Tamil Nadu is the most urbanised state. Development has been well-spread across the state in several urban clusters. It has a strong focus on higher education with the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER-enrolment for collegiate education), of around 52 per cent, double that of the national average. TN has more than 1100 engineering colleges, 69 medical colleges and a larger number of arts, science and commerce colleges, management institutions and polytechnics well-spread across the state.
Until a few years after independence, with the concentration of textile mills, Coimbatore in the western part of the state used to account for the largest share of industrial employment. Infrastructure development has spread in parallel. The state in particular and the south in general have been endowed with a strong road network. Other states, though late starters, have been catching up fast. Unlike the highly urbanised Tamil Nadu, these do not suffer the disadvantage of higher cost of land prices and difficulties of land acquisition. The result is slower rate of development of expanding the road infrastructure into high speed multi-lanes.
UP emulated Gujarat model
Gujarat under Modi as Chief Minister made a strong focus on roads and port infrastructure development. This emphasis has been at the base of a spectacular growth and diversification of industry in the state through the last two decades.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have been a true follower and admirer of Modi. He has been following the Gujarat model for road development. Western UP, especially Noida bordering Delhi has been developed on par with most other industrial towns. Yogi has lavished the state with several mega infrastructure projects, notably high-speed expressways. The Purvanchal Expressway inaugurated recently is one such project. Also, foundation for 594 km, six-lane Ganga Expressway has been laid.
This week, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari, inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for 821 km of National Highways worth Rs 26,778 crore in the poll bound Uttar Pradesh. He said that the Centre would invest Rs 5 lakh crore on road projects in UP in the next five years.
Need for good roads
I contrast this with the absence of such 6-lane, 8-lane highways in Tamil Nadu. The recent one cleared is the six-lane highway as part of the National Highway of Chennai-Bengaluru.
DMK has been opposing the proposal of the predecessor (AIADMK) government for a new 6-lane high speed Chennai-Salem highway.
Economic growth across the globe has been built on such a strong road infrastructure. The Autobahn of Germany provided the inspiration for Gen. Eisenhower to build high quality 8-lane highways from east to west and north to south in the US.
With land prices shooting up and land acquisition becoming increasingly difficult, policymakers would do well to decide and execute such highway projects early in the development phase. Luckily, for the states, the Centre foots most of the bill.
