National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency

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Research Areas

PLANNING OF RURAL ROADS

N. S. Srinivasan (Dr), Executive Director
National Transportation Planning and Research Centre, Trivandrum
Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi

ABSTRACT

The paper highlights that Inspite of the highest place of rural roads in the planned development of rural oriented Indian economy, the Indian planners have been preoccupied with inter-city and intra-city transport during past plan period, leaving the rural transport system in a state of utter neglect. The paper deals with the impact of rural roads on agriculture, industry, health, communication, education etc. and describes the planning targets and achievements during the last three decades of planning for rural roads and highlights the need to formulate long term plans and to sort out national policies and priorities. The paper presents some of the experience gained from the studies on rural roads conducted by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre and suggests some recommendations which may accelerate the process of rural road development.

Introduction

India is overwhelmingly an agricultural country with about six lakh villages, many of which have little or no connection with the outside world. The preoccupation of Indian planners with inter-city and intra-city transport during past plan periods has left the rural transport system in a state of utter neglect. Although rural population accounts for three-fourth of the total population and generates more than half of the national income, commensurate attention to rural transportation has not been paid in the past.

In the planned development of rural areas the development of rural roads merits the highest priority. For multifarious aspects like provision of food and labour to the cities; for balanced regional development; for curbing rural to urban migration; for improvement of agricultural productivity; for removal of socio-economic inequalities and above all if all the people have to be brought into the main stream of development, rural roads have to be provided to link all the villages in an integrated road network.

During the last three decades of planned development, road length has gone up from 3.97 lakh kilometres in 1950-51 to 15.34 lakh kilometres in 1979-80, and well over Rs. 7500 crores have been spent in road construction and maintenance. Rural road length has increased from 1.65 lakh kilometres in 1950-51 to 4.50 lakh kilometres in 1982-83. However, overall availability and quality of roads are far below the desired level. A large part of network is unsurfaced with improper alignments, weak bridges, narrow widths, lack of shoulders, and poor maintenance. Quality of rural roads and connectivity of villages are much below the target values.

Thus, a lot more needs to be done in the sphere of rural road development. There is a need to formulate long-term pans and to sort out national policies and priorities. Rural road planning in India is of recent origin and it needs to be strengthened and modified as per the present day needs. In this paper, some of the experiences gained from the following studies conducted by the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) are briefly presented:

  • Study on socio-economic aspect of rural roads in Patiala district in Punjab (study area has well-developed rural road network)
  • Study on socio-economic aspect of rural roads in Salem district in Tamilnadu (Rural road network is yet to be fully developed in the study area, which is comparatively backward)
  • Study on "Optimisation of bus transportation in Aurangabad region" (Bus transport in a backward rural area)
  • Study on socio-economic impact of command area road development in Ukai-Kakrapar region in Gujarat State (study pertains to command area roads)
  • Integrated development of transport system in Palghat district in Kerala State (The study area has considerable potentiality for agricultural production)
  • Development of transport system for Malappuram district in Kerala State (The study area is predominantly undulating and it is yet to be developed)

Definition of Village Road

Precisely what part of the total road network constitutes of rural road network is still unclear. As per the classification system adopted in India, Village Roads together with other District Roads from the rural road network and link villages with the nearest village, or any other settlement or to a National Highway, State Highway or Major District Road. Traffic volume on these roads is low comprising mainly of slow moving vehicles and pedestrains who are generally cultivator of abutting land.

In the prevalent circumstances the above definition of rural roads is not comprehensive. In Kerala State, for example, the average population of village is 155500 grouped into four to six desmos. Each desom is almost equal to a village in other States. Inter-desoms distance may range between three to six kilometres. Therefore, inter-desoms roads in Kerala are as important as village roads in other States. In Tamil Nadu State also, many of the villages are divided into two to three hamlets located at different places. Inter-hamlet roads are also important in the context of rural road network planning. In many other States villages are clusters of small size settlements known with local names. Thus, the definition of rural roads should be enlarged to include, (i) Other District Roads, (ii) Village roads, and (iii) intra-village roads connecting different segments of the village, like desoms, hamlets etc.

A large part of the rural road network is maintained by local bodies including Panchayat Unions, Panchayat Samities, Panchayats, Community Development Blocks etc. Roads maintained by these agencies are generally unsurfaced and narrow, many a time only a foot path or cart track. The standards of classifying a road as village road, cart track or foot path are not same in each State. Generally, local bodies enlarge the list of such roads just to obtain more grants. Therefore, there is a need to provide standard norms for classifying a road as a village, road, especially in the case of earth roads.

There is another segment of roads known as farm roads traverse the agricultural fields and are mainly unsurfaced linking agricultural farms with the main village. In Uttar Pradesh, for example, these roads are called Chuck Roads. These roads should also form part of the rural road network.

mpact of Rural Roads

In a developing country like India, investment on rural roads has a vital role to play in waging war against rural poverty. Rural roads facilitate better goods distribution, promote the development of market centres, and provide an incentive to farmers to generate more marketable surplus. It is the rural road that delivers fertilizers, pesticides, seeds and other agricultural inputs to farmers to improve both production and productivity. A good rural road network would be able to move marketable surplus efficiently and effectively to consumption centres and promote agro-businesses.

Integrated road network also facilitates farm mechanization, better mobilization of man power, effective utilization of resources and increase in use of rural infrastructure facilities. It opens new areas for industrial and there by to balanced regional development. Rural roads are likely to accelerate village development resulting in reduction of rural to urban migration. Thus rural road is a basic requirement with multitudinous returns both district and indirect. In the following sections, selected empirical studies are discussed to illustrate the importance of rural roads.

In Thailand, the construction of a particular road has increased fruit production by more than three times in three years; in Bolivia, rural roads have eliminated the need for costly import of rice; in Costa Rica, the meat production increased by many times due to building of all-weather rural roads; and in Uganda, the production of cotton almost doubled due to rural roads (1).

The kinds of social benefits which a road, in conjunction with other investment can bring to a relatively isolated village are shown by a study of five roads conducted by William Hughes (2) for Malaya. This study showed quite plainly that social development took place in hinterlands of all the five roads. The development took such varigated form as increased attendance at schools, greater use of medical facilities, increased reading news-papers, use of government services and facilities, and introduction of other amenities of modern life. Interestingly enough, this increase in use of various social services occurred independently of changes in personal incomes.

A number of studies carried out in different parts of India have also indicated great social and economic benefits from rural roads. In Wazipur village of Gurgaon district in Haryana, the construction of a four yard wide surfaced road could bring cash to village daily through the sales of vegetables and milk at higher prices. Because of ease of transporting, fertilizer rates were reduced and high-school classes were started because teachers could come on bicycles from the nearest town (3). The completion of road also led to the establishment of a dispensary, employment of woman teachers and a boost to house construction activities.

A study carried out by Government of India (4) after the construction of 20 mile Ramand-Mandapam road in Tamil Nadu indicated many benefits including operation by two new bus companies, establishment of milling and pottery industries, expansion of fishing industries, opening of new retail shops, higher enrolment in schools, and increase in number of post offices and dispensaries. A study carried out in Rajasthan on the impact of construction of a five mile surfaced road showed increase in tubewell construction, production and transportation of sugar cane to mill and starting of a co-operative society, hospital and new schools (3).

A study carried out by NCAER (6), based on data collected from 20 block spread out all over India, has also indicated similar results. Through the use of regression and discriminant analysis it was established that rural roads have positive impact on all the sectors of the economy. A better level of accessibility showed higher values of all developmental variables.

At the instance of Rural Road Committee of the Indian Roads Congress in conjunction with the Ministry of Shipping and Transport, and several State Governments, number of district level studies on the measurement of impact of rural roads are in progress. All these studies have indicated positive socio-economic returns from investment made in rural roads. One such study carried out by NATPAC (7) in Patiala district of Punjab State provided the following regression equation for the year 1981:

NSC = 1.97340+0.23758 AGR - 0.17581 LDR... (1)

NOT = 3.69620 + 0.11327 AGR - 0.31527 LDM
+0.01135 TCA + 0.11056 ADV ... (2)

YW = 30.20117 + 0.29402 AGR - 0.42801 LDM
+0.00514 IR - 0.00514 UIR ... (3)

YR = 45.85016 + 0.58913 AGR - 0.55529 LDM
+ 0.00377 IR + 0.01211 UIR ... (4)

AR = 35.64857 - 1.28312 LDR + 0.39015 AGR
+ 0.22611 IR ... (5)

AW = 62.63498 + 3.14130 LDR + 0.54490 AGR
+ 0.16595 IR ... (6)

Where

NSC = Number of scooters and motor cycles

NOT = Number of tractors

YW = Yield of wheat per hectare

YR = Yield of rice per hectare

AR = Area under rice

AW = Area under wheat

AGR = Age of the road

LDR = Lead distance to major road

LDM = Lead distance to market centre

TCA = Total cropped area

IR = Irrigated area

UIR = Unirrigated area

The above regression equations clearly establish that age of road and accessibility to road have positive impact on development variables. Higher the age of road, higher would be the yield of different crops and vehicle ownership.

In another study carried out by NATPC in Salem district of Tamil Nadu the impact of roads was measured through the use of factor and regression analysis techniques (8). The analysis was carried out at district, taluk and village levels. The impact of surfaced road was more pronounced than the impact of unsurfaced road was more pronounced than the impact of unsurfaced roads. The selected village level regression equations obtained are listed below:

Net sown area to

total area (%) = 71.36 - 5.51 D .. (7)

Yield of cotton (Q/acre) = 10.0 - 1.16 D .. (8)

Workers in tertiary sector

to total workers (%) = 10.97 - 1.5 D .. (9)

Wage of male workers

in 1971 (Rs.) = 5.18 - 0.23 D .. (10)

Wage of male workers

in 1981(Rs.) = 10.50 - 0.59 D .. (11)

Index of educational facilities = 2.09 -0.10 D ..(12)

Index of health facilities = 0.32 -0.05 D .. (13)

where D = distance from the nearest road in kms and Index of education and health facilities is the total number of educational institutions and medical centres respectively.

There above regression equations clearly established that accessibility has a positive impact on the availability of facilities, industrialization, land use and agricultural productivity. To improve the well being of rural masses, roads, have to be provided. A good road network system would go a long way in bringing all the areas together and enable them to derive the benefits of economies of large scale production and distribution.

Planning Targets and Achievements

Rural road development for the first time received impetus during the Fifth Five Year Plan under the Minimum Needs Programme (MNP). The MNP stressed the urgency to provide social services as per the national norms. The programme stipulated that all villages with 1500 and more population and half of the villages with population of 1000-1500 should be linked with all-weather roads by 1990. In hilly, tribal costal and desert areas the cluster of villages approach was suggested. Under the Fifty Plan the target of linking 29000 villages was fixed and an outlay of Rs. 500 crores was provided for this purpose. However, only Rs. 200 crores could be spent and about 12,000 villages were linked.

For the period 1980-85 an outlay of Rs. 1148 crores was provided under MNP for rural roads, out of which only Rs. 1086 crores was spent. Table 1 provides year wise targets and achievements in connecting villages. It is disappointing to note that in most of the cases targets were not achieved. During the year 1983-84 the achievements were 61.52, 94.07 and 100.78 per cent of the targets for the villages with population 1500 and above, 1000-1500 and less than 1000 respectively.

Table 2 provides details of outlay and expenditure under Minimum Need Programme for the period 1980-84. Out of a sum of Rs. 4924 crores available under MNP, only Rs. 1148 cores were planned to be spent on rural roads. That is only about 23 per cent of the MNP outlay was available for rural roads. State wise analysis further showed that many States have allocated less than 15 per cent MNP outlay for rural roads, whereas some States have allocated more than 30 per cent of MNP outlay for rural roads. Thus, there is no consistency and objectivity in allocating funds under MNP.

Table 1 Year wise targets and achievements in connecting villages

Year

Target/Achievement/Percentage of achievement

Village with population

   

1500 and above

1000-1500

Les than 1000

1980-81

Target 

Achievement

Percentage 

Achievement

2514

2410

95.86

1126

1108

98.4

-

3207

-

1981-82

Target 

Achievement

Percentage 

Achievement

1878

2296

122.26

1205

1368

113.53

-

2695

-

1982-83

Target 

Achievement

Percentage 

Achievement

2522

2365

93.77

655

1495

228.24

-

2345

-

1983-84

Target 

Achievement

Percentage 

Achievement

2705

1664

61.52

761

716

94.09

1806

1820

100.78

It was unfortunate that most of the State were not able to use the funds of MNP fully. States were not able to achieve the preset targets not because Central finance was not available, due to various other reasons also. Some of the reasons are listed below:

  • Meagre allocation of funds by several States for rural roads.
  • Procedural obstacles in acquiring land for road construction.
  • Low density of population in hilly, desert and tribal areas.
  • High cost of construction and non-availability of certain resources.
  • Lack of coordination among different agencies involved.
  • Lack of long-term planning for rural road development.

Table 2

Outlay and expenditure on rural roads under MNP during 1980-84

SI. No. State Total MNP outlays (Rs. lakhs) MNP outlay for rural roads (Rs. lakhs) Expenditure on rural roads under MNP (Rs. lakh) Rural road outlay/total outlay (%) Rural road expenditure /outlay (%)
1 Andhra Pradesh 27284 1500 2007 5.50 133.80
2 Assam 17895 3600 3225 20.12 89.58
3 Bihar 41941 14000 10655 33.38 76.11
4 Gujarat 31108 13500 7487 43.40 55.46
5 Haryana 13075 350 16 2.68 4.57
6 Himachal Pradesh 8744 3500 3515 40.03 100.43
7 Jammu & Kashmir 9863 1600 2259 16.22 141.19
8 Karnataka 20786 4500 4055 21.65 90.11
9 Kerala 11604 1300 2236 11.20 172.00
10 Madhya Pradesh 30622 4000 5956 13.06 148.90
11 Maharashtra 46200 9400 6910 20.35 73.51
12 Manipur 4388 1000 1169 22.79 116.90
13 Meghalaya 3906 520 530 13.31 101.92
14 Nagaland 2533 325 300 12.83 92.31
15 Orissa 14384 3000 2907 20.86 96.90
16 Punjab 14187 2000 2110 14.13 105.50
17 Rajasthan 29634 6500 4185 21.93 64.38
18 Sikkim 2229 900 1406 40.38 156.22
19 Tamil Nadu 24187 7000 3881 28.94 55.44
20 Tripura 4535 1100 1408 24.26 128.00
21 Uttar Pradesh 84851 31500 30301 37.12 96.19
22 West Bengal 31676 3750 3204 11.84 85.44
  India 492428 114845 108562 23.32 94.53

Indicators of Rural Road Development

The country has a total rural road length of 4.5 lakh kms as on 31st March, 1983, as against 1.65 lakh kms in the year 1950-51. Apart from these roads there are roads constructed under the Community Development Programme, National Extension Schemes, etc., measuring about 4.0 lakh kilometres in length. These are mostly earth roads which require substantial financial resources to make them motorable.

Overall connectivity of villages is very poor, as a very large number of villages have to find a place on national road network. Out of 5.92 lakh villages in the country, only about 26 percent had an all-weather road link and another 16 percent had fair-weather road link.

The number of village to be connected by any road was 3.46 lakhs and will all-weather road link 4.39 lakhs.

Table 3 provides state wise connectivity of villages for different sizes of population. In the country as a whole 70 percent of the villages with population 1500 and above are connected with road. Out of 22 States only six had the distinction of connecting all the villages of 1500 and above population with road.

The connectivity of villages with population 1001 to 1500 and below 1000 was still poor. Only 48.6 percent of the villages with population 1000-1500 were connected with road. The percentage of connected villages with less than 100 population was only 22.5. Thus, higher the village size higher is the percentage of villages connected. A majority of the small and medium size villages have to be still connected by a road.

Table 3

State wise percentage of villages connected by road (1984-85)

SI. No. State Percentage of villages connected by road with population
    1500 and above 1000-1500 Less than 1000
1 Andhra Pradesh 57.7 25.0 34.4
2 Assam 82.9 98.7 51.6
3 Bihar 74.4 45.6 23.4
4 Gujarat 97.7 84.2 47.6
5 Haryana 100.0 100.0 97.0
6 Himachal Pradesh 66.1 77.0 42.0
7 Jammu & Kashmir 89.1 90.7 52.3
8 Karnataka 67.5 44.1 21.3
9 Kerala 100.0 - 100.0
10 Madhya Pradesh 78.8 51.5 18.1
11 Maharashtra 79.4 57.0 15.9
12 Manipur 77.0 37.4 16.4
13 Meghalaya 100.0 100.0 50.1
14 Nagaland 100.0 - 60.3
15 Orissa 30.7 7.0 -
16 Punjab 100.0 100.0 98.2
17 Rajasthan 74.9 50.7 11.4
18 Sikkim - 60.5 -
19 Tamil Nadu 66.4 35.5 57.2
20 Tripura 100.0 74.4 46.4
21 Uttar Pradesh 66.6 32.5 N.A
22 West Bengal 53.4 52.4 43.9
  Overall picture for the country 70.0 48.6 22.5

Inter-state comparison showed a very dismaying performance in the case of several states including Orissa, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. States which showed better performance are Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat and Kerala. It was also noted that if the State is backward in connecting larger villages, it is backward in connecting smaller villages also.

Rural road conditions can be assessed through the use of following road development indicators:

i. Rural road density- rural road length per 100 square kilometre of area.

ii. Rural road availability- rural length per lakh population.

iii. Rural road ratio- rural road length per 100 square kilometres of cultivated area.

iv. Rural road ratio- rural road length per kilometre of non-rural road length.

v. Rural road connectivity- rural road length per village

vi. Composite rural road density- rural road length divided by the weighted average of population and area.

vii. Rural road share- percentage of rural road length to the total road length.

Table 4 provides the values of selected road development indicators for different states of India. The rural road length per lakh population gives a measure of availability of roads. This was as high as 754 kilometres for Nagaland and as low as 82 kilometres for Madhya Pradesh. Generally, States with low population density have higher rural road length per lakh population than the states with high population density.

The rural road length per 100 square kilometres gives a measure of connectivity of the area. This also shows variation among different States. Kerala has the highest rural road length per 100 square kilometres of area (204.71 kms) followed by West Bengal (137.13 kms). Lower values of this indicator were observed in the case of Madhya Pradesh (8.67 kms), Rajasthan (9.46 kms) and Himachal Pradesh (11.11 kms).

Another indicator which measure the connectivity of the region is the rural road length per village. It varied from 0.40 kilometre in Himachal Pradesh to 62.99 kilometres in Kerala. The value for Kerala was exceptionally high due to the large sizes of villages in Kerala. Most of the States have less than five kilometres of road

Table 4

Indicators of rural road development

SI. No.

State

Rural road length/lakh Population

Rural Road length/100 sq. km.

Rural road length/village

Rural road length/sq. ft. (popx area)

Rural road length/non-rural road (%)

Rural road length total road length (%)

1

Andhra Pradesh

166.37

29.02

2.95

0.02

22.09

77.91

2

Assam

262.09

59.09

2.07

0.04

15.28

84.72

3

Bihar

112.58

40.62

1005

0.02

24.23

75.77

4

Gujarat

101.42

15.58

1.67

0.01

37.11

62.89

5

Haryana

98.45

25.28

1.66

0.02

56.63

43.47

6

Himachal Pradesh

152.77

11.11

0.40

0.01

65.30

34.70

7

Jammu & Kashmir

1088.93

2.57

0.90

0.01

60.00

40.00

8

Karnataka

244.26

41.96

2.99

0.03

21.01

78.99

9

Kerala

341.66

204.71

62.99

0.08

9.01

90.99

10

Madhya Pradesh

82.39

8.67

0.54

0.01

59.02

40.98

11

Maharashtra

178.26

32.57

2.78

0.02

11.34

88.66

12

Nagaland

754.20

28.80

4.96

0.05

29.01

70.99

13

Orissa

134.53

20.71

0.59

0.02

33.08

66.92

14

Punjab

159.89

47.71

1.97

0.03

41.88

58.12

15

Rajasthan

113.74

9.64

0.99

0.01

41.12

58.88

16

Tamil Nadu

209.20

71.95

4.06

0.04

15.05

84.95

17

Tripura

279.20

47.54

1.01

0.04

14.90

85.10

18

Utter Pradesh

107.52

36.14

0.95

0.02

40.95

59.05

19

West Bengal

245.18

137.13

3.16

0.06

12.80

87.20

length per village. The value of road length per village is directly related to the percentage of village connected.

The ratio of rural road length to the weighted geometric mean of population and area is a composite indicator. This indicator combines the effect of connectivity of region and availability of road. The comparison of the composite indicator across the States showed a lesser variation than all other indicators. The values of the indicator generally varied between 0.01 and 0.06 except for Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala. The States can be graded with values of the composite indicator greater than0.03, between 0.02 and 0.03, and less than 0.02 classified as better, moderate, and backward in rural roads respectively. Thus States with poor rural road network are, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh and Rajashtan.

Indicators which measure the rural road development in comparison to the development of other types of roads, are, (i) percentage of rural road length to total road length and (ii) percentage of rural road length to non-rural road length. Statewise analysis showed that rural road length to total road length was lowest (34.70%) in Himachal Pradesh and highest (90.99%) in Kerala. Similarly the ratio of rural road length to non-rural road length showed a high variation with values ranging between 9.01 per cent and 65.30 per cent.

Optimisation of Rural Road Network

Notwithstanding the fact that India has a vast pool of technical and scientific personnel and all types of large scale industries, its economy basically remains agricultural oriented. Whatever little resources India had during past planning periods, a major share went to urban oriented projects. The need of rural masses could not be met due to limited resources and too many projects to be completed. In every planning exercise more and more funds are demanded for the development of rural areas. For rural road development alone, to achieve NTPC targets, Rs. 11000 crores are required at 1978 prices.

In the present circumstances, the pertinent questions, therefore, are:

i. What priority should be given to rural roads as against other transport projects and other developmental projects?

ii. Keeping in view both costs and benefits of roads, what could be the optimum road network length, say, upto end of this century?

iii. How should the village be selected for road connection?

iv. Apart from population should not other parameters like, facilities, population density, quality of land, location of village and the like also be considered?

v. What could be the optimum density of different types of roads?

vi. What should be the technical (construction) specification for rural roads?

vii. How should the administration and financing of roads be done?

viii. How should the work of different agencies be coordinated?

ix. What is the best way of linking the villages?

x. How can the rural road network in the country be optimised.

Many more questions can be listed relevant in the present circumstances of road development. In this section some of the questions are taken up for discussion.

Transport Priority Index (TPI)

In optimising the road network the first obvious step would be to develop a methodology for the purpose of fixing priorities for road connection. Population alone should not be taken as a criterion for choosing villages for road connection. Demographic and geographic factors; availability of commercial, educational, health and other facilities; etc. should also be taken into account. Table 5 provides the list of indicators to be considered along with their rating. The weighted sum of these indicators' value would provide TPI. Higher the value of TPI, higher should be the priority for road connection improvement.

It has been determined that if the villages are linked following TPI values, the socio-economic gains would be maximised, while the cost would be minimized.

Link Choice

A village can be connected in a number of ways it may be connected to the nearest all-weather road, to the nearest already connect village, to the nearest major road or to any other point. In choosing the best link, a number of indices can be used, like, dispersion index, Alpha index, Beeta index, Gamma index, ration of TPI with the link length, or a combination of indices. Therefore, after assigning the priorities to village, links should be chosen based on some objective criteria.

Table 5

Transport Priority index of village

Indicators

Rating of indicators

 

0 (low)

1

2

3

4 (high)

A Demographic

1 Population

2 Tribal population (%)

3 Scheduled caste population (%)

4 Population density

-

5 or less

10 or less

11 or less

500 or below

6-10

11-20

101-299

500-1499

6-10

21-30

300-499

1500-2999

16-20

31-40

500-699

3000 and above

21 and above

41 and above

700 and above

B Geographic

5 Cultivated area/total area(%)

6 Distance to all-weather road (kms)

7 Distance to town in kms

8 Hilly area

9 Mining area

10 Coastal area

11 Tribal area

12 Desert area

20 or less

15 or above

15 or above

No

No

No

No

No

21-30

10-14

10-14

10-14

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

31-40

5-9

5-9

Yes

41-60

3-4

3-4

61 and above

2 or less

2 or less

C Education

13 Primary school

14 High School

15 Girls School

16 Intermediate or above/college

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

D Health

17Primary/doctor

18 Mobile clinic

19 PHC or other Govt. Hospital

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

   

E Commercial and other

20 Weekly market

21 Agriculture market centre

22 Bank

23 Post Office

24 Telegraph/ Telephone office

25 Electrified

26 Canal irrigation

27 Tap drinking water

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

   

Network Choice

The last stop in optimising the road network would be to analyse the full network so developed. It would provide the missing links to be constructed. Certain roads may have to be upgraded to higher level roads based on present and future traffic volume. Potential growth centres may be provided with more than one link to near-by settlements.

Estimation of Future Rural Road Requirements

Rural road requirements can be estimated in a number of ways, depending on the availability of data and other considerations. The following methods can be used in Indian conditions:

a) Survey method

b) Growth models

c) Normative approach

d) Causal models

One of the simplest ways to estimate rural road requirement is to conduct a traffic survey. Villages situated in the area should be visited, and missing links should be identified. Then the sum of all the missing links and unconnected village links would provide the total rural road requirement.

Requirements of rural roads can also be estimated by using time-series data and appropriate growth models. Some of the growth models which can be used are, linear, exponential, modified exponential, logistic and polynomial. It may be desirable to test a number of growth models, and select the best model.

Under the normative approach, first several types of ratios of rural road length with variables like population, etc., should be computed. Some of the ratios can be, rural road length per 100 sq. kms. of area, rural road length per lakh population, rural road length per 100 sq. kms. of cultivated area, etc. Then by making inter country and intra-country comparison a norm value/a suitable ratio can be chosen. By using this norm value, future road requirements can be estimated.

Under the causal model, regression equation can be used to estimate the rural road requirement. A regression equation has been developed between road density and population density as shown below:

RD = -15.52 + 0.2696 PD

t = 7.538

R² = 0.90

Where RD = Road length per 100 square km of area

PD = Population per square km of area

The above equation shows a good statistical fit with significant values of and coefficient determination at five per cent level of significance. The elasticity of partial regression coefficient of population density is 1.355, signifying that one per cent increase in population density would lead to 1.335 per cent increase in road density. By using the projected population in the above equation, future rural road requirements are estimated (Table 6).

From Table 6 it is evident that India would require a rural road network of 14.29 lakh kilometres by 1985. Rural road requirements are expected to increase further to 16.24 lakh kilometres by 1990, 18.58 lakh kilometres by 1995 and 20.74 lakh kilometres by the end of the present century. The estimated future requirements include both the present deficits and additional needs.

Data Base for Planning Rural Road

To prepare an integrated road development plan it is necessary that the current and relevant data be available. At present there is a lack of data, and even the available data is obsolete in many cases. Even important road maps have not been updated for the last several years. As a first step towards scientific planning of rural roads a data base for each district should be developed and continually updated and it may include among others the items listed below:

(i) Connectivity of villages

- List of villages connected.

- Distribution of villages according to the year of connection

- List of villages according to the type of surface

- Age of roads.

Table 6

Estimated future road requirements

Year Rural road requirement (lakh kms) Additional length required (lakh kms) Finance required (Rs. crores)
1985 14.29 4.29 8580
1990 16.24 1.95 3900
1995 18.38 2.14 4280
2000 20.74 2.36 4720
Total 69.65 10.74 21480

Note: Existing rural road length has been taken as 10 lakh kms.

(ii) Financing of roads

- Construction cost of roads

- Maintenance cost of roads

- Composition of cost, i.e. breaking into labour, material, subgrade, surfacing, culverts/bridges, side drainage, leveling etc.

- Budget provisions.

- Agencies involved in rural road construction and maintenance, and their role

- Revenue from roads.

(iii) Network Planning

- Targets of villages to be connected and achievements

- List of villages to be connected

- Priority of villages to be connected

- Yearwise requirement of road length

- Resources required for construction and maintenance of road

(iv) Rural transport services

- List of villages having the facility of bus transport

- Rural transport demand

- Modal split

- New bus route to be formed

(v) Maps

- Map showing all types of roads

- Map showing surfaced roads

- Map showing villages connected

- Time series maps

- Map showing missing links and bridges.

(vii) Administration of roads.

- Agencies involved in road construction and their role

- Administration of road maintenance

- Frequency of upgrading and resurfacing

- Acts and rules relevant to roads and road transport

(viii) Supporting data

- Socio-economic characteristics of villages

- Rural development plans

- Regional development plans

- National and regional priorities in rural development

- Traffic volume on roads

- Passenger trip characteristics

- Nature and level of transport demand

8 Conclusions

8.1 It is now a well documented fact that rural roads have far reaching impact on all the sectors of the economy including agriculture, industry, health communication, education, etc. Rural roads open backward areas for development and bring isolated parts into the mainstream of development.

8.2 Though the Government has recognised the need for better roads, a lot more remains to be done in improving the rural road conditions. It is estimated that by the end of this century India would require an additional

rural road length of 10.74 lakh kms for which Rs. 21480 crores would be needed. Some for the recommendations which may accelerate the process of rural road development are as follows:

1) Include all the village under minimum need programme irrespective of population size.

2) Villages above 2000 population must be linked with all-weather roads not only to main road but also with at least one neighbouring village.

3) Network approach must be adopted in planning rural roads.

4) District level master plans should be prepared.

5) Data base for rural roads and road maps should be updated and enlarged in scope.

6) In evaluating rural roads apart from economic criteria, social criteria should also be used.

7) Various agencies involved in construction and maintenance of roads must be integrated together.

8) Different departments involved in road development must have better coordination.

9) Financial resources should be pooled together and used more effectively.

10) Supplementary sources of finances should be tapped.

11) Targets should be fixed at feasible levels and attempts made to achieve them.

12) Technical specification of rural roads needs to be examined afresh in view of change in cost structure and other factors.

13) Rural roads may be developed in phased manner as the traffic builds up. Black-topping may not be necessary for all the roads.

14) Bridges and culverts should be given proper attention.

15) There should be a single agency in each state to plan and to execute rural road works.

16) Maintenance of rural roads should be done properly to enhance the life of roads.

References

1. United Nations, New York, "Transport and communication Bulletin for Asia and the Far East", No. 48, pp 12-15 1972.

2. Hughes, W., "Social Benefits through improved Transport in Malaya", pp 105-21 Edited in Transport and National Goals by Edwin T. Maefele, The Brooking Institutions, Washington D.C., 1969.

3. Owne, W., "Distance and Development, Transport and Communication in India" pp 59, The Brooking Institutions, Washington D.C., 1968.

4. Ministry of Transport and Communication, Government of India, "Economic Benefits of the Ramnad Mandapam Road", 1959-60.

5. Ramanna, R. et al., "Transport and Green Revolution" pp. 31. in Transport Planning and Finance, Edited by D.M. Nanjundappa, Karnataka University, Dharwar 1973.

6. National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi "Socio-Economic Impact of Roads in Villages Development", 1979.

7. National Transportation Planning and Research Centre, Trivandrum. "Road Network Planning and District Level for Socio-Economic Development of Rural Areas (Patiala District), Phase II Report.

8. National Transportation Planning and Research Centre, Trivandrum. "Socio-Economic Aspects of Rural Roads Case Study of Salem District", Phase II Report.

9. Srinivasan N. S. "Development of Roads and Transport in Rural Areas", Presented at the National Seminar on Science and Technology for Rural Development, Organized by the Institution of Engineers (India) at Patna on 5th February, 1984.

10. Srinivasan N. S. et al., "Development Pattern and Accessibility of Rural Settelements in Salem District", Journal of Institution of Engineers, September 1984.

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