Infra pundit

01 Feb 2013 CW Team

In the next in a series of interviews with prominent civil engineers, Janaki Krishnamoorthi meets Subhash Nage, Chief Engineer, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation.

Here's a man with a distinct point of view. "Piecemeal infrastructure development is irreparable, which is what we are largely doing in India. Instead, we must have a master plan for each city, which should be implemented without any deviation under one controlling authority," asserts Subhash Nage, Chief Engineer, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), who has been building public infrastructure in Maharashtra for over three decades. In his 10-year tenure with MSRDC, he has handled over 75 infrastructure projects with an outlay of Rs 13,000 crore across the state.

The impressive list includes 15 flyovers, 18 bridges of diverse nature, several roads and highways, skywalks, including some notable ones like the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Jogeshwari Vikroli Link Road, Panvel Elevated Road, Barfiwala and Suman Nagar Flyovers (all in Mumbai), and Tied Arch Bridge, University Junction Flyover and Agriculture College flyover (all in Pune), and the Baramati Integrated Road Development. In addition, he has been involved with the development of IT/knowledge parks, corporate buildings, water and effluent treatment plants in his earlier assignment at the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). His major ongoing projects include the Santacruz Chembur Link Road (SCLR), modernisation of 22 border check posts in Maharashtra, the Versova-Bandra Sea Link and a passenger water transport system along Mumbai's west coast. Also in the planning stage are convention centres, logistic parks, a theme park along the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, a Formula 1 racing track and rental housing in Lodhivali near Panvel.

It's this prospect of working on varied forms of creation that attracted Nage to civil engineering. "Civil engineering is creativity at its best; no other field gives you the satisfaction of creating something that benefits a large section of the public," says the 57 year-old, who hails from a farmer family in Pathrot in Maharashtra's Amravati district. "I feel proud watching my structures being built. It is akin to watching your children grow and become successful adults," adds Nage, who is also an avid sportsman and manages to find time to play tennis and snooker every morning.

His dream project is to develop a model city from scratch with the best of housing, infrastructure, amenities and environment. His success formula: "Break the rule within the framework.

I am not saying we should do something illegal. In government sectors, there are several unwritten customary practices and procedures and one should defy them whenever necessary in the project's interest." He shares his views and experience in engineering infrastructure with CW...

Master plan magic:

Infrastructure should be developed in a planned manner with long-term requirement in view. We should follow the successful Singapore model. The country was once faced with overcrowding and severe lack of infrastructure. The authorities prepared a long-term master plan for infrastructure and efficient land use and implemented it effectively. Likewise, we should first assess the demand for the next few decades for each city, make a master plan and appoint one controlling authority to ensure that the plans are adhered to. There can be many implementing agencies but the plans should be approved only by this authority in line with the master plan.

Case in point: MSRDC followed this model in the Baramati Integrated Road Development Project by drawing up a master plan in discussion with local architects, government officials and politicians. The project, which involved the development of roads, bridges, cross drainage, junction improvements, tree plantation and beautification, was implemented as per the plan in three phases from 2003 to 2010. Now, Baramati has excellent infrastructure and is rated as one of the best cities in the country. Even in a city like Mumbai, which is already congested and where the existing infrastructure caters to only 50 per cent of the requirement, we can improve the situation if we make a master plan and implement it meticulously. As of now, in many cities like Mumbai, infrastructure development is being handled piecemeal by multiple authorities, each with their own plans, projects and implementation process that can cause irreparable damage to infrastructure and a city's development. Likewise, there should be a comprehensive plan for each project, which is rarely done in our country.

For instance, while constructing a flyover, if the road leading from the flyover is narrow, the purpose behind constructing the flyover may be lost.

But the agency constructing the flyover will not bother about it as its mandate is only to build the flyover. The problem will surface only after the flyover is built and used. Such problems can be avoided if a macro plan is prepared first.

Delay dilemmas:The most demanding task in the majority of projects is land acquisition and rehabilitation of project-affected people (PAPs). Most do not want to part with their land or move out of it; because of the human element, it becomes a sensitive and complicated issue. The second arduous task, particularly in Mumbai and Pune, is the shifting of underground utilities. As no mapping of utilities exists with any authority, we spend time and money locating and relocating them. These issues are also the underlying causes for several project delays. There's no magic solution to these problems. Many say we should remove all the PAPs, relocate all the utilities, get the land totally free before starting a project. But this is easier said than done. First, to do this we would require a minimum of five years. While they are being shifted in phases, who will ensure that the evacuated spaces are not occupied again? Then, we will have to close the road twice, once for shifting the utilities and again for the construction, which is now being done simultaneously. Further, once the project starts there would be pressure to get the resettlement and relocation completed faster. Cost does escalate because of delays. But if we start a project after getting the land totally free, the cost would be almost double the landed cost. For instance, the cost of SCLR, started in 2003, has almost tripled from Rs 80 crore to Rs 240 crore. But if we invite the tender now, after having the land totally free, it would be around Rs 500 crore.

Quality question:The quality of our projects has improved significantly in recent years owing to the availability of RMC (ready-mix concrete) prefabs, etc, though there is still room for improvement in certain areas like finishing. However, prefabs are used rarely as they are not viable unless used on a large scale. Hence, our government should encourage prefab by offering tax exemptions. In the US, prefab is mandatory and economical as labour is expensive there. In India, labour is cheap and economy comes first after safety. To improve quality, we should also train skilled workers. The government should make it mandatory that no skilled labour should be engaged without proper training. The quality of our roads and flyovers also suffers owing to lack of maintenance. We treat it as a wasted expense.

We must make sufficient provision for maintenance and undertake timely repair. Often, good roads are ruined by utility agencies that dig them up and do not resurface them properly.

TRACK RECORD

Subhash Bapuraoji Nage

Academic

Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering from Walchand College of Engineering, Shivaji University, Kolhapur (1978)
Masters in Technology with specialisation in structural engineering from Visevesvaraya Regional College of Engineering, Nagpur (1985)

Professional

1978-1980: Junior Engineer, Irrigation Department
1980-2002: Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation Ltd; Joined as Deputy Engineer and moved up to become Superintending Engineer
2002 to date: Chief Engineer, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Ltd
Presented paper on Urban Infrastructure for the European Transport Commission at Glasgow, UK (2011)

Awards

Outstanding Public Officer award from the Construction Industry Development Council (2011)
Best Engineer Award from Supreme Engineers (2012)

Challenging Projects

Project 1

Project: Construction and modernisation of 22 border check posts across Maharashtra
Period: Ongoing; began in 2009, scheduled to be complete in December 2013
Project cost : Rs 1,000 crore
Client: Transport Department, Maharashtra Government
Implementing agency: MSRDC

Background: The first-of-its-kind in India and floated on a BOT (Build Operate and Transfer) model, it is an integrated system with a central control room (CCR) in Mumbai to monitor movement of goods carrying vehicles across the border, and prevent evasion of sales, excise and transport taxes and smuggling of goods. "Often these vehicle owners/drivers claim they are only passing through Maharashtra but unload the material here and evade a higher tax," says Nage. "At times, they may say they are unloading only five of the 70 consignments in the vehicle but unload 50 and evade tax. Large quantities of liquor are smuggled into Maharashtra from Goa in naphtha containers concealed in a compartment below the naphtha. All such activities can be detected and stopped with this system."

Unique features: The entire operation can be controlled from CCR, like closing any of the 400 lanes, checking on what material a vehicle is carrying, even seeing what denominations of monies are being accepted at the toll plaza. The system also provides data logs on the passage of each vehicle through checkpoints, the date and time, material carried, whether it is insured and has a pollution control certificate, and the driver's record for traffic offences. With all concerned tax departments housed in one building at site, it will also ensure speedy clearance and facilitate single window payment.

Scope of work: The project involves construction of roads, administrative buildings, toll plaza, parking bays, unloading area, detention yard, landscaping, facilities like restroom for drivers, puncture repair/spare parts shops, PCO/cyber café and dhaba, as well as the procurement of equipment like electronic weigh bridges and CCTV cameras at all sites.

Challenges: Coordinating with several departments like transport, sales tax, excise and other agencies such as National Highways Authority of India, local district officials and forest officials is a challenge as the sites are spread across the entire Maharashtra border. "Land acquisition at 22 locations with the usual problems of rehabilitation and relocation of PAPs, finding good engineers and skilled labourers in these mofussil areas, and coordinating with contractors and in some cases with subcontractors to ensure quality and speed in such a massive scale of construction are the other challenges," shares Nage. "But now this system has become popular and other states like West Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh have invited tenders to implement it in their states."

Present status: Two check posts at Acchad (Gujarat border) and Saoner (Madhya Pradesh border) are functioning and the construction of the Mandrup check post (Karnataka border) is complete. The rest will be ready by the end of 2013.

Project 2

Project: Santacruz Chembur Link Road (SCLR), Mumbai
Period: Ongoing; started in 2003, scheduled for completion in June 2013
Project cost: Rs 450 crore (only construction)
Client: Maharashtra Government
Implementing agency: MSRDC

Background: This major six-lane link road with a total length of 6.5 km (3.4 km viaduct) will connect the Western and Eastern Express highways across major settlements and over the Central and Harbour railway lines in Mumbai. Once complete, travel time between the western and eastern suburbs, which is now around 90 minutes, is expected to be cut down to only 15 minutes. However, the project has been inordinately delayed for various reasons resulting in cost escalation from the original Rs 80 crore to Rs 450 crore.

The cost escalation is not only because of delay but increase in scope of work owing to several design changes in piers, replacing concrete girders with steel girders in the bridge over railway lines, etc," points out Nage, who has been involved with the project right from conceptualisation to execution.

Unique features: It is the longest rail over bridge and first double-decker elevated road in India.

Challenges: There were four major obstacles: land acquisition, relocation and rehabilitation of PAPS, location and relocation of underground utilities and obtaining permission from railway authorities for the work in their jurisdiction. Nearly 4,000 residential/commercial hutments, 10 temples, four masjids, one church, one gurudwara and residents of 16 MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) buildings had to be relocated and rehabilitated. "This was a big challenge and the major reason for the project delay," explains Nage. "Sometimes, just shifting one family took us between six months to a year. Over 200 meetings were held with the PAPs through an NGO, and over 50 court cases handled, some of them right up to the Supreme Court. There are still four to five cases pending but they will not affect the project as the tenements are located in a corner. MHADA flat owners also went to court, which dragged on for three years. As major stretches of the SCLR pass through railway premises, approvals of the railway authorities on the designs and drawings were required. We had to submit around 400 drawings before getting their permission."

Present status: Around 85 percent of work has been completed and the balance is expected to be complete by June 2013.

To share your engineering experience with us, write in at feedback@ASAPPmedia.com

In the next in a series of interviews with prominent civil engineers, Janaki Krishnamoorthi meets Subhash Nage, Chief Engineer, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. Here's a man with a distinct point of view. "Piecemeal infrastructure development is irreparable, which is what we are largely doing in India. Instead, we must have a master plan for each city, which should be implemented without any deviation under one controlling authority," asserts Subhash Nage, Chief Engineer, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), who has been building public infrastructure in Maharashtra for over three decades. In his 10-year tenure with MSRDC, he has handled over 75 infrastructure projects with an outlay of Rs 13,000 crore across the state. The impressive list includes 15 flyovers, 18 bridges of diverse nature, several roads and highways, skywalks, including some notable ones like the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, Jogeshwari Vikroli Link Road, Panvel Elevated Road, Barfiwala and Suman Nagar Flyovers (all in Mumbai), and Tied Arch Bridge, University Junction Flyover and Agriculture College flyover (all in Pune), and the Baramati Integrated Road Development. In addition, he has been involved with the development of IT/knowledge parks, corporate buildings, water and effluent treatment plants in his earlier assignment at the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC). His major ongoing projects include the Santacruz Chembur Link Road (SCLR), modernisation of 22 border check posts in Maharashtra, the Versova-Bandra Sea Link and a passenger water transport system along Mumbai's west coast. Also in the planning stage are convention centres, logistic parks, a theme park along the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, a Formula 1 racing track and rental housing in Lodhivali near Panvel. It's this prospect of working on varied forms of creation that attracted Nage to civil engineering. "Civil engineering is creativity at its best; no other field gives you the satisfaction of creating something that benefits a large section of the public," says the 57 year-old, who hails from a farmer family in Pathrot in Maharashtra's Amravati district. "I feel proud watching my structures being built. It is akin to watching your children grow and become successful adults," adds Nage, who is also an avid sportsman and manages to find time to play tennis and snooker every morning. His dream project is to develop a model city from scratch with the best of housing, infrastructure, amenities and environment. His success formula: "Break the rule within the framework. I am not saying we should do something illegal. In government sectors, there are several unwritten customary practices and procedures and one should defy them whenever necessary in the project's interest." He shares his views and experience in engineering infrastructure with CW... Master plan magic: Infrastructure should be developed in a planned manner with long-term requirement in view. We should follow the successful Singapore model. The country was once faced with overcrowding and severe lack of infrastructure. The authorities prepared a long-term master plan for infrastructure and efficient land use and implemented it effectively. Likewise, we should first assess the demand for the next few decades for each city, make a master plan and appoint one controlling authority to ensure that the plans are adhered to. There can be many implementing agencies but the plans should be approved only by this authority in line with the master plan. Case in point: MSRDC followed this model in the Baramati Integrated Road Development Project by drawing up a master plan in discussion with local architects, government officials and politicians. The project, which involved the development of roads, bridges, cross drainage, junction improvements, tree plantation and beautification, was implemented as per the plan in three phases from 2003 to 2010. Now, Baramati has excellent infrastructure and is rated as one of the best cities in the country. Even in a city like Mumbai, which is already congested and where the existing infrastructure caters to only 50 per cent of the requirement, we can improve the situation if we make a master plan and implement it meticulously. As of now, in many cities like Mumbai, infrastructure development is being handled piecemeal by multiple authorities, each with their own plans, projects and implementation process that can cause irreparable damage to infrastructure and a city's development. Likewise, there should be a comprehensive plan for each project, which is rarely done in our country. For instance, while constructing a flyover, if the road leading from the flyover is narrow, the purpose behind constructing the flyover may be lost. But the agency constructing the flyover will not bother about it as its mandate is only to build the flyover. The problem will surface only after the flyover is built and used. Such problems can be avoided if a macro plan is prepared first. Delay dilemmas:The most demanding task in the majority of projects is land acquisition and rehabilitation of project-affected people (PAPs). Most do not want to part with their land or move out of it; because of the human element, it becomes a sensitive and complicated issue. The second arduous task, particularly in Mumbai and Pune, is the shifting of underground utilities. As no mapping of utilities exists with any authority, we spend time and money locating and relocating them. These issues are also the underlying causes for several project delays. There's no magic solution to these problems. Many say we should remove all the PAPs, relocate all the utilities, get the land totally free before starting a project. But this is easier said than done. First, to do this we would require a minimum of five years. While they are being shifted in phases, who will ensure that the evacuated spaces are not occupied again? Then, we will have to close the road twice, once for shifting the utilities and again for the construction, which is now being done simultaneously. Further, once the project starts there would be pressure to get the resettlement and relocation completed faster. Cost does escalate because of delays. But if we start a project after getting the land totally free, the cost would be almost double the landed cost. For instance, the cost of SCLR, started in 2003, has almost tripled from Rs 80 crore to Rs 240 crore. But if we invite the tender now, after having the land totally free, it would be around Rs 500 crore. Quality question:The quality of our projects has improved significantly in recent years owing to the availability of RMC (ready-mix concrete) prefabs, etc, though there is still room for improvement in certain areas like finishing. However, prefabs are used rarely as they are not viable unless used on a large scale. Hence, our government should encourage prefab by offering tax exemptions. In the US, prefab is mandatory and economical as labour is expensive there. In India, labour is cheap and economy comes first after safety. To improve quality, we should also train skilled workers. The government should make it mandatory that no skilled labour should be engaged without proper training. The quality of our roads and flyovers also suffers owing to lack of maintenance. We treat it as a wasted expense. We must make sufficient provision for maintenance and undertake timely repair. Often, good roads are ruined by utility agencies that dig them up and do not resurface them properly. TRACK RECORD Subhash Bapuraoji Nage Academic Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering from Walchand College of Engineering, Shivaji University, Kolhapur (1978) Masters in Technology with specialisation in structural engineering from Visevesvaraya Regional College of Engineering, Nagpur (1985) Professional 1978-1980: Junior Engineer, Irrigation Department 1980-2002: Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation Ltd; Joined as Deputy Engineer and moved up to become Superintending Engineer 2002 to date: Chief Engineer, Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation Ltd Presented paper on Urban Infrastructure for the European Transport Commission at Glasgow, UK (2011) Awards Outstanding Public Officer award from the Construction Industry Development Council (2011) Best Engineer Award from Supreme Engineers (2012) Challenging Projects Project 1 Project: Construction and modernisation of 22 border check posts across Maharashtra Period: Ongoing; began in 2009, scheduled to be complete in December 2013 Project cost : Rs 1,000 crore Client: Transport Department, Maharashtra Government Implementing agency: MSRDC Background: The first-of-its-kind in India and floated on a BOT (Build Operate and Transfer) model, it is an integrated system with a central control room (CCR) in Mumbai to monitor movement of goods carrying vehicles across the border, and prevent evasion of sales, excise and transport taxes and smuggling of goods. "Often these vehicle owners/drivers claim they are only passing through Maharashtra but unload the material here and evade a higher tax," says Nage. "At times, they may say they are unloading only five of the 70 consignments in the vehicle but unload 50 and evade tax. Large quantities of liquor are smuggled into Maharashtra from Goa in naphtha containers concealed in a compartment below the naphtha. All such activities can be detected and stopped with this system." Unique features: The entire operation can be controlled from CCR, like closing any of the 400 lanes, checking on what material a vehicle is carrying, even seeing what denominations of monies are being accepted at the toll plaza. The system also provides data logs on the passage of each vehicle through checkpoints, the date and time, material carried, whether it is insured and has a pollution control certificate, and the driver's record for traffic offences. With all concerned tax departments housed in one building at site, it will also ensure speedy clearance and facilitate single window payment. Scope of work: The project involves construction of roads, administrative buildings, toll plaza, parking bays, unloading area, detention yard, landscaping, facilities like restroom for drivers, puncture repair/spare parts shops, PCO/cyber café and dhaba, as well as the procurement of equipment like electronic weigh bridges and CCTV cameras at all sites. Challenges: Coordinating with several departments like transport, sales tax, excise and other agencies such as National Highways Authority of India, local district officials and forest officials is a challenge as the sites are spread across the entire Maharashtra border. "Land acquisition at 22 locations with the usual problems of rehabilitation and relocation of PAPs, finding good engineers and skilled labourers in these mofussil areas, and coordinating with contractors and in some cases with subcontractors to ensure quality and speed in such a massive scale of construction are the other challenges," shares Nage. "But now this system has become popular and other states like West Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh have invited tenders to implement it in their states." Present status: Two check posts at Acchad (Gujarat border) and Saoner (Madhya Pradesh border) are functioning and the construction of the Mandrup check post (Karnataka border) is complete. The rest will be ready by the end of 2013. Project 2 Project: Santacruz Chembur Link Road (SCLR), Mumbai Period: Ongoing; started in 2003, scheduled for completion in June 2013 Project cost: Rs 450 crore (only construction) Client: Maharashtra Government Implementing agency: MSRDC Background: This major six-lane link road with a total length of 6.5 km (3.4 km viaduct) will connect the Western and Eastern Express highways across major settlements and over the Central and Harbour railway lines in Mumbai. Once complete, travel time between the western and eastern suburbs, which is now around 90 minutes, is expected to be cut down to only 15 minutes. However, the project has been inordinately delayed for various reasons resulting in cost escalation from the original Rs 80 crore to Rs 450 crore. The cost escalation is not only because of delay but increase in scope of work owing to several design changes in piers, replacing concrete girders with steel girders in the bridge over railway lines, etc," points out Nage, who has been involved with the project right from conceptualisation to execution. Unique features: It is the longest rail over bridge and first double-decker elevated road in India. Challenges: There were four major obstacles: land acquisition, relocation and rehabilitation of PAPS, location and relocation of underground utilities and obtaining permission from railway authorities for the work in their jurisdiction. Nearly 4,000 residential/commercial hutments, 10 temples, four masjids, one church, one gurudwara and residents of 16 MHADA (Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority) buildings had to be relocated and rehabilitated. "This was a big challenge and the major reason for the project delay," explains Nage. "Sometimes, just shifting one family took us between six months to a year. Over 200 meetings were held with the PAPs through an NGO, and over 50 court cases handled, some of them right up to the Supreme Court. There are still four to five cases pending but they will not affect the project as the tenements are located in a corner. MHADA flat owners also went to court, which dragged on for three years. As major stretches of the SCLR pass through railway premises, approvals of the railway authorities on the designs and drawings were required. We had to submit around 400 drawings before getting their permission." Present status: Around 85 percent of work has been completed and the balance is expected to be complete by June 2013. To share your engineering experience with us, write in at feedback@ASAPPmedia.com