PM Modi sets new rail, road targets

Bullish on fast-tracking infrastructure projects, mainly in the railway and highways sectors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set ambitious targets in these areas, with a clear direction to achieve them in the next three years, before the NDA government comples its term in May 2019.

Sample this: the ministry for road transport and highways (MoRTH) has been directed to increase the rate of awarding road projects by 2.5 times annually. It currently awards projects of up to 10,000 km a year. The PMO has now asked it to award contracts of up to 25,000 km annually, starting from the current financial year. This rate should be maintained for the next three years.

Similarly, construction of highways will also be increased by 2.5 times, with MoRTH asked to construct 15,000 km of highways annually. The current rate of highway building is 6,000 km every year.

The railway ministry has been asked to increase the rate of construction of rail lines from the existing 5 km per day to 7 km per day. This will include laying new lines as well as doubling work. Also, the speed of passenger trains will be raised by 5 km per hour. This is a completely new endeavour, as till now no such targets were fixed for increasing train speeds.

Highly-placed sources told this newspaper that at a recent meeting with Niti Aayog officials and the representatives of both ministries, held soon after the NDA government completed two years in office, the PM undertook a thorough review of various highway and railway projects. The targets were set at this meeting, with the PM keen on fast-tracking the implementation of several pending and ongoing works in these two ministries.

Starting from this fiscal, he directed the roads & highways ministry to collate data on quality of highways, that is now unavailable. The basic idea behind seeking such data, sources said, is to gauge user feedback. This will be used to prepare what is termed user satisfaction measurement. According to official data, around 1.5 lakh persons lost their lives in highway accidents in 2015-16, therefore the need to improve their quality is urgently required. The “user satisfaction measurement” is a step in this direction.

Sources said the PM had also directed ministry officials to focus on decongesting traffic at toll plazas. He has asked for setting up of more electronic toll plazas, that would let vehicles plying on highways spend less time while passing through them.

The railway ministry has been asked to increase its share of freight, and advised to concentrate more on carriage of non-bulk goods. On train speeds, the PM is learnt to have told rail officials to raise the average speed of all trains, including goods trains. The speed of freight trains should be increased by 50 km per hour, he had directed.

The PM plans to conduct a detailed review of other sectors like power and energy in the months ahead, with an eye on the fact that his government is almost halfway through its tenure, and there is an urgent need to expedite the implementation of projects in these key sectors.