[moralfibre]

The Mumbai - Pune expressway was thrown open to public in 2002. Being India's first 6-lane barricaded concrete carriage with access restrictions, it transformed the otherwise 6 long hour odd journey into a blisteringly fast 3 hour run. During it's initial days a lot of factors played into acclimatising ourselves with a high speed corridor. A lot of accidents ensued and speed junkies often met their creator due to negligence or recklessness.

Having driven across several US interstate freeways and surface streets made me wonder if the expressway or any other modern highway built in my homeland was anywhere close to world standards on quality. Each time I enter the e.way, I can feel my car tyres getting shred by the abrasive nature of the highway. Stop on any exit on a US freeway and you'll notice that the right banking angles automatically toe-in your steering offering that extra bit of safety for it's passengers. Compare that to a near right angled exit as the expressway meets Pune. As a developing nation we fail to adopt world class standards in design, construction and maintenance.

So how does our infrastructure position compare to world standards. My curiosity led me to an appropriate forum that benchmarks countries. For ease of use, let's look at 2 reports, one each from 2010 and 2019 to oversee how India as a country fares on world standards in competitiveness. There are several parameters governing the report and some have been later additions which I shall duly mark. Also, most parameters chosen for this thread would be around infrastructure and those that are directly or indirectly related to the automotive world.

All information by - World Economic Forum Reports

[moralfibre]

The WEF shares a comprehensive report annually based on 12 pillars that help rate countries on their competitiveness. The factors governing these reports are:



Based on the category each of these factors add their weights to the overall score:



2009 also had stages that categorised economies based on per capita GDP. The stages were devised by a simple categorisation as described here:



And as a country we stood in stage 1 of development in 2009 (and I believe it's status quo till date):

[moralfibre]

2010 saw India at rank 51 on the overall scale:



2019 we are placed at rank 68 overall. This is quite a downward slide from our previous position:




Citing the overall understanding of this slip in the rank, the report notes:

India ranks 68th, down 10 places in 2019. The drop is only partly the consequence of a relatively small decline in score (61.4, –0.7 points), but also, and more significantly, the progress made by several countries ranked close to India: Colombia (62.7, +1.1 points, 57th), Azerbaijan (62.7, +2.7, 58th), South Africa (62.4, +1.7, 60th) and Turkey (62.1, +0.5, 61st). India trails China (28th, 73.9) by 40 places and 14 points. Along with Brazil (71st, 60.9), it is among the low-performing BRICS, although the competitiveness profiles of the two economies are quite different. India ranks beyond 100th on five pillars and features in the top 50 of just four pillars. However, it does rank high on macroeconomic stability (90, 43rd) and market size (93.7, 3rd); and its financial sector (69.5, 40th) is relatively deep and stable despite the high delinquency rate (10% of the loan portfolio, 106th), which contributes to weakening the soundness of its banking system (60.4, 89th). India performs well when it comes to innovation (50.9, 35th), well ahead of most emerging economies and on par with several advanced economies. This contrasts with major shortcomings in some of the basic enablers of competitiveness. ICT adoption is limited (31.1, 120th) but has improved sharply (+8 since the 2017 edition). India achieves mixed results on the various aspects of governance (56.8, 59th). Transport (66.4, 28th) and electricity (86.6, 103rd) infrastructures have improved significantly over the past two years, although from a low base. Electrification rate was almost 90% in 2017, up 7 percentage points from 2015. At the same time, health conditions remain poor, as reflected in low healthy life expectancy (59.4 years, 109th), which is one of the shortest outside Africa and significantly below the South Asian average. India must also grow its skills base (50.5, 107th). Product market efficiency (50.4, 101st) is undermined by a lack of trade openness (43.9, 131st) and the labour market is characterized by a lack of worker rights’ protections, insufficiently developed active labour market policies and critically low participation of women (ratio of female workers to male workers of 0.26, 128th).

[moralfibre]

Summarised metrics for 2009:





2009 parameters for rating everyone on the infrastructure front:



India's ranking for infrastructure overall stood at #89



As you'd see inadequate supply of infrastructure was reported to be the largest issue as rated:




This comes as no surprise given that we have varied level of competency from a roads, electricity supply, rail connectivity, airport quality, etc. More on this in my summary post.

[moralfibre]

Summary of India as a country in 2019:



Overall placement on the 12 pillars for India in 2019. We stood at rank #68 overall compared to #58 in 2018. The attributes for this have already been shared in the previous post.



One positive sign was that India did show up as a top performer in the Asian sub-continent:



On the infra front we made some significant progress in the last 10 years to see our rank steadily jump from 86 to rank 70.

Our quality of road infrastructure in particular seems to have shown some improvement. However we have a long way to go.

[benbsb29]

In the list of countries at each stage of development, it surprised me to see Qatar and Saudi Arabia in Transition for Stage 1 to 2. I would think the Gulf countries had good roads, seeing how UAE is in the most advanced stage.

[moralfibre]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

In the list of countries at each stage of development, it surprised me to see Qatar and Saudi Arabia in Transition for Stage 1 to 2. I would think the Gulf countries had good roads, seeing how UAE is in the most advanced stage.

It's not just road that determines the phase. The phase is more or less based on GDP per Capita.

[moralfibre]

My take on our infrastructure and quality of roads and other modes of transport in Pune, Maharashtra v/s others:

India is a diverse country of cultures, languages, climatic conditions, etc. Our geographical divides and historical polity have concentrated our country in congested cities while rural areas have more or less been deprived of growth. Our likings of tall dwellings to counter lack of land mass in cities have simply choked our road infrastructure without much space to breath. Population density is directly proportional to this and so is cars per sq. km. This has obviously led to traffic snarls since the infrastructure hasn't been able to keep up or has reached levels where it is impossible for cities to sustain this growth.

A recent report I had read somewhere placed like 5-6 Indian cities in the world's top 10 for traffic problems. Bangalore won the race IIRC. Not surprising since our policy makers create pockets of excellence in certain regions that leaves little or no pie for other places to bite on. Mass migration of the populace results in explosive growth which local municipal corporations or public works departments are unable to serve.

Just as diverse our nation is, so is the quality of infrastructure from city to city and state to state. In my (personal) opinion, the city of Mumbai has the worst roads in the country despite having the richest municipal corporation. Many arterial roads merging into a main street don't even align correctly. Manhole covers, gutter shutters are about 2-5inches above the road surface. Footpaths are occupied by hawkers, there is absolutely no space for parking and all that.

As you move out from the city to the highways, Maharashtra probably rates at the bottom if one were to rate the quality of highways. We boast of the first expressway built in the country but the quality of the road surface is nothing more than what I call tyre-shredder-concrete. The expressway merges on to the NH4 highway that was part of the once visionary Golden quadrilateral road network. But, there is a problem, all of NH4 in Maharashtra in particular passes through small big villages. Heck it's now more or less a part of Pune city!

Compare that to a stark difference you'd see once you cross over into Karnataka. The scenery changes drastically. The roads are well paved. Your car tyres barely make any noise. The entire highway has service lanes along. Crash barriers are continuously securing traffic on opposite ends. And say what? The toll per km is far far lesser in KA v/s MH. Beyond that, a little birdie told me that it cost them less to build per km of NH4 in KA v/s MH.

If one had to rate the quality of highways within India, MH would probably be in the bottom 5. And last among the central and southern states.

Let's look at the city infrastructure. And I can talk about Pune, we took nearly 10-15 years in Pune to decide whether the metro rail should be underground or overhead! Yes, a decade and half, no less! Needless to say there were vested business interests in one of the largest two wheeler market in the country to not have proper public transport infrastructure. While things have picked up recently, they seem to be facing hurdles in completion on time. Obviously some top resident two wheeler industry businessmen are unnerved with the progress.

Coming to the road infrastructure, there are about 3 highways passing right through the middle of the city. So, if you were to head to Ahmednagar/Aurangabad, Nashik, Solapur from Bombay, you take the city's arterial roads which form a part of the highway network. Hyderabadis will quickly ask, don't you guys have an outer ring road? Yes, we very much do but it continues to be on paper and a super flawed design is available on youtube too. On the ground, there is a ring that represents a zero, not a road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xqrHJ-eJHo

Psst, don't be surprised to see an office building right in the middle of a highway. It is quite a radical proposition. Imagine working 11 storeys above traffic

Lastly, Pune has been operating out of an airforce base. Jokes around the size have been floating around since time immemorial. Just like the metro, we are still about deciding where the airport should be. Last I checked it was some 40-60km away from the city with absolutely no clear roads to get there. Chances are that the residents of Pune would end up reaching Navi Mumbai airport faster while the government decides where the airport should be

Tell us about the quality of infrastructure in your city / village.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Street Experiences Section. Thanks for sharing!

[V.Narayan]

Thank you for such a well researched thread with graphs and hard data. Beats opinions any day. There is no doubt that we have a long way to go in improving our road, rail and seaport infrastructure to half way world standards even. My arm chair wisdom, easy to say, hard to implement -- without capital coming in and a pay by use getting more widespread the improvement cannot be funded. Govt tax collections barely covers for Govt salaries, pensions and interest obligations. To get capital in we need sharper smoother laws governing road infrastructure concessions that once signed cannot be altered by the next Govt that comes in. Dilli abhi dur hai.

[puneeth2]

My opinion on this might be a rather controversial one but hear me out.

Our governments spend a large amount of money appeasing some sections of the society by providing freebies. This is done most often for political gains.
Had they focused on improving infrastructure and promoted development of skills we would be far better in every way than we are now.

Sad part is that the general public is satisfied with short gains.

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

...
A recent report I had read somewhere placed like 5-6 Indian cities in the world's top 10 for traffic problems. Bangalore won the race IIRC...

We are FIRST! Yay! oh wait..

In all seriousness, if you look at the factors, corruption comes second in our list. I would assume the other laggard factors are also influenced by this.

Two sides on traffic / road infrastructure -

"Give us good roads and we will drive the right way"

"Drive the right way and we will build good roads"

I am in the latter camp. Having driven quite a bit in other countries, their road condition has nothing to do with driving discipline. In the back roads in Leeds, people will still slow down for a painted circle in a tiny junction where it indicates a roundabout. Here, we fly past red lights.

Why am I bringing this up? Every move by the government is defeated either by corruption or quality or usage or all combined. Build a good road, the signage goes missing. Put up signage, interpret it as suggestions. Get caught, reach for the pocket. And this vicious cycle keeps us at Stage 1.

What can we do better?

Digitization - make things quick, easy and accessible. Best example - Our justice system for anything related to infrastructure is terrible. If you ever hear the words "civil case" from a lawyer, you can kiss your property goodbye. So, everyone takes a shortcut.

PPP - public private partnership brings accountability to both sides. Think about how crazy it was 15 years ago to get a passport. Today, it's mostly a smooth process with all the guidelines in place. Similarly, infrastructure projects are tendered and auctioned - get the private contractor to display all the costs on a regular basis. We'll know how much cuts each person makes.

Start young - just like we see how kids nowadays are so much more conscious about littering, driving etiquette starts early. We don't need to let kids drive to teach them driving rules and etiquette. They learn this as they observe you drive. Watch your words, driving style and fingers when you're taking the family along.

Make it visible - our local ward / zone has a group that regularly messages on Whatsapp any road construction efforts along with the contractor name. And they badger that guy, his supervisor and the councillor till they get it right. Otherwise, the tweets start flying. While some may consider this as armchair activism, it's truly effective in most cases.

In Bangalore, did you know that the BBMP invites citizen suggestions every year for their planning? I didn't know this at all. Suggestions from the citizens group are followed up by the activists group and they do their best. E.g. there's a walkway now being put up in the junction nearby where everyone played dodgeball with cars earlier.

The government and the people are two sides of the same coin. One cannot exist without the other and all these scores, grades and comparisons stand void until one encourages / forces the other to change for the better.

[saum1230]

I feel Mumbai-Pune expressway is nowhere close to being representation of India's best. It has very unscientific turns, confusing exits, bottlenecks, etc. Highways in TN, KA are much better - superior road quality, good amount of signage. Except for the rumblers and barricades they put at median-cuts, they feel safer than Mumbai-Pune eway.

But yes, none of the roads compare to those in the developed world. NHAI has a good set of standards which, if followed, might bring us closer to them, but they are seldom followed and often overruled by local babus by putting speed breakers, allowing encroachment on shoulders, creating cuts in median, etc. This culture will take generations to change.

[VeluM]

Road infrastructure in India is plagued by many problems, beginning at the planning stage.

There are wildly different signposts used in different cities or even parts of cities, there is no standardised road width or lane width, no standardised road markings, no rules for bus bays, parking, emergency lanes, merging roads, intersections, zebra crossings, basically anything. Even the roads that are built don’t last a year, and even concrete seems to age at a suspiciously rapid rate.

The biggest contributor is corruption. As with the Delhi Metro, we can see that well planned projects can be executed on time and within budget if the leadership is committed against corruption.

It all stems from corruption. What can one achieve but a sad caricature of infrastructure at a single digit percent of the original budget because the rest went to the intermediaries and people in power.

[vivek95]

Not directly in line with the main intent of this thread, so kindly excuse me.

Originally Posted by saum1230

I feel Mumbai-Pune expressway is nowhere close to being representation of India's best. It has very unscientific turns, confusing exits, bottlenecks, etc. Highways in TN, KA are much better - superior road quality, good amount of signage. Except for the rumblers and barricades they put at median-cuts, they feel safer than Mumbai-Pune eway.

But yes, none of the roads compare to those in the developed world. NHAI has a good set of standards which, if followed, might bring us closer to them, but they are seldom followed and often overruled by local babus by putting speed breakers, allowing encroachment on shoulders, creating cuts in median, etc. This culture will take generations to change.

I would not say Mumbai--Pune Expressway (MPEW) is the best representation of our infrastructure, as on date, however it definitely is one of the best engineering marvels that our country can boast of. By the way Mumbai--Pune Expressway was envisaged, built and thrown open to public way back in 2002 when Karnataka ( my homestate ) did not even remotely have the concept of a 4 lane divided highway, let alone an expressway. The surface of MPEW may not be buttersmooth but remember that it bears the brunt of heavy traffic, heavy monsoons and heavy landslides every year and despite that, 18 years down the line, it continues to remain in the best shape possible. Ofcourse not to be complacent here, but this road is in a completely different league and way ahead as compared to all highways of Karnataka put together. I would disagree on your mention of unscientific turns too, just look at the difficult terrain of the MPEW. The fact that a 6 lane expressway cuts through such a challenging terrain is itself mind-boggling.

Presently most highways in Karnataka and Tamilnadu are way better and I agree with you on that.