Advancing Road Construction & Safety 2.0: Mr. Akhilesh Srivastava Led a Global Conference in 2022Posted by Akhilesh Srivastava on December 14th, 2022  India is building highways more quickly than ever. By setting a goal of building 100 km of roads each day over the next two years and taking actions to put road safety measures into place, the Government of India has given the highest priority to safe and sustainable infrastructure development with scale and speed. The conference's goal was to identify and encourage new technologies that will hasten social and economic growth under the theme "Building Sustainable Infrastructure with New Age Technologies and Road Safety 2.0." At the Global Road Building & Safety Conference 2022 (GRC - 2022), which took place on November 30, the Taj Palace in New Delhi, Delhi, experienced the warmth of engaging discussions on breakthrough technologies that can alter the future of road safety, road construction, and financing in India and globally too. As Chairman of the organising committee, Shri Akhilesh Srivastava, a Global Technology leader, emphasised that modern technology is essential to enhancing road safety. The fact that fatalities on roads increased by 16% in 2021 compared to 2020 is evidence that the traditional approaches to road safety are not working as intended. This is true despite all efforts by MoRTH's and NHAI. With the use of AI, Telematics, and Data Analysis, the session discussed safety precautions. In addition to the sophisticated traffic management system on the highways for improved enforcement, Mr Akhilesh emphasises that we need technology to help drivers to keep them alert and make them safer. Similarly we need technology in vehicles like ADAS to make it intelligent to avoid collisions and accidents. Sustainable Infrastructure & Building Green with Road Safety 2.0 and New Age Technologies was the conference's theme, which CRRI organized with assistance from Ease of Doing Business (EODB). As the chairman of the organizing committee for the "Road Construction & Safety Conference (GRC - 2022)," he started fascinating discussions on cutting-edge technology in the construction sector through a rare convergence of government, Business, and academia. As a result, how roads are built, financed, and safely maintained in India may be redefined. More than 50 speakers from Government, IITs, Industry and Experts from various organisations participated in the GRC-2022 conference, which was spread over 11 sessions of talks and presentations over a long day without a tea or coffee break and a jam-packed agenda up till 9 PM. Over 400 participants from India and beyond attended the conference, including representatives from the equipment business, IoT experts, and drone operators. More than ten senior government officials from Niti Aayog, CPWD, MoRTH, NHAI, CRRI, RITES, and IRCON were among the speakers. There were also more than 20 speakers from leading companies in the industry, including Ashoka Buildcon, L&T, 3M, G R Infraprojects Ltd, Cube Highways, OSE, Keltron, Park+, Humasafer App, BITCOL, HP, Indian Oil, and more. These five main themes were the subject of the stimulating discussions: 1. Innovative technologies for building roads that reduce costs and save time. 2. New environmentally friendly and sustainable building materials with the least amount of carbon emissions. 3. Modern technology for reducing traffic deaths. 4. New financial developments in the transportation sector, and 5. A step toward achieving Net Zero in road construction and lowering carbon emissions. The budgetary allotment has grown from INR 33,414 crores (Financial Year 2015) to INR 1 83,101 crores (Financial Year 2022). But to create and maintain better and safer roads, we must develop new financial strategies since we can only rely on government assistance for a while. The government initiatives for new finance models through InvIT, TOT (Toll Operate & Transfer), and SPVs were highlighted by Mr Sajany Varma, General Manager (Fin) NHAI. The speaker emphasised that InvITs would soon be listed on the stock market so that retail investors could trade units, giving the average person a chance to invest in infrastructure projects. Mr Akhilesh Srivastava launched an innovative "School Zone Road Safety Portal" created by IRF in partnership with 3M and Proactive Foundation. The portal is going to be a real game changer to road safety around schools In India. One out of every ten RTI-related fatalities of children between 0 and 14 occurred. Only 17% of schools had speed limits posted on the road, and only 11.5% had school zone signage. How safe are our schools if kids are the most susceptible to road accidents near schools? The portal will record and highlight the discrepancy between road safety features required per the IRC and the road safety features available in the school by displaying it on a single dashboard. This will allow everyone to see the road safety vulnerability near the schools where their children are studying and to exert pressure on schools and the administrative and engineering authorities to make school zones safer for the children and address the shortcomings. The portal's primary characteristics will be: 1. Schools are ranked according to ratings determined based on the presence of road safety features in the vicinity of the schools and presented on the IRF website. 2. Parents and residents can view information about school traffic safety. 3. For schools, road safety auditors, and engineering authorities & district administration, there are unique role-based login options. 4. Road safety features are scored and submitted quickly, making it simple for regular people to grasp. 5. If any action is not taken promptly, an escalation matrix will be used to scale the issues with the relevant top administrative authorities. Dr Ambika Behl, who presided over the most critical session on How to minimise carbon emission in building a road- a step towards Net Zero emission in road construction, emphasised the necessity of using greener building materials and methods. However, because of the more significant expenses, Ms Atasi Das, Asst. The Vice President of G R Infra project Ltd. emphasised the industry's reservations about using these technologies. However, she emphasised that projects should be encouraged to adopt these by providing enough incentives and subsidies. In response, Senior Environmental Specialist of World Bank, Ms Neha Vyas, described the numerous programmes encouraging eco-friendly products and technology. Conclusions Shri Akhilesh Srivastava announced that the GRC-2022's crucial recommendations would be forwarded to the Ease of Doing Business for consideration by various Ministries to obtain policies that could help the construction industry and that the IITs and academia would be given the industry's needs to carry out research that is in line with the needs of the sector to realise the Prime Minister of Atma-Nirbhar Bharat's vision. But to create and maintain better and safer roads, we must develop new financial strategies too. Like it? Share it! More by this author |