Akhilesh Srivastava – The Man behind the Success of Highway Modernization

The recent technological reforms brought to India’s highways sector by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) is rapidly changing road infrastructure. And the reform is being led by Akhilesh Srivastava, the Chief General Manager (CGM) of the NHAI’s highway operations division. Mr Srivastava is the executioner of the Central government’s vision of a transparent and tech-enabled highways sector.

The reforms include projects such as Wayside Amenities (WSA) and Electronic Toll Collection for national highways, which are also the two projects that Akhilesh Srivastava currently has executed. The Highway Nest and Highway Nest (Mini) are already operational at over 50 toll plazas around the country. Apart from these, Mr Srivastava is also working on a number of other highway projects as well.

Recognising his contributions, the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) recently awarded the NHAI CGM with the Vishwakarma Award for lifetime achievement in the Public Officer category at the 10th Vishwakarma Awards ceremony. The event was held on March 07th 2018, at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. Srivastava was awarded for his contributions to the projects of e-MB, e-tendering, Wayside Amenities, and Electronic Toll Collection.

Highway modernisation is pivotal to the overall economic development of India. Akhilesh Srivastava is working to integrate the latest technology into the highway operations for enhanced transparency and pronounced rate of execution. Two of the primary projects that he is working on include the Roads Asset Management System (RAMS) and the Advanced Traffic Incident Management System (ATMS). These are expected to enhance the efficiency and speed of handling of road assets and traffic incidents.

Srivastava is working to increase the rate of implementation of the Electronic Toll lanes in the toll booths in the country. He envisions implementing at least one of the lanes at every toll plazas. Further to his achievements and recognition of the same, the NHAI CGM has been delegated to be a part of the group of esteemed panellists at the 4th Annual Roads & Highways forum being conducted by the International Road Federation (Geneva, Switzerland). The event is being held from April 09th – April 11th, 2018 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore.

He is going to deliver a technical analysis on the impact of China’s OBOR (One Belt One Road) initiative, along with two other distinguished panellists, besides a presentation on India’s highway modernisation mega infrastructure projects.

#AkhileshSrivastava #WaysideAmenities #HighwayNest #HighwayNestMini

Akhilesh Srivastava – One of the key Personalities Involved in the Wayside Amenities Project

Developing road infrastructure on par with the global standards has taken the top spot in the list of priorities of the Government of India. The accident-induced fatality rate on highways has been on the rise for a multitude of reasons. To solve and address these issues, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) embarked on a mission to modernize the national highway network, under which it started several projects, including Wayside Amenities (WSA). Akhilesh Srivastava, CGM of IT & Highway Operations in the NHAI, is one of the persons instrumental to the project.

Under the initiative, the NHAI is going to build amenities alongside national highways. The objectives of this project are:

To Prevent Accidents

With having just 1% of world’s road vehicles, Indian roads have accounted for more than 10% of all the road-related fatalities in the world. Although national highways constitute only 2% of the roadways, they are accounting for around 30% of all road accidents every year. A part of the accidents is attributed to stress-related reasons, which is a major issue that can’t be undermined. With the Wayside Amenities project, the NHAI is planning to bring down the stress-related accidents.

To Provide Advanced Amenities to Commuters

The NHAI has come up with three civic-amenity models under the project. Each model is branded based on the type of facilities that are going to come under them. Three models/brands proposed by the NHAI are – Highway Nest, Highway Nest (Mini), and Highway Village.

Highway Nests (Mini) – These are kiosks with facilities such as water-vending machines, ATMs, toilets, and so forth. Highway Nest (Mini) is going to come up on either side of Toll Plazas.

Highway Nests and Highway Villages – Both these models feature a number of facilities such as ATMs, fuel stations, hotels, dhabas, repair shops, village haats, and parking spaces for commercial as well as domestic vehicles. The only difference between the both is the amount of the space they are going to occupy.

Facilities that are going to be developed in five acres of land are branded “Highway Nests” and those that are going to occupy more than five acres of land are branded “Highway Villages.”

The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways also asked the farmers, whose lands are abutting the national highways, to partner with the NHAI in the mega project. In return, farmers get franchise rights.

To Provide Employment

WSA has the potential to generate employment for nearly 2 million persons, according to government estimates. The resident dwellers of the land abutting those national highways will be, according to the government, the largest beneficiaries in terms of employment. For instance, the haats are meant for residents to sell handicrafts to the people.

CGM Akhilesh Srivastava is going to deliver a session on the modernization of Indian highways in the upcoming 4th Annual Roads & Highways forum in Singapore on 09th April 2018.

#AkhileshSrivastava #HighwayNest #HighwayNestMini #HighwayVillage

Akhilesh Srivastava – Imbibing Latest Technology for Re-Imagined Highway Infrastructure

Akhilesh Srivastava, CGM of the IT & Highway Operations in the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), helming the Central government’s bid to modernize and overhaul the highways sector, initiated the integration of technology in highway infrastructure in the form of a cluster project, which includes Wayside Amenities (WSA), Electronic Toll Collection (WSA), Road Assets Management System (RAMS), Advanced Traffic Incident Management System (ATMS), and others.

One of the projects, WSA, which includes Highway Nest, Highway Nest (Mini), and Highway Village, has put CGM Akhilesh Srivastava on the forefront of the highways modernization drive. The structures act as a safe halting point for motorists commuting on national highways. It has a plethora of advanced civic amenities. The Highway Nest and Highway Nest (Mini) have already been constructed and made operational at a number of national-highway Toll plazas.

The other projects are digitalizing highway toll invoicing and making toll operations more transparent.

Recognizing these achievements and more, and his overall contribution to the construction industry in India, he recently was awarded the CIDC Vishwakarma Award (lifetime achievement as a public officer) at the 10th Vishwakarma Awards ceremony conducted by the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC). The award ceremony was held on March 07th 2018, at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi.

Currently, ETC is operational at over 380 Toll plazas already. CGM Srivastava is working to ensure that there is at least one dedicated ETC lane at each of the Toll gates. Apart from these projects, he is also working on various other projects concerning roads and highway assets and traffic incident management. The Road Assets Management System (RAMS) and the Traffic Incident Management System are expected to enhance road asset management and handle incidents that occur on highways.

Mr Akhilesh Srivastava is also working on the integration of drones and geospatial technology into highway operations. This is expected to streamline projects and ensure real-time monitoring of the ongoing highway projects for a smoother and improved execution of the projects. He is also encouraging graduates to train on these technologies for better job opportunities.

Taking India’s ambitious highway projects to the global turf, NHAI CGM Srivastava has been delegated by the Government of India to attend the 4th Annual Roads & Highways summit from April 09th – April 11th, 2018. It is conducted by the International Road Federation (Geneva) at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore.

He along with two others is going to take part in panel discussions on China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) project on the first day of the event. The highway wing CGM is also going to talk on Highway Modernization for greater effectiveness and sustainability at a session on April 09th 2018, at the event.

#AkhileshSrivastava #ATMS #HighwayNest #HighwayNestMini