Team Herald
PANJIM: With the lowest National Highway (NH) growth rate of two per cent, Goa has been facing huge logistical bottlenecks as a national survey indicates that the State has least NH length compared to other coastal States.
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The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), in its report of survey — that was conducted till the last financial year — has calculated the length of the National Highways across the country, wherein Goa’s average addition to its existing National Highway length over the past seven years has been very low. It points out that one of the most critical elements of economic development is what the State is lagging behind, which is a big bottleneck for its growth and people.
The report, accessed by Herald, further states that the length of National Highways across the nation has seen an average increase of 11 per cent over the past seven years, while the growth along the coastal States has been 10 per cent.
Goa’s average addition to its length is meagre two per cent during this period even as the State records increasing tourist footfalls every year, particularly during the peak tourist season when several thousand revelers drive down to Goa.
Herald spoke to an official of the Transport Department, who pointed out that the relationship between economic growth and infrastructure, road infrastructure’s significance is very high.
“In addition to benefits for the local tourism industry; better road infrastructure improves cost effectiveness of other user industries by helping them reduce overall transaction costs, increase connectivity and hence improves economic opportunities,” he said.
Whereas a PWD officer said that the four-lane expansion project of the NH4 in Goa, connecting the vital points between Goa and Karnataka, is expected to bring in similar synergies for the State by helping improve trade and commerce with better and higher movement of goods as well as people.
“It is also expected to give a fillip to tourism as movement across States becomes smoother and faster. There are precedents where trade and commerce has exponentially grown after better infrastructure connectivity. For instance, the construction of the expressway between Mumbai and Pune cut down travel time between the two cities by more than two hours facilitating better trade and commerce,” the officer explained.
The ministry’s report, meanwhile, further reveals that the average addition of highways in other States such as Maharashtra has maximum 32 per cent, followed by Gujarat and Karnataka at 9 per cent each over the past seven years. Likewise, Odisha has added 8 per cent highways while Tamil Nadu and West Bengal has added six per cent each to existing highways and Kerala being the second lowest at four percent.
According to the Economic Survey for 2019-20 tabled in the Parliament last year, investment in infrastructure was necessary for the economy, as power shortages, inadequate transport and poor connectivity affect overall growth performance. The Economic Survey had stressed that, in order to ensure ‘lack of infrastructure’ does not become a binding constraint on the growth of Indian economy; the country needs to spend about USD 1.4 trillion on infrastructure.
According to the Ministry, the length of National Highways in Goa comprises of 748, 748AA, 66, 366 and 566 stands at 293 kms as on March 31, 2019.”
Considering the overall geographical expanse of the State, as a percentage of the total length of India’s National Highways, it is only 0.22 per cent in Goa. The length of National Highways in Goa is 76.80 km for every 1000 km while it stands at 20.10 km for every 1 lakh of its population. While the national average stands at 40.20 km for every 1000 km and 11 km for every 1 lakh of population,” states the report.
The official further added that the new projects such as highway expansion in Goa are expected to bring in benefits in terms of better connectivity and better mobility for the locals, especially connecting business centres with each other and the peripheral areas.
