Transport
An efficient transport system is a pre-requisite for sustained economic development. It is not only the key infrastructural input for the growth process but also plays a significant role in promoting national integration, which is particularly important in a large country like India. The transport system also plays an important role of promoting the development of the backward regions and integrating them with the mainstream economy by opening them to trade and investment.
India has a well-developed transport network comprising rail, road, coastal shipping, air transport, etc.

Road transport
India has an extensive system of roads that plays a vital role, as far as the national economic growth of the country is concerned.
Data:
• World’s second largest road network – 4.87 million km.
• 97,135 kms of national Highways.
• NHs are 2% but carry 40% of the traffic.
• 65% of freight & 80% passenger traffic carried by roads.
• Implementation Authorities – NHAI, State PWDs etc., BRO, newly formed NHIDCL for projects at border and other strategic locations.
• Project implementation modes for highways in India.
a. Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) – Toll
b. BOT – Annuity
c. Hybrid Annuity Model
d. Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) – Public funded.

Benefits of roads transport
1. Roads play a very important role in the transportation of goods and passengers for short and medium distances.
2. It helps farmers to move their perishable agricultural products soon to markets and mandis. Thus encourage farmers to switch to more commercially viable agricultural products.
3. Road transport system establishes easy contact between farms, fields, factories and markets, thus leading to better linkage between consumer and producer.
4. Mobility is one of the most fundamental and important characteristics of economic activity as it satisfies the basic need of going from one location to the other, a need shared by passengers, freight and information. Road transport provides a better mobility that leads to economic development.
5. It is suitable for transportation of both perishable and non-perishable goods, controlling the price level in the economy.
6. It is a relatively cheaper mode of transport as compared to other modes.
7. It is a flexible mode of transport as loading and unloading is possible at any destination. It provides door-to-door service.
8. It helps people to travel and carry goods from one place to another, in places which are not connected by other means of transport like hilly areas.

Classification of Roads
1. National Highways: These roads are of prime importance for the country and connect large cities and big industrial centers. There development and maintenance is the responsibility of the central government.
2. State Highways: These roads connect all the important centers of industry, trade and commerce of the states and the national highways. There responsibility of the development and maintenance lies with the state government.
3. District Roads: These roads connect different parts of the district, important industrial centers and market centers and usually lead to local railway stations. The responsibility of development and maintenance lies with the local government.
4. Rural Roads: These are roads found in the villages and are usually of two types; pukka (metal) and kacha (non metal). The responsibility of maintenance and development lies with the local government.

Major National Highways in India
The few important national highways along with their routes are discussed below:
• NH1 – Delhi – Ambala – Jalandhar – Ludhiana – Amritsar – Wagah Border.
• NH1A – Jalandhar – Jammu – Udhampur – Banihal – Srinagar – Baramula – Uri.
• NH1D – Srinagar – Kargil – Leh.
• NH2 – Delhi – Agra – Allahabad – Kolkata.
• NH3 – Agra – Gwalior – Indore – Dhule – Nasik-Mumbai.
• NH4 – Thane – Pune – Bangalore – Chennai. (Mumbai – Pune-1st 6 lane express highway)
• NH 5 – Baharagora – Cuttack – Bhuvaneshwar – Vishakhapatnam – Chennai.
• NH6 – Hazira – Surat – Dhule – Nagpur – Raipur – Baharagora – Kolkata.
• NH7 – Varanasi – Nagpur – Hyderabad – Bangalore- Kanyakumari (Longest Highway)
• NH8 – Delhi – Jaipur – Ajmer – Udaipur-Ahmedabad – Vadodara – Surat – Mumbai.
• NH 24 – Delhi – Moradabad – Bareilly – Lucknow
• NH 47A – Kundannur – Willington Island in Kochi (Shortest NH – 6 km)

Different projects
A. National Highways Development Project (NHDP)National Highways Development Project (NHDP)
NHDP is being implemented by NHAI. NHDP Phases are:
Phase I: Golden Quadrilateral.
Phase II: North-South and East-West corridors.
Phase III: Upgrade 12,109 km of national highways on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis.
Phase IV: Convert existing single lane highways into two lanes.
Phase V: Upgrade four lane highways to six lanes.
Phase VI: Expressways.
Phase VII: Improvements to city road networks.

Golden Quadrilateral Highway Network
Golden Quadrilateral is a network of highways connecting India’s four top metropolitan cities, namely Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, thereby, forming a quadrilateral.
The overall length of the quadrilateral is 5,846 km consisting of four/six lane express highways.

N-S and E-W corridor
The North-South–East-West Corridor (NS-EW) is the largest ongoing highway project in India. It will connect Srinagar with Kanyakumari and Porbandar with Silchar. The meeting point of the two corridors is at Jhansi.

B. New Initiatives
1. Bharat Mala – 5500 km to develop roads along the international borders and coastal areas.
2. Special Scheme – 6000 km roads facilitating connectivity to religious/tourist places and providing connectivity to backward regions.
3. District Connectivity – Development of National Highways providing connectivity to district headquarters.z
4. Setu Bharatam – All the level crossings and narrow/weak bridges to be replaced by Railway Over / Under Bridges and new constructions.

Major policy initiatives
The Government has progressively taken many policy decisions in the sector, designed to facilitate the execution of work and make it speedier, more efficient and transparent. Some of the major initiatives of 2015 are as follows:
a) The Exit Policy framework permits concessionaires/developers to divest 100 percent equity and exit all operational BOT projects two years after completion of construction. This would help unlock equity from completed projects making it potentially available for investment into new infrastructure projects across the country.
b) Fund Infusion to Salvage Languishing Projects: This initiative authorizes the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to intervene in projects that are in the advanced stage of completion but are stuck due to lack of funds. NHAI has been authorized to provide funds to such projects from within its overall budget/corpus on a loan basis at a pre-determined rate of return.
c) Rationalized compensation to concessionaires for languishing NH projects in BOT mode for delays not attributable to concessionaires:
d) A new mode of delivery under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode, namely Hybrid Annuity Model, is being promoted for awarding road projects for implementation under which 40% of project cost is being provided by the Government to the concessionaire. Remaining 60% is to be arranged in form of debt and equity to be compensated over 15 years as bi-annual annuities. The private party does not have to bear the traffic risk.
e) National Highways Authority of India is raising funds through public issue of tax free, secured, redeemable non-convertible bonds with Face Value of Rs 1,000 each for an amount of Rs 1,000 crore with an option to retain over subscription of upto additional Rs 9,000 crore, aggregating upto a total of Rs 10,000 crore.

Conclusion:

More efforts are needed in this direction