Roads and highways play a crucial role in enhancing the socio-economic development of a country. The modernisation of roads is pivotal to improving the commuters’ experience. A major problem facing the Indian public is traffic congestion and grid locks on highways. Recently, the growth of cities has been directly related to the increasing number of vehicles. However, inadequate road infrastructure is becoming the leading cause of traffic congestions and grid locks. So, the Government of India is implementing innovative designs for roads and highways to mitigate the issues.
4th Annual Roads and Highways, a global conference based on the theme, “Transforming roads of the future by redefining strategic roads networks,” is going to be held from 9th April – 11th April, 2018 in Singapore. A non-profit organisation called the International Road Federation (Geneva) and the Marcus Evans Group is jointly hosting the global conference.
The conference will take place at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore. More than twenty eminent industry experts and distinguished speakers from across the world are going to share their ideas and the initiatives being taken in their fields.
The main agenda of the congress is to share ideas to redefine infrastructure of the roads of the future. Mr Akhilesh Srivastava, Chief General Manager(CGM) of the IT & Highway Operations in the NHAI, will lead the Indian delegation and is one of the distinguished speaker at the event.
The main touch points of his speech are – highways modernisation for greater effectiveness and sustainability, digitising the process of toll collection, introducing IT to enhance the quality of experience of the commuters as well as provide the services FASTag, CCTV surveillance, a dedicated app for the highway commuters in a cost-effective way.
CGM Mr Akhilesh Srivastava will also share his expertise on the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative of the Government of the People’s Republic of China. The objective behind the OBOR initiative is to build trade routes between China, countries situated along the shores of the South China Sea, countries in Central Asia, and Europe.
CGM Srivastava is leading various highway modernisation projects in India, which includes FASTags for Electronic Toll Collection (ETC), Distance-Based GPS Tolling, Wayside Amenities (Highway Nest, Highway Nest (Mini), Highway Village) and more. His meritorious involvement in these initiatives is why he has been selected as a speaker at the forum.