Role and importance of villages roads in india &

economy

Gaurav kapasiya

1700241110

BBA

(Entreprenurship)

School of business studies

Sharda university

Greater noida
 TOPICS
 Introduction
 Road transportation
 Function of transport
 Importance of roads
 Importance of ruler roads
 Ruler roads
 Importance of ruler roads
 Efficient transport system for sustainable economic
development
 Development of backward areas
 Induction of new technology
 Investement policy of india government
 Villages roads
 Road network and development
 Bad roads in india
 Problems in road infrastructure development in
india
STUDANT DECLERATION

I hear by declear that the research report entital “Role

and importance of villages roads in india & economy
submitted to the school of business studies sharda
university in the partial fulfillment of the award the
degree of bachelor of business studies is a record of
original work down by me under the guidance and
supervision of PROF SWATI OBEROI. It has not formed
the basic for the awarded of any degree / diploma or
other similer tital to any canditate of any university
Due to sources in the research report project has been
cited and acknowledged whennever necessary.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First a fall I would like to pay thanks to my research
supervisor prof swati oberoi for giving me this
opportunity to do research and providing invaluable
guidance throughtout this research . Her dynamise ,
vision and motivation have deeply inspired me. She has
tought me the methodology to carry out the research
and to present the research work clearly as possibal .it
was a great privilege and honour to work and study
under her guidance I am extremely greatful for what she
has offered me . I would also like to thank for her
freandship .
Last but not the least , I thank everyone who help
directely and indirectely in the compleating the project
that will go long way in my career.the research project
was knowledgeable and memoriable one.

March 30 Gaurav kapasiya

Grater noida 170241110
INTRODUCTION
Roads are an integral part of the transport system. A
country’s road network should be efficient in order to
maximize economic and social benefits. They play a
significant role in achieving national development and
contributing to the overall performance and social
functioning of the community. It is acknowledged that
roads enhance mobility, taking people out of isolation
and therefore poverty. Roads play a very important role
in the socio-economic development of the country but
meanwhile this expansion also pose great challenges to
the safety and security of the travelling public. The road
transport industry is the backbone of strong economies
and dynamic societies. It is therefore legitimate and
indispensable to safeguard an industry that is vital to
economic growth, social development, prosperity and,
ultimately, peace and which plays a crucial role in
everyone’s life in industrialized and developing countries
alike by meeting the demand for the sustainable mobility
of both people and goods.
 The road transport industry is indeed instrumental in
interconnecting all businesses to all major world markets,
driving trade, creating employment, ensuring a better
distribution of wealth and uniting mankind. It plays a
crucial role in the daily economic and social life of
industrialized and developing countries alike. For this
reason, any penalty on road transport is an even greater
penalty for the economy as a whole
ROAD TRANSPORT
The economic development of infrastructure in India,
the country has progressed at a rapid pace and today
there is an availability of wide variety of modes of
transport by land, water and air. But, overall Road
Transport is the primary and preferred mode of transport
for most of the population and India's Road Transport
system is among the most heavily utilized system in the
world. It plays a pivotal role in the economic
development of a nation by increasing the productivity
and competitiveness. Over the last ten years (2002-03 to
2011-12) Road Transport sector GDP grew at an annual
average rate close to 10 per cent compared to an overall
annual GDP growth of 6 per cent. Today Road Transport
serving occupies an irresistible dominance within the
transport sector with a share of 4.8 per cent in GDP
compared to a too little 1.0 per cent share
GDP in case of railways. Also annual average growth in
freight transport at 6.5 per cent for road was much
higher in comparison to railways which clocked a modest
annual average increase of 3.6 per cent during the past
reforms phase (1992-93 to 2011-12)
FUNCTIONS OF TRANSPORTATION
 Transport contributes in growth of industries whose
product requires quick marketing. Perishable articles
like fish and green vegetables are carried to various
consumers quickly even in distant markets through
transport.

 Transport helps in increase in the demand for goods.

Through transport newer customers in newer places
can be easily contacted and products can be
introduced to them. Today markets have become
national or international only because of transport.
Introduction.

 Transport creates place utility. Geographical and

climatic factors force industries to be located in
particular places far away from the markets and
places where there may not be any demand for the
products. Transport bridges the gap between
production and consumption centers.
 Transport creates time utility. Of late transport has
started creating the time utility also. It has been
made possible by virtue of the improvements in the
speed of transport. It helps the product to be
distributed in the minimum possible time.

 Transport helps in stabilization of price. Transport

exerts considerable influence upon the stabilization
of the prices of several commodities by moving
commodities from surplus to deficit areas. This
equalizes the supply and demand factor sand makes
the price of commodities stable as well as equal.

 Transport ensures even flow of commodities into the

hands of the consumers throughout the period of
consumption.

 Transport enables the consumers to enjoy the

benefits of goods not produced locally. This
increases the standard of living, an essential factor
for further development of marketing and economy.
 Transport identifies competition, which in turn,
reduces pries. Prices are also reduced because of the
facilities offered by transport for large-scale
production. Advantages of large-scale production is
possible only due to transport.
Importance of Roads
The importance of roads in connecting the vast rural
areas of India to form the national market and economy
cannot be overstated. Connectivity provided by roads is
perhaps the single most important determinant of well
being and the quality of life of people living in an urban
area. The efficiency of the innumerable government
programmes aimed at rural development, employment
generation, and local industrialization is, to large extent,
determined by the connectivity provided by roads.
There is a considerable body of evidence that
demonstrates the links between rural road investment,
decline in poverty, and improvement in the quality of
life. Road investment contributed directly to the growth
of agricultural output, increased use of fertilizer and
commercial bank expansion. Improvements in rural roads
are positively correlated with decline in poverty. The
potential value in improving of rural connectivity
especially in the agricultural states is revealed by the
large differences between mandi and farm gate prices.
 Access to major roads provides relative advantages
consequent upon which commercial users locate to
enjoy the advantages. Modern businesses,
industries, trades, agricultural and general activities
depend on transport and transport infrastructure,
with movement of goods and services from place to
place becoming vital and inseparable aspects of
global and urban economic survival. Developments
of various transportation modes have become
pivotal to physical and economic developments. As
compared to the railways, the road transport system
has definite advantages which can be summarized as
follow: 1. Road transport is quicker, more
convenient and more flexible. It is particularly good
for short distance travel for movement of goods.
Motor vehicles can easily collect passengers and
goods from anywhere and take them to wherever
they want to be dropped.

 Door-to-door collection and delivery are possible

in the case of road transport. But in the case of
 railways, the lines are fixed and the railways do
not have the flexibility of the roadways.
Passengers and goods will have to be taken to the
railway stations.

 Roads are a necessary complement to railways.

India is a country of villages and it is only roads
which can connect villages and railways can connect
towns. The railway stations will have to be properly
served by a network of feeder roads. Only through
these roads the railways can receive their
passengers and goods. If railways are essential for
the movement of goods and people for long
distances, road transport is essential for such
movement for short distances. Roads and railways
are, therefore, not competitive but complementary.

 Road transport is of particular advantage to the

farmers. Good roads help the farmers to move their
products, particularly the perishable products; like
vegetables, quickly to the mandis and towns. Only
by developing the road system, the farmer can be
 assured of a steady market for his products. It is the
road systemwhich brings the villagers into contact
with the towns and the new ideas and the new
systems from the towns.

 Roads are highly significant for the defense of the

country. For the movement of troops, tanks,
armored cars, and field guns etc. roads are essential.
The great importance given to the construction of
border roads to facilitate the movement of troops
for the protection of the northern borders.

 Roads play a very important role in the

transportation of goods and passengers for short
and medium distances.

 It is comparatively easy and cheap to construct and

maintain roads.
 Road transport system establishes easy contact
between farms, fields, factories and markets and
provides door to door service.

 Roads can negotiate high gradients and sharp turns

which railways cannot do. As such, roads can be
constructed in hilly areas also.

 Roads act as great feeders to railways. Without

good and sufficient roads, railways cannot collect
sufficient produce to make their operation possible.

 Road transport is more flexible than the railway

transport. Buses and trucks may be stopped
anywhere and at any time on the road for loading
and unloading passengers and goods whereas trains
stop only at particular stations.

 Perishable commodities like vegetables, fruits and

milk are transported more easily and quickly by
roads than by railways. Due to above-mentioned
 advantages, the road transport has become very
popular and its share is constantly increasing.

Rural Roads
Rural roads provide basic inputs for all-round
socioeconomic development of the rural areas. The
provision and construction of roads and road links brings
multiple socioeconomic benefits to the rural areas and
results in forming a strong backbone for the agro-based
economy. The importance of the rural roads has been
emphasized in various plan documents. In the 7th Five
Year Plan also it has been planned to provide all weather
road connections to all the villages with a population of
1500 or above and 50 per cent of the villages having a
population of between 10001500 persons. To accomplish
this task construction of nearly 1.30 lakhs kilometres of
road length with an estimated cost of Rs. 3100 crores (in
order to provide all weather road connection to
additional 25,000 villages under the above criteria) has
been proposed during the plan period (1985- 1990).5
Moreover the importance of providing rural roads can
hardly be undermined in the context of our economic
and social goals. The impact of providing rural roads
accrues in various ways resulting in numerous economic
and social benefits- quickly visible and quantifiable as
well as indirect and non-quantifiable.

Importance of 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. Rural roads include
Other District Roads 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 centers.6 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 a way that all villages are connected
in an optimal way to achieve efficient flow of traffic and
accessibility. Development of roads is essential for
bringing agricultural products to mundies for their
marketing. Crores of rural people have to go to cities and
mundies daily for seeking employment and purchasing
essential commodities. Thus rural roads have special
significance in Indian economy.

The total road network of an area needs proper

integration with necessary interfacing befitting the
functionality assigned to a type of road otherwise 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. However, the intermediate category of
roads belongs to State Highways and Major District
Roads 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 centers 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, 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 and rural roads.

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 i.e.
adequate compaction of sub-grade, 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’. 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. To achieve more economy in designing the rural
roads the Indian Roads congress is revising the manual
based on the following criteria;7  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.

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.
Impacts of Rural Roads
Impacts of rural roads are summarized as given below:8
Improvement in transportation services: which leads to
improved access to market centers 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.

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 facilitate better availability of public services and
functionaries in rural areas.

Efficient transport system for sustained economic

development: An efficient road transport system is a
pre-requisite for sustained economic development. It is
not only the key infrastructural input for the growth
process but also plays a significant role in promoting
national integration, which is particularly important in
India. The transport system also plays an important role
of promoting the development of the backward regions
and integrating them with the mainstream economy by
opening them to trade and investment. In a liberalized
set- up, an efficient transport network becomes all the
more important in order to increase productivity and
enhancing the competitive efficiency of the economy in
the world market.

the various modes of transport that connect the cities

and villages of the country, road transport constitutes
the crucial link. Road infrastructure facilitates movement
of men and material, helps trade and commerce, links
industry and agriculture to markets and opens up
backward regions of India. In addition, the road system
also provides last-mile connection for other modes of
transport such as railways, airports, ports and inland
waterway transport and complements the efforts of
these modes in meeting the needs of transportation.

The road transport sector in India has expanded

manifold in fifty years after independence, both in terms
of spread and capacity. The growth in the importance of
road transport within the transport sector is borne out
by its growing share in GDP. The share of road transport
in GDP is presently 3.69 per cent which accounts for a
major share of all transport modes which contribute 5.5
per cent to GDP and handles more than 60 percent of the
freight and more than 80 percent of the passenger traffic
in Indi
a.
Development of Backward Areas
The need for adequate and efficient transport system for
promoting economic development is well known. While
considering the creation of new transport facility in
backward regions however, it must be borne in mind that
transport is only one of the essential elements for
development of the region and it is not necessary that
highly capital- intensive transport projects will by
themselves bring about economic development. There
has also been persistent demand for subsidizing
transport operations in backward and remote areas on
the plea that the traffic and the low level of income
would not generate the kind of demand which could bear
the cost of providing transport services. While the
responsibility of ensuring efficient operation of transport
services in these regions is that of the State, it does not
necessarily mean that the state should be direct provider
of these services. Whether it relates to providing
transport services in the backward area or in isolated and
hilly region, the State could involve private operators and
award routes on the basis off least subsidy, so that
benefits are targeted and costs become apparent.
Induction of New Technology
There is an urgent need for the introduction of the new
technology in the designs, engineering and construction
methods as also carrying out surveys through remote
sensing techniques particularly in the up gradation of the
roads which are covered by the HDC. Use of machines to
improve both the quality and speed of construction
needs to be pursued more vigorously. The possibility of
creating equipment leasing companies need to be
encouraged. The concept of awarding road projects with
huge costs as turnkey Engineering Procurement
Construction (EPC) contracts helps to reduce
construction time and improves quality. These steps
would help in reducing the abnormally high time taken
for construction of roads by at least 50 per cent. Several
new materials of road construction are also emerging
such as polymer modified bitumen, geosynthetics etc
that would need to be encouraged depending upon the
cost effectiveness.

Indian infrastructure policy on roads permit duty free

import of high capacity and modern road construction
equipments, complete tax holiday for any 10 consecutive
years out of 20 years. Longer concession periods of up to
30 years are permitted as per the roads policy of India.
To attract private investment in the road sector, the
Government has taken up the policy initiative of
providing capital grant of 40 per cent of the project cost
to enhance viability, Foreign direct investment up to 100
per cent, Easier external commercial borrowing norms,
100 per cent tax exemption in any consecutive 10 years
out of 20 years. Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT)
project entrepreneurs are also allowed to collect and
retain the amounts from tolls on selected stretches.

Investment Policy of Government of India

 The Government of India has laid great emphasis on the
development of adequate road network in India. A vision
of expressways connecting far corners of India has been
projected. There is a need to up-grade the road system in
India by widening and strengthening the existing
highways, reconstruction and widening of bridges and
provisions of user friendly improvements. It is obvious
that this vital infrastructure requirement would have to
be developed with the private sector's participation.
Here is an overview of the government's investment
policy towards roadways. The government has
announced a series of far-reaching measures to promote
investment in roads. These measures include industry
status to road sector, exemption from import duty on
identified high quality construction plant and equipment,
duty free import of bitumen permitted under OGL,
automatic approval for foreign equity up to 74 per cent
and foreign commercial borrowing to the extent of 30
per cent of the project cost has been permitted.12 There
is no restriction on the maximum equity holding by a
foreign company in a joint venture to be set up in India.
The pre-qualification criteria, however, requires
experience of the joint venture partners in similar
projects. India has finalized Investment Promotion and
Protection Agreements with over 30 countries.
Therefore, setting up of a joint venture or a 100 per cent
foreign owned subsidiary qualifies as an investment.

The concept of direct tolling, viewed mainly as a user

charge has already been successfully implemented
mainly on bridges and bypass roads and on four lane
National Highways. The developer assumes the majority
of the risk associated with design, construction,
maintenance, operation and financing of the road. To
encourage private sector participation, the Govt. has
introduced annuity approach in which a fixed annual
payment is made to the entrepreneur. Due to limitation
of the budgetary resources, the role and participation of
private sector are to be encouraged by and large for the
development of National Highways.

There is an exemption for infrastructure funds from

income tax on the incomes from Income Tax dividend,
interest on long term capital gains of such funds or
companies from investments in the form of shares or
long term finance in any enterprises setup to develop,
maintain and operate an infrastructure facility.
Subscription to equity shares or debentures issued by a
public company formed and registered in India and the
issue is wholly and exclusively for the purpose of
developing, maintaining and operating an infrastructure
facility, will be eligible for deductions under Section 88 of
the income Tax Act, 1961, which permits deduction equal
to 20 per cent of the amount subscribed, from the
amount of tax payable by the subscriber.

Village Roads
The village roads are mainly the responsibility of village
panchayats and connect the villages with the neighboring
towns and cities. These are generally dusty tracks and are
usable only during the lair weather. They become muddy
and unserviceable during the rainy season. Efforts have
been made m the recent past to connect the villages with
metalled roads. The length of these roads has increased
by about 5 times from 2, 06,408 km in 1951 to 10, 28,410
km in 2001. These roads accounted for over 40 per cent
of the total road length of the country. Still about 10 per
cent of the villages having a population of 1,000 or more
and 60 per cent of the villages with less than 1,000
people are not connected by all-weather roads. The
network needs expansion and up-gradation of existing
roads to all- weather roads. A new thrust was given to
village roads when the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna
(PMGSY) was launched. This is a 100% Centrally
Sponsored Scheme to provide rural connectivity to
unconnected habitants with a population of 500 persons
or more (250 persons in case of hilly, desert and tribal
areas) in rural areas by the end of the Tenth Plan period.
The scope о PMGSY has been expanded to include both
construction of new links and up-gradation of existing
through routes associated with such link routes to form
one complete sub-network for providing connectivity
between the village and the market. A survey undertaken
to identify the core network as part of PMGSY showed
that over 1.70 lakh unconnected habitations needed to
be undertaken under this programme. This would
require new construction of 3.68 lakh kilometres of rural
roads at a total cost of Rs. 1, 33,000 crore.

Road Networks and Development

An extensive and a good road network are needed to
spur growth and development. Road transportation
system move goods and people to facilitate production
and trade. The elements of road transport are vital to the
cost of trade, the global competitiveness of the country
and its development prospects. Road transport has
grown in importance with the mode accounting for an
increasing share in the conveyance of passengers and
goods in the overland traffic. The total length of classified
road networks in India as at the end March 2012 is
placed at 4.7 million km of which little 53.8 per cent are
paved. A noteworthy aspect has been the step up in the
expansion of National Highway network in recent years
which has shown more than two fold jump from 33,650
kms in 1991 to 76,818 kms in 2012. India's road density
averages about 1.42 km of road length per square km of
land and is much higher compared to USA (0.67
km/sq.km) and China (0.40 km/sq.km). The need to
promote road connectivity across the country and
maintain road infrastructure poses an enormous
challenge. It is noteworthy that growth in motor vehicle
population during 2001 to 2011 of around 10 per cent
has outstripped the modest growth in the roads network
of 3.3 per cent.17 This has resulted in the saturation of
road capacities on many a stretches. Rehabilitation and
construction of new roads are essential to provide
sufficient, safe and efficient transportation for passenger
and goods and are vital for making the economy
competitive and for sustaining a high rate of growth. The
road development in many ways exemplifies both the
challenge and opportunity in infrastructure
development.
Bad Roads in India India is said to be the fastest
developing countries today. Although India is doing
exceptionally well in fields like education,
industrialization and fashion there are still certain areas
where the country is lagging behind. India's road network
is gigantic and said to be only after the United States of
America. But one of the striking underlying facts is the
condition of the roads. Since roads indirectly contribute
to the economic growth of the country it is extremely
essential that the roads are well laid out and strong. India
is home to several bad roads be it the metropolitans, the
cities or the villages. Bad road conditions are nothing
new to India and the problem is being addressed since
the last 30 years. Since India is a developing nation there
is a constant demand for good quality infrastructure,
transportation and services. But since India is a huge
country with quite a sizable population this problem still
has not been addressed in totality.

In order to improve the conditions of roads efforts

began way back in the 1980s. It is during this time that
roads were built to link major highways, to expand the
width of existing roads and to construct important
bridges. India has a total of about 2 million kilometers of
roads out of which 960,000 kilometers are surfaced
roads and about 1 million kilometers of roads in India are
the poorly constructed ones. India is also home to Fifty-
three National highways which carry about 40 percent of
the total road traffic.
Although the figures look pretty impressive but the
underlying fact is that 25 percent of villages in India still
having poor road links. The other problems faced by the
Indian roads are; bad riding quality, poor geometrics, and
insufficient pavement thickness. In India the
responsibilities for road building and maintenance lies
with the Central and state government. The
administration of the national highway system is vested
with the Ministry of State for Surface Transport in India
and other state roads are preserved by the state public
works departments. As far as the minor roads in the
country are concerned they are up kept by the various
districts, municipalities, and villages.

Problems in Road Infrastructure

Development in India
 Land Acquisition: Speedy land acquisition is crucial
for timely completion of road projects. This is more
important for implementation of major projects of
NHDP which have a time bound programme for
completion. In Maharashtra it took a long time for
acquiring the land. The delays are mainly due to
preoccupation of competent authority appointed by
State Governments with other works, frequent
transfers of competent authorities and opposition
from the land users.

 Shifting of Utilities: Development of roads

particularly 4- laning under NHDP sometimes
requires shifting of utilities like electric lines,
telephone lines and water pipes etc. Despite the
entire allocation cost being met by NHAI and
advance payments being made, there have been
instances of inordinate delays.

 Cutting of Trees: Improvement of NHs, particularly

widening sometimes require cutting of trees in
many reaches. Despite the payment of prescribed
 compensation for plantation of trees, approval for
tree cutting has taken a lot of time in some States.
Sometimes additional conditions are put which are
difficult to implement.

 Law and Order: There have been problem of law and

order in some States which has affected the progress
of NHDP. The problem of insurgency in some of the
States of the North- East Region is also acute, which
has adversely affected work on roads. There have
also been instances of assault on field level officers.
State Government and local administration need to
take effective steps to curb such incidents and create
an atmosphere of security.

 Problems and Prospects of Road Development in

India: Road transportation in India faces a number
of problems. Keeping in view the vastness of the
dimensions of the country, her physiographic, her
unlimited natural resources and the fast growing
passenger and freight traffic, the inadequacy of the
road network is quite glaring. India’s road length of
 75.01 km per 100 sq km of area is desperately low as
compared to 294.6 km in Japan, 131.2 km in Austria,
451.8 km in Belgium, 147.2 km in France and 172.2
km in Switzerland Again India has low road length of
240.1 km per one lakh population as against 893.6 in
Japan 497.2 in Malaysia 1277.7 in Saudi Arabia,
1392.4 in Austria, 1556 in Hungary, 1572.4 in
Sweden, 2494.5 in the USA, 3184.9 m Canada,
4635.4 in Australia and 2705.7 in New Zealand.
Lakhs of villages in remote areas are still awaiting a
road to reach them.20

 Another problem is that a little less than half of the

roads (40%) are un-surfaced. They can be used only
in fair weather and become muddy and unfit for
transportation during the rainy season. Efforts need
to be made to construct as many surfaced roads as is
practically possible. The national highway network
will have to be improved to meet the growing traffic
of men and materials. A large section has insufficient
road pavement thickness. Other deficiencies are
inadequate capacity; poor riding quality, weak and
 distressed bridges/culverts, congested city sections
too many railway level crossings, lack of wayside
amenities and weak road safety measures.

 About 20 per cent of national highways need

widening from single to double lanes and 70 per cent
of two lane roads have to be strengthened and
selected corridors on national highways need
conversion into expressways. This