India’s Eleventh Five Year Plan identifies various deficits in transport sector which include inadequate roads/highways, old technology, saturated routes and slow speed on railways, inadequate berths and rail/road connectivity at ports and inadequate runways, aircraft handling capacity, parking space and terminal building at airports. Government aims to modernize, expand, and integrate the country’s transport services. It also seeks to mobilize resources for this purpose and to gradually shift the role of government from that of a producer to an enabler. In recent years, the Government has made substantial efforts to tackle the sector’s shortcomings and to reform its transport institutions. These include:
• Increasing public funding for transportation in its Five Year Plans.
• Launching the ambitious National Highway Development Program which has seven phases. It includes improved connectivity between Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, popularly called the Golden Quadrilateral, in the first phase, North- South and East- West corridors in phase two, four laning of more than 12,000 km in phase three, two laning of 20,000km and six laning of 6,500 km respectively in phase four and five, development of 1,000km of expressway in phase six and other important highway projects in phase seven. Total expected investment is INR 2.2 trillion.
• Accelerated Road Development Program for the North East Region to provide road connectivity to all State capitals and district headquarters in the North East region.
• Financing the development and maintenance of roads by creating a Central Road Fund (CRF) through an earmarked tax on diesel and petrol.
• Operationalising the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to act as an infrastructure procurer and not just provider.
• Improving rural access by launching the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (Prime Minister’s Rural Roads Program).
• Reducing the congestion on rail corridors along the highly trafficked Golden Quadrilateral and improving port connectivity by launching the National Rail Vikas Yojana (National Railway Development Program).
• The development of two Dedicated Freight Corridors from Mumbai to Delhi and Ludhiana to Dankuni.
• Improving urban transport under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).
• Upgrading infrastructure and connectivity in the country’s twelve major ports by initiating the National Maritime Development Program (NMDP).
• Privatization and expansion of the Mumbai and New Delhi Airports and development of new international airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore.
• Enhancing sector capacity and improving efficiencies through clear policy directive for greater private sector participation. Large parts of the NHDP and NMDP are to be executed through public private partnerships (PPP).
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