Some Critical Issues Pertaining to Road Construction Industry

H. L. Chawla, Consultant, World Bank
During the course of inspections carried out by me as a part of various World Bank missions on the National Highways, State Highways and other road construction projects in the country, I have tried to find out the various constraints affecting the progress of the construction of the roads. Some of the critical issues pertaining to the Indian Road Construction Industry are as under:
- Pre-construction issues
- Land surveying, investigations and design issues
- Construction and contract management issues
Pre-construction issues:
- Delay in land acquisition
- Resettlement of project affected persons
- Tree cutting
- Shifting of utilities
Since encumbrance free site is not made available to the contractors in the initial stages of the project, the contractors delay the mobilization and in most of the cases, the contractors use the mobilization advance elsewhere.