Hyderabad, June 18: The State government is negotiating with the World Bank for Rs.80-100 crore aid to install state-of-the-art road safety and traffic surveillance system on two high vehicular density corridors – Hyderabad-Bengaluru and Hyderabad-Vijayawada Highways – where the accident rate is very high.
This was disclosed to reporters here on Wednesday by A.K. Parida, Principal Secretary, Transport, Roads and Buildings, on the sidelines of the annual convention of SAFE (Society for Automobile Fitness and Environment) on ‘Safety through enforcement and inspection & certification’.
He said the negotiations were expected to be completed in a couple of months and the scheme to be patterned on the highways of Singapore would be taken up as part of State Highways Project (phase-II).
It envisages using advanced technology and best practices, including digital cameras and Global Positioning System. “The basic idea is to make the highways safe. The local panchayats, schools and civil society organisations will also be involved in the project,” he added.
Mr. Parida said an automated testing and certification facility would also be established on a 15-acre site in the city, as part of three such pilot centres being set up by the Government of India. The other two facilities would come up at Pune and Gurgaon.
Action plan
The State government was also proposing to establish one such facility in each district under public-private partnership mode.
Earlier addressing the convention, he suggested that all the southern States come out with an action plan to tackle road safety problems.
Harjeet Singh, president SAFE and associate vice-president, Hero Honda Motors Ltd, expressed concern over increasing road accidents in the country and outlined the initiatives launched by SAFE to create awareness on road safety among various stakeholders.
C. L. N. Gandhi, Additional Commissioner, Transport, A.P. lamented that the current practices were not producing good drivers in spite of good roads and vehicles. R. Shoba, Special Secretary, AP PCB, Transport Commissioner, Karnataka, Bhasker Rao and Transport Commissioner, Tamil Nadu S. Machendranathan spoke.
-Agencies