A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region

A Review of Highway Agencies in the South Asia Region
India*
Sri Lanka 69.2
Sri Lanka
Nepal
Pakistan
Bangladesh
2.8
8.8
A relative comparison of road length in the region shows the leading position of India and
Sri Lanka in terms of high road density (Figure 2.1). Nepal has a clear lead over Pakistan and
Bangladesh, although this is more pronounced when expressed per 100,000 people. In fact,
when considering the surface density, Sri Lanka and India have a much higher value.
Figure 2.1: Road infrastructure benchmark for South Asia
Density of main road network (national) Density of main road network (national)
40.6
98.9
22
India*
Nepal
Bangladesh
Pakistan 1.4
km road/100,000 people 2
km road/100 km area
* Inclusive of national highways and expressways; the respective figures for India would be 105 kilometer (km) of road per 100,000 people and 33 km per 100 square
km (km 2 ). However, these roads are not necessarily managed at the state level.
Source: As in Table 2.1, population and area data used for calculations are the latest available with the United Nations.
Figure 2.2 shows the development of road transport, for both passengers and freight,
in India over the past 60 years and the projected development in the 11th Five Year Plan
(2007-12). The main growth has occurred in passenger transport, which is expected to
show a stronger growth than freight transport. The growth during the 11th Five Year Plan,
in particular, exceeds previous growth rates with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
of close to 20 percent. The development of freight transport is more in line with historic
development. As this growth is linked to economic development, the development for the
other countries will be similar, though possibly less pronounced due to lower economic
growth (Figure 1.1).
2.2 Road Sector Policies, Key Priorities and Programs
South Asia in General
Of the highway agencies studied for this report, 60 percent have road policies in place, 40
percent prepare annual reports, and about 80 to 83 percent indicated that they had longterm
strategic plans in place (Figure 2.3). The policy documents and plans reviewed have
a strong focus on advocating PPP and contain targets for performance (primarily but not
exclusively in outcome/output terms). Most highway agencies use these targets to guide
their budgeting process. Investment plans and vision documents are less common in the
road sector in South Asia. Only the annual report and road policy are regularly published.
Examples of targets in some of the plan documents for Sri Lanka and a few states in India
include:
6.4
2.5
17.9
31.0