Centre asks for measurable socio-economic benefits reports from highway development

Mint

14 hours ago

The Union government has tasked all highway development agencies with preparing detailed impact assessments and outcome reports for all highway augmentation projects, including stretches under the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase, to map the measurable socio-economic benefits arising from any new or expansion projects.
These metrics from the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) include reduced travel time, fuel efficiency, expenditure reduction, riding and driving comfort, and user satisfaction, which will be used to measure the outcome in terms of economic impact, logistics impact, social Impact, environment impact, road safety and user experience.
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The MoRTH has issued a circular specifying the metrics that have to be studied and the outcome report that needs to be prepared by the heads of highway development agencies. The circular has been sent to all chief secretaries of states, chairman of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), managing director of National Highway and Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL), director general Border Roads Organisation, Secretary General of Indian Roads Congress, etc.
'As per the CCEA approval for Bharatmala Pariyojana, the outcome parameters for the corridors/projects being implemented under Bharatmala Pariyojana i.e., reduction in time of travel, fuel efficiency, expenditure reduction, comfort in riding, user satisfaction, etc. have to be finalised. This is in keeping with the objective of ensuring that public investments yield measurable socio-economic benefits," said the Morth circular.
The mechanism for monitoring outcome parameters of all capacity-augmentation projects, including the projects sanctioned under Bharatmala Pariyojana I, to be measured periodically at different intervals, has been finalised to measure the impact area, the circular added.
Mapping connectivity
The new framework for outcome measurement suggests that the economic impact of road projects will be studied, including both the direct and indirect impacts on macroeconomic indicators. This includes assessing whether the project provides connectivity to economic nodes within 25 km.
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The connectivity would also see whether road projects link large markets andmandis and bring them within 10 km of a highway project. All these would also be assessed in terms of an increase in gross domestic product (GDP) and an increase in consumer spending that results in a pick-up in automobile sales.
MoRTH has also asked its agencies to conduct surveys and assess the logistics impact of a highway project, meaning whether the alignment is reducing overall logistics costs and saving distance and travel time.
The social impact assessment for highway alignment will require agencies to study whether a road alignment improves connectivity to education hubs for the population living within 10 km of a highway and whether the network is improving in the movement of population to their workplaces, which will also impact overall household income.
As per the circular, road development agencies would also study a project's outcome in terms of its impact on the environment and whether the road stretch provides a better and safer user experience. In this regard, projects would be studied in terms of their ability to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while improving fuel efficiency and user experience in terms of riding comfort.
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Chairman NHAI, MD NHIDCL and all ROs (regional offices) in the ministry (for the respective stretch entrusted to them) shall be responsible for the computation and compilation of the above data and it shall be submitted to ministry (Monitoring Zone) at regular intervals for evaluation of the outcome at the end of the financial year, said the MoRTH circular.