Lok Sabha Question No. 65 (STARRED), answered on 2017-07-20
Subject: Decongestion of Traffic
Ministry: ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS
Asked by: RAJAN BABURAO  VICHARE, JITENDRA CHAUDHURY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS

## LOK SABHA

## STARRED QUESTION NO. 65

ANSWERED ON 20 TH  JULY, 2017

## DECONGESTION OF TRAFFIC

| *65.                 | SHRI RAJAN VICHARE: SHRI JITENDRA CHAUDHURY:   |
|----------------------|------------------------------------------------|
| be pleased to state: | be pleased to state:                           |
|                      | ANSWER                                         |
|                      | THE MINISTER OF ROAD TRANSPORT AND HIGHWAYS    |
|                      | (SHRI NITIN JAIRAM GADKARI)                    |
| (a) to (d)           | A statement is laid on the Table of the House. |

STATEMENT REFERRED  TO  IN  REPLY  TO  PARTS  (a)  TO  (d)  OF  LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 65 ANSWERED ON 20.07.2017 ASKED BY SHRI RAJAN VICHARE AND SHRI JITENDRA CHAUDHURY REGARDING DECONGESTION OF TRAFFIC

(a)  to  (d)      The  Ministry  is  primarily  responsible  for  development  and  maintenance  of National Highways (NHs). The Ministry has taken up detailed review of NHs network with a view  to  develop  the  road  connectivity  to  Border  areas,  development  of  Coastal  roads including road connectivity for Non-Major ports, improvement in the efficiency of National Corridors,  development  of  Economic  Corridors,  Inter  Corridors  and  Feeder  Routes  along with integration with Sagarmala, etc., under proposed Bharatmala Pariyojana. The proposal envisages development of about 26,000 km length of Economic Corridors, which along with Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) and North-South and East-West (NS-EW) Corridors are expected to carry majority of the Freight Traffic on roads. Further, about 8,000 km of Inter Corridors and about 7,500 km of Feeder Routes have been identified for improving  effectiveness  of Economic  Corridors,  GQ  and  NS-EW  Corridors.  The  proposed  programme  envisages development of Ring Roads / bypasses and elevated corridors to decongest the traffic passing through cities and enhance logistic efficiency; 28 cities have been identified for Ring Roads; 125  choke  points  and  66  congestion  points  have  been  identified  for  their  improvement. Further, in order to reduce congestion on proposed Corridors, enhance logistic efficiency and reduce logistics costs of freight movements, 35 locations have been identified for development of Multimodal Logistics Parks.

During  its  meeting  held  on  16.06.2017,  the  Public  Investment  Board  (PIB)  has recommended the proposal for Phase-I of Bharatmala Pariyojana for consideration of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for investment approval.

The total  number of road accidents in the country during 2015 was about  5,01,423 which resulted into about 1,46,133 numbers of deaths. The NHs accounted for about 29.1 % share  of  total  road  accidents  and  35.0  %  of  the  total  persons  killed.  Although  the  existing NHs comprise of about 1.9 % of total road network, they carry about 40% of total road traffic.

Keeping  in  view  the  requirements  to  enhance  Road  Safety,  reduce  congestions, improve road connectivity / conditions, the Ministry has taken decision to augment the NHs Network  of  existing  1,15,435  km.    About  51,300  km  length  of  State  Roads  have  been approved 'In-Principle' for their declaration as new NHs subject to outcome of their Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) and initiatives have been taken for their DPR preparations.  Further, the Ministry has reduced threshold traffic for 4-laning of NHs from 15,000; 11,000 and 8,000 Passenger Car Units (PCUs) per day to 10,000; 8,500 and 6,000 PCUs/day for Plain, Rolling, and Mountainous/Steep Terrains respectively.   Decisions have been taken to entrust 4-laning of all such NHs  to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for their implementation through additional market borrowings, etc., in a phased manner by leveraging limited available budgetary allocation.

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