Page 63 - Abhivruddhi

World class Infrastructure
If we want to benchmark our infrastructure with world class
infrastructure then we need to be prepared to undergo lot of changes,
especially with the highways. At present our highways are still not at par
with the developed countries.
Although we Indians have sound engineering and design capabilities,
yet it is our experience that the machinery we use, does not have state of
the art technology while the equipment used overseas is highly advanced.
During the Covid-19 period Raj Path Infracon decided to overcome
the negativity by registering a world record for constructing 39.691
kilometers of bituminous concrete single lane road in 24 hours’ time. The
earlier world record was 25.54 kilometers.
The company had the will and the capacity. It planned and geared up
for this great task and firmed up on the goal and intentions. The company
Raj Path is a small company as far as infrastructure is concerned, but it
was able to achieve the goal.
There are always challenges at every step on the way as far as road
construction is concerned, like cost escalation. The steel rate has
doubled. The bitumen rate has increased almost 1.5 times. Fuel rates keep
increasing. There are inefficiencies due to traffic congestions when goods
are to be transported from one place to another. Especially the traffic
congestion in the cities, is very detrimental. As far as the environment
is concerned, there is high carbon footprint and dependence on the fuel.
Over and above, there is a vast resistance from the farmers with respect
to land acquisition.
So while doing these projects of road construction, there are always
hurdles from the local residents Such projects, require a lot of energy and
efforts. It is about survival of the fittest. So we have to update ourselves
and take up the challenge, and we always manage to come out with an
amicable solution for all.
Two important areas where infrastructure development will make
social impact positively are
1. Employment
2. Development of rural areas through which prospective
roadways will pass
Good infrastructure leads to overall development of a country. There
is a famous quote by John F Kennedy. “The American roads are good, not
because America is rich, but it is rich because it’s roads are good.”
So, if we develop the infrastructure, the connectivity is good, then the

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