'Bad roads cost India Rs 300 bn a year'

India is incurring an annual loss of Rs 20,000-30,000 crore (Rs 200-300 billion) due to the problems in the road sector, including overloading and poor maintenance, a World Bank expert said on Thursday.

"The magnitude of annual economic loss due to overloading and poor road maintenance is alarming," said L R Kadiyali, a highway expert with the World Bank, at a seminar on 'Sustainable Construction Practices and Prospects', organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India, in New Delhi.

Doubling truck load over specified capacity causes heavy damage to the roads, he said, adding that 60-70 per cent funds meant for the road maintenance purpose are being spent on paying the labour force.

He said the inadequate width, poor geometrics, pathetic riding quality and inadequate pavement thickness are the other problems.

India has a 3.3 million km road network, which is second in the world after the 6.3 million km network of the United States.

In order to keep pace with the growing traffic, India needs to spend Rs 150,000 crore (Rs 1,500 billion) for constructing 15,000 km expressways by 2020.

An additional Rs 100,000 crore (Rs 1000 billion) is needed for developing the rural roads in order to achieve full village connectivity.

By the year 2021, car ownership in India is likely to grow to 20 per thousand persons as compared to 5 cars in 2000. This ownership stands at 560 per thousand in the US.

The ownership in neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka stands at 12 and 13, respectively. In Thailand and Singapore, the figure of ownership stands above 20.

The multi-lane express highways should have been constructed two decades ago, Kadiyali said.

Stressing on the need to develop rigid (concrete) roads on a large scale instead of the conventional flexible (bituminous) roads, he said, "The concrete roads are beneficial in terms of life cycle cost".

The concrete roads are economically beneficial despite a bit high initial cost, he said.

He also highlighted the importance of highway design in order to able to construct roads, which can withstand stress imposed by vehicles.