A large proportion of the population of India lives is villages. Rural connectivity has tremendous impact on agriculture, employment, socio – economic services and over and above leads to general area development. The rural roads are engineering structures and should be designed and constructed based on the requirement. The cost involved in the maintenance should compare with the likely benefits accrued to the road users.
Certain new concepts which can be applied for the rural road development are Geographic Information System, based FBRNP model, construction of unsealed surfaces roads and also the concepts of brick– on – edge pavement.
T he World Bank , a partner with the Government
of India to build rural infrastructure, alleviate
poverty and improve rural livelihood, is
supporting the PMGSY program. The Bank’s Rural
Road Project1 (RRP) is being implemented in select
districts of Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh (HP), Rajasthan
and Uttar Pradesh (UP).
Since the inception of the PMGSY, the World Bank
has provided technical support to the Ministry of
World Bank partners PMGSY
Rural Development in formulating the operational
guidelines of the program. It includes setting up the
Core Road Network approach to prioritize the selection
of habitations. A highlight of the association has been
the mandatory provision for peoples’ participation,
adoption of Environmental and Social Management
Framework (ESMF), developing maintenance
management capacity of the States and exposure to
global good practices through training.
1
Through RRP, the Bank is extending a credit of US$ 300 million equivalent and
a loan of US$ 100 million.
THE WORLD BANK IN INDIA 5
Prior to unveiling the PMGSY program, the Central
Government was responsible for only National
Highways. It was for State Governments to plan,
fund, construct and maintain rural roads. There was
no national level consensus or coordination on rural
roads.
The PMGSY initiated a paradigm shift in the way
rural roads are mapped, designed, monitored, and
built. At the initiative of the MoRD, NRRDA prepared
an operational manual to systematize the process of
road building, to be uniformly applied throughout
the country. For the first time, nationwide operational
standards have been adopted in the area of institutional
structures, planning, design, reporting systems,
procurement, contract management, financial and
accounting systems, manpower skills and safety
measures. Monitoring of the quality of works and
materials by third parties has become mandatory.
Guidelines on acceptable standards with desired
specifications have also been put in place in order to
cut down on subjective evaluations.
Setting standards across the country
6 Rural Roads: A Lifeline for Villages in India
Under the PMGSY, a three-tier quality control system
has been put in place to ensure quality in road works.
This will be applicable throughout the country.
■ The first tier is at the District Project Implementation
Unit (PIU), led by a senior Executive Engineer, where
all aspects of operational monitoring are held.
Contractors are also required to maintain field level
laboratories for testing at each stage. The PIU field
engineers periodically conduct quality control tests
at the site and record the results in a quality control
register.
■ The second tier involves quality monitoring at the
State level, where district wise quality monitors of
the State government, working independently of
the PIU, cross-check the work and verify the entries
in the register.
■ The third tier, added under the Rural Roads Project,
is of National Quality Monitors. It is mandatory for
a reputed independent agency to be specifically
contracted to carry out random tests on the
quality of work. Retired Chief Engineers from
neighbouring States are also taken on board for
inspection of works alongside representatives of
reputed engineering colleges and other specialized
institutes.
Quality with transparency
THE WORLD BANK IN INDIA 7
Aunique feature is the engagement of technical
institutes with government agencies. In most
cases all survey reports and detailed project
reports were prepared by the staff of the Public Works
Department (PWD). This enabled officers to develop
ownership and become involved in the early stages of
the program. These preparations were supervised by
chief engineers and independent professional bodies
like the National Institute of Technology at Hamirpur,
HP. It scrutinized the project proposals prepared by the
State Public Works Department and were deputed for
any technical project support the State government
may periodically require. Through such interaction
the engineering institutes were engaged in real-time
projects while the government agency had access to
professional technical assistance.