage in hill States.
II. In other States, it may be necessary to use the resources from Wage
Employment Programme and other available sources from the State for
providing connectivity to the lower order settlements.

In both the cases, it is necessary to review and revamp the Core Network
methodology that formed the basis for selection and prioritization of roads under
PMGSY, for developing a master plan providing accessibility to the lower order
settlements. While the Core Network Plans are being reviewed, optimal rural
roads network is to be developed for providing access to various socio-economic
needs of the society, with uniform treatment to all the habitations, without
discriminating with the size of the settlement. As recommended earlier, the
concept of accessibility should be brought in while preparing the master plan.
Once such a plan is ready, guidelines for prioritization of the links in the master
plan are to be prepared strictly on scientific basis. With the master plan as the
basis, there is an urgent need to develop a business plan for connecting the
habitations of lower order population looking beyond PMGSY.

8.4.3 Need for Standard Guidelines.

Providing connectivity to smaller settlements should not be left entirely to the

state wise practices of the implementing agencies. There should be common
guidelines on Standards for the roads leading to smaller size settlement both
with respect to Geometrics as well as need based structure for the Pavement.
Though, it is possible to upgrade the pavement structure at a later stage, as a
routine, when higher level of traffic is generated, it would be difficult and become
too costly to improve the Geometrics once the alignment is fixed and
development sets in along the road. Therefore, while developing the guidelines,
the minimum Geometrical Standards are to be insisted upon, so that such roads
built for connecting smaller habitations will become amenable for upgradation
through Stage Construction process. The idea here is to provide fair weather

56
connectivity to start with for maximum number of people, which may be
improved to all weather connectivity over a period of time.

It should be emphasized here that there should be no compromise in Planning,

Design and Construction of Drainage System, in order to ensure sustainability of
the roads, as the past experience showed that poor drainage is the critical factor
for the premature deterioration and failures of roads as well as for their poor
performance. Therefore, guidelines for integrated drainage are to be accordingly
developed.

8.5 Recommendations

¾ All programmes supporting construction of rural roads for all-weather

connectivity must fall under one umbrella organization like SRRDA,
irrespective of funding source including the external source or borrowing or
even Public Private Partnership.
¾ The existing cluster approach, should be reviewed on the basis of ground
level survey of the settlement patterns in States like Arunachal Pradesh
and consequential amendments should be made in the programme
guidelines, so that larger number of habitations become eligible for
coverage in hill States.
¾ It is recommended that the States may use the resources from Wage
Employment Programme and other available sources from the State for
providing connectivity to the lower order settlements.
¾ The planning and design standards shall remain uniform across the board
and across the nation for developing only sustainable assets subject to
variations in terrain, soil, traffic and environmental conditions.
¾ While PMGSY contemplates connectivity to habitations with 500 and above
normally and 250 and above in special areas, in future connectivity should
be aimed at all habitations irrespective of population sizes (including lower
order settlements).
¾ PMGSY has been able to change the scenario in the country in terms of
capacity of contracting industry, trained manpower and also the availability
of modern equipments. The future Plans must utilize this capacity and
enhance it for achieving higher targets of the 11th and subsequent Plans

57
 Chapter 9

Quality Assurance

9.1 Need of Quality Control in Rural Roads

Quality control refers to the practice of checking the quality of a product by

testing samples. Since large investments are being made in the rural roads now,
it is desirable that good quality roads are constructed meeting the laid-down
standards and specifications for durable assets. State Governments should
develop a Quality Assurance system covering all the aspects of Rural Roads.
Over a period of time, the sector should move towards Total Quality
Management (TQM) as practiced universally.

Quality is always appreciated at citizens’ level also, and a mechanism may be

evolved for their participation in this effort. This, in turn, will bring in more
transparency and objectivity to the effort of quality assurance.

9.2 Quality in Planning, Design and Construction

In order to get a rural road of good quality, it is necessary to plan for quality right
from the stage of surveys, investigations, design and preparation of Detailed
Project Report (DPR). The engagement of the right personnel trained for the job
and the use of the right survey and investigation equipment is a pre-requisite for
obtaining a good quality DPR. As a part of the quality check, the DPRs
prepared are thoroughly scrutinized by the State Technical Agencies and are
assured in convenience with the set guidelines, design standards and
procedures. The construction of rural roads is generally taken up in stages
depending upon different layers designed. In each stage the designated
authorities are carrying out the quality control.
There has been, by and large, a good feedback on the experience of quality in
construction of PMGSY roads. The contractors are also taking pride in delivery
of quality work. The states will do well by adopting such features uniformly on all
rural road works irrespective of the source of funding and the agency
responsible for rural roads. However it must be emphasized that while the
responsibility of ensuring the stated quality fully rests on the contractor, the
supervisory staff responsible for final acceptance has the duty of ensuring that
the contractor discharges his responsibility faithfully. Quality comes at a price,
but is a price worth paying only if the system ensures that the quality product is
delivered.

58
9.3 Quality Control System

The Ministry of Rural Development has given a push to quality culture in rural
roads construction by establishment of a three-tier system of quality control for
the PMGSY roads during construction detailed as under:

(i) First Tier: At the local level, involving the contractor and the supervisory
staff of Project Implementation Unit (PIU)

(ii) Second Tier: An independent check of the quality through periodic

checks by State Quality Monitors (SQM), officers and agencies engaged
by the State Government, independent of the PIU.

(iii) Third Tier: Independent inspection of works by National Quality Monitors

(NQM), appointed by the Central Government out of experienced retired
Engineers from the states.

For checking the quality of works, the standard bidding document clearly
specifies establishment of field laboratories by the contractor, with the specified
minimum testing equipment and facilities. Most of States have established the
field laboratory, quality control laboratory and district level laboratories as per the
provisions of the Rural Roads Manual. These laboratories are to be used
hierarchically at district, region and state level for strict quality control regime.
However, these laboratories are required to be strengthened with proper trained
manpower and modern testing equipments.

Quality control, quality assurance and third party quality audit are to be
systematically adopted with streamlined institutional arrangements with an
objective of achieving Total Quality Management (TQM) in rural roads. It may be
mentioned that quality product (i.e. rural road) is dependent firstly on planning
itself, i.e. a quality Detailed Project Report (DPR). Thus, State level quality
assurance system will have to facilitate higher level of technical inputs including
project planning technique, material characterization and design for rural roads.

In order to strengthen the implementation of quality systems requires earmarked

funds. Some percentage of the cost of the project should be set apart for this
purpose as is done under PMGSY. This should also include funds required for
training of the personnel.

Total Quality Management can succeed only if the engineers (at various levels),
contractor’s staff, consultant’s experts and laboratory technicians are trained at
appropriate level to systematically strive for quality. The training should be a
continuous process, with skills getting updated as new processes and materials
are involved in Rural Roads.

59
9.4 Modern Techniques for Quality Assurance

Using modern techniques and construction methodology can provide the quality
assurance in rural road construction. One such example is that in PMGSY, it
recommended to used modern equipment such as using vibratory rollers to
provide good compaction of base courses and sub-bases to achieve desired
quality. The other modern methods, using latest technology equipments, such
as non-destructive testing using, falling weight deflector, nuclear density gage,
infra-red based equipment to know the grade and bituminous thickness can be
effectively be used to assure the quality of rural roads.

9.5 Recommendations

¾ Durable assets can be created by ensuring quality; this has been the prime
objective of PMGSY. Very high standard of quality has been set up by this
programme, which must be maintained.
¾ The three-tier quality control system adopted by PMGSY needs further
strengthening for enhancing the capacity to meet the higher targets in the
11th Plan.
¾ Both in construction and quality control, modern technology should be
introduced for better results.
¾ To achieve total quality management in rural road works the thrust of the
States should start from the preparation of DPR itself.
¾ A method of citizens’ audit should be adopted to provide more
transparency in the design and construction stages; while the planning
already takes care of this aspect through their participation in various ways.

60
 Chapter 10

Environmental and Social Safeguard Issues

10.1 Environmental Issues

Environmental considerations forms an integral part of road planning and project

appraisal process. It captures the likely negative effects of a new project on the
quality of life. Construction of new roads or improvement of existing roads tends
to have adverse impact on physical environment such as land, soils, water, air,
noise and on flora and fauna. Due to increase in traffic such projects also have
effect on community cohesiveness of indigenous population. The rural road may
have less impact on the environment due to its scale of implementation. The
social impacts may also arise due to land acquisition for improvement of the
existing tracts. These problems need to be addressed, studies and suitably
amendable in the project appraisal stage. In order to study and reduce the
adverse impacts on environment, several methodologies and techniques, are
proposed in various guidelines (ADB, 1988; IRC, 1988; MOEF, 1993; OECD,
1994; DMRB, 1996; and World Bank, 1991) for road projects, which can be
useful while planning and development of road network system.

10.2 Social Impacts

Social impact assessment of road projects is a systematic investigation of the

social processes and factors that affect the society. The major purpose is to
minimize the negative impact of the projects and maximise the benefits. It is
being established through collection of base line socio-economic data and
stakeholder analysis. To avoid the negative impacts, normally project affected
persons (PAP) or the families are identified and assessed the impacts in terms
of loss of land, property and livelihood. In this process appropriate action plan is
prepared to rehabilitate and resettle the affected persons or families.

Currently under PMGSY programme the environmental and social issues are
given importance through a ‘Transect Walk’. While preparing the DPR, PIU will
hold consultation with the local community through the mechanism of the Gram
Panchayat in order to determine the most suitable alignment, sort out issues of
land availability (including forest land), moderate any adverse social and
environmental impact (including barrow fits and channeling drains) and elicit
necessary community participation in the programme. It is being organized by
conducting a mandatory ‘Transect Walk’ along the project road by the
representatives of PIUs, Gram Panchayat, revenue officials and forest officials
for identifying various issues related to land requirements for the road and its
impact on landowners, environmental impacts and other social issues. During
the walk, due opportunity shall be given to interested persons to put forward
their point of view. At the end of the walk, alignment shall be finalized after

61
recording the issues that arose during the walk and the action taken / proposed
to resolve the issues.

10.3 Afforestation

Rural road projects (new construction as well as upgrading) may require removal
of trees falling along the alignment. In addition to felling of trees, borrow areas
and mining areas have to be cleared of all vegetation before the soil can be
used for roadwork. In view of the large programme of construction of rural roads
envisaged now, a proper afforestation strategy and mechanism for sustainability
of plantation needs to be put in place.

10.3.1 Plantation Strategy

A plan for tree plantation should be formulated at the time of finalizing the
detailed project report for construction/upgrading of rural roads. Some of the
objectives of tree plantation along rural roads are:

• To create a green belt and avenues for meeting aesthetic recreational

needs and their by providing shade to pedestrians and reduce ambient
temperature
• To reduce the surface run-off discharge and checking erosion in the
downhill side especially in hilly regions.
• To create a storehouse of genetic diversity by planting all the indigenous
trees, shrubs, herbs, climbers, creepers, conifers and green foliages
including fruits and medicinal plants.
• To reduce the encroachment of road reserve areas.
• Drought proofing (including afforestation and tree plantation) e.g. pasture
development, block plantation, horticulture plantation, barren hill plantation,
avenue plantation.
• The raising of nurseries, plantation of saplings and maintenance of trees
would generate employment opportunities for the local people and also
provides a sustainable source of fuel wood for the rural communities.

The current guidelines of the NRRDA specify that the State Governments would
take up the plantation of fruit or other suitable trees on both sides of the rural
roads from their own funds. However, certain precautions must be taken in
design of avenue or cluster plantation so that the trees do not have an adverse
impact on road maintenance and/or safety of the road user. Emphasis must be
placed on a greater involvement of communities and Gram Panchayats in
planning, maintenance and upkeep of roadside trees.

As suggested by the Rural Roads Vision-2025 document, a comprehensive

Manual for planning and plantation of trees along rural roads may be prepared in
consultation the National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board (NAEB) for
serving as guidance to the project implementation units at the time of execution

62
of rural road projects and the Gram Panchayats in proper maintenance and
upkeep of the trees.

10.3.2 Tree Plantation and Mechanism for Sustainability

During the 11th Plan period it is proposed to take up 1.65 lakh km length of new
construction and around 1.92 lakh km length for upgradation and renewal of
rural roads. A total about 3.57 lakh km of rural roads may be used for road side
plantation. Even if, we estimate about 200 trees per km length, with an average
of 100 trees in each side, a total of about 700 lakh trees may be grown.
Depending upon the species to be adopted, the quantum of benefits may be
derived in terms of green cover fruits yield (especially neem, jamun, tamarind,
etc.), woods (fire woods, and for wood based product, etc) and others.

A mechanism can be proposed to grow and sustain these trees in a systematic

way either as a part of the road project itself or under NREGP or any other State
and Central Government programmes. The saplings of the identified species be
planted along these roads and the ownership may be given to the owner of the
roadside land along with necessary funds for sustenance (as part of routine
maintenance adopted in case of PMGSY roads). Alternatively, the beneficiaries
could be those from NREGP or similar programmes or the Village Panchayat
through the PIUs to take care of them till it grows up to it’s self-sustainability
level (say 5 year period). In forest areas the forest department should be
involved in afforestation activities along with PIUs. Incentives of funds to
maintain/grow the trees and ownership to take advantage of the yields as
suggested above will ensure sustainability of the plantations.

10.4 Impact of Land Acquisition

Rural roads are often constructed by upgrading the existing earthen tracks.
Sometimes these tracks are narrow and need improvement to meet the
minimum engineering standards. This involves acquisition of adjoining lands.
Many a time the owners of these lands are small and marginal farmers who
need to be compensated adequately. The land acquisition process starts by
identifying the required land by the engineering department based on alignment
requirements. The revenue department, which is responsible for acquiring the
land for public purposes, identifies the owners of the land and evaluates their
land according to the records and current usage of the land and fixes the value
of the land. Many a time the valuations are less then market values and are not
adequately compensated to the owners. This situation leads to litigation in
acquisition of the land. It directly affects the total cost of construction and creates
constraints during construction activities. In case of land accusation occurs,
Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) Action Plan may be prepared and
implemented according to the R&R guidelines.

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10.5 Environmental Code of Practice

The MORD has recently finalized “Environmental Codes of Practice” for

adoption on the rural road works financed by World Bank assistance taken up,
under PMGSY, in the four states. Similar action has also been taken up under
schemes financed by Asian Development Bank. There is need to evolve an all
India Code of Practice accounting for state level variations based on local
conditions.

10.6 Recommendations

¾ In all developments of rural roads the environmental issues must be

safeguarded. Further, speedy construction to be ensured by participation
of authority responsible for environmental clearances.
¾ Afforestation along the rural roads by plantations of fruit trees etc be
systematically adopted as part of the design (i.e. DPR) itself. Also for
sustainability, the ownership of such plantations be transferred to the
roadside land owner or the Village Panchayat.
¾ Impact of land acquisition, especially for the marginal farmers of specific
states, be duly considered at the time of project development. The State
Government may be required to compensate the affected person/family
for the same in lieu of community objectives of the road.
¾ Social impacts – both positive and negative be duly accounted in project
preparation. Thus, like EMP, a SMP also be prepared with due
compensation.

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 Chapter 11

Issues related to Capacity Development

11. 1 Institutional Development

In India, rural roads are planned and executed by several state government
agencies, such as Public Works Department (PWD), Rural Engineering
Organisation (REO), District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Irrigation
Department, and Forest Department. These organisations often lack co-
ordination among themselves in planning and implementation of rural road
programmes. Most organisations lack capacity (manpower, machinery, etc.) to
carry out all weather road construction activities. There are no sustained efforts
for capacity building of the organisations involved in development of rural roads
in the area of planning, programming, budgeting and financial management.
Under PMGSY, Programme Implementation Unit (PIU) is established in each
district to plan and execute the rural road projects. The PIU are formed by
drawing manpower mostly from the existing Public Works Department, Rural
Engineering Organisation or Panchayati Raj Engineering Department. They are
fully trained and empowered to handle the projects.

One most important aspect of the central intervention for development of rural
roads in the form of PMGSY has been a generic shift from programme based
resource allocation for implementation to projectised project implementation.
This change has facilitated enforcement of all engineering principles in planning,
design and construction of the rural roads. Further, this has allowed ensuring
quality at every stage of development, which has been possible only because an
agency like district PIU is managing the implementation. However, for state level
coordination a higher level coordinating body will be required to manage the
pooled fund from all programmes for uniform development of rural roads.

There is need for a single specialized nodal agency in each State, which should
be responsible for overall policy, planning and management of rural roads in the
State. The states should also have uniform Works Accounting System. The one
evolved for the PMGSY can serve as a guide. The States need to move in the
direction of a single sectoral agency for effective implementation of all
developmental projects for rural areas. Until then, a nodal agency be identified
and be made responsible for coordination with other agencies and ensuring
integration of various programmes and schemes. Such an agency should also
be able to dovetail with other development programmes relating to rural
infrastructure and public transport.

To effectively manage such a large workload, the ideal set up should be a lean
and thin government organisation, with all major activities like survey,
investigations, designs and construction, being partly outsourced to consultants.
The other alternative is to network with various existing institutions having

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specific capacities for taking advantage of the available expertise. Such a
system has been developed under PMGSY by networking with 40 academic
engineering institutions in the form of State Technical Agency to scrutinize the
projectised proposals and to help in other technical matters.

11.2. Panchayati Raj Institutions

Due to introduction of Panchayati Raj system, the State Governments have

brought the rural road sector under the umbrella of Rural Development
Departments. This may help in implementing the projects with effective local
participation in planning, implementation and maintenance of rural roads. In
some states this process is however yet to take place. These departments are
lacking in appropriate technical manpower to carry out the tasks of planning and
building all-weather rural roads for large number of projects. Local community
involvement at each stage of planning process is needed for selection of optimal
and desired links for connectivity.

For effective delivery of rural infrastructure by the PRI, they need to be provided
with adequate technical support. A separate Rural Roads Wing should be set up
in each state. This Wing may be brought under the Panchayat Raj Department
of the state. The Executive Engineers in the field should be working directly
under the District Panchayats, and they should be responsible to the
Panchayats for all administrative matters. However, for all technical matters, the
field Executive Engineers should report to the Superintending Engineers/Chief
Engineer of the Rural Roads Wing. Like in PMGSY, there should be one Project
Implementation Unit (PIU) in each district, capable of handling capital works to
the tune of Rs.100-200 million per year and maintenance works to the tune of
Rs.50 million per year. If the existing system of SRRDA/PIUs can act as a
single agency for rural road development in any State, then their existing
linkages with the PRIs at different levels should be further strengthened.

The rural road works are by nature small and dispersed over a wide geographic
area in blocks. Such works are difficult to supervise due to the demanding travel
and logistics requirements. This has led to the need of decentralization of
responsibility for provision and maintenance for rural roads to Panchayati Raj
Institutions (PRIs). For discharge of functions, expected of these PRIs, some
states have set up full-fledged Rural Engineering Service/Department to
undertake all engineering works entrusted to the Panchayats. Some others
entrust the works for execution to the Public Works Departments since they
have a battery of experienced technical personnel and well laid down
procedures for engagement of contractors and their in-house capability in
monitoring of quality during execution.

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11.3 Construction Industry

In several states, the contractors engaged in the construction of rural roads are
by and large medium size highway contractors having heavy duty
equipment/plants like Hot Mix Plants, Vibratory Rollers, Excavators, etc. Due to
several road development programmes, which lead a heavy demand for
construction industries in highway sector created shortage of contractors for
rural roadwork. The small-sized and scattered rural road works are in some
cases being subcontracted by these contractors to petty inexperienced
contractors. Currently, the technology under the PMGSY contracts is seen to be
equipment intensive. In order to encourage the healthy growth of small local
contractors for rural works and to increase their capacity, a number of steps
need to be taken. Some suggestions in this regard are:

• Contractors specializing in different activities of road works, e.g, earthwork,

supply of materials, bituminous works, culverts and bridges, shall be
registered under different categories based on size and nature of work.
• The small contractors and specialized contractors shall be encouraged to
serve as subcontractors to large contractors under a formal subcontract, so
that they gain expertise and slowly graduate to take up large size contracts
• There is need to formulate different size contract packages for rural roads
so as to enable small contractors to gain independent entry for small size
contracts to start with
• The concept of equipment banks in the private sector is coming up. This
needs to be encouraged. There are several activities where equipment is
required for short duration at a time although needed on several occasions.
This would help small contractors as they cannot invest in procurement of
equipment but all the same will need them for execution of works
• There is also need for capacity building of small contractors through
training in works and simple business accounting practices The ITIs and
Polytechnics could be used to impart training. The equipment
manufacturers should also come forward in training of foremen and
operators. Stress is to be on both the know-how and the show-how of
workmanship.
• It is suggested that it may be necessary that the duty exemptions on the
purchase of machinery that is now available for the projects funded by
World Bank and ADB may be extended across the board for PMGSY
Projects in all States, in order to facilitate capacity building of contractors.

11.4 Training and Development

In the present set-up, the aspect of imparting adequate training to the staff
engaged in rural road development works, right from senior-level rural road
engineers, down to the unskilled workers at the ground level, leaves a lot to be
desired. Concerted efforts are needed to identify the capacity building and

67
training needs at various levels and to chalk out a time-bound programme for
this purpose. Continuous skill enhancement on the part of government
engineers is necessary to keep abreast of the latest trends and developments in
road technology. This must be supplemented with knowledge and skill on project
management, financial and legal matters. Sufficient funds should be budgeted to
the departments for conducting the training and creating infrastructure for
training facilities. Training programme is required for departmental engineers,
contractors, project engineers and supervisors.
The national level training institutions such as National Institute for Training
Highway Engineers (NITHE), Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), National
Institute for Construction Management and Research (NICMAR), National
Academy for Construction (NAC) and CIDC as well as State Road Research
Institutes along with the selected academic institutes such as IITs and NITs and
prominent engineering collages have to be further involved in strengthening of
training needs, development of curricula and imparting training to the rural road
engineers, consultants, contractors and other associated staff.

11.4.1 Training of Skilled and Semi-skilled Workers

Training is also required for skilled, semi-skilled workers, operators of

equipment, and laboratory assistants. The Industrial training Institutions (ITI)
have to be encouraged to reorient their course syllabus to meet the present day
requirement of road construction aspects. New trade in operation and
management of road construction may be introduced in it is. This will not only
enrich the profession but also result in good quality of road works.

11.4.2 Training of Ground Level Workers

The important aspect of training ground-level workers in construction and

maintenance of roads and cross drainage works is often ignored. However, the
quality of road works and cross-drainage works will depend, to a large extent, on
the manner in which workers in the field have accomplished the various tasks. In
view of their very limited educational background, the ground level workers can
best be trained by showing specially prepared video training films on various
construction techniques and maintenance tasks. Such an approach has been
successfully adopted in several countries in Asia and Africa. The video training
films focus on such aspects of construction and maintenance that need special
emphasis. Also, the various ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ can be effectively brought out in
these films. Such training films need to be dubbed in the local language of the
region, also bringing out extra care to be taken on special problems associated
with the region.

11.4.3 Training Modules

The training modules for different category of manpower have to be prepared

considering the various aspects of rural roads such as, network planning and

68
database management, preparation of DPRs, contract management,
construction technologies and quality assurance, and asset management for
sustenance. The modules should focus on short training and workshops for
planners and policy makers (government officials), short duration training for the
engineering staff with the PIUs, and contractors. Region specific training
programmes can be organized through well established R&D and educational
institutions like CRRI, NITHE, IITs, IIMs, NITs and University Engineering
Departments.

11.5 Decentralized Maintenance

The three-tier Panchayati Raj System (PRIs), offer an excellent opportunity to

institutionalize a hierarchical, decentralized system of maintenance with more
technical and complex operations assigned to the district level and the most
routine and low technology operations to be tackled by the Village Panchayats
through the Maintenance Gangs (MGs). The model envisages formation of MGs
with 4–5 able-bodied villagers to be selected from the village itself and imparted
training on simple maintenance activities. The suggested model for allocation of
maintenance responsibility at different local level is given in Table 11.1.

Table 11.1: A Typical model for allocation of maintenance responsibilities

Admn./Orgn Unit Extent of Road Responsibility

Length, Km.
District 500 – 1000 Planning and assessment of maintenance
needs regularly; rehabilitation and renewal
works periodically every 5 – 7 years.
Block (Intermediate 50 – 100 Procurement of materials and
Panchayat) equipment/implements & distribution to
Central Village Gang (CVG).
Central Village 8 – 10 Collection of materials and
Gang (for a Group equipment/implements from Block HQ and
of Villages) storing for distribution to MG.
Maintenance 1–2 Execution of routine maintenance by the
Gang of Village MG of the village.

Each MG would be made responsible for maintaining 1–2 kms of road located
very close to the village. The intermediate panchayat level set up will have the
responsibility to procure and store materials (aggregates and cold bituminous
emulsion) and implements required for maintenance which will be distributed to
the Central Village Gangs (CVGs) for further distribution to the MGs of the
villages.

Normal agricultural/household implements used by villagers would actually be

utilized for carrying out maintenance works. A specially made push-cart will be
used by the MG for transporting materials and implements to the sites for
maintenance works. A manually operated pug-mill fitted to the push-cart will be

69
used for mixing the aggregates and bitumen for producing the cold mix to be
used in maintenance of bituminous layer. A calibrated small metal container of
known volume can be used for batching of the mix and a normal rammer will be
used for manual compaction of the repaired shoulder, side slope, side drain or
location of the crack repaired. The proposed framework envisages availability of
engineers at the district level to assess the maintenance needs and current
pavement conditions every 6 months in rotation and to pass on the status report
to the intermediate Panchayat for onward transmission to the village
Panchayats. The district level maintenance unit will have facilities for periodic
maintenance and renewal interventions based on pavement condition
evaluation. Fair and equitable distribution of funds and material resources for
operationalising this arrangement will be ensured by the functionaries at the
district and the intermediate level.

The proposed model allocates responsibility to the three-tiers of the Panchayats

commensurate with the capacity available at each level. The model also
envisages competition among the Panchayats and MGs to increase effective
community participation in maintenance of rural roads through the PRIs.

11.6 Sustainability of Rural Roads

Sustainable rural road development denotes economic use of the resource base
which maintains its capacity and renewable productivity on a perpetual basis. It
is a way of ensuring continued productivity of the asset, while maintaining those
characters of environment necessary to human welfare in long run. Therefore,
the rural roads asset created using the valuable environment resources such as
precious soil, stone and other products, it has to be maintained to deliver the
desired level of service. The institutional set up and the maintenance
management aspects are to be synchronized with the environment aspects to
sustain the assets created in various programmes.

11.7 Recommendations

¾ PMGSY has achieved a laudable level of institutional developments during

the last six years. State and district level institutions developed are to be
made more professional by way of qualified manpower and training. HRD
should be a primary requirement for higher targets in 11th Plan.
¾ The ownership of the rural roads will rest with the PRIs eventually, and
therefore, capacity is to be built at the grass root level by qualified
manpower and other training.
¾ Construction industry is having only a limited capacity at this time, and the
PMGSY targets are finding difficult to be achieved. The 11th Plan targets
will require a significant boost to the capacity of road construction industry
¾ The sustainability of the huge asset being built under rural connectivity
programmes will be dependent on the capacity of the PRIs to look after

70
 these assets which they will own. With ownership, the responsibility of their
maintenance also can be given to PRI. For this, of course, a systematic
training will have to be organized for the teams to be entrusted with the
responsibility.

Chapter 12
Road Safety Issues in Relation to Rural Roads

12. 1 Road Safety Issues – Introduction

Road safety is a multi- disciplinary activity. This involves joint and

complementary inputs by the road agencies, transport, police, health, insurance,
educational institutes, mass media, NGOs, etc. Road safety offers an
opportunity to a wide range of stakeholders to actively engage in addressing the
problem. The ABC of road safety is Attitude, Behaviour and Culture of our
drivers and other users on the road. This demands all-round improvement. The
government has taken a number of steps in this direction but it will need support
from users. Safety consciousness has to be cherished as a social value and be
viewed as a yardstick to measure the quality of life.

12.2 Engineering Measures

Rural roads are generally single lane roads with low design speeds and with low
volumes of traffic both motorised and non-motorised. Road safety should receive
increasing attention in planning, design and implementation process. The
engineering measures for road safety may be identified with the help of traffic
and safety specialists and interaction with users.

Intersections and junctions of rural roads with the main highways are more
susceptible to accidents. The design of these intersections calls for ensuring
adequate sight distance and removal of encroachments at junctions to improve
safety. Provision of rumble strips on rural roads, close to intersections with main
roads would also help. Especially, the junctions of rural roads with other main
roads should be flared and with provisions of speed change lanes to achieve
higher level of safety.

Accidents sometimes occur, as the shoulders (road berms) remain cluttered with
construction waste and/or other maintenance material. It is important that the
berms are kept clear and formation of the road widened to provide platform for
repair and maintenance materials.

Road signs and pavement markings should be integral part of road construction
and upgradation works. These signs and markings will also require regular
maintenance to serve the intended purpose.

71
Wherever existing geometrics are poor, efforts should be made to undertake
spot improvements through identifying such spots by traffic specialists. In the
meantime, appropriate cautionary and speed limits signs may be posted in such
locations. Speed management measures on roads passing through built up area
of habitations should be identified and steps taken to provide such measures.

12.3 Safety Councils, Committees

The state governments have set up safety councils at state level under the
Motor Vehicles Act. District level Rural Road Safety Committees are being set
up in several states. The head of the Project Implementation Units (PIU) created
for Rural Roads may be included in the district level committees. Similarly, State
Level Quality Coordinator of the SRRDA may be nominated to the State Level
Safety Council. Similarly, there can be safety committee at the PRI level to
monitor and evaluate the day-to-day safety issues of the area they represent.

12.4 Safety Audit and Accident Reporting system.

There would be need to carry out safety audit of the road network in the district,
with the help of local Panchayati Raj Institution officials, to identify the expected
points of conflict and take effective corrective measures. All accidents involving
serious injuries and loss of life need to be recorded, cause of accident analysed
and the safety audit report updated on the basis of such analysis. Information
signs should indicate about the location of nearest trauma centres or hospitals
so that help can become available at time of emergencies. PRI level safety
committee can be trained and entrusted to keep the vigil (audit) though out as
well as to collect and maintain the accident data of the area. However, the audit
of the design initially be done by a professional safety audit personnel.

12.5 Policing and Enforcement

Policing of rural roads is virtually non-existent now. With the rapid expansion of
rural road network and general prosperity that will take place in the rural areas in
the coming years, enforcement of motor vehicle rules should receive attention.
Panchayati Raj Institutions can play effective role in supplementing the police
efforts in increasing the awareness for observance of traffic rules. PRI level
safety committee would be most suited to carry out this function very well.

12.6 Campaigns for Public Awareness

It is also necessary to sensitize the communities and users of rural roads to road
safety concerns and the role they can play in reducing the accident burden. Help
of Gram Sabha/NGOs may be sought for awareness campaigns for road safety.
Suitable educational materials should be developed and aimed at risk groups
identified by specialists. School teachers, children, school bus drivers, two wheel
riders, agricultural tractor drivers are some of the groups needing special

72
attention. School children may be made aware of simple precautions to be taken
while moving along or crossing the roads.

12.7 Recommendations

¾ All safety engineering measures be built into the design (i.e. DPR) of the
project roads. All designs must be safety audited.
¾ A PRI level Safety Committee/Council be established for collecting the
accident data in a standard format and reporting to the District Police. The
District level committee will have input from all such committees.
¾ A team of Road safety Awareness Raisers (RSAR) be created by training
and retraining so as to change the present situation to a culture of safe use
of the roads in rural areas.

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 Chapter 13

Research and Development on Rural Roads

13.1 Issues in Research and Development (R&D)

Since rural roads have now been recognized as a major thrust area, in reference
to rural development, the need for concerted R&D efforts aimed at evolving the
most suitable and economical designs and developing appropriate technologies
for construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of rural roads, cannot be over
emphasized in the Indian context. The Highway Research Board (HRB) of the
IRC will have to expand their activities and coordinate with the Ministry of Rural
Development and CRRI to identify and prioritise R&D projects in respect of rural
roads. MORD can then assign area-specific R&D projects to the concerned
States/UT. The task of analyzing the data obtained from the assigned R&D
projects to different parts of the country can be carried out by CRRI jointly with
the Regional R&D Institute/Labs in the various States. Essential pre-requisites
for the success of such an R&D set-up include the needed facilities by way of
well-equipped laboratories and experienced scientists carrying out the needed
field and laboratory investigations, especially in the state laboratories.
The key areas for research are:
ƒ Road construction materials for reduction of costs
ƒ Performance based design and specifications
ƒ Network planning with focus on accessibility, and not connectivity
ƒ Maintenance mechanism for rural roads including maintenance
management system
ƒ Innovative funding for construction and maintenance of rural roads

13.2 Emerging R&D Areas

Some of the more important thrust areas identified, in the draft vision plan, for
Medium Term R&D work and Long-Term R&D work requiring immediate
attention are:
• Critical appraisal of design and construction practices being adopted for low
volume roads around the world.
• Review of the existing geometric design standards pertaining to low volume
rural roads.
• Evolving low cost drainage and erosion control measures for low volume
roads and preparing an a comprehensive manual
• Identification of sources of locally available materials for road construction at
district level and determining the strength and other characteristics of such
materials.

74
• Developing stabilisation techniques for improving performance of locally
available softer materials.
• Evolving appropriate technologies for the construction and maintenance of
low volume rural roads, both sealed and unsealed pavements.
• Evolving suitable and economical ‘Performance-Based’ pavement designs
for low volume rural roads, for both sealed and unsealed pavements.
• Evolving suitable and economical designs for low cost Cross-Drainage
structures.
• Encouraging the use of cold mix technology and emulsions.
• Socio-economic impact assessment of investments in rural roads
• Evolving designs for fabrication and manufacture of low-end technology and
inexpensive machinery suitable for construction and maintenance of rural
roads.

Out of these emerging R&D areas, priority may be accorded during the 11th Plan
period in the following areas.

¾ Strategic development of optimal accessibility based rural road network

planning
¾ Development of performance based design and specifications for rural
roads
¾ Use of industrial wastes and marginal materials in rural road works
¾ Design, fabrication and manufacturing of inexpensive machineries with
low-end technology for construction and maintenance
¾ Rural road pavement maintenance management system with associated
simplified techniques

The State Executing Agencies have to come forward to make R&D a part of their
routine. They have to initiate R&D projects with one or more of the following:

• Use of new material.

• Use of new technology
• Use of new process

NRRDA and the Executing Agencies shall make it possible to take atleast 5% of
the road works under R&D as stated above which is likely to ensure R&D culture
in the field engineers.

13.3 Budgetary Allocations

In view of the vital importance of R&D in the areas of planning, design,

construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of rural roads, an appropriate
percentage of the amount of investment in rural roads may be set aside for R&D
work. As has been the experienced in the developed parts of the World, R&D

75
efforts do pay handsome dividends in the long-run by way of more cost-effective,
performance-based designs and improved performance of rural roads, with
prolonged life and reduced maintenance costs.
As has been the experience in the developed parts of the World, R&D efforts do
pay handsome dividends in the long-run by way of more cost-effective,
performance-based designs and improved performance of rural roads, with
prolonged life and reduced maintenance costs.
An advanced center for knowledge/information on rural roads may be
established within the IRC with support from MORD for facilitating development
of database, further research, dissemination of knowledge and information on
various aspects of rural roads (planning, engineering, construction,
maintenance, etc.) The IRC should also continue to network with existing
national and international agencies concerned with rural roads.
The implementing agencies in the States may be encouraged to utilize the R&D
results for rural roads. Often, adoption of research results may be required to be
studied in field before wider application; and at that stage funding is required for
this field investigation.

13.4 Special Budget for R&D on Field Applications

It is proposed that during the 11th Plan period about 10,000 km length of rural
roads, under new road construction as well as upgradation, may be earmarked
for experimenting new R&D findings and application of innovative non-
conventional method (where economy could be achieved) in the field. These
experiments may be in application of non-conventional materials, improved or
modified construction technologies, and new methods/techniques of design and
construction. Since it involves risk and uncertainties, appropriate guidelines and
budgetary provisions may be provided to encourage the field engineers to take
up such projects on pilot scale to prove their efficacy and economy in
construction of rural roads.

13.5 Recommendations

¾ R&D is an integral part of any development. Although rural roads were built
for last 70-80 years in this country, its construction as engineering structure
has just began. Therefore, huge amount of research is required for these
low volume roads, which must attempt for low cost construction while
ensuring quality.
¾ Generally R&D is starved of funds in most cases; and it will be disastrous if
R&D is not given prominence in the context of rural roads, as we have just
began to accept rural roads construction as a scientific work.
¾ Most significant areas to be researched are the means of cost cutting by
choice of materials and design, and also evolving the innovative financing
mechanisms for such roads.

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¾ Special budget be provided in 11th Plan for field trials of R&D results.
¾ The State Executing Agencies may be asked to bring R&D proposals on
regular basis with the use of new materials or new technology or new
process to the extent to atleast 5% of the proposals in each phase during
the 11th Five Year Plan.

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 Chapter 14

Mobilisation of Resources

14.1 Overall Fund Requirements in 11th Five Year Plan

It is estimated that the total fund required for new construction and upgradation to
achieve the PMGSY/Bharat Nirman targets alone during the 11th Five Year Plan is
about Rs.1,20,000 crore. Cost of maintenance of the roads being built will be
around Rs.5,400 crore. In addition, funds for maintenance of the entire length of
rural roads under core network would require another Rs. 700,000 (140,000m X 5
years) million during the plan period.

14.2 Existing Resources of Funding

The existing sources of financing are budgetary sources, Central Road Fund
(CRF), market committee fees, loan assistance from NABARD, the World Bank
and the Asian Development Bank. Government of India provides 100 percent grant
to the States for rural roads under the PMGSY programme. It was decided by the
Central Government to levy an additional excise duty of Re. 1.00 per litre on petrol
since 2nd September 1998 and Re. 1.00 per litre on high speed diesel since 1st
March 1999 and earmarked the proceeds for development of the road sector. The
major source of fund for development of rural roads is now the Central Road Fund.
As per the CRF Act 2000, 50 percent of the cess on diesel is earmarked for
development of rural roads. An amount of about Rs. 2500 crore per annum has
been available from CRF for rural roads. The current additional excise duty is Rs.
2.00 per litre for petrol and diesel. The funds for rural roads are set to increase. It is
estimated that a total of Rs. 20,575 crore will be available from the cess during the
plan period i.e. 2007-08 to 2011-12.
The total investment required to achieve the Bharat Nirman targets alone is
estimated to be an amount of Rs.48,000 crore. Out of which about Rs.9,000 crore
is expected from Cess on HSD and Rs.16000 crore is likely to be available from
the World Bank and ADB. It is proposed to barrow additional amount of Rs.16,500
crore from funding agencies such as NABARD. In such case, the repayment may
start immediately from the year 2010; this may take away a significant amount from
the collection of the Cess on HSD. Therefore, there is need to enhance the Central
as well as State budgetary support for development of rural roads to scale up to
achieve the PMGSY targets of providing 100 percent connectivity.
Most State Governments face the resource crunch, barring a few States which
are able to take recourse to RIDF loans, and therefore, not much allocations
other than under PMGSY are going into the rural road network. The World Bank
and the ADB have also agreed to extend loan assistance for rural roads under
the PMGSY. This is in addition to some funds coming as part of agriculture
development projects. A loan amount of Rs. 4000 crore has been approved from
these sources.

78
Some states levy cess on food grains through their market committees and
proceeds utilised, among other items, for construction and maintenance of roads
in rural areas, for example, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and
Uttar Pradesh. In addition, some kind of a rural development cess is also levied
and road improvement and maintenance are being funded out of such resources
as well. In sugar cane belts, some cess is levied on sugar, and roads
constructed and repaired out of such proceeds.

Funds for roads are also available from other employment oriented schemes
such as Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana, Command Area Development
Agencies, Local Area Development funds of Members of Parliament and
Members of State Legislative Assembly. Some funds might also become
available out of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme – a
recent initiative of the Government of India. However, given the orientation
towards local employment at unskilled level, these funds can at most be useful
for construction of tracks or maintenance of rural roads of non-core network. In
addition, funds can also be pooled from other central programmes introduced
such as PURA focused and directed for development of rural roads and intra-
village roads.

14.3 New Options for Resources Mobilisation

The following additional strategies for mobilization of funds are discussed below:
• Independent Road Fund
It needs to be appreciated that there is practically no scope for private sector
financing of rural roads since they carry very low volumes of traffic. The central
Government already created a dedicated road fund imposing cess on petrol and
diesel. Similarly a few states like Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka have also set up
dedicated funds for augmenting the resources for maintenance. Such funds are
to be created in each State and proportionately be allocated for development
and management of rural roads.
• Market Committee Funds
Another strategy could be to extend the scheme of levying marketing fee and
rural development cess on agriculture produce to all states. The state
governments may seek the support of the farmers’ community in this endeavour.
The funding needs of rural roads can be supplemented by this approach so as to
accelerate the process of developing rural roads. Part of these funds should be
used for maintenance of rural roads.
• Stamp Duty on Land Transactions
There have been suggestions that since values of lands close to road tend to
increase sharply, beneficiaries may be expected to share this gain by way of
paying stamp duty on sale of land. The state governments may examine the
practicality of this proposition as a possible supplementary resource.

79
 • Vehicle Fees
In addition to taxes on fuels, additional funds should be generated through
special purchase tax on two wheelers, cars and agricultural tractors. Part or
whole of such funds so collected may be allocated for rural roads and provision
of road transport services in rural areas.

• Domestic Borrowings
Recently, NABARD in India has come up in a significant way to provide loan
assistance for construction of rural roads in several states. This is proving useful
in accelerating the programme of improving accessibility to our villages, and thus
contributing to the alleviation of poverty and socio-economic development of our
rural areas.
For a financial institution like NABARD, it is difficult to have technical expertise to
ensure that the projects they fund are well conceived and executed. It may be
worthwhile to consider providing the NABARD loans with technical and
management inputs of NRRDA to enhance the financial and technical discipline,
as well as adoption of uniform standards to be applied in respect of these roads
as on the lines of the PMGSY. This can be channelised by transferring the total
loan amount to a pool to be availed by the States under the same or similar
guidelines as that of PMGSY.
• Borrowings from Multi-lateral Agencies
The multi-lateral financing agencies like the World Bank, ADB and JBIC have
been providing loan assistance for highway projects for the central and the state
governments. Normally, the projects executed through external borrowings are
well planned, designed and executed under a set of guidelines. The external
funding agency also insists on the state governments to ensure that the assets
created are well maintained.
• User Charges
The scope for user charges in rural roads, which unlike the highways are meant
to provide basic access, is rather limited. At best, this may be a potential source
only in selected roads with high commercial traffic volume (e.g. in mining areas).
However, even in those cases also user charges may cover the maintenance
requirements only and not rehabilitation/upgradation requirements.
• Private Financing
While there is little experience of private financing in the context of development
of rural infrastructure in India, it would be a possible worthy experience to
explore such financing that might work. Taking in to consideration the complexity
of any rural development context, creating a space for private financing shall not
be easy, but appears feasible. The rural cooperative societies, like sugar cane
producers and sugar mill association/societies in association with the financial
institutions and NRRDA can form a PPP model based on BOT/annuity concepts

80
to accelerate the rural road development programmes in the specific regions
where benefits are distinctly visible.
• Public Private Partnership
In order to faster the current rural connectivity programme, and to achieve its
goal to total connectivity, it can be proposed to try out through PPP model and
can be implemented in selected regions (say 3 to 4 district) having
homogeneous socio-economic characters with an established local level
development organization. It can cover about 1000 to 1500 km length of rural
roads in the region. With the established institutional set-up the private partners
can associate with the PIUs and identify such rural roads which can be
implemented under PPP model. It has to mobilize funding from its own
resources or through financial institutions for the requirement of the entire rural
roads in the region for new construction as well as upgradation. The project
implementation however shall be as per PMGSY guidelines. The fund utilized
can be paid over a period of time on annuity basis the MoRD. The implementing
agency can also levy some fee/charges from the users if feasible and
accordingly the annuity needs to be arrived. The Concept Note of the proposal
is given in Appendix 2.

14.4 Maintenance Funding Strategy

The total maintenance funding for the entire core network road is estimated as
Rs.1,40,000 million per year. Allocation of grossly inadequate funds is the major
constraint in preserving the existing rural roads assets. The huge network built
over the years is becoming a victim of neglect because of the financing gap
between what is needed and what is allocated for maintenance. Providing
dedicated funding is pre-requisite for sustainable maintenance of the existing
rural roads.

The normal sources of funding for maintenance are the regular budgetary
provisions under non-plan grants, which need to be increased as well as
redefined for its importance. Creation of fund with special purpose levy such as
mandi cess, fuel cess etc. for maintenance at state level can be explored.
Projectised maintenance options can be examined with appropriate cost sharing
by State and Central Government for rural roads. Creation of funds through the
model adopted in Rajasthan may be adopted in other states.

Each State needs to undertake a detailed study for estimating the fund
requirement for maintenance of rural roads on a realistic basis with clear break
up for routine maintenance, periodic maintenance and rehabilitation/upgradation
in case of different pavement, traffic, terrain and climatic conditions prevailing in
the states. This should be based on the scientific approach and norms, which
should consider the frequency of various maintenance tasks required. They
should spell out minimum essential requirements and those considered
desirable for better or higher level of service.

81
14.5 Financing Skill Development

The need for Human Resource Development for rural roads development has
been elaborated in Chapter 11. However, there is a need for mobilization of
required funds for these purposes. In the allocation for 11th Plan, there should be
augmented additional resource for the HRD activities commensurate to the
enhanced targets of 11th Plan. A portion of the ‘welfare cess for workers on
contracts’ or a nominal amount from contractors’ fee (in every contract) may be
charged to create a poll of funds for imparting specialized training to the skilled
and unskilled workers of the contractors.

14.6 Recommendations

¾ Dedicated fund for rural roads as was in 10th Plan should continue in 11th
Five Year Plan.
¾ Innovative funding options other than borrowing – by charging the
beneficiaries, may have to be adopted.
¾ Deferred payment schemes to be adopted for PPP model to fulfill the
targets, so as to make the benefits to flow early.
¾ As a beginning, a minimum of 5000 – 10,000 km length of rural roads to be
taken up for upgradation may be experimented under PPP model during
the 11th Plan period.
**************

82
 References

Ministry of Rural Development, Empowerment of Rural India through connectivity, May,

2000.
Ministry of Rural Developmen (2001), Manual for Preparation of District Rural Roads
Plan for PMGSY, Government of India.
Ministry of Road Development (2004), Specifications for Rural Roads, New Delhi:
Indian Roads Congress.
Ministry of Rural Development (2004), Guidelines for Pradhan Manatri Gram Sadak
Yojana (PMGSY), Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.
Ministry of Rural Development (2005), PMGSY - Operational Manual. Government of
India.
Ministry of Rural Development (2004)., Impact Assessment of Pradhan Mantri Gram
Sadak Yojana – PMGSY.
Ministry of Rural Development (2006), Rural Roads Development Plan: Vision -2025
(Draft), Government of India.
National Transport Policy Committee (1980), Planning Commission, Government of
India.
MORTH (2000) - MORTH: Maintenance Norms by the Expert Group 2000, Ministry of
Road Transport and Highways, New Delhi.
Sikdar P.K. (2006) – ‘Proposed model of community participation in rural road
maintenance, Indian Highways - Vol. 34, No.6, Special No. June, 2006.
Sikdar, P.K. Kanagadurai, B, Mahesh Chand and Singh, A.K. (2002), “ “Functional
accessibility approach for rural road network planning’, International Conference on
Advances in Civil Engineering, IIT Kharagpur.
Kanagadurai, B. (2003), Methodology for Planning and Evaluation of Rural Road
Network: An Integrated Functional Accessibility Approach, unpublished Ph.D Thesis,
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.
ADB (1988), Environmental Impact Assessment – A Guide Book, Environmental
Division, Asian Development Bank, Manila.
ADB (2002), Impact of Rural Roads on Poverty Reduction: A case study – based
analysis, Asian development Bank.
Central Road Research Institute, (1990), Document on Rural Road Development in
India, Vol: I & II, New Delhi.
Hine, J.L., (1982), “Road Planning for Rural development in Developing Countries: a
review of Current Practice”, TRRL laboratory Report 1046, Transport and Road
Research laboratory, Crowthorne.
Howe, J.D.G.F. and Richards, P. (ed.) (1984), Rural Roads and Poverty Alleviation,
Intermediate Technology Publications, London.
IRC (2001), Road Development Plan Vision: 2021, Government of India, Ministry of
Road Transport and Highways.

83
IRC (2001), Surveys and Investigation for Preparation of Road Projects, IRC: SP: 19-
2001, Indian Roads Congress, New Delhi.
IRC (2002), Rural Roads Manual, IRC:SP:20-2002, Indian Roads Congress, New Delhi.
World Bank (1991), Environmental Assessment Sourcebook, Vol. 1 Policies,
Procedures and Cross-sectional Issues, Washington DC,
World Bank (1996), Morocco: Impact Evaluation Report – Socioeconomic Influence of
Rural Roads, Fourth Highway Project (loan 2254-MOR) Operation Evaluation
Department.
World Bank (1999), Bhutan Rural Access Project, Project Appraisal Document, South
Asia Regional Office, Washington, D.C.
World Bank, RT-4. (2000), Rural Road Master Planning Process, World Bank
Infrastructure Notes, Transport Note No. RT-4.
World Bank (2001), “Roads Economic Decision Model (RED) for Economic Evaluation of
Low Volume Roads” – Software Users Guide Version 2.0, by Rodrigo Archondo-Callao,
SSATPP, RMI.

84
 Annexure 1.

Members of the Working Group

1. Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development - Chairman

2. AS, Ministry of Rural Development - Member
3. Adviser (Tpt.), Planning Commission - Member
4. Director, CRRI New Delhi - Member
5. Representative from NRRDA - Member
6. Representative from Department of
Expenditure, Ministry of Finance - Member
7. Representative from DONER - Member
8. Principal Secretary, PWD, Govt. of Gujarat - Member
9. Chief Engineer, PWD, Govt. of Haryana - Member
10. Chief Engineer, PWD, Govt. of West Bengal - Member
11. Chief Engineer, PWD, Govt. of Mizoram - Member
12. Chief Engineer, PWD, Govt. of Karnataka - Member
13. Chief Engineer, PWD, Govt. of Rajasthan - Member
14. Joint Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development - Convener

In accordance with the memo constituting the Working Group, the

Chairperson of the Working Group has co-opted the following experts as
members vide MoRD order No. P.17024/50/2005-RC dated 29th May,
2006.

1. Managing Director, IDFC.

2. Dr. P.K. Sikdar, Former Director, CRRI.

85
 Annexure 2

Terms of Reference

1. To critically review the financial and the physical progress of the

development of the rural road network during 10th Five Year Plan,
highlighting the constraints faced and the remedial actions required to
be taken in the context of the preparation of the 11th Five Year Plan.

2. Keeping in view the experience acquired from PMGSY and launch of

Bharat Nirman, recommend a policy framework for the development of
rural roads in the 11th Five Year Plan and a perspective for the next
decade beyond 11th Plan-Vision-2021-taking cognizance of the
various issues, including inter-alia the following:

i) need for providing connectivity with a view to improving

accessibility;
ii) need for enhancing the capacities of various implementing
agencies in order to achieve time targets;
iii) prioritization of development work in view of a large number of
deficiencies in the existing rural roads network with a view to
consolidating the network;
iv) need for maintenance and preservation of existing assets;
v) need for creating an environment conducive to public private
partnerships, in view of the increasing role of private sector;
vi) need for upgradation of technology in order to improve quality of
construction of rural roads and reduce construction time;
vii) energy conservation and environment protection.

3. To formulate a programme for development of rural roads for the

Eleventh Five Year Plan indicating monitorable physical targets,
financial outlays and their year wise phasing during this Plan period.
While formulating the Plan, various aspects should be examined
including inter-alia the requirement to provide essential road links to
rural areas in the country in a cost effective manner, existing
deficiencies of road system and remedial measures and the need for
integrating backward and remote areas particularly the north-east and
tribal areas with the rest of the country.

4. To review the existing arrangements, including the availability of

resources from Central Road Fund, for funding the development of
rural roads and suggest innovative measures for augmentation of
resources both for construction and maintenance of rural roads.

86
5. To review the existing norms and criteria for maintenance and repairs
for rural roads, assess actual requirements of funds for each year of
the Eleventh Plan and recommend measures to meet such
requirements.

6. To review the type of machinery and material presently being used in

rural road construction and maintenance and suggest improvements,
including steps needed for growth of road equipment industry in the
country in order to deliver quality output in a time bound manner.

7. To review the existing manpower training arrangements at the Central

and State level and suggest improvements, keeping in view the need
for construction of quality rural roads in a time bound manner.

8. To review the status of various implementing agencies involved in the

development and maintenance of rural roads in terms of their
capability to deliver timely outputs and to recommend measures,
including outsourcing and institutional for enhancing capacities of the
States.

9. To suggest measures for effectively monitoring the progress of

construction and maintenance of rural roads. Also to evolve a
mechanism to ensure that funds allocated for maintenance of roads in
the 12th Finance Commission are optimally utilized.

10. To review the status of domestic construction industry in terms of its

capability to absorb, utilize and augment the technology being
presently used timely for rural road construction.

11. To examine any other matter considered important by the Working

Group.

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 Annexure 3

Members of Sub-Group 1 on Planning and Design of Rural Roads.

1. Prof. P.K. Sikdar, Director, ICT. PVT. Ltd, New Delhi.

2. Prof. A.K. Sarkar, Prof. and Dean ID, BITS, Pilani
3. Dr. Praveen Kumar, Associate Prof. IIT, Roorkee
4. Dr. B. Kanagadurai, Scientist E-II, CRRI, New Delhi
5. Prof. B.P. Chandrasekhar, Director (Technical), NRRDA - Convener.

Members of Sub-Group 2 on Material, Construction and Maintenance of

Rural Roads

1. Shri. S.C. Sharma, DG (Retd.), MoRTH, New Delhi

2. Prof. A. Veeraragavan, IIT, Chennai.
3. Dr. Sunil Bose, Scientist F, CRRI, New Delhi
4. Shri. A.D. Kapale, CGM, MPRRDA, Bhopal
5. Shri. M.B. Bhalala, CE& Addl. Sec. R&B, Gujarat.
6. Shri. B.P. Kukrety, CGM, NHAI, New Delhi.
7. Shri. A.K. Das, GM, Lea Associates, Bhopal.
8. Shri. D.C. De, Executive Director, CES, New Delhi.
9. Shri. H.K. Srivastava, Director (Projects-I), NRRDA - Convener.

88
 Annexure 4
Impact Assessment of PMGSY on Rural Economy
Ministry of Rural Development had commissioned a series of quick assessments
of socio-economic impact of PMGSY in Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya
Pradesh, Mizoram, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West
Bengal. These studies were conducted by independent agencies during January
to February, 2004 (MORD 2004). The major findings are as follows:
Impact on agriculture
Construction of the PMGSY roads has substantially benefited the farmers. Prior
to the construction of the PMGSY roads, farmers found it difficult to sell
agricultural goods in the bigger markets located far away from their villages.

PMGSY road connectivity has led to a better transport system during all
seasons. Farmers mentioned that the problem of not being able to access the
markets during monsoon has been solved by the construction of the roads. This
impact has been greatly felt in the states of West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh,
Mizoram, Assam etc.

The PMGSY roads have made it easier to transport agricultural inputs to villages
which led some farmers to switch from food crops to cash crops (such as ginger,
jute, sugarcane, sunflower).

An increase in the number of families rearing goats/sheep for commercial

purposes was mentioned by beneficiaries in states of Rajasthan, Himachal
Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh reported. Many families had bought cycles after the
construction of the road to be able to carry diary products for sale to nearby
towns.

Employment Generation
After the construction of PMGSY roads, an improvement in the employment
situation in terms of more job opportunities, avenues for self-employment, etc.
were observed. On-farm employment opportunities also increased due to shift
from grains to cash crops and also multiple cropping particularly in the state of
Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram.

More people are going to nearby towns and villages for odd jobs like selling
woods, vegetables, dairy products and locally made items like pickles, papad
etc. due to expansion of local industries, which in turn has generated
employment opportunities.

89
Cottage Industry
Beneficiaries reported that the pottery and brick making industry of Orissa has
benefited from the PMGSY roads. Cottage industries of Tamil Nadu, Handloom
industry of West Bengal and Agro industry in Assam also benefited from road
connectivity.

Health
There has been an overall improvement in access to the health facilities like
PHCs, sub-centres and district hospitals in the States of West Bengal, Uttar
Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Positive impact was observed on accessibility to preventive and curative health
care facilities; better management of infectious diseases and attending to
emergencies and increase in frequency of visits by health workers.

Improvement in antenatal and post-natal care thereby decreasing obstetrics

emergencies was observed by beneficiaries in the States of Mizoram, Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Road
connectivity and an improved transport system enabled families to opt for
institutional deliveries in hospitals outside the village. Decrease in infant and
child mortality especially in the States of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal was reported.

Education
With the construction of PMGSY roads, there has been an improvement in the
accessibility to education facilities. This has resulted in increased school
enrolment and school attendance in all the states, especially, an increase in the
number of girls going to schools in the States of Assam, Madhya Pradesh,
Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal has been observed. Most parents
mentioned that they were now more confident about sending their daughters to
schools unescorted. Moreover, regular attendance of the teachers throughout
the year is observed and greater willingness is evidenced among parents to
send boys and girls for higher studies and college education outside their
villages.
Governance and public services
The road connectivity has increased the frequency of visits by government
officials and grass root level functionaries like health workers/Auxilliary Nurse
and Midwives (ANMs), Village Level Workers (VLWs) and Village Anganwadi
Worker (VAWs) in the states of Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and
West Bengal. There has been an improvement in accessibility to banks, the
Post and Telegraph offices and quicker access to police.
Transport services
The benefits of rural connectivity has been felt most in Mizoram and Rajasthan
where PMGSY roads have made it easier for the beneficiaries to cope with the

90
difficult terrain. There has been an increase in ownership of bicycles and two
wheelers especially in the States of Assam, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Tamil
Nadu. Also, there has been an improvement in the public as well as the private
transport systems in all the states.

Quality of Life
An immediate and direct impact of providing rural road connectivity was
observed in the quality of life as cooking gas became available in villages. The
states of Mizoram, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal reported conversion of kuchcha
houses to pucca houses. The connectivity led to sudden escalation of prices of
land adjacent to the PMGSY roads. This also led to an increase in the sale of
land for commercial purposes.

Poverty Alleviation
The roads, directly or indirectly have provided opportunities for on-farm and off -
farm employments as well as self-employment. With the improvement in on-
farm and non-farm employment opportunities, beneficiaries in all the states
reported increase in their average household income, thus, reduction in poverty.

Distributional and Equity Issues

Though, it has been revealed through several impact studies that rural roads
have multi dimensional beneficial impact on the rural community, these benefits
may not be equitably distributed. The well-off households with better resource
endowments, capabilities and skill sets generally derive more benefits from the
improved access as compared to poor households. This calls for prior indepth
analysis of the potential input on the major stakeholders with a view to devise
appropriate mitigation measures to make this scheme ‘inclusive ’in terms of its
benefits.

Though, rural roads provide accessibility, the assurance on transport availability

and affordability must be looked into. For instance, a rural road serving as a
means of transportation may permit people to use their own mode of transport,
but unless public or intermediate public transportation is available the benefit of
the rural road will not reach all. Further, even when Public Transport Service is
available the affordability to use the services may once again put the very poor
at a disadvantage.

In short, roads are clearly a critically enabling condition for improvement of living
conditions and quality of life in rural areas. Distribution of economic benefits can
now be ensured to all sections through the creation of complementary activities
for broadening livelihood opportunities to economically weak sections of the rural
society.

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 Appendix I

Discussion Paper for the Working Group on Rural Road in the

11th Five Year Plan Constituted by the Planning Commission.
1.0 INTRODUCTION

India has a road network of about 3.2 million kms of which rural roads account for
around 2.7 million kms (85%). According to the Road Development Plan Vision –
2001 of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, overall village accessibility
stood at 54% by 2000.

Better rural infrastructure has primarily two effects – promotion of economic

growth and decline in the incidence of poverty. Jocelyn A Songco (Columbia
University and the World Bank, 2002) in a study has pointed out that rural
infrastructure investments benefit the rural poor through increased incomes and
improved consumption patterns. Some empirical studies illustrate a strong
relationship between infrastructure and economic growth. According to World
Bank sources, 1% increase in infrastructure stock is associated with a
proportionate increase in GDP across all countries. A specific sectoral study by
Deichman et al for Mexico shows that a 10% increase in market access leads to
increase in labour productivity by 6%.

Linkages between public investment on rural connectivity, agricultural growth and

poverty alleviation in the Indian context were investigated in a research report
authored by Shengenn Fan, Peter Hazell and Sukhadeo Thorat (Research Paper
NO.110, IFPRI, 1999). Using State-level data on Government spending from 1970
to 1993, this study attempted to quantitatively measure how different types public
investment affect agricultural growth and rural poverty. The model estimated the
number of poor people who would be raised above the poverty line for each Rs.1
million (1993 constant prices) of additional investment in eight different
components of public spending — roads, research and extension, education, rural
development, health, irrigation, soil and water conservation and power.
Accordingly, Government expenditures were ranked in terms of their effectiveness
in poverty alleviation. The findings of this study are striking. Government
spending on roads was found to have the largest impact on rural poverty. For
each Rs.1 million increase in investment in roads, 165 poor people would be
enabled to cross the poverty line. Its impact on poverty was nearly twice as large
as that the next best poverty reducer - Government investment in agricultural
R&D. Investment in roads was also found to be contributing significantly to
productivity growth. An additional Rs.100 billion (in 1993 prices) invested in roads
would increase productivity growth by more than 3 percent.

Better rural connectivity is broadly recognized as a fundamental pre-condition for

the all round development of rural areas, isolation, remoteness and lack of mobility
are widely perceived as factors heightening vulnerability of the rural poor and
perpetuating their poverty. Investment in rural roads can create economic
opportunities for the poor directly through employment in infrastructure
construction and maintenance, and the provision of rural transport services. It has
also indirect impact on rural poverty through improvement in the conditions and

92
 opportunities for marketing of goods and services, reduction in the input prices,
opening opportunities in new markets and offering seasonal migration
opportunities for work. Broadly the impact of rural roads can be summarized as
follows:-

• Improvement in transportation services leading to improved market

access for the rural producers, better availability of farm inputs at reduced
prices;

• Diversification of agriculture – Improved market access promotes shift in

favour of cash crops and commercialization of agriculture.

• Diversification of livelihood opportunities – Better connectivity enhances

employment opportunities in the non-farm sectors.

• Improved services – Improved road connectivity, interalia, enhances access to

education, health and financial services.

• Increase in the outreach of the State – Improved rural roads facilitates better
availability of public services and public functionaries in the rural areas.

2.0 CONNECTIVITY STATUS OF RURAL INDIA.

Before and since independence, through long term road plans such as Nagpur
Plan (1943-61), the Bombay Plan (1961-81) and Lucknow Plan (1981-2001)
specific targets had been set for providing connectivity to the villages with different
population levels. Along with such plans, the programmes like Minimum Needs
Programme, Basic Minimum Services Programme etc. have also focused on the
development of Rural Road. As per Road Development Plan Vision -2021, status
of connectivity of villages upto 2000 is given in Table 1.

Apart from the above programmes, RIDF of NABARD also helped the rural roads
development. The targets and achievements under 20 Year road plans are given
in Table 2.

Table 1: Connectivity Status

Population Total No. of No. of villages connected

category villages By 1980 By 1985 By 1990 By 1995 By 2000
1500 & above 71623 37950 49495 59722 65704 70000
(53%) (69%) (83%) (92%) (98%)
1000-1500 58229 21970 28732 35362 44120 50000
(38%) (49%) (61%) (76%) (86%)
Less Than 1000 459465 107324 142020 166311 173837 200000
(23%) (31%) (36%) (38%) (43%)
Total 589317 167244 220247 261395 283661 320000
(28%) (37%) (44%) (48%) (54%)
Note: Figures within brackets give the percentage of villages in each population category (1981
census) to the total number of villages in that category.
Source: Planning Commission and MORTH Road Development Plan Vision 2021 (published by
IRC in 2001)

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 Table 2: Targets and Achievements of Plans for Road Development
(in kms.)
Nagpur Plan Bombay Plan Lucknow Plan
Road category (1943-61) (1961-81) (1981-2001)
Target Achievement Target Achievement Target Achievement
1. National Highways 33,395 22,636 51,500 31,737 66,000 57,700
2. State Highways 86,825 62,052 112,650 95,491 145,000 124,300
3. Major District
80,145 113,483 241,400 153,000 300,000
Roads
4. Rural Roads 2,994,000*
(Other District Roads 332,335 500,802 651,780 912,684 2,189,000
and Village Roads
Total 532,700 698,973 1,057,330 1,192,912 2,700,000 3,176,000
* Includes 1000000 km of earth tracks, mostly under employment generation programmes.
Note: Figures for targets and achievement relate to the end of the Plan period.
(Source: Road Development Plan-Vision:2021 (IRC-2001)

It may be seen from Table 2 that under the aforesaid long term plans emphasis
was particularly on achieving the length targets and no specific targets for
providing connectivity to villages/habitations were actually set. Secondly, in all
these plans a network approach to rural road planning was noticeably missing.
While achieving the length targets, in many States, more than one connection was
provided for a village, resulting in redundancy and development of a large network
which was difficult to maintain. Furthermore, the issues of regional imbalances
were not specifically addressed in these plans.
At this point, some comments on the prevailing system of maintenance of road
statistics particularly with reference to rural roads would be in order. The existing
system of planning and management of various categories of roads involves a lot
of judgement and empiricism due to lack of systematic and adequate database on
the status of roads, traffic volumes etc. Even in respect of national highways, the
database is reported to be inadequate with regard to road and bridge inventories.
The position with regard to accuracy and reliability of statistics with regard to rural
roads is far more unsatisfactory. There are multiplicity of agencies involved in
construction and maintenance of rural roads and a nodal agency coordinating
projects being undertaken by these agencies is absent. The need, therefore, is for
creation of a dynamic database for all categories of roads, including rural roads,
for which a coordinating agency needs to be identified with defined responsibilities
and precise methodology for data collection and validation. It is hoped that this
issue would be given due consideration during the 11th Five Year Plan.
3.0 PRADHAN MANTRI GRAM SADAK YOJANA (PMGSY)
In pursuance of the nationally significant cause of providing complete rural road
connectivity through all weather roads, to set villages free from the handicap of
isolation and deprivation of accessibility, Government of India set up the National
Rural Roads Development Committee (NRRDC) in January, 2000 chaired by
Shri Nitin Gadkari. This committee after dwelling on the effects of deprivation of
rural accessibility and keeping in view expected benefits from rural connectivity
recommended a special intervention, the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana
(PMGSY) which was launched on 25th December, 2000 as a 100% Centrally
assisted scheme to provide all weather connectivity to over 1.6 lakh eligible
unconnected habitations at an estimated expenditure of Rs. 60,000 crores, as per

94
 estimates provided by NRRDC. The set primary objective of PMGSY was to
provide all weather road connectivity to:
• All habitations with over 1000 population by 2003.
• All habitations of 500 to 1000 population by 2007 (end of the 10th FYP)
• All habitations with population above 250 (in the case of hill states, deserts
and tribal areas) by 2007.

Upgradation of selected rural roads to provide farm to market connectivity is the

secondary objective of PMGSY Programme. In earlier programmes, the village
with a defined population was the target for providing connectivity, while PMGSY
envisage the habitation as the unit, to reach out to more settlements and more
people with rural accessibility.

After launching PMGSY, States were asked to prepare District Rural Roads Plan
(DRRPs), with a complete inventory of existing roads and list out proposed roads
for providing connectivity to unconnected habitations of the defined population
level. As per data provided by States, after preparing the DRRP and identifying
the Core Network to ensure single all weather connectivity to targeted
habitations and continuity up to market centers, State wise requirements for rural
roads for new connectivity can be arrived at. They are presented in Table No.3
along with the budget required for providing new connectivity earmarked at Rs.
784180 million.
Table 3: Length and Cost of Rural Roads for New Connectivity under PMGSY
Eligible Unconnected Habitations Total
Cost for
No. of 1000+ 500-999 250-499 length
Sl. Connectivity
State Unconnected to be
No. under PMGSY
Habitations Length Length Length covered
in Rs. million
(kms) (kms) (kms) (kms)
1 AP 2679 167 668 417 1668 396 990 3326 4520
2 Arunachal 2654 43 303 105 854 267 1954 3111 8390
3 Assam 15786 6149 7900 4196 6671 2799 4416 18987 51950
4 Bihar 24321 11717 26687 6203 6664 0 0 33351 66470
5 Chhattisgarh 24202 2604 12213 6313 14709 3644 10634 37556 76700
6 Goa 55 0 0 20 40 35 50 90 100
7 Gujarat 8127 472 1038 2288 4027 1493 2387 7452 10210
8 Haryana 23 0 0 2 26 0 0 26 60
9 HP 11340 262 1734 853 3389 2379 7709 12832 34900
10 J&K 3946 785 3454 942 2722 1065 2236 8412 27720
11 Jharkhand 21036 2622 5298 4178 8943 3896 7204 21445 36420
12 Karnataka 4608 156 103 118 397 602 1367 1867 2250
13 Kerala 440 117 116 303 323 18 21 460 950
14 MP 34771 5804 25131 10645 31403 2043 3730 60264 121990
15 Maharashtra 6892 203 633 794 1961 754 1774 4368 7680
16 Manipur 1142 71 355 187 633 340 1143 2131 5170
17 Meghalaya 2752 9 31 150 553 597 2078 2662 6930
18 Mizoram 392 47 236 114 948 124 837 2021 5910
19 Nagaland 127 21 280 32 478 41 231 989 2490
20 Orissa 28299 3850 7946 6738 13652 3805 7776 29374 69620
21 Punjab 920 103 205 433 774 0 0 979 1610
22 Rajasthan 20729 2906 7063 6073 19468 2036 5417 31948 40630
23 Sikkim 410 16 78 138 541 164 488 1107 3280
24 Tamil Nadu 5318 577 1426 1825 3552 238 281 5259 7870
25 Tripura 3803 203 260 706 1205 1182 1516 2981 9610

95
26 Uttaranchal 8654 171 1299 667 4251 1767 4880 10430 22990
Uttar
27 61554 8839 16300 15358 22300 87 125 38725 87560
Pradesh
28 West Bengal 35667 11941 13192 11668 9803 1679 657 23652 70200
3145
Total: 330647 59855 133949 81466 161955 69901 365805 784180
1

There are about 60,000 habitations of 1000+ population, 81,500 habitations with
population between 500 and 999 and about 31,500 habitations of 250-499
population eligible for connectivity under PMGSY with an estimated length
requirement of about 3.65 lakh kms of new roads at an estimated cost of Rs.
784180 million.

The fund and kilometer requirement for upgradation along with the estimated cost
is given in Table 4. There is a total upgradation requirement of about 3.73 lakh km
of rural roads at an estimated cost of about Rs. 590330 million.

Figures in the Table indicate the position at the beginning of the PMGSY
programme.

Table 4 : Length and Cost of Rural Roads for Upgradation under PMGSY
Length of Core Network (Rural Roads) Length of
Estimated
Upgradation
S.No. State Through Link roads Total cost (Rs.
to be
roads (km) (km) (km) Million)
covered(km)
1 Andhra Pradesh 8576 57495 66071 17201 25820
2 Arunachal Pradesh 2750 9154 11904 4123 7260
3 Assam 10551 16632 27183 13046 33400
4 Bihar 12746 38898 51644 18581 27770
5 Chhattisgarh 12536 29040 41576 16892 27850
6 Goa 71 788 859 190 190
7 Gujarat 2982 40668 43650 9082 9720
8 Haryana 6567 6387 12954 7525 13150
9 Himachal Pradesh 5894 23577 29471 9431 16600
10 Jammu & Kashmir 3585 15238 18822 5870 11400
11 Jharkhand 7978 29677 37654 12429 17280
12 Karnataka 8141 58539 66679 16921 18720
13 Kerala 305 15734 16039 2665 4190
14 Madhya Pradesh 25330 79380 104710 37237 57420
15 Maharashtra 8905 72130 81035 19724 27650
16 Manipur 1343 7284 8627 2435 3750
17 Meghalaya 2312 7120 9432 3380 6020
18 Mizoram 1117 2396 3513 1476 2650
19 Nagaland 805 6003 6807 1705 2510
20 Orissa 19138 61257 80395 28327 43480
21 Punjab 7484 17751 25235 10147 12500
22 Rajasthan 14821 75304 90125 26117 27750
23 Sikkim 485 2408 2893 846 1150
24 Tamil Nadu 14317 52561 66878 22201 30190
25 Tripura 1637 4704 6341 2343 4760
26 Uttaranchal 4321 17124 21446 6890 12100
27 Uttar Pradesh 40363 111404 151767 57074 99720
28 West Bengal 13410 36991 50400 18958 45330
Total 238470 895642 1134112 372816 590330

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 4.0 ACHIEVEMENTS UNDER PMGSY

Proposals under PMGSY prepared by States are being cleared in different phases
since 2001. The physical and financial status and achievements so far under
PMGSY are summarized in Table 5.

While completion of over 90,000km of roads under the scheme may appear
impressive as compared to past record in the rural roads sector, the actual
achievements have fallen far short of the targets originally envisaged. The original
goal set under the scheme was to provide connectivity to all unconnected
habitations with a population of 1000 or more by 2003 and all unconnected
habitations with a population of 500 and above by the end of the 10th Plan period
(2007). All habitations with a population of 250 or more in the hill states, desert
areas, and tribal areas were also targeted to be covered by the terminal year of
the 10th Five Year Plan (2007). As against these programme targets originally set,
the proposals cleared so far are expected to provide connectivity to only 56638
habitations. The works completed so far have provided connectivity to only
27,303 habitations. The status of habitation coverage achieved so far under this
scheme has been indicated in Table 6.
Table 5: Physical and Financial Status and achievements under PMGSY
Statement showing Physical & Financial progress under PMGSY (Phases - I to VI + ADB/WB)
(Rs. in crores, length in kms)
road works

road works

road works
No. of road

No. of road

Expenditur
completed

completed

completed

completed
proposals

Length of

Length of

% Length

% Exp. to
25.05.06)
released

released
Value of

Amount

amount
cleared

works

works
(upto
State

% of
Sl.

e
No

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 AP 1632.95 1011.47 4580.00 13284.10 3564.00 8535.35 77.82% 64.25% 914.62 90.42%
2 Arunachal 437.74 179.46 446.00 1786.65 337.00 1096.08 75.56% 61.35% 127.36 70.97%
3 Assam 1601.11 721.29 1294.00 4385.87 640.00 1558.26 49.46% 35.53% 609.50 84.50%
4 Bihar 1384.03 592.80 1297.00 5239.60 613.00 1609.76 47.26% 30.72% 504.84 85.16%
5 Chattisgarh 2220.21 1078.26 2094.00 10993.84 914.00 4998.56 43.65% 45.47% 1088.23 100.92%
6 Goa 9.72 10.00 90.00 178.16 72.00 158.70 80.00% 0.00% 5.32 53.20%
7 Gujarat 438.34 284.87 1553.00 3250.02 1139.00 2373.75 73.34% 73.04% 274.54 96.37%
8 Haryana 258.08 201.18 111.00 1575.51 77.00 1107.85 69.37% 70.32% 163.38 81.21%
9 HP 1353.08 482.80 1506.00 7590.09 510.00 2742.21 33.86% 36.13% 359.57 74.48%
10 J&K 312.40 145.35 277.00 1025.81 41.00 91.30 14.80% 8.90% 59.71 41.08%
11 Jharkhand 633.03 504.41 629.00 3362.37 439.00 2317.95 69.79% 68.94% 411.28 81.54%
12 Karnataka 759.36 506.24 1921.00 7240.01 1518.00 5015.49 79.02% 69.27% 403.63 79.73%
13 Kerala 196.73 121.97 443.00 837.04 192.00 345.80 43.34% 41.31% 75.33 61.76%
14 MP 5103.92 2102.50 5562.00 26456.59 2271.00 10529.22 40.83% 39.80% 2066.99 98.31%
15 Maharashtra 684.75 596.21 2148.00 5146.84 1508.00 3245.59 70.20% 63.06% 485.94 81.50%
16 Manipur 273.04 104.33 849.00 1266.84 525.00 688.84 61.84% 54.37% 98.01 93.94%
17 Meghalaya 145.72 123.17 347.00 811.43 286.00 661.91 82.42% 81.57% 93.40 75.83%
18 Mizoram 333.23 225.50 114.00 1526.83 67.00 978.60 58.77% 64.09% 163.75 72.62%
19 Nagaland 194.43 161.56 208.00 1996.67 173.00 1582.37 83.17% 79.25% 107.74 66.69%
20 Orissa 2240.95 1445.56 2880.00 9514.74 1663.00 5137.43 57.74% 53.99% 1147.02 79.35%
21 Punjab 217.90 176.30 508.00 1282.78 412.00 815.11 81.10% 63.54% 166.77 94.59%
22 Rajasthan 4490.81 2395.60 8865.00 30877.01 4374.00 15427.75 49.34% 49.97% 1926.34 80.41%
23 Sikkim 298.37 111.26 182.00 1912.48 59.00 1503.68 32.42% 78.62% 85.13 76.51%
24 Tamil Nadu 724.18 491.87 2604.00 5040.68 1738.00 3121.72 66.74% 61.93% 366.78 74.57%
25 Tripura 200.99 96.39 311.00 841.38 205.00 437.07 65.92% 51.95% 77.60 80.51%
26 UP 2916.29 2193.87 11186.00 21227.95 7957.00 13657.31 71.13% 64.34% 1624.25 74.04%
27 Uttaranchal 360.83 215.33 292.00 1822.86 131.00 508.36 44.86% 27.89% 150.53 69.91%
28 West Bengal 2328.20 1203.45 1274.00 7650.14 683.00 3471.40 53.61% 45.38% 929.36 77.22%
Grand Total 31750.39 17483.00 53571.00 178124.29 32108.00 93717.42 59.94% 52.61% 14486.92 82.86%

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 Table 6: Connectivity Status under PMGSY
Population No. of eligible No. of habitations No of
Category habitations covered by projects habitations
approved connected
1000 and above 59855 28361 16081
500 and above 81466 21942 8602
250 and above 31451 6335 2620
Total 172772 56638 27303

With only 15.80% of habitations having been actually connected so far, it is

evident that the scheme would miss the 10th Plan target by a huge margin.
Recognising this slippage the time frame fro providing full connectivity to
habitations with population above 1000 (above 500 in hill, desert, and tribal areas)
has been reset under Bharat Nirman.

5.0 BHARAT NIRMAN

Announced as a time bound business plan for augmenting rural infrastructure,

Bharat Nirman has rural roads as one of the six components. The targets
announced by the Finance Minister in his budget speech on February 28, 2005
seek to provide all-weather connectivity to all habitations having population of
1000 or more (500 or more in hill, tribal and desert areas) by 2009. While the
primary objective of PMGSY has been to provide ‘last mist connectivity’ to all
eligible unconnected habitations, in order to ensure full farm to market connectivity
Bharat Nirman also includes an upgradation component. It is estimated that under
Bharat Nirman 66802 habitations would be provided new connectivity with a road
length of 1,46,185km. Besides, 1.94lakh km of existing through routes of the Core
Network would be upgraded/renewed. The total investment on rural connectivity
under Bharat Nirman has been estimated at Rs.48000 crore over 2005-2009. The
year-wise targets for new connectivity and upgradation have been detailed at
Table 7 and Table 8.

Bharat Nirman envisages a massive scaling up of the programme in terms of

habitations coverage, construction targets and financial investment. While around
19000 habitations were provided connectivity during 2000-2005, coverage is
targeted to register more than three-fold increase over 2005-09. While average
annual spending during 2000-2005 was around Rs.2500 crore, it is targeted to
increase by four to five times under Bharat Nirman. While this is a bold initiative to
address the infrastructure deficit in the rural areas, the quantum increase
envisaged in the programme size call for commensurate efforts in augmenting the
programme implementation capacity, contracting capacity, materials planning,
construction management systems and work processes.

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 Table 7: Bharat Nirman- Targets for New Connectivity
(Length in kms, Habitations in Numbers)
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Total
S.No Name of the State Length Habs Length Habs Length Habs Length Habs Length Habs
1 Andhra Pradesh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 Arunachal Pradesh 162.5 22 637.5 85 646.875 86 671.875 105 2118.75 298
3 Assam 605.852 421 2864.063 1988 3889.845 2701 5793.46 4022 13153.22 9132
4 Bihar 1665.831 896 3928.75 2062 6121.425 3214 7230.306 3784 18946.312 9956
5 Chhattisgarh 1501.365 478 4367.606 1310 6450.644 2007 8255.181 2514 20574.796 6309
6 Goa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 Gujarat 402.955 230 429.723 246 438.675 251 438.675 251 1710.028 978
8 Haryana 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 Himachal Pradesh 464.583 127 795.833 209 638.542 166 479.167 123 2378.125 625
10 J&K 169.972 57 1059.49 352 1781.869 593 1405.099 466 4416.43 1468
11 Jharkhand 1051.779 526 2594.39 1295 1812.298 901 2319.31 1155 7777.777 3877
12 Karnataka 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 Kerala 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
14 Madhya Pradesh 2602.139 768 6162.451 1760 8326.848 2399 10470.17 2905 27561.608 7832
15 Maharashtra 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
16 Manipur 100 11 460.714 48 464.286 48 719.048 74 1744.048 181
17 Meghalaya 123.609 35 135.971 39 140.091 40 144.211 41 543.882 155
18 Mizoram 82.746 12 274.819 39 277.884 39 306.498 43 941.947 133
19 Nagaland 93.318 9 104.529 10 109.507 10 114.485 11 421.839 40
20 Orissa 1055.95 493 1985.609 874 2524.021 1087 4427.774 1993 9993.354 4447
21 Punjab 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22 Rajasthan 2153.615 743 3629.519 1252 3554.217 1225 2123.494 732 11460.845 3952
23 Sikkim 75.031 22 104.042 30 108.043 31 132.053 37 419.169 120
24 Tamil Nadu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
25 Tripura 94.774 66 261.74 183 354.701 248 447.661 313 1158.876 810
26 Uttar Pradesh 1966.416 1236 2390.632 1504 2059.213 1295 1378.701 867 7794.962 4902
27 Uttaranchal 380.609 95 422.008 106 1025.641 257 1020.299 255 2848.557 713
28 West Bengal 739.378 787 2572.767 2738 3265.307 3473 3643.359 3876 10220.811 10874
Total 15492.42 7034 35182.16 16130 43989.93 20071 51520.83 23567 146185.34 66802

6.0 INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENTS UNDER PMGSY.

6.1 To ensure efficient, streamlined execution of works under PMGSY, a series of

interventions have been made to enhance the programme implementation
capacity of the States and to ensure ‘on time’ completion, cost management, and
rigorous quality control. These interventions are summarized below:

• DRRP & Core Network: The concept of Core Network has been
operationalised for the first time, under PMGSY, in order to focus on the set of
roads which are considered essential to provide connectivity to all habitations
of the desired size. The District Rural Road Plan (DRRP) with inventory of the
entire Road Network is the starting point for the exercise. The Core Network
will be the basic instrumentality for prioritization of construction, upgradation
and allocation of funds for maintenance.

99
 Table 8: Bharat Nirman Targets for Upgradation
( Length in Kms )
2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Total
Sl.No Name of the State Length length Length Length Length
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 Andhra Pradesh 1821.494 2258.652 2258.652 2258.652 8597.45
2 Arunachal Pradesh 0 0 0 0 0
3 Assam 0 2005.71 2269.808 2219.843 6495.361
4 Bihar 0 2393.617 3510.638 3390.958 9295.213
5 Chhattisgarh 0 1986.063 3240.418 3222.996 8449.477
6 Goa 190.114 190.114 190.114 190.114 760.456
7 Gujarat 0 1557.971 1557.971 1413.043 4528.985
8 Haryana 229.358 1146.789 1146.789 1238.532 3761.468
9 Himachal Pradesh 0 1515.923 1694.268 1503.185 4713.376
10 Jammu & Kashmir 0 1007.584 920.91 1007.584 2936.078
11 Jharkhand 0 2108.433 2123.494 1987.952 6219.879
12 Karnataka 2573.529 2573.529 2573.529 2573.529 10294.116
13 Kerala 524.109 628.931 524.109 524.109 2201.258
14 Madhya Pradesh 0 5189.543 6614.379 6823.53 18627.452
15 Maharashtra 4334.365 4334.365 4334.365 4334.365 17337.46
16 Manipur 0 0 0 0 0
17 Meghalaya 0 587.583 587.583 665.189 1840.355
18 Mizoram 0 257.998 257.998 216.718 732.714
19 Nagaland 0 246.914 246.914 370.371 864.199
20 Orissa 0 4438.574 4663.144 5059.445 14161.163
21 Punjab 423.729 1483.051 1483.051 1680.791 5070.622
22 Rajasthan 0 4764.543 4653.74 3656.51 13074.793
23 Sikkim 0 196.85 137.795 98.425 433.07
24 Tamil Nadu 1297.71 2824.427 2824.427 4167.939 11114.503
25 Tripura 0 373.737 383.838 414.141 1171.716
26 Uttar Pradesh 0 7158.962 6956.031 14408.12 28523.113
27 Uttaranchal 0 889.454 1283.354 1270.648 3443.456
28 West Bengal 0 2549.942 2878.965 4054.053 9482.96
Total 11394.408 54669.259 59316.284 68750.742 194130.693

• Quality Control System: The road works under the PMGSY are being
executed by the State Governments. The primary responsibility of maintaining
the quality of works is of the State Authorities. Under the PMGSY, quality is
sought to be ensured through a three-tier Quality Control System, in which the
Executing Agency is primarily responsible for maintaining the quality through
its Executive Engineers, at the District Level, as well as through an
independent Quality Control Agency, whether departmental or otherwise,
which is responsible to the officers of the Executing Agency or the Nodal
Department independent of the Field Engineers at the State Level.

• In addition, the National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA), as a

third-tier, engages National Quality Monitors (NQMs) to verify at random the
quality of road works. The reports of the NQMs are sent to the State
Government for necessary action. About 21000 inspections have been carried
out so far, out of which about 18,000 works have been found satisfactory. Any
infringement/deficiency, detected by the Monitors, are rectified before the
State Authorities can make further payments.

• On-line Management & Monitoring System: A web-based On-line

Management & Monitoring System (OMMS) is being used for the PMGSY.

100
 The website can be accessed at www.omms.nic.in . A new website has also
been developed by the Rural Connectivity Division containing details of the
PMGSY Schemes, Guidelines, Agencies involved, role and responsibilities,
progress, etc. and can be accessed at www.pmgsy.nic.in.

• Streamlined Administration and Accounting: State Rural Roads

Development Agency (SRRDA) have been set up in all States with the task of
functioning as the dedicated agency of the State nodal Department for rural
roads to ensure the integrated development of all rural roads schemes,
including PMGSY. Funds for the PMGSY programme are routed to these
SRRDAs and operated by the designated officers in each of the district PIUs,
under a works accounting system specifically designed for PMGSY by the
Institute of Public Auditors of India (IPAI).

• Technical Agencies: The Ministry have identified 43 State Technical

Agencies, mainly National Institutes of Technology and Government
Engineering Colleges of repute, in consultation with the State Governments to
advise and assist the Executing Agencies, on behalf of the Ministry, on
technical matters relating to PMGSY. The STAs are expected to scrutinize the
project proposals prepared by the State Governments, provide requisite
technical support to the State Governments, and to undertake Training
Programme.

• The NRRDA has also identified 7 Principal Technical Agencies (PTAs) to

act as the Regional Coordinators of the STAs as well as the extended arms of
NRRDA in the pursuit of its objectives. The PTAs oversee the activities of the
STAs in the region, carry out random checks of the DPRs scrutinized by
STAs, evaluate specifications and practices, develop course material for
Training Programmes, and act as Resource Institutions. The PTAs are also to
assist the NRRDA in quality audit of roads.

• The identified PTAs are the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), IIT,
Mumbai, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Bangalore, IIT,
Kharagpur, IIT Roorkee, Birla Institute of Technology, Pilani and National
Institute of Technology, Warangal.

• Rural Roads Manual: The original Manual, called Manual on Route Location,
Design, Construction and Maintenance of Rural Roads was brought out by the
Indian Roads Congress as a publication in 1979 (IRC: SP:20-1979).

• Following the launch of the PMGSY, the Ministry of Rural Development

constituted 3 Committees in January 2001 to go into various aspects of rural
road construction and the manuals on these different aspects brought out by
the committees were combined into a separate ‘Rural Roads Manual’ and
published as an IRC publication (IRC:SP: 20-2002) in supercession of earlier
manual.

• This Manual is now the basis of all works under the PMGSY.

101
 • Standard Bidding Documents: To standardise the PMGSY works
tendering process in the States, a Standard Bidding Document has been
prepared and is used by all States for tendering of works under PMGSY.

• Book of Specifications and Standard Data Book: In order to streamline the

process of estimating and standardise contracts, a separate Book of
Specification and Standard Data Book has been prepared for rural roads.
State Governments have been advised to publish Annual Schedule of Rates
for rural roads based or these documents.

• Operations Manual: The NRRDA has prepared an Operations Manual which

would be utilized by all the Executing Agencies in the field in the
implementation of projects cleared under the PMGSY. This is expected to
provide clear and uniform Guidelines to the Executing Agencies in the States
in regard to standards, specifications, Guidelines and prioritization criteria.

• Maintenance Management : PMGSY is a massive Central investment in the

State sector as a part of a poverty reduction strategy. Huge assets are being
created as a result of construction of new roads and upgradation of existing
roads in order to provide full farm to market connectivity. To provide regular
and systematic maintenance of the assets created under PMGSY, the
Guidelines provide for the ways and means to ensure maintenance of these
assets. The State Governments are expected to take steps to build up
capacity in the District Panchayats and endeavour to devolve funds and
functionaries onto these Panchayats to enable them to manage maintenance
contracts for rural roads.

All PMGSY roads (including associated Main Rural Links/Through Routes of

PMGSY link routes) are covered by 5-years maintenance contracts entered into
along with the construction contract, with the same contractor, as per the Standard
Bidding Document. Maintenance funds to service the contract are to be budgeted
by the State Government and placed at the disposal of SRRDA in a separate
Maintenance Account. The States have also been advised to prepare
comprehensive Maintenance Management Plans.

6.2 While these interventions have brought about some degree of professionalism in
the programme management and fostered culture of quality in the rural roads
sector, the absorption capacity of the states as well as those of contractors are still
well below the levels required to achieve the targets set under Bharat Nirman.

6.3 A comprehensive and in depth evaluation of PMGSY has not yet been made
either by the Ministry of Rural Development or by any independent agency.
However, Planning Commission did carry out a quick concurrent evaluation
through its Programme Evaluation Organisation (PEO) in 2005. The findings of
this evaluation have been summarized in Box 1.

102
 Box-1: Overall Assessment of PMGSY

PMGSY has succeeded in providing connectivity to some of the most deserving habitations
although the pace of implementation in most of the selected States is rather slow. Selection of these
road works seem to be justified, unless one gives a high weightage to the opportunity cost in terms of
road works forgone in other Districts/other States. All the implementing States have designated an
implementing agency as the nodal agency. All the selected implementing States have more or less
adhered to the PMGSY guidelines as far as selection of habitations, project proposals and clearance are
concerned. Quality of PMGSY roads has been found to be generally good. PMGSY roads provide
connectivity to important places such as School/College, Market Centre, and Block Office etc. It has
improved the accessibility of beneficiary villagers and resulted in higher income in the form of better
price for agricultural produce, new employment avenues etc. The cost of providing connectivity for
some of the habitations in States like Himachal Pradesh is very high due to difficult terrain. But for
PMGSY, no road would have been taken up in these sparsely populated habitations

However, what is important is that not only both the phases of PMGSY are efficiently completed
within prescribed time targets by overcoming the problems/constraints faced from time to time but
the learning experiences of the past are also always kept in view. Further, it is hoped that by the end
of Tenth Five Year Plan, all unconnected villages/habitations will be actually connected through the
construction of all-weather surfaced roads so that vast chunk of India’s population living in rural
areas also enjoys the fruits of development.

In the mid-term evaluation of the 10th Plan, Planning Commission has also taken
note of the implementation capacity constraints which has been referred to above.
For successful implementation of PMGSY the Planning Commission
recommended that it is necessary to address the issue relating to capacity
development at the State level. The Commission also recommended that the
issues relating to maintenance funding, management and integration of rural
roads with higher categories, particularly major district roads, and the need to
develop an appropriate role for the district panchayats in the management of rural
roads need to be addressed.

6.7 While creating an institutional architecture for coordinated development of rural

roads, codification of technical standards and specifications, assured funding
support to the implementing agencies, comprehensive planning for development
of the rural road network and institutionalization of a quality assurance system can
be identified as the major strengths of PMGSY, experience gained/lessons learnt
over the past six years have also brought out some structural weaknesses in the
scheme. First of all, being essentially a scheme to provide the ‘last mile’
connectivity, the guidelines of the scheme perhaps weigh excessively in favour of
new connectivity, providing only limited allocation for modernization/upgradation of
the through routes. The existing guidelines limit allocation for upgradation to only
20%. With this limited allocation it has not been possible so far to upgrade a
significant proportion of the through routes. As a matter of fact, a major criticism
of the scheme from the perspective of the road users has been that to access
small stretches of new connectivity link roads built under PMGSY, one has to
traverse long distances on the through routes with highly deteriorated pavement
conditions. Besides, major district roads which carry large volumes of traffic in the
rural areas are outside the purview of the scheme even though these roads are

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 part of the Core Network. This neglect of the MDRs under PMGSY as also in
other ongoing schemes has impeded the comprehensive development of the rural
road network. Secondly, even though Core Networks have been developed under
PMGSY, to serve as the basis of network planning and development, this is still
not being used by agencies other than the Ministry of Rural Development for
funding rural roads construction/upgradation. This fragmented approach by the
funding agencies needs to be rationalized. Third, with all the interventions made
for capacity development, time overrun in project completion is widespread.
Although the Standard Bidding Document requires works taken up under PMGSY
to be completed within 12 months, even now 26% of the works approved under
Phase III (2003-04) are still incomplete. This indicates prevalence of weak
contract management and the need for revisiting the procurement processes
including appropriate provisions for incentives/disincentives for timely completion
of projects. Besides, lack of exposure of the field engineers to new techniques,
technologies and construction management practices need to be addressed.
Fourth, while engineering designs and specifications for rural roads have been
codified under the scheme, which is, no doubt, a major initiative, this massive
programme for rural connectivity should also be used as a window of opportunity
to experiment with alternative cost effective designs and materials. However,
there is still a marked reluctance on the part of the implementation agencies and
the field engineers to deviate from the conventional methods and to try out
innovative methods and designs. In many parts of rural India standard materials
for road construction are not available in adequate quantity. However, there are
alternative materials and weak aggregates which can be used in the construction if
appropriate technological processes are used. Except for a few R&D projects,
PMGSY has still not been able to incentivise R&D projects on a significant scale.
Finally, the problem of maintenance management has not yet been adequately
addressed in almost all the States though a few states moved some distance in
this regard (e.g. Rajasthan). Adequate and assured funding for maintenance is
not available. Too many agencies are still involved in the maintenance of rural
roads leading to diffusion of responsibility and accountability. Appropriate systems
for prioritization of maintenance have still not been institutionalized. In this context
it also needs to be mentioned that though the guidelines of PMGSY envisage that
the maintenance functions should be transferred to the district panchayats (with
funds and functionaries), an effective decentralised system of maintenance of rural
roads has not been operationalised in any State so far under the scheme.

7.0 ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION

In order to develop a strategy for rural road development for the 11th Five Year
Plan, the key issues are to be taken note for deliberation and focus on the
possible measures. The spectrum of the issues covers different facets of Rural
Roads Development including achievable targets, implementation strategy,
Institutional development for enhancing absorption capacities, technologies for
cost effectiveness, management of assets created, quality assurance and possible
synergies with other programmes meant for rural development. Some of the major
issues are being presented in the following articles:

7.1 Targets for the coverage by the end of 11th Five Year Plan.

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 PMGSY envisages providing connectivity to all habitations of 500 and above in all
States and 250 and above in hill States, tribal and desert areas. To achieve the
above objective State-wise demand for rural connectivity is estimated at Table 3.
Based on the projects already approved under PMGSY, a further 2,39,000km of
new link roads will have to be built to provide connectivity to the remaining eligible
habitations under PMGSY. It is expected that about 56,600 habitations will get
connected, with new link roads of 1,26,670 kms by the end of 10th Five Year Plan.
It may not be possible to complete the new connectivity target during the 11th Five
Year Plan at the current pace. Even on the premise that absorption capacities of
States will increase with time and make it possible to set higher targets, it appears
that the total target is beyond the reach of getting completed during the 11th Five
Year Plan. Therefore it may be necessary to set a workable target for
achievement during 11th Five Year Plan. The expert group preparing the Rural
Roads Development Plan – Vision 2025 have recommended completion of
1,20,000km of roads for new connectivity and 50000km of upgradation during the
11th Five Year Plan. This would require investment of Rs.34000 crore at current
prices.

The issues for consideration are setting feasible physical targets, both in terms of
road length and habitation coverage, for the 11th Five Year Plan. While setting
physical targets the working group may also consider the absorption capacity of
the States and constraints on the contracting capacity and the measures that may
be required to address these constraints.

7.2 Modification in the Programme Design.

PMGSY has been conceptualized primarily as a programme to achieve the last

mile connectivity to habitations of specified population categories. It does not
envisage coverage of habitations below population of 500 in plain areas and
below 250 in hill, desert and tribal areas. It is observed that even though in some
States where habitations coverage, as per the existing criteria has not been fully
achieved there are districts where the prescribed level of situation has been
reached. It is for consideration whether the connectivity programme in these
districts should be extended to habitations with lower population densities.
Secondly, in the hill States, and North Eastern States a more liberalized approach
to connect a cluster of habitations has been often demanded. In respect of States
where full connectivity (of the defined categories of habitations) has already been
achieved, the existing schemes provides only limited allocation for upgradation.
These States have built a large stock of rural roads with their own investment over
the years. Their rural road networks is in need of major rehabilitation and
upgradation keeping in view the pavement condition and increased traffic
volumes. The working group may deliberate on these issues and consider
whether there is a need to modify the design of PMGSY to address these issues.

7.3 Support Needed for Capacity Development.

Though the absorption capacity is increasing with the institutional interventions

made, States are not fully geared up to meet targets under Bharat Nirman. While
all efforts are being made by States for capacity development, constraints on the
availability of trained manpower, qualified and capable contractors and the large
scale requirement of material availability and associated logistics have surfaced.

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 At the beginning of the programme, based on the expected budget allocation,
States have established the required number of Programme Implementation Units
(PIUs) in the executing agencies. However, with the increase in the fund
availability and higher targets set under PMGSY and Bharat Nirman, the executing
agencies have experienced shortage of the PIUs both at field execution level as
well as supervisory level. While, States are making the best efforts by increasing
the number of PIUs to cope up with the work the shortage of manpower still
persists. In order to overcome this situation, States are advised to adopt
outsourcing of some of the functions of the PIUs such as the preparation of the
DPRs, construction supervision and quality control, fully monitoring and
management activities. States are further advised for the deployment of engineers
from other departments, if spare capacity is available, with proper orientation and
training, as required.

As a step towards capacity building of contractors, repackaging of the roads is

permitted in some States at their request. Efforts are also being made to facilitate
development of the capacity of the small and medium contractors by enabling
them to acquire machineries through appropriate financing options.

In spite of these measures, implementation capability of the executing agencies is

still inadequate. Hence, further measures in this regard need to be considered.

The Committee may deliberate on:

• Support from Government of India to States for increasing the

institutional capacity for effective implementation.
• Development of the contracting industry by bringing more players into
the arena through appropriate procurement processes.
• Identification of specific training needs for the personnel of all stake
holders.
• Establishing equipment banks to facilitate smaller contractors to
participate.

7.4 Application of Cost Effective Technologies.

Cost trends in different States, over the phases are presented in Annexure. It
indicates a large increase in the cost of construction for the rural roads per unit
length.

In this context, it is essential to understand that cost of construction per unit length
of road is a function of several factors such as type of terrain, the nature of soil
condition (strength in terms of CBR), expected traffic, availability of construction
materials within normal leads, rainfall and other environmental factors. The terrain
where the rural road is being constructed may further influence the cost with the
requirements of appropriate geometrics, cross drainage works and protection
works. Under these varied conditions, it may not be possible to standardize the
cost of construction of rural roads across the States or some times across the
districts in a State or within a district itself, owing to the fact that the cost of
construction is based on location specific conditions.

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 Cost analysis of rural roads in different states and different technologies carried
out by IIT, Roorkee brought out the fact that haulage distance for bringing the
construction materials, the terrain that influences the requirement for CD Works
and protection works, the earthwork requirements and type of soil are the main
reasons for cost variation in different States. Further, research also revealed that
by adopting innovative technologies with local materials through appropriate
stabilization with lime, cement, fly ash or a combination substantially reduces the
cost of construction.

A further point to note here is that before the launching of PMGSY, rural roads
were not constructed with appropriate design and specifications and adequate
provisions for their sustainability. Such a trend was noticed even during I and II
Phases of PMGSY where the states seldom provided what was required for a
good all weather road.

In the light of the above, the following issues are suggested for deliberation :

¾ Promote use of locally available and waste material from industrial plants in
lower layers, by treating them with lime, cement or mechanical stabilization.
¾ Review current pavement design charts for flexible pavements in the light of
performance studies and international practices on a continual basis.
¾ Evolve low cost bituminous surfacing to provide a water proofing layer on
top.
¾ For access to small size habitations in areas with low to moderate rainfall,
provide gravel roads with a 3 m carriageway to start with. Stabilize the top
layer with cement or other additives to reduce dust.
¾ Lay stress on the provision of low cost water crossings.
¾ Encourage intermediate technology for construction (labour based methods
with light equipment) and enhance use of local skills and practices.
¾ Consider reducing the currently stipulated formation width of 7.5 m to 6 m on
roads with traffic less than 100 motorized vehicles per day.
¾ Review core network alignments shown in district level Master Plans for
possible reduction of the overall length.
¾ Continue R&D efforts in evolving cost-effective and innovative material for
road construction.
¾ Use of environmental friendly compounds and enzymes for soils stabilization
that may, partially or fully replaces the use of aggregates.

7.5 Maintenance of Road Assets.

Rural roads created as assets deteriorate over a period of time. Hence, it

must be maintained to a minimum level of acceptable serviceability. If
proper attention is lacking, for whatever reason, it is bound to accelerate
the process of deterioration, which in turn results in :

¾ Loss of time.
¾ Loss of agriculture output
¾ Heavy rehabilitation cost
¾ Increase in the vehicle operating costs
¾ Loss of Access

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 ¾ Acceleration of Isolation and
¾ Loss of asset itself.

Differed Maintenance entails rehabilitation of the road many more times of

resources required to be spent in the maintenance. Because of the neglect
in the maintenance in the past, the same roads are in effect being
constructed over and over at a high social and economic cost. Such a
situation is to be avoided, therefore, even on the principals of economics
the key to prevent this and other ill effects are to adopt an assured and
sustainable maintenance strategy for the rural roads. Regular maintenance
of rural roads is a critical pre condition for sustaining the positive impacts
that roads bring to rural communities. Minor maintenance is often neglected
not only because of lack of funds, but also because there is a little political
capital, or mileage in maintaining roads regularly as the outcome is not
highly visible.

An important point to note here is that maintenance of any asset depends upon
the care with which it is planned, designed, constructed. A meticulously planned,
scientifically designed, and properly constructed with merciless quality control
results in minimum maintenance interventions.

Institutional Initiatives: The UN Economic Commission for Africa and the World
Bank launched a Road Maintenance Issue (RMI) in late 80’s, with a hope of
reversing the massive deterioration of the road network. It was based on two
essential postulates:

• The core problem of road maintenance is not rooted in technical matters, but is
political and institutional.
• Any change in policies, to be affective, must be rooted in a firm awareness at
the highest level of government, of the importance of road maintenance.

Among several issues to be addressed, with regard to maintenance, the most

critical are:
• Government Policy
• Dedicated funds.
• Maintenance backlog
• Maintenance management system
• Institutional reforms
• Contract maintenance
• Involvement of Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• Modernization and R&D

The expert group of Rural Roads Development Plan – Vision: 2025 recommended
the following strategies for putting maintenance of rural roads on sound footing.
o Introduction of Rural Road Maintenance Act with clearly defined
functions and powers.
o Estimation of realistic norms.
o Providing dedicated funds with streamlined management.
o Making the roads maintainable by removing backlogs.

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 o Bringing in Panchayati Raj Institutions with necessary capacity building.
o Planning of maintenance works on the principles of asset management.
o Review of gang labour system.
o Documentation and introduction of incentives.

While the PMGSY guidelines envisage that State Governments transfer the
responsibility of maintenance of rural roads to the Panchayati Raj Institutions
(PRIs), hardly any worthwhile effort has been made during the 10th Five Year Plan
to enable the State Governments to move forward in this direction. This issue
should, therefore, merit consideration on priority in the 11th Five Year Plan.
Specifically, the working group may deliberate on a model of decentralization
laying down which tier of the PRI should take up which segment of the
maintenance responsibility, mobilisation of finances for enabling the PRIs to meet
the maintenance needs, provision of technical and administrative support at each
level of the PRIs to discharge the maintenance responsibilities entrusted to them.

7.6 Alternative Modes of Financing Rural Roads.

There is a wide gap between the funds currently made available for rural roads
and those required to meet the demand. It will therefore be necessary to tap
additional sources of financing to meet the requirement. It may be pointed out that
not all the funds obtained from taxation of road transport are ploughed back on
roads. Table 8 gives the relevant information.
Table 8: Revenue and Expenditure of Road Transport Sector.
Year Transport Revenue Road Expenditure Expenditure as
(Rs. million) (Rs. million) percentage of revenue
1950-51 470 260 55%
1990-91 76,310 33,000 43%
2002-03 500,000 211,000 42%
Source: Road Development Plan- Vision 2021 (IRC), 2001 and Financing
Indian Highways (World Bank), 2005.

It can be seen from the above that the share of expenditure in the road based
revenue is on the decline.

Currently the following sources of financing are available for rural roads
construction:

• Government Budget
• Central Road Fund
• Market Committee Fee.
• Mandi Fees
• Loan Assistance from NABARD.
• Loan Assistance from World Bank and ADB.

Current projections under Bharat Nirman :

The total investment requirements under Bharat Nirman (upto 2008-09) has been
estimated at Rs.48000 crore. While Rs.16000 crore is expected to be available

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from Cess on HSD, Rs.9000 crore is likely to be available from the World Bank
and ADB. To meet the financing gap under Bharat Nirman, it is proposed to
borrow Rs.16500 crore from NABARD by leveraging the Cess accrual. The
residual gap is expected to be made by way of budgetary support. In this context,
it needs to be pointed out that leveraging of the Cess accrual to bridge the
financing gap under Bharat Nirman would entail substantial amounts that would
accrue from Cess from 2009-10 onwards would have to be set aside for
repayment of the NABARD loan. The schedule of repayment of loan and the
amount of Cess likely to be used for repayment, year-wise, is indicated in Table 9.

Table 9: Borrowing and Repayment Schedule

(Rs in crore)
S.No Year Amount Repayments Total Likely Balance
Borrowed Cess Cess after
Interest Principal Inflow servicing
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 2006-07 4500 0 0 0 3876 3876
2 2007-08 4000 292.5 0 292.5 3954 3661.5
3 2008-09 4000 552.5 0 552.5 4033 3484.5
4 2009-10 4000 812.5 900 1712.5 4113 2400.5
5 2010-11 0 1014 1700 2714 4196 1482
6 2011-12 0 903.5 2500 3403.5 4279 875.5
7 2012-13 0 741 3300 4041 4365 324
8 2013-14 0 526.5 3300 3826.5 4452 625.5
9 2014-15 0 312 2400 2712 4541 1829
10 2015-16 0 156 1600 1756 4632 2876
11 2016-17 0 52 800 852 4725 3873
12 Total 16500 5362.5 16500 21862.5 47166 25307.5

The Table 9 clearly shows that in the last two years of the 11th Five Year Plan, the
amount of Cess that would be available net of repayment to finance the rural
roads programme would be very limited. The working group may, therefore,
consider how the financing needs of the rural roads programme in the 11th Five
Year Plan would be taken care of, particularly in the last two years of the Plan.
The options are to continue leveraging Cess or to increase the extent of budgetary
support. While the former option may tie up the Cess accruals for repayment for a
longer period in future (which should consequently affect the future Plans), the
latter option may have to contain with the overall constraints of Plan resources.

The following additional strategies are recommended in the Draft Vision- 2025
Document which the committee may deliberate:
¾ Independent Road Fund
It needs to be appreciated that there is practically no scope for financing of rural
roads by the private sector as is done for national highways and state highways.
This is mainly because they carry very low volumes of traffic, mostly non
commercial in nature and hence charges in the form of toll are difficult to levy for
the recovery of investments. The central government has already created a
dedicated road fund. A few states like Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka have also set
up their own dedicated funds for augmenting the resources for maintenance.

¾ Market Committee Fund

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 This strategy should be extending levying of market fee and rural development
cess on agricultural produce which has been successfully tried in States like
Punjab, Haryana etc. Part of these funds should be earmarked for rural road
maintenance.
¾ Stamp Duty on Land Transactions.
There have been suggestions that since land value close to roads tend to increase
the beneficiaries may pay additional stamp duty on sale of such lands.
¾ Vehicle Fee
In addition to taxes on fuel additional funds may be generated to special purchase
tax on passenger vehicles and agricultural tractors using a part of this for the
maintenance of rural roads.
¾ Domestic Borrowings

NABARD is already extending loan assistance for construction of rural roads in

several states thorough their RIDG programmes. Further, resources can be
tapped from such institutions for rural roads maintenance.
¾ User charges

The scope for user charges in rural roads, which unlike the highways are meant to
provide basic access, is rather limited. At best, this may be a potential source
only in selected roads with very high commercial traffic volumes (e.g. in mining
areas). However, even in those cases user charges may cover the maintenance
requirements and not the rehabilitation/upgradation requirements.

¾ Public Private Partnership (PPP)

While there is little experience of PPP in the context of rural infrastructure in India,
it would be a worthy exercise to explore partnership that might work taking in to
the complexity of the rural context, creating space for private financing, the
economic, social and political nature of the service sought to be provided and the
end users. In this context it may be mentioned that there has been some success
in Latin America for rehabilitation and maintenance of roads through service
contracts by forming community based micro enterprises. The possibility of
replication of this model may be considered.

7.7 Quality Assurance

Quality of any product including rural roads can be defined as “Conformance to

Requirements”. The Conformance to requirements should be both with respect
to the materials used for road construction as well as the workmanship. Since
quality begins right from planning and design of the road, all efforts are needed for
quality assurance from that stage till the road is opened for traffic. A well trained
quality appreciation unit should therefore be set up within the departments to
undertake Quality checks at specified intervals.

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 Currently, under PMGSY, a Three Tier Quality Management System is in position
which is yielding the desire results. However, further efforts are required for a
better Quality Assurance System.

The following issues are flagged for discussion:

• Financial Provision for Quality Measures.
• Training as a means for Quality Assurance through skill development.
• Third Party Quality Assurance mechanism on similar lines to the present NQM
system.
• Technical Audit of the assets.
• Public Participation and Transparency Measures.

7.8 Synergy with other Programmes.

Several developmental programmes are being taken up in rural areas by both

Central and State governments. The National Employment Guarantee Scheme is
one among them. The Governments initiative on Social Forestry is another.
If rural roads development is appropriately linked to such programmes the synergy
may lead to better efficiencies in all the associated programmes. However, while
linking the programmes, the requirements and standards of any one of them
should not be compromised.

The Committee may discuss possible linkages with the other on – going
programmes of rural development with rural roads development.

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 Annexure - Cost Trends under PMGSY
2000-01 2001-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
# State
NC UP NC UP NC UP NC UP NC UP NC UP
Andhra
1 6.72 7.25 14.69 11.49 10.23 15.02 15.47 0.00 18.99
Pradesh
Arunachal
2 0.00 12.88 12.29 0.00 No proposal 31.24 0.00 51.03 0.00
Pradesh
3 Assam 41.74 0.00 26.06 25.55 24.96 0.00 32.57 0.00 40.36 19.08
4 Bihar 17.82 19.49 21.52 0.00
5 Chattisgarh 0.00 9.61 16.03 0.00 19.59 0.00 22.03 0.00 23.00 22.79
6 Goa 0.00 3.19 16.81 0.00 No proposal 25.07 0.00
7 Gujarat 11.46 8.48 11.68 8.85 13.29 0.00 17.25 0.00 17.53 10.82
8 Haryana 0.00 5.50 0.00 17.04 0.00 17.48 0.00 21.97 0.00 23.28
Himachal
9 11.22 0.00 14.19 0.00 14.30 0.00 21.39 0.00 23.03 0.00
Pradesh
Jammu &
10 18.78 23.45 24.99 0.00 30.95 24.36 34.90 0.00
Kashmir
11 Jarkhand 26.18 3.67 19.18 0.00 20.85 0.00 23.73 0.00
12 Karnataka 8.09 6.17 10.55 8.49 0.00 10.80 0.00 16.53 0.00 17.48
13 Kerala 17.58 15.41 20.55 12.53 20.97 0.00 29.40 0.00 30.41 25.26
Madhya
14 12.07 10.51 14.85 9.63 20.67 0.00 21.00 0.00 20.31 17.45 22.45 19.88
Pradesh
15 Maharashtra 0.00 8.76 16.05 11.55 18.01 11.03 19.56 11.30
16 Manipur NA 11.36 0.00 No proposal No proposal 26.08 33.25
17 Meghalaya 0.00 7.69 30.60 0.00 32.28 0.00 37.52 0.00
18 Mizoram 12.81 0.00 17.53 0.00 16.74 0.00 32.63 0.00 24.69 0.00
19 Nagaland 0.00 2.27 16.74 12.77 11.13 10.90 16.71 0.00 18.27 17.42
20 Orissa 17.17 12.69 20.70 12.98 18.39 0.00 26.40 21.29 28.42 33.11
21 Punjab 16.33 0.00 16.54 12.65 16.11 0.00 17.63 19.07
22 Rajasthan 11.62 7.68 9.06 0.00 12.37 0.00 13.28 0.00 17.01 0.00 18.81 0.00
23 Sikkim 0.00 1.21 33.03 11.31 33.32 0.00 43.67 0.00 46.09 0.00
24 Tamil Nadu 11.96 8.86 15.42 12.32 14.61 0.00 15.17 11.22 25.15 17.25
25 Tripura 0.00 5.98 25.16 0.00 48.91 0.00 55.17 0.00
26 Uttar Pradesh 0.00 3.93 20.80 0.00 22.32 16.81 24.45 17.73
27 Uttaranchal 25.17 18.70 28.55 20.26 13.83 0.00 18.02 23.52
28 West Bengal 17.45 16.73 27.12 0.00 29.12 0.00 31.92 35.03 38.86 0.00

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 Appendex II

The Concept Note on PPP

1. Background

Rural road connectivity is an extremely desirable objective not only from an economic
perspective but also from a social standpoint. However, development of rural roads has
suffered on account of lack of vision, shortage of funds, weak implementation
mechanisms and absence of initiative. In spite of the efforts made at the state and
central levels only about 40% of the rural habitations in the country are connected by
roads, most of which may not be categorised as all-weather roads on account of poor
serviceability conditions.

In August 2000, the Prime Minister announced a Centrally Sponsored Scheme called
the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The primary objective of PMGSY is
to provide connectivity by way of all-weather roads to unconnected habitations with a
population of 1000 persons and above by 2003 and all unconnected habitations with a
population of 500 persons and above by 2007. PMGSY is being financed through 50%
of the cess on High Speed Diesel (HSD) which is being earmarked for the programme.

Apart from its own initiative, the government has been keen to leverage the technical,
fInancial and managerial resources of the private sector to facilitate development of
rural roads by utilising funds earmarked for PMGSY under Public-Private-Partnership
(PPP) frameworks.

Against this background, XYZ Group has conceptualised a rural road development
project covering approximately 1000 Km spanning the districts of Kolhapur, Sindhudurg
and Sangli in Maharashtra and submitted its proposal to MoRD and GOM.

XYZ Group of Co-operatives is one of the successful rural enterprises in India. It was
set up four decades ago with the objective of the providing basic irrigation facilities. This
was followed by setting up of the sugar factory, distillery, paper mill, power plant,
organic fertilisers unit, jute mill etc. XYZ Group also runs a highly successful dairy
business and has established a strong brand in western India. The Group has
subsequently set up a co-operative bank, chain of rural super markets, educational
institutes and a hospital.

The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) is in-principle agreeable to designate the

project proposed by XYZ Group as a pilot project, replicable as a model.

Although the Project is being conceived under the umbrella of PMGSY, MoRD has
agreed to allocate funds for the Project over and above the normal allocation for the
State of Maharashtra under PMGSY (please refer to discussion under 'Flow of Funds'
provided below).

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This note outlines the project concept, the commercial framework and touches upon
some of the key issues that need to be addressed to take the process forward.

2. Project Objectives
Apart from the broad objective of establishing an alternate track for rural road
development, the other objectives of this Project are:
• Leveraging private sector efficiencies in the whole aspect of rural road service
delivery;
• Ensuring implementation of a large project within a compressed time-frame;
• Incentives for better design without consequent increase costs to government;
• Utilize, where permitted, income from other activities including dairy
development, sugar business, super markets, educational institutions and
horticulture, for rural road developments ("Other Activities");
• Involvement of local communities in the Project;
• Ensuring long term maintenance of the Project;
• Encouraging commercial Lenders to provide financial assistance to the private
sector entity ~i.e. XYZ in the instant case) against commitments from PMGSY;
and
• Utilising the expertise of Lenders/independent experts project development,
implementation and monitoring.
Project
The project involves construction and maintenance of rural roads of about 1000 km on
BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) basis in the districts of Kolhapur, Sindhudurg and Sangli
in Maharashtra.

Project Scope:
The broad scope of the Project is as under:
ƒ Development/upgradation of rural roads comprising other district roads and
village roads covering an approximate length of 1000 Km including cross-
drainage works as set out in the DPR; (the "Rural Roads").
ƒ Maintenance of the Rural Roads (the "Maintenance Component'')

Eligible Stretches
Only stretches that qualify under the PMGSY Guidelines and form part of the Core
Network (as specified under the Guidelines) would be undertaken as part of the Project.
Government of Maharashtra ("GoM'') would certify that the selected rural roads are
eligible stretches as defined by the PMGSY guidelines.

Detailed Project Report (DPR)

XYZ shall prepare the DPR, at its own cost and get it approved as per the requirements
outlined under the PMGSY Guidelines. Amongst other aspects as required under the
PMGSY Guidelines, the DPR shall inter-alia provide the following information

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 ƒ Review of proposed road network envisaged under the Project and confirmation
as to its eligibility under PMGSY;
ƒ Detailed engineering including design as per PMGSY Guidelines;
ƒ Bill of Quantities (BOQ);
ƒ Estimates for capital cost of construction of the Rural Roads;
ƒ Estimated annual cost of the Maintenance Component;
ƒ Implementation schedule with broad milestones;
ƒ List of clearances / approvals required for the Project.

For better operating performance and reduced costs of maintenance, XYZ may
implement certain sections with alternate designs (having higher standard than those
prescribed under the PMGSY Guidelines for eg. Certain road sections may be
developed with rigid pavements). XYZ would identify stretches where it intends to adopt
alternate designs at the DPR preparation stage and provide requisite details of the
same (including the cost differential) to MoRD. Any additional costs (as compared to the
applicable PMGSY costs) on account of the alternate designs shall be borne by XYZ.
MoRD may require XYZ to demonstrate availability of equity funds for meeting such
additional expenditure.

3. Implementing Agency

The Project would be implemented by a Spy set up by XYZ Group.

4. Commercial Framework

Once the DPR is approved by the MoRD, the Project would be awarded under a
concession framework, broadly similar to the one followed for PPP based BOT road
projects. Under the framework, MoRD and GoM would jointly grant a concession to XYZ
for development of the project. The arrangement would be formalised by way of a tri-
partite concession agreement (known as Concession Agreement or CA) between
MoRD, XYZ and GoM (collectively known as "parties").

Upon execution of the Concession Agreement between the parties, the terms and
conditions for the implementation of the Project and the duties and obligations of the
parties would be strictly governed by the Concession Agreement.

5. Project Funding

The Project would be developed on project finance basis, under which the capital cost
of the Project would be funded through equity / promoter’s debt from XYZ Group
(equity) funds from MoRD (MoRD Contribution) and project debt (Debt) from
commercial lenders (Lenders). The amount of MoRD Contribution for the project would
be fixed based on the cost of construction of Rural Roads (This would comprise of the
capital cost of construction of rural roads and the associated financing cost – inclusive
of upfront financing charges, interest during construction etc.- taking into account o\the
nature of the transaction). Upon finalisation of DPR, XYZ would work out the amount of
quarterly MoRD Contribution and get the same approved from MoRD.

The construction of Rural Roads would be financed by Equity, Debt and MoRD
Contribution.

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During construction, the MoRD contribution shall be applied in the following order of
priority:

ƒ Towards interest on Debt drawn from Lenders;

ƒ Towards cost of construction of Rural Roads.

During operations (maintenance period), MoRD Contribution shall be applied solely

towards repayment of principal amount of Debt, interest and other monies payable to
the persons providing Debt to the project under the relative financing documents. Upon
repayment of entire Debt (including any other amounts due to the Lenders pertaining to
the Project), MoRD Contribution would cease. Prior to implementation of the Project,
MoRD shall obtain letter/ s of comfort from Government of India, agreeing to specifically
earmark and provide additional funds for the Project, in addition to the normal allocation
of funds for the State of Maharashtra under the PMGSY.

MoRD, GOM, XYZ and the Lenders would enter into a quadripartite Direct Agreement in
order to give effect to this arrangement and matters incidental and ancillary thereto.

MoRD's obligation would be limited to bearing the capital cost (inclusive of associated
financing cost) of construction of Rural Roads on a deferred basis as described above.
All other costs relating to the Project, including costs of the Maintenance Component
shall be borne by XYZ out of income from Other Activities/ Equity. XYZ would be solely
responsible for the maintenance of the Rural Roads and MoRD / GoM / Lenders would
have no liability on this count. XYZ shall provide to MoRD, suitable performance bank
guarantee equivalent to the estimated maintenance expenses for the entire operations
period.

The arrangement has been diagrammatically represented below:

Project Debt
Leander(s) Project
Quadripartite Direct
MoRD Contribution Agreement

MoRD XYZ Group

Tri-partite Concession
Agreement

GOM

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Accordingly, the proposed means of finance for different components is as under:

Project
Means of Finance
Component
Road Equity, Debt & MoRD Contribution
Maintenance • Income from Other
Activities/Equity
• Backed by a performance
bank guarantee

6. Contractual Arrangement

The following agreements would be the key contracts to be executed prior to

commencement of the Project:

• Concession Agreement (CA): The CA would form the basic contract between
MoRD, GoM and XYZ in context of the Project which shall set out the roles and
responsibilities of the parties.
A discussion on the key provisions of the CA has been provided below under the
head "Concession Outline".

• Direct Agreement: The Direct Agreement would form the basis for raising Debt
from Lenders through the project finance route. This quadripartite agreement
would be entered between MoRD, GoM, Lenders and XYZ. It would, inter alia,
include the following aspects pertaining to the Project:

ƒ Amount of MoRD Contribution

ƒ Periodicity of payment
ƒ Mode of payment
ƒ Direct payment to Lenders in an Escrow Account/ Trust and Retention
Account (IRA)
ƒ Payment of compensation in the event of Termination

7. Steering Committee

MoRD would constitute a Steering Committee to take the project from a

conceptual stage through to signing of the CA. The Steering Committee would comprise
representatives of MoRD, GoM, XYZ and (potential) Lenders and would be required to
play an important role in resolving project related issues during the project development
phase - till signing of the CA.

On and after signing of the CA, the Steering Committee would be responsible for the
overall monitoring and supervision of the Project during the concession period
(construction and operations period). The Engineering Consultant would periodically
report progress of the Project to the Steering Committee.

8. Engineering Consultant

A reputed engineering consultancy firm (Engineering Consultant or EC) shall be jointly

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appointed by MoRD and XYZ to carry out the following broad activities:

ƒ Monitor construction. of the Project with regard to the approved DPR and the
project requirements enshrined in the Concession Agreement and report
periodically to the Steering Committee.

ƒ Monitor the condition of the Project roads on a periodic basis during the
operations period and report to the Steering Committee.

9. Concession Outline

9.1 Grant of Concession

MoRD and GoM would award the concession to investigate study, design, engineer,
procure, finance, construct, operate and maintain the Project to XYZ. A tri-partite
Concession Agreement would be signed by MoRD, XYZ and GoM in this regard.

9.2 Concession Period

The concession period for the Project would be limited to 15 years. The concession
period would include 2 years of construction period and 13 years of maintenance period
(operations period).

9.3 Project Completion

XYZ would have to commence implementation of the Project, by the Commencement

Date4. A period of 2 years from the Commencement Date (Six months from the date of
signing the CA, by which time the requisite land should have been provided and the
funding should have been tied up and requisite clearances and approvals including
environmental obtained. Suitable remedies would have to be built into the CA to take
care of events which might affect the stated time-schedules.) A period of 2 year from
the Commencement date would be provided for completion of the construction of the
Rural Roads.

9.4 Project Site

GoM shall hand over the entire Project site / necessary right-of-way to XYZ as per the
pre-agreed schedule (not exceeding 6 months from the date of execution of the
Concession Agreement) free of encumbrances for the purpose of developing the
Project. XYZ shall be permitted to use the. land / site only for the purpose of the Project
and would have an obligation to keep the Project site free of any encroachments.

9.5 Payment of MoRD Contribution

Construction Period:
MoRD shall during the construction period disburse the MoRD Contribution in quarterly
instalments into a designated project escrow (charge to the lenders) account (Escrow
Account) immediately upon certification by the Engineering Consultant of XYZ meeting
the various project construction milestones. However, MoRD would ensure that
sufficient contribution is made to service interest dues of Lenders providing the Debt,

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during the construction period, even in circumstances where XYZ has not been able to
meet project milestones and obtain the consequent certification therefor. Disbursement
of MoRD Contribution would begin after conditions precedent stipulated in the CA have
been complied with by XYZ.

Operations Period:
During operations period, MoRD Contribution shall continue to be disbursed into the
Escrow Account on a quarterly basis in accordance with the schedule of servicing the
Debt provided by Lenders. The said Debt servicing schedule shall be set out in the
Direct Agreement.

9.6 XYZ's Obligations

9.6.1 Supervision Consultant

XYZ would need to appoint a reputed engineering consultancy firm as a Supervision

Consultant for the Project with the prior approval of the Steering Committee. The
Supervision Consultant shall assist XYZ in:
ƒ Preparation of the DPR
ƒ Managing the bidding process for selection of the contractor(s) for construction
of the Rural Roads
ƒ Any other technical matter pertaining to the Rural Roads and Maintenance
Component of the project
All the expenses pertaining to the Supervision Consultant (including fee) shall be borne
by XYZ group.

9.6.2 Performance Guarantee

XYZ would need to provide performance bank guarantee to MoRD / GoM as per the
following requirements:
ƒ Of a suitable amount specified by MoRD for the construction period.
ƒ For an amount equivalent to the estimated (as estimated by MORD/GoM)
maintenance expenses for the entire operations period (13 years). So long as XYZ
undertakes the Maintenance Component as per the maintenance requirements
laid down in the Concession Agreement, the performance bank guarantee may be
suitably released annually (on a pro-rata basis) by MoRD / GoM.

9.6.3 Approvals

XYZ would be responsible for procuring the requisite clearances / approvals for the
Project. However, GoM shall procure the environmental clearances for the Project.

9.6.4 Design

The Project would be implemented by XYZ as per the design laid out in the approved
DPR.

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9.6.5 Construction

XYZ would be responsible for constructing the Project facilities as set out in the DPR
within the specified time. XYZ shall appoint contractor/ s to undertake implementation of
the Rural Roads. The selection of the contractor(s) would be based on the pre-
qualification and bidding criteria (Generally in accordance with MORD’s Standard
bidding documents/GoI’s bidding procedures for BOT projects) approved by the
Steering Committee. XYZ would evaluate the bids submitted by various bidders and
submit the evaluation report to the Steering Committee and award the contract to a
contractor only after obtaining approval of the Steering committee.

XYZ would have the freedom to make construction arrangements on such commercial
terms, as it may consider necessary, subject to following the above-mentioned bidding
process for appointment of the contractor. In any case, XYZ would be responsible at all
times for such contractors' performance. All payments to contractors by XYZ shall be in
arrears and shall be certified by EC and statutory auditors of XYZ.

In select circumstances, XYZ may be permitted to undertake construction of the Project

departmentally with prior written approval of by MoRD/Steering Committee and the
Lenders. Such approval shall be subject MoRD / Steering Committee / Lenders being
satisfied of the technical capabilities XYZ.

Any cost escalation with regard to the Project would have to be borne by XYZ.

9.6.6 Maintenance

XYZ would be required to maintain the Project as per the Maintenance Requirements
stipulated in the Concession Agreement. These requirements would be based on the
Government of Maharashtra practices and Rural Roads Manual Provisions.

The EC would be responsible for monitoring the condition of the Rural Roads
throughout the concession period and reporting to the Steering Committee on a periodic
basis. The process of evaluating and certifying compliance with the Maintenance
Requirements would be further laid out in the Concession Agreement.

XYZ is expected to bear the cost of maintenance of the Project from the revenue
generated from Other Activities. In case of a shortfall in its revenue, XYZ would arrange
funds for meeting the maintenance costs from its own sources. In order to demonstrate
assured availability of funds for undertaking maintenance of the Project, XYZ shall be
required to provide a performance bank guarantee as outlined in the Clause 10.6.2
above.

In case of material breach of Maintenance Requirements by XYZ, MoRD and/ GoM would
have the option of undertaking the maintenance themselves and recovering their expenses
by encashing the Performance Guarantee upto the requisite amount. In case of persistent
and material breach of Maintenance Requirements by XYZ, MoRD and/ GoM would be
entitled to terminate the CA and acquire all rights and title to the Project. In case the CA is
so terminated, the obligation to maintain the project roads would revert back to GoM. The
(balance) Performance Guarantee would be encashable in the event of termination of the

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CA for the above-mentioned reasons. In such a scenario MoRD shall payoff the
outstanding Debt (including other overdue) to the Lenders.

9.6.7 Financing

XYZ would be responsible for making the financing arrangements - equity and debt,
within a period of 6 months from the date of signing the CA.

9.6.8 Insurance

XYZ would be required to take stipulated insurance cover for the Project during the
construction and operations period.

9.6.9 Reporting

XYZ would provide periodic progress reports to the EC which in turn will forward such
reports, with its observations, to the Steering Committee on the progress of the Project.
XYZ would have to install necessary computer hardware to enable online monitoring of
the Project as required under the PMGSY Guidelines. The cost for the same would be
included in the Project cost.

9.6.10 Audit

XYZ would have to appoint a reputed chartered accountants fIrm as a statutory auditor
to audit its accounts.

9.6.11 Handbook

Upon the expiry of the concession period, XYZ would handback the project to GoM, free
of cost. It would also ensure that the physical condition of the Project roads is such, so
as to enable them to be certified as good all-weather roads under the PMGSY, by the
EC. GoM / MoRD may set out some of the physical attributes pertaining to the condition
of the roads at the time of handback in the CA.

9.7 MoRD’s Obligation

MoRD would be responsible for:

ƒ Appointing the EC jointly with XYZ
ƒ Awarding the Project to XYZ
ƒ Signing the Concession Agreement
ƒ Signing the Direct Agreement
ƒ Procuring Letter/ s of Comfort from Government of India for servicing the Debt.
ƒ Providing requisite approvals in a timely manner
ƒ Disbursing MoRD Contribution as agreed in the CA
ƒ Making termination payments to the Lenders

9.8 GOM’s Obligation

GoM would be responsible for:

ƒ Providing delivery of Project site / right of way. GoM would have to provide a

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 certificate to MoRD regarding availability of the necessary right of way.
ƒ Providing requisite clearances / approvals in a timely manner Joindy (alongwith
XYZ) procuring the environmental clearance for the Project
ƒ Signing the Concession Agreement and the Direct Agreement
ƒ Supporting the Project at the local level

9.9 Change of Scope

If MoRD desires a change of scope in the Project, the same upto a level of 5% of the
Project cost may be approved by the Steering Committee on the recommendations of
the EC. The payment for the increased scope would be directly disbursed by MoRD as
one lumpsum amount. This payment would be over and above the MoRD Contribution.

For change of scope exceeding 5% of the Project cost, the proposal would have to be
separately reviewed by MoRD, XYZ and the Lenders. The implementation and financing
mechanism to give effect to proposed changes would be separately worked out.

9.10 Force Majeure

Force Majeure (PM) Events would include events that prevent a party from performing
its obligations under the CA (“affected party”) and are beyond the reasonable control of
and not arising out of the fault of the affected party. FM Events would include fire,
cyclone, flood and other acts of God, expropriation, war, ionising radiation etc.

The CA would provide for remedies to parties in the event of force Majeure and
consequences if a prolonged FM event leads to termination.

Depending on the nature of the PM Events the CA shall provide for suitable termination
payment by MoRD. Under all circumstances, the termination payment shall at least
cover the entire outstanding Debt (along with overdues, if any) to the Lenders.

9.11 Events of Default and Termination

Appropriate provisions would be included in the CA listing out the possible events which
could lead to premature termination of the CA and the financial consequences thereof.
Any party (MoRD or GoM or XYZ) may terminate the CA on account of a persistent
default of obligations by the other party. MoRD shall pay the entire outstanding Debt
(along with overdues, if any) to the Lenders in the event of termination of the CA.

9.12 Dispute Resolution

The CA would set out the mechanism to be followed by the parties in case of a dispute.
The parties shall endeavour to resolve all the disputes in an amicable manner. Disputes
which are not resolved amicably would be referred to Secretary, Ministry of Rural
Development, Government of India. If the dispute remains unresolved, it would be
settled as per the provisions of Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996.

10. Pilot Project

MoRD shall take appropriate steps to designate the Project as a Pilot Project for Private
Sector Participation in the manner provided in this Concept Note, under the PMGSY, as

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modified herein, and to sanction funds to the Project over and above the allocation for
the State of Maharashtra under PMGSY. Similarly, GoM shall take all steps to
recognise the Project as an innovative means for rural road development in the State.

11. Flow of Funds

MoRD shall provide a letter, to the Lenders (potential), conforming the total amount of
its contribution for the Project which shall be payable in a phased manner in accordance
with the agreement with XYZ and its Lenders. GoM shall provide a letter accepting and
conforming that MoRD contribution specifically earmarked for this Project shall not be
mixed with the State's PMGSY account and shall be deposited directly to the project
escrow account.

12. Frame work of PPP

MoRD shall enable development of the Project as stated in this Concept Note through
a suitable government order. Such government order would provide for participation by
XYZ in the financing, construction, and maintenance of the Rural Roads with assistance
from MoRD and the concerned State Government, inter alia, by way of, capital
contribution, subsidy, conferment of development rights in respect of the land granted
for the project or any other approved means.

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